North: A Step In the Right Direction

It’s basic common knowledge these days: In the mainstream counterculture movement (does anyone else notice a problem with that phrase?), anything with “corporate” in the title is inherently evil and will most likely give you cancer. Such is not the case with SoCal rockers Something Corporate. Extensive medical testing has confirmed that purchasing their new album, North, doesn’t give you cancer, it actually augments the sexual organ of your choice.
Okay, that might not happen, but you will probably enjoy listening to it. North is built on the same foundation as its predecessor, Leaving Through the Window (which boasted the undeniable indie hit “iF yoU C Jordan”), but the band’s distinct “modern alternative rock-meets-piano” approach to songwriting has inarguably progressed.
“We wanted to grow but we didn’t want people to pick up the album and be like, ‘Wow, this is so different,’” said guitarist Josh Partington as the band was preparing to rehearse for their upcoming co-headlining tour with Yellowcard. “We didn’t want to alienate our fans, but at the same time we didn’t want to make Leaving Through The Window again. I think that North is a darker album, but I like it better than Leaving Through The Window; it’s a lot more consistent to me. I think that we all knew how we wanted this album to sound. There was a very clear and concise vision between all of us about the sound we were going for. We’re not trying to dictate social reform or anything like that with our music, but we do our own fair share of living in this world, and we have something to say about it.
“We recorded North in a town called Shoreline right outside of Seattle,” he continued. “Being from Southern California, we’re all used to having a lot of stuff going on around us, so not having our friends and our family there kind of gave us more focus.
“It rained a lot and that contributed to the somber feel of the album,” Partington added with a laugh, commenting on the band’s environment while recording. “It’s true, though. Having that climate around you does kind of dictate your mood. I don’t think that it had a heavy influence on the music, but I definitely think it contributed to it.”
When asked for an example of that mood, Josh cited “Me and the Moon,” a song about a woman killing her husband. “Things like that happen all the time,” he said. “You turn on the news and sure enough, ‘Lady goes crazy and kills her husband.’ The song kind of takes it from the lady’s perspective, though. Everything isn’t always so cut and dry.” He paused for a second then clarified that the band does not condone killing one’s spouse.
Admittedly, spousal murder is not a common topic in songs nowadays, but as far as Something Corporate is concerned, that’s the point. You can’t affect today’s apathetic audiences with an album full of clichés; you’ve got to do it with truly great songs. “To me, a great song is anything that moves you in a different way so that after you’re done listening to it, you don’t feel the same,” Josh offered on the subject. “You kind of feel like you’ve been changed. Not that it changes your life, but you feel like you’ve really witnessed something special. Basically, it’s anything that makes you take a step back and go, ‘Wow, gnarly.’”
But what is it about Something Corporate’s music that gives its fans that “wow, gnarly” effect? “I think that part of it is that we’re not up there trying to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes,” Josh said. “We don’t use a lot of gimmicks. We’re just an honest rock band, and I think that people connect to that. We try to be as humble as possible; we know that it’s our fans that are making this possible for us, so we’ve always tried to go out and talk to the fans and be on the same level as them. That’s part of the reason we’re so excited about this tour. And really, when you think about it, co-headlining tours are the coolest tours to do because you get to do your own show but you still reach out to new kids. We really like doing them (the co-headlining tours, not the kids) and Yellowcard is a rad band so we’re really glad that it all worked out that way.”
So how does Something Corporate hope that things will work out for them in the future? “We really just want to go wherever it takes us,” answered Josh, surprisingly nonchalantly. “We just want to reach as many people as possible. That’s always been the goal of this band.”

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