How Andrew McMahon Sits Down & Writes
'Three Pianos' is an incredibly beautiful and bittersweet memoir about trauma, family, and a life in music.
From beloved indie musician Andrew McMahon comes a searingly honest and beautifully written memoir about the challenges and triumphs of his life and career, as seen through the lens of his personal connection to three pianos.
Andrew McMahon grew up in sunny Southern California as a child prodigy, learning to play piano and write songs at a very early age, stunning schoolmates and teachers alike with his gift for performing and his unique ability to emotionally connect with audiences. McMahon would go on to become the lead singer and songwriter for Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin, and to release his debut solo album, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, in 2014.
But behind this seemingly optimistic and quintessentially American story of big dreams come true lies a backdrop of overwhelming challenges that McMahon has faced—from a childhood defined by his father’s struggle with addiction to his very public battle with leukemia in 2005 at the age of twenty-three, as chronicled in the intensely personal documentary Dear Jack.
Overcoming those odds, McMahon has found solace and hope in the things that matter most, including family, the healing power of music, and the one instrument he’s always turned to: his piano. Three Pianos takes readers on a beautifully rendered and bittersweet American journey, one filled with inspiration, heartbreak, and an unwavering commitment to shedding our past in order to create a better future.
Three Pianos is perfect for fans of Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, Jack’s Mannequin, and Something Corporate.
We caught up with Andrew about his writing process for his memoir and how it was different from his songwriting process, and about making peace with his past through writing.
Q: Where do you like to write the most?
I converted my garage into a studio a few years back and I do most of my writing there. That said, when it came time to finish the book I spent a couple of months working out of a motel in Joshua Tree and those were some very inspired and focused sessions.
Q: When do you like to write the most?
I'm a morning person, most of my good work comes to me sometime after coffee and before the sun goes down.
Q: When it comes to drafting, do you prefer writing on a computer or freehand?
As a songwriter, I'm usually working in a notebook but for the memoir, I worked exclusively on my computer.
Q: Are you more of a plotter or pantser?
Much more of a pantser than a plotter. I had a loose idea of where I thought the book would go when I started, but it took me sitting down and starting at the beginning to really figure out what I had to say and which stories felt important to share.
Q: Stephen King has a great line in ‘On Writing’ that says “the scariest moment is always right before you start. After that, things can only get better.” That scary pre-start moment often inspires procrastination in writers. Suddenly, you have to clean your entire house, do the laundry and play Candy Crush for an hour before you can actually start writing. Is there anything you need to do before you can actually sit down and work?
Not particularly. More than anything I just need to commit to the practice of daily writing and that's what gets me to show up. I'm a textbook procrastinator and I've learned over the years the only foil for that is a schedule. Without one I could very easily have become the cliche with a half-written memoir in my nightstand.
Q: Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what music?
I tried to at times when I was working on the book but, for the most part, found it distracting.
Q: How was writing your memoir, Three Pianos, different from your songwriting process?
Songwriting is a bit more abstract for me. At its most mysterious it feels more like channeling than an act of creation. Working on the book required a level of discipline that was very new to me. It was a ritual and a daily practice. That being said, there were moments throughout the process when I felt a similar sense of flow and catharsis that I will experience when I'm writing music.
Q: Throughout Three Pianos, there are breakout sections where you're writing directly to your pianos. Did those come before the rest of the book, or were they added after? How did you come up with the structure of the book?
The piano conversations were actually the genesis of the memoir. There was a moment in the summer of 2019 when it looked like my childhood piano was going to be sold and I found myself writing to it as if it were an old friend and when I was finished with the piece I sent it to my manager with the idea of tackling a memoir through that lens. Once I actually began working the book it was clear that there needed to be a more traditional narrative as well and the form evolved from there.
Q: How did you emotionally prepare yourself to reopen so many of the traumas that you've experienced throughout your life? And what made you want to share them with the world now?
I didn't necessarily set out to open those wounds, but the writing led me to those places and frankly gave me a format to make peace with some hard history. There were days it was exhausting for sure but it felt like essential work. As far as the timing goes, it was just an impulse I had to follow. I think my daughter is getting to a certain age now where I'm starting to look at my life through a much different lens. It felt like the right moment to seek a deeper understanding of where I come from and how I've gotten to this place in my life.
Q: In Three Pianos, you write a lot about the writer's block that found you after your recovery. How do you approach writer's block now, as it applies to both music and this memoir?
I think showing up is the first thing. Setting aside time to write whether I'm inspired to or not is important. In the case of songwriting I also regularly schedule collaborations with other writers which is a great way to steer into new territory. With the book it was all about scheduling the time and sticking to it. Luckily I didn't encounter any serious writers block when working on three pianos.
Q: Were you able to keep writing throughout the past year and half, if so, how were you able to make space for your creativity?
Other than a single song, the only writing I did during the bulk of the pandemic was the memoir. I've started back in the studio recently and I'm very eager to be back at it once I'm home from the tour.
Q: After reading Three Pianos, there felt to be an extra layer of closeness between me and the music and you. It changed the listening experience for me in a beautiful way as someone who has followed your music since the beginning. What do you hope fans will take away from reading this incredibly raw and honest book you wrote?
Like most things I write, I hope people can find some piece of themselves in Three Pianos. I wanted to tell an honest story about family, trauma and how music has seen me through a very full life up to this point. Hopefully it reads that way.
Q: What is a book you've read that's really stuck with you in a way you weren't expecting?
I had a friend turn me on to Richard Powers a couple of years ago. His book, The Overstory, blew my mind and I still think about it often.
Grab your copy of Three Pianos from bookshop.org, IndieBound, or Barnes & Noble. Happy reading!
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