Brian Ireland was playing sold-out shows with Something Corporate, touring the world, and coming home to share a bedroom with his younger brother. Fans saw a rock star. At home, he was still figuring out where to put his drums.
The band began with a conversation in Spanish class. Brian and Andrew McMahon entered a battle of the bands, and a group of high school musicians eventually found its way to Drive-Thru Records. A major-label deal followed, along with recording sessions at Cello Studios, where Tom Petty was working next door.
Brian had only been seriously playing drums for a few years when he found himself on Warped Tour with bands he had grown up listening to. The opportunity was thrilling and intimidating. Something Corporate responded by working: playing the shows, taking shifts at the merchandise tent, signing autographs, and thanking the people who showed up.
Those relationships kept their meaning long after the tour buses stopped.
When a longtime supporter missed out on tickets to a reunion show, Brian, Andrew, and guitarist William Tell immediately agreed that she belonged on the guest list. She had been there before the record deal. Years later, the band still remembered.
Recorded ahead of Something Corporate’s 2023 return at When We Were Young, this visit finds Brian preparing to play with the familiar lineup again. He talks about the friendships that made that possible, the exhaustion of a relentless touring schedule, and his growing desire to have an identity beyond being the band’s drummer.
Brian also gives an unusually candid view of the business behind the music. He explains what a record deal made possible for Something Corporate, where he believes those deals become unfair, and how downloading and streaming changed the world the band first entered. His advice to young musicians is practical: understand what your music offers an audience and approach the career with your eyes open.
What would success look like if you could define it for yourself?
Brian eventually built a career outside music and kept playing because he loved it. Returning to Something Corporate brought the songs, the friendships, and the fans back into a life that had continued to grow. He could sit behind the drums again with a clearer sense of the person taking the stage.
