What's the official line-up now? I know you've been through a few changes since
first forming.
Mark Kano (guitars and vocals) Mike Garrigan (guitars and vocals) Jeremy Cannon (drums)
Mike Mitschele (bass)
Why the name Athenaeum? Didn't you ever think it would
be hard for some people to pronounce?
That was a tough call. I still can't spell it. People
would say "Ath-a What?" but then they would buy our record and come back to see us every time we came around. In
hindsight we should have been Athenaeum69....
"Radiance" is on my list of top ten favorite albums
of all time... what were you guys going through when you recorded it? (Or wrote it?) Do you find yourself
going through the same things now, or has life changed dramatically since "Radiance"?
Thank you. I'm still proud of "Radiance". It's very much a coming of age record. When I was younger,
life always looked better in the movies. I think that's where those songs came from. I was cravin' me some drama.
Now I've got some and I can't write anymore.
"Flat Tire", "Away", "Radiance"
and "Frozen In Time" are some of my favorite songs... can you tell me about them?
Flat
Tire started off as a fictional song, but then I met the girl and married her. Away was written for an ex-gal-pal-o-mine.
We were in the middle of a break up when I played her the song for the first time. She was into what I was doing (as a musician)
and inspired quite a few songs on "Radiance". Radiance (the song) was written while I was living in a house on Radiance
Drive in my hometown. It was the last song I wrote for the record. In a nutshell, Frozen In Time is about breaking the
cycle of personal mistakes. I tried to intertwine different stories that all shared a single theme. This can be difficult
to do in a song. There just ain't enough room in the liner notes for all those lyrics. I think my home demo for that one
was like 8 minutes or something. Crazy. Lyrics were falling out of my pockets on that one.
Is every song
personal to you? Why? Are they usually about personal struggles or experiences you have or is it written for everyone
in general?
Well.....no....and yet....yes. Or maybe no. I'm not really sure. They always are
and they always aren't. Does that answer your question?
Do you have one song that really sticks out?
I like Plurabelle because of the collaborative effort between myself and Mike G. I'm very proud of "Sweeter
Love". Even people who don't normaly get into my band like that one. If Baby's Gone could have been so much better
than the recorded version. Off of "Radiance" I like your picks as well as Lifeline and No One.
I
can hear a big change between records... "The Green Album" and Radiance"... was it a natural progression?
Sure. The Green album was aptly titled. We didn't know what the hell we were doing.
We spent $2000 in this poor guys living room making a bunch of noise. I think the songs had time to mature before we recorded
them with Gavin MacKillop. Plus we spent about $223,000.00 more on Radiance. We should have made well produced sex tapes instead.
They seem to be helping out a lot of careers these days.
Who would you credit your success to?
My mom. She's about as stubborn as they come.
Is there one person who inspired you
more than others?
This may sound strange but I think never meeting my father really pushed me to
try and do something different with my life.
I read on your site that you were releasing a self-released
CD called "Hourglass" back in 2002, did you ever go through with it? What would I have to do to get a
copy of it? Why wasn't it released by Atlantic?
We were dropped by Atlantic which is why
they didn't release it. Hourglass is a collection of demos and outtakes. I think most Best Buy's would have it.
I heard you're testing new material live... can you tell me about a few of them?
Some of the new songs we've played are "Jackie and Sammy" "Sad Songs" and "Crawling Back To
You". As well as "Gravity Affects Me and Walk In Circles which Mike G. wrote. They're good. Not finished though..
I also saw on your site that "the current Athenaeum lineup will be playing some shows as the Mike Garrigan
Band"... Why? And what will happen to Athenaeum?
I'm
very busy with my family right now and haven't had the time nor energy to complete a new record. Mike released a record
last year and never really promoted it. It's a great record and deserves to be heard. Athenaeum will probably go dormant
for awhile. I'm the only original member so at times I get bummed out about it and want to quit, but then we'll have
a great show and I don't. I change my mind quite a bit.
Any plans for the new record? What can
fans look forward to?
Not at the moment.
Last question....
What makes you who you are? Is it the lyrics or sound... or something else?
I think all three. A
good song can be as real as a person. But the song never changes or ages. Only your opinion about it does. Writing songs will
always be a mystery to me. You create something with melody, lyrics and a rythym that people connect with. It's quite
remarkable really. If I could explain what people liked about us then I would be faking it. That's one thing I'll
never do.
