Andrew McMahon has announced that Upside Down Flowers will be released on November 16th. Today he’s released a video for “Teenage Rockstars” and pre-orders are now up. A message from Andrew about the album, along with some new tour dates, can be found below.
When I close my eyes and think about these songs I see the faces of the people I wrote them for. Some are so real I can conjure our shared lives in waves of nostalgia and others are a fiction I’ve grown to love so dearly over time they might as well be old friends. I see Penelope, the runaway, on a midnight bicycle ride. I see my friends and former bandmates on stages the world over as we navigated the strangest coming of age. I see the gambler driving to Las Vegas with every last dollar he can muster trying to pay off a debt he never knew he had. I see my grandmother in the courtyard on Lido and again in a bed at my aunts house where I played her one last song before she passed. I see the back house and the blue ocean, and all the heroes in heaven. I see the piano from my teenage years and my fingers getting older on it’s keys. I see my wife like a statue of calm with my daughter at her side and I see my sister in the backseat of the family car as we pulled out of that driveway in Ohio. I wrote this fast and alone in a California winter. I entrusted the production to Butch Walker, a friend and fellow traveler. A man I met in a moment so bizarre and so far gone now, but one that shaped me for years to come. How grateful I am we ended up back in each others orbits.
I’ve sent this record to friends who have said it’s my best and to some who never replied. What that means in the long run, I have no idea. What I know is this came from someplace primal and practiced and true. Find what you love, be patient or be quick. There is a piece of me in this and I hope a piece of you, my friends. As I see it we are all upside down flowers. Beautiful and backwards, and if we’re lucky…just a little proud. Upside Down Flowers will be here on November 16th, pre-order your copy of the album now.
I’ve tried to write this song a few times. I’m glad I waited. I don’t think anyone is ever ready for their dreams to come true. I know I wasn’t. All I’ve ever wanted to be was a songwriter. When I finally got the chance, it happened so fast, I didn’t fully appreciate how lucky I was. Looking back on that moment now I’m so grateful to still be sitting behind this piano; to be able to reflect with joy and without judgment on what it meant to be a teenager in a band living out my dreams with my best friends at my side. I know now what I had and what I have. With each new day I get to practice my craft, I try to honor the innocence of that dream with my gratitude. I dedicate this song to every kid out there wondering if it’s okay to dream of being a rockstar. I say “fucking dream” – watch the video for “Teenage Rockstars.”
- January 23rd – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
- January 25th – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
- January 26th – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s BBQ
- January 27th – Houston, TX @ House of Blues
- January 29th – New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
- January 30th – Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works
- February 7th – Lake Buena Vita, FL @ House of Blues
- February 8th – Jacksonville, FL @ Maverick’s At the Landing
- February 9th – Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz
- February 10th – Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa
- February 15th – Philadelphia, PA @ Metropolitan Opera House
- February 16th – Niagara Falls, NY @ Rapids Theatre
- February 17th – Huntington, NY @ The Paramount
- February 19th – Boston, MA @ House of Blues
- February 21st – New York, NY @ Terminal 5
- February 22nd – Mashantucket, CT @ Fox Theatre- Foxwoods Casino
- February 23rd – Clifton Park, NY @ Upstate Concert Hall
- February 24th – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
- February 26th – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
- February 28th – Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room at Old National Centre
- March 1st – Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore
- March 2nd – Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
- March 3rd – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
- March 5th – Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater
- March 7th – St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
- March 9th – Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium
- March 10th – Aspen, CO @ Belly Up
- March 12th – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
- March 14th – Missoula, MT @ The Wilma
- March 15th – Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre
- March 16th – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
- March 21st – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
- March 22nd – Los Angeles, CA @ The Orpheum
- March 23rd – Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues
- March 24th – San Diego, CA @ House of Blues