THE MAINE CLASS OF 2021 ARTIST OF THE YEAR

It looks different, but it still feels like The Maine," frontman John LL O'Callaghan told us back in the summer. He was talking about his band's outstanding new album, 'XOXO: From Love And Anxiety In Real Time', but to be honest, he could've been talking about their entire year.

- MADDY HOWELL

2021 saw them reconnect with their fans in a way that only bands like The Maine can. They filled their cup with Sad Summer Fest, international touring and a whole host more, and came together with their fans to celebrate their community, and their exceptional new record. Here, Pat Kirch and Garrett Nickelsen walk us through the journey that they, John, and guitarists Kennedy Brock and Jared Monaco have been on over the past 12 months.

Let's rewind ourselves back to last year when this new era of The Maine was first taking shape. What was the mood within the band coming out of You Are OK' as album eight began to peer over the horizon?

Pat: Well, the different thing about this time is that we had 'Sticky recorded, mixed and done while we were still touring 'You Are OK'. I actually think we got the first mix back on the UK tour, so there wasn't really much of a break between the two cycles.

Garrett: That gave us confidence because we were already really excited about that song. It was like, 'Okay, we've got a good one ready to go', so that mood was already there when we went into it. I can't remember a time where that's been the case before, where we've had a song that we were all like, 'That's the one', before we even started making a record. That freed us up to do some different stuff sonically that we maybe wouldn't have done if we didn't have that song ready to go.

Did 'Sticky' lead the vision going into XOXO: From Love And Anxiety In Real Time' as you began mapping things out, then?