Mike Sands Releases New Single “Abandoned” and Announces Seventh Album, Happy Hour, Out July 10 on JIB Machine Records
Mike Sands, the New York-born, Nashville-based singer-songwriter whose restless creative spirit has been carving out his own corner of Alternative Americana Rock for over two decades, releases his powerful new single “Abandoned” today, the lead track from his forthcoming seventh studio album, Happy Hour, due July 10 on JIB Machine Records. Produced by Lincoln Parrish, the celebrated Nashville producer best known for his work with Cage the Elephant, and recorded at Siena Studios on Music Row, Happy Hour is the most fully realised and emotionally wide-ranging record of Sands’ career, a twelve-track collection that moves between gritty rock swagger and plainspoken Americana storytelling with the ease of a man who has finally found the exact sound he has been reaching for.
“Abandoned” sets the tone with urgent, kinetic energy. “Are you a breakthrough or a breakdown / Sometimes they both feel the same,” Sands sings, and in that couplet sits the whole emotional territory the album inhabits: the fine and shifting line between falling apart and breaking through, the way rumours and complications pile up, the way a person ends up on a stranger’s couch at the bottom of everything, and the stubborn, quietly heroic decision to keep looking for good in every situation anyway. It is the kind of lyric that hits differently depending on where you are in life, which is exactly the mark of the best Americana writing.
Sands describes his sound as what happens when a New York alternative rock upbringing collides with the soul and grit of the American South, the result of loving to rock like Sammy Hagar while writing like Jason Isbell and refusing to choose between the two. Happy Hour delivers on that combination across twelve tracks structured as two sides in the classic vinyl tradition. Side A opens with “Foolish Heart” and moves through “Thoughts and Theories,” “Blue Anemone,” “Vision,” “Questions,” and “Strip the Paint,” the latter built around one of the album’s most arresting images: “We can choose to make a brand new start / But it won’t erase things we’ve already made / You can strip the paint / Add a new coat and make it pretty / But it won’t hide what’s underneath.” Side B carries the emotional weight of the record’s deeper themes through “Abandoned,” “Save Me Save Myself,” “Forgetting About Me,” “Moving in Circles,” “Miss Your Love,” and the title track, a warm and wistful invitation to sit still for a moment and let time do its work.
The album was engineered by Jordan Logue, with all guitars played by Kelby Ray, drums and percussion by Sam Brown, background vocals by Rachael Leigh, and mixing by John Constable. Mastering was handled by the renowned Michael Fossenkemper. The result is a record that sounds both lived-in and alive, rooted in the craft and camaraderie of Nashville’s Music Row while carrying the edge and emotional directness of an artist who came up playing clubs in New York and has never lost that hunger.
This is your seventh album. What did you discover about yourself as a songwriter on ‘Happy Hour’ that you didn’t know when you made your first record?
Alot. The songwriting was done differently on this album than I have even done previously. This is the first time that I didn’t have the songs ready before I went into the studio to record. I met Lincoln Parrish and we decided to work together and I had no songs. He challenged me to sit down and write 15 songs about whatever I was feeling and I did. It took me about 6 weeks but I had never written that many songs in such a short period of time. I ended up writing some of the best songs I’ve ever written and we recorded 12 of the 15 songs I wrote. It was a challenge and an amazing experience and I thank him every day for that.
You’ve been making records for more than two decades. (only more than a decade, my first album came out in 2013). How has your relationship with ambition changed since your early years playing clubs in New York?
My ambition is one thing that does come and go depending on what else is going on in life. I’ve never wanted to be popular or worried about being a star, my goals have always been to improve as a songwriter and musician and get better each album and to enjoy it. I definitely did both recording and playing these songs. I don’t know how I can possibly reach higher than this but that’s a problem for later, I’m just enjoying all of this right now.
Lincoln Parrish has worked on records known for their energy and atmosphere. What did he hear in these songs that helped unlock the version of the album you wanted to make?
This was a complete collaborative effort from the second I brought him the 15 songs I wrote. We went over each song many times coming up with any ideas to change that, add that, etc. He definitely had some great ideas and improved each song in some way but he let me voice all of my ideas and the final say was mine. I had a vision for the album and he let me bring that vision to life. Some songs we were changing things while in the middle of recording if we came up with an idea to improve it. It was a truly creative and enjoyable atmosphere and that certainly had something to do with how well the songs came out. I definitely think they have a great energy to them and love playin them live so far.
When listeners reach the final track and hear “Happy Hour,” what do you hope they’re left thinking about themselves, their own lives, or the road they’ve traveled to get there?
All of these songs are about struggle, heartache, overcoming trauma, etc., when I wrote Happy Hour I knew right away that it would be the last song because it sums up my attitude throughout the struggles. Happy Hour is not a place but a state of mind to try to enjoy life even with all the crazy things going on, as the first line sums it up best “I don’t want to leave my Happy Hour just to sit home with you and cry” I would rather be out enjoying myself then sitting home and worrying about what’s going to happen tomorrow, just live your life and you can overcome whatever it throws at you. I’ve overcome many things including cancer and I’m still thankful for every day I can get up and enjoy life. I wish everyone would join me for Happy Hour.