In the past two years, The Maine has risen from hometown musicians to pop rock sensations. This quintet from Arizona has reached a tremendous amount of success after releasing their debut album "Cant' Stop Won't Stop." Touring with bands such as All Time Low and We The Kings in the past, The Maine is currently one of the headliners in The Alternative Press Tour. With a summer at Warped and a bright future ahead of them, find out why the guys from the Maine are, well, everything we ask for.

Cristina: First of all, introduce yourselves.
John: Hey what’s up, my name is John Cornelius O'Callaghan V and I sing in a band called The Maine
Garrett: I’m Garrett Daniel Nickelsen and I play bass for The Maine
Kennedy: I’m Kennedy Brock and I play guitar
Garrett: What’s your middle name?
Kennedy: I do not have a middle name actually.

CC: How would you describe The Maine?
JO: A thirst quenching drink on a really hot day. No, I don’t know.
CC: I actually like that
JO: No, it’s more like a rollercoaster through hell…
KB: But still really fun
JO: You have fun, and then you go back to heaven.
KB: Possibly with a drink in your hand… but like Sprite or something.
JO: Exactly.  Wait, did you want a serious answer?

CC: Ha no that’s perfect.  Do you guys want to mention a little bit of the story behind how your band got started?
JO: It started two years go. Pat (drums) and Garrett were in other bands previously. Then I tried out to sing. Then, we had two other guitar players but when we decided we wanted to go on tour they decided it wasn’t for them. Then, Kennedy and Jared came out with us. So we went on tour a year and a half ago and the rest is history.
CC: And I know you guys have mentioned in some interviews that in the beginning it was pretty rough…
KB: Yeah you have to start somewhere. It would be weird if you didn’t go through all of that.
JO: When we started it was a makeshift tour. It was 22 shows booked and we ended up playing 15. Probably half of those shows and twenty five people at most. One of those shows had two people.
GK: One of them had two hundred…
JO: Yeah, but that was mostly My Favorite Highway’s doing. But yeah, I think if we started with everything handed to us we would be a very different band. We wouldn’t be where we are now mentally.
CC: It’s crazy to think you guys have grown from there to where you are at now in less than two years.
JO: We have put so much work into it. Some things just happened, you can’t explain how they do…
KB: For us it’s hard to explain how hard we work at it.
GK: Yeah there have been a lot of different things that got us here
JO: It’s not that we’re saying hard work is all it takes. For us it was a combination of time, luck… well not luck. Timing and everything has to work harmoniously.

CC: Do you put pressure on yourselves to maintain the level you’re at and grow from it?
GK: Still to this day, I mean we feel like we’re doing well and we’re happy, but we want to do so much more.
KB: We’re not content.
CC: So how do you see yourselves being content?
JO: I don’t know…
KB: Probably never being content…
JO: The goal that we set from the beginning is what we’re going to try to achieve until the end of the band. And that is to reach as many people as we can through our music. If that stops tomorrow we did an all right job, it’s not like we failed. It’s just that’s how many people we get to reach. As far as where we see ourselves, I think the unclear future of it is what drives all of us. I mean, I could be going to school next semester for all I know. I think it’s the motivation to keep things at a constant progression.

CC: So tell me about your debut full length, “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop”
KB: We recorded it back in last January.  It was awesome, actually. From the recording side of it, we hadn’t done anything for more than like a day in a friend’s studio. Being in a real studio out in LA and really getting time to put everything we wanted into this record at that point. We really did try to make the best record we could.
GK: And I really feel like you really get to know how well you are at your instrument and just how well you know everyone in the band. That was the first time we ever stayed together for a long period of time, where it was just us. When we’re home we all hang out, but it wasn’t like I wake up and we make breakfast together. So that was cool for me, to do that.

CC: I know you guys have mentioned in the past that you tried to include a variety of songs from a musical aspect to reach as many people as possible.
JO: Exactly, the goal of the record was just that. We didn’t want to be categorized into this clump of bands, and we ultimately will be because you can’t get away from that unless you’re The Fray or something. But we wanted to make a record that would push our limits individually and as a band to see what we could do now and in the future. We didn’t want to set ourselves in one particular sound. So the goal of it was to make every song diverse from each other. Now, I think we did an all right job at that – definitely not stupendous but we really learned what we want to sound like and the direction we want to head in the future. So that was a very beneficial part of the recording process. Making a record that doesn’t sound the same.

CC: If you could pick three bands that maybe influenced you or were listening to while recording the record, what would they be?
JO: Our influences might not shine through our music, specially on that first record because we were trying to, and still are trying to, figure out what we want our sound to be and how we want to write songs. It’s still a struggle for me because I try to emulate certain songs but I don’t want to steal the sound or lyrics of it. But I guess, at that time I was listening to “Plans” by Death Cab for Cutie.
KB: Man, I don’t even know.
GK: I personally, I mean we all do, but I remember listening to Third Eye Blind a lot. I remember John had a playlist he would always play in the morning.
KB: I listened to a lot of Circa Survive actually.
JO: When people listen to that stuff they’re probably thinking our record sounds nothing like it. We’re not heavily influenced by the stuff we personally listen to.

CC: So how is the AP tour going?
JO: It’s been a crazy tour so far.
GK: It’s going by so fast.
JO: Yeah it’s been awesome. It started out real slow as everyone was trying to get to know each other. But now it’s flying by and counting down the days.
GK: I feel this was the biggest family vibe out of every tour I’ve been on so far.  I feel like everyone hangs out
KB: Everyone is friends with everybody on this tour.
JO: Which is a change because it hasn’t always been like that. It’s going to be weird once we’re on a different tour when you’re only friends with certain bands. 

CC: And after this you guys are going on Warped…
JO: Yes, we’re doing the entire Warped Tour this year. It’s going to be amazing.
KB: Most of the guys on this tour are going to be on it too so it should be awesome.
JO: We had a little preview of it last year – only ten days.
KB: That was the hardest ten days of touring we’ve ever done.
GK: Yeah we worked real hard on that. Our record was about to come out and we were trying to promote it. We’re excited to do it again but hopefully we can sleep at night this time.
JO: Exactly.

CC: And you also are playing Bamboozle this weekend.
JO: Sunday. We’re stoked. No Doubt.
CC: You’re playing one of the headliner stages. Plus your band name is at the top of the poster.
JO: Really?!
GK: That’s awesome. I went on the website and our name was up there. I was like, for real?!
JO: That’s crazy!
GK: Little things like that are the things that hit me the most. I don’t know it’s cool.

CC: What are some of the things that make you realize how far you’ve come in the last year?
GK: It’s weird when it does. It’s not like things you would imagine.
KB: It’s the weird things.
JO: It’s very humbling when you do things like a Wet Seal in store, hundreds of kids show up, and they scream for you like you’re the freakin’ Jonas Brothers. It doesn’t make sense but it’s gratifying because it shows the amount of work you put in is paying off.

CC: When can fans expect some new material?
JO: Pretty much we haven’t stopped writing since the first record was done, and even before that. Right now, we’re at the weird state where we want to write, and we are writing, but most songs won’t make it on the record. It’s mostly to keep the creative juices flowing.
CC: Do you think your sounds has changed or developed since your first record?
JO: I’d like to hope so. In a good way. We are going to focus writing about different things on this next record. Hopefully, we can reach more people with it. But as of now, no set dates on recording or anything like that. What we want to do is maintain the focus on promoting this album and continue to push it until it’s like beating a dead horse. Then we’ll go from there and see where it takes us.
GK: Warped Tour for us is the main thing for us right now.

CC: So, to finish up, tell me one random thing.
JO: Naked Juice.
CC: Do you like it, hate it?
JO: Love it.  Umm, I don’t know but that was pretty random
CC: No, that was good
GK: I found out I brush my teeth with dirty water from the bus.
JO: I brush my teeth with dirt.
GK: I named the bus “The Steet” today
JO: That’s all I got dude.