Let The World In — The Latest from John Mailander’s Forecast
You started playing at ten-years-old. It was 2001 in San Diego and the city’s music scene included performances by U2, Linkin Park, Coldplay, and Jason Mraz. Which, if any, of these artists influenced you to become a musician?
The biggest influence early on came from The Mark O’Connor Fiddle Camp in San Diego when I was just starting out. That really blew my mind and introduced me to so many musicians who would become big heroes and friends. Darol Anger, Casey Driessen, Alex Hargreaves, Mike Barnett, Melissa Harley. Sara Watkins of the San-Diego area band Nickel Creek was a big influence on me early on. I met her at that camp and was lucky to take some lessons from her as I grew as a musician.
Berklee College of Music, Boston. “Song For John,” was written for your professor of mandolin, John McGann. He was a prolific composer and arranger. Which albums of his standout for you?
John McGann was such a force on mandolin-family instruments, guitar, and as a teacher. Not just as a music teacher, but in life. He taught me so much about the level of dedication and reverence necessary for practice and listening. He has many great compositions, and I love the albums he made with Chris Moore as the band Rust Farm. He particularly opened up to me a lot of the deeper compositional inner workings of The Beatles catalogue, which has been a huge influence in my own writing style.
You became an educator, joining preeminent music camp’s staff. Your first instructional book, A Fiddler’s Guide to Moveable Shapes, combines traditional music notation with striking visuals for a unique learning experience. You also teach private lessons for intermediate to advanced students. What would you recommend to students just starting out?
I believe everybody is musical; everybody can make music of their own. Keep your heart and ears open, it is a wonderful gift to give yourself (and, in turn, to others) to learn an instrument or a song.
Member of Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers. “Playing in Bruce’s band … has been incredibly inspirational and is a large part of what’s driven me to learn to be a bandleader and share the Forecast project. Although fiddle has always been my primary instrument, I’ve more recently fallen in love with the piano, largely through deeply listening to Bruce night after night. As a compositional tool, the piano has opened up a lot of new avenues for me …” How does the piano allow you to experiment and hear new ideas come to life?
The piano allows for exploring the entire compositional range of a band, with chord voicing and bass lines. Writing with the fiddle can feel very melody-forward, and the piano helps me open up and imagine compositions from a bigger-picture perspective with harmony and counterpoint.
Three years after becoming a touring musician you moved to Nashville in 2015.
Two years after that you began working on your debut record, Forecast, to explore new instrumentation and compositional themes. The record came out in 2019, and the band was formed after the album release show.
The next album, Look Closer, continued the band’s explorations through an inward-looking, contemplative tone during COVID.
Now independently releasing the third one, Let the World In, “It’s the heaviest record I’ve made sound-design wise, and I hope for it to flow together as one continuous listening experience which blends rock, jazz, psychedelic and Americana flavors.” What makes this sound the heaviest to date?
The tones themselves on this record are grittier, bigger, and wider than our past records. From a playing perspective, I feel we collectively opened up to some darker emotions than before, reflecting outer and inner worlds — there’s more of a fearlessness this time around to lean into those uncomfortable feelings and sounds. There’s a catharsis in that.
Recently played The Ryman, ‘an epic bluegrass orchestra of love,’ with the Sam Grisman Project.
Next up is the new album’s release party at Nashville’s Eastside Bowl on the 31st. What can fans look forward to hearing?
We’ll be playing the new album from top to bottom, it’ll be a rock show and we’ll likely be heavily stretching out on some of the songs. We’ll be working with an improvisatory light-show team (Dig Deep Light Show) for this show, so it will also be a psychedelic visual experience. Also expecting special collaborations with The Kyle Tuttle Band and Paper Wings, talented friends who will be joining us on the bill that night.