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Of Mice & Men Talk Slipknot, Gimmicks And New Album 'Restoring Force'

More men than mice, we sat down with Austin Carlile and Aaron Pauley...

“One of the reasons why we love coming to the UK is because music here is not viewed so much as a commodity, as an experience,” says Aaron. “Especially if you think of the festivals and stuff, kids out here still see shows as an experience.”

As well as the shows, of course, there’s the records. And by “records”, the band mean actual, physical records, not downloads. “When our record debuted in the US, we were the number one vinyl album that week, because vinyl is making a huge comeback worldwide,” Aaron tells us when we meet, coincidentally, the day before Record Store Day.

The band responds, in turn, by crafting music with their fans in mind. “We wrote a record to ensure that our fans would love it and we knew, from the material we were writing, to select a few songs that we knew our fans would love,” Carlisle recalls of their latest effort, the afore-mentioned Restoring Force.

Pauley agrees: “And because it’s honest. It came from a very honest place, from a relatable place… We would sit and talk and discuss, you know, what is this going to be about, like, what does this have to mean? When the song is over, how are you supposed to feel?”


“We wanted to create that and do that consciously…. Writing stuff that’s real, not writing about, like, stuff we haven’t done,” Pauley adds, while Carlile quips they avoid writing about “Money and b**ches”.

Of Mice & Men are undoubtedly one of metal’s most low-key bands. “From music videos to merch, to who we are to what our appearance is, nothing about us is bright, crazy, dark, goth, nothing. We look like regular - aside from me, if I had my neck tattoos gone - and we all had suits on, we’d look like normal dudes,” says Austin.

Has he ever felt pressure to ‘conform’ to the alternative music image? “No, not at all. I don’t wanna dress like that, I don’t wanna dress like anybody, I wanna dress how I wanna dress. We’re not into the gimmicks, we’re not into the ‘the crazier we look the more you’re gonna like us because we stand out’.”

That’s not to say he judges bands that do: “One of the bands that I love most is Slipknot, and their whole thing is masks, but that’s their thing. That’s their identity, that’s what they come up with and that’s Slipknot. But Of Mice & Men is not that.”

Given that they’re already on their third album with no signs of slowing down, that seems to suit Of Mice & Men – and their fans – just fine.

'Of Mice & Men’s latest album, Restoring Force, is out now.'

By Karen Yossman @MTVUK

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