EXCLUSIVE
OF Mice & MEN RETURNS WITH NEW LABEL and NEW EP ’ s for 2021 . AARON PAULEY ON OM & M ’ S future .
Since the late 2000s , metal core and new metal bands like Asking Alexandria , Bless the Fall , and Bring me the Horizon have been saturating the airwaves . In 2009 , a band out of Costa Mesa , California called Of Mice and Men burst on the scene . In the midst of band turmoil in 2014 , Jamie ’ s Elsewhere front man , Aaron Pauley joined the group . The multi instrumentalist quickly became the band ’ s bass player and lead vocalist . After the second departure of the band ’ s original frontman , Austin Carlile , Aaron took over full time on lead vocals and bass . After a series of successful releases under the Rise Records label , the band in 2021 announced they have switched to SharpTone . In an exclusive interview with Aaron , we talk about the band ’ s new EP “ Timeless ” and what ’ s coming up next for Of Mice and Men . This is my exclusive interview with Aaron Pauley .
Photo Credit : OM & M PR
It looks like bands will be able to go on tour soon . How much have you missed that ?
AARON : Oh , I miss it a ton . You know , it is like entirely a huge piece of , for me personally , my self expression . It ’ s how I interact with the world . A lot of that has to do with playing shows and stuff . You kind of lose that certain facet of communication that you have . You have to adapt , but I think one thing that maybe creatives have had a leg up on during this time is that we ’ re used to having to adapt . We ’ re used to having to change things , we ’ re used to having things changed . So you can learn to adapt . And so I think through that you find some sort of equilibrium and sanity . I cannot wait to get back out on a stage and just feel a sub under my feet right before a breakdown . I know the feeling . If I close my eyes I can put myself back there . And there ’ s nothing that replicates it , so I ’ m just going to be patient until then . I can ’ t wait . I mean , I think once it ’ s safe again , live music is going to have such a crazy moment again .
Let ’ s discuss the new EP . Was that an idea of your new label or something the band was already considering ?
AARON : You know , we had discussed wanting to release shorter format releases as early as like .. 2017 . We were talking about it , yeah , but it never really materialized , because of the amount of time it would take to do three EPs versus to do an album . And then with touring factored in , where touring is about three quarters of what you spend your active time doing , and then about a quarter of it spent in the studio and writing . So now that you don ’ t have touring , we were like , okay , then conversely , it takes less time to actually record a full album versus , like , work on a handful of EPs or what not . But when it comes to the lag time of creating 10 songs , recording 10 songs , getting all of the materials ready and then releasing it , it takes way longer than to record three songs and design artwork . ( Continued on next page )