Interview: Shannon McArdle, Formerly of the Mendoza Line

Shannon McArdle, "Poison My Cup" (MP3 via P4K)
The Mendoza Line, "30 Year Low" (MP3)
The Mendoza Line, "Since I Came" (MP3)

Few weeks ago, I wrote about my time spent with local singer Shannon McArdle, formerly of Athens-to-Brooklyn band the Mendoza Line, a band that'd enjoyed marginal success throughout this decade by negotiating the indie-rock/alt-country Venn diagram. Years of dating founding member Tim Bracy led to marriage, but one day in February 2007, he was gone. The Mendoza Line's final release, 30 Year Low, came last summer, and although all the material was written and recorded before there were any inklings that their marriage would be striking out, it clearly presents two people who're not so happy.

Earlier this month, McArdle released her solo debut Summer of the Whore, a striking, guitar-centric, whispery debut that documents her divorce, the inevitable depression she spiraled into thereafter, her subsequent recovery process, and all the loaded, convoluted feelings you get while moving on from anything. In the time we spent together, McArdle was extremely candid with me―she spoke frankly about her divorce, the last Mendoza Line record, and Summer of the Whore. ― Michael D. Ayers

When was 30 Year Low completed?

That's a good question...

I only first listened to it for the first time this week. It's a bit depressing.

Here's the thing that you probably won't believe. It was not recorded as a divorce record, as it was marketed.

Okay, that may be true.

The record was made when Tim and I were very much together. Maybe it's because he was leaving? I don't know. It was a shock to me, when he did. There was a note when I got home from work one day, and I never saw him again. I can't explain how devastated I was. After ten years of being together―we had our problems―but I got home from work one day, and I got a note that said "I'm gone." And I never spoke to him again, I never saw him. This was February of '07.

So, it was a really tough time. Maybe I'm stupid, but it was a shock to me. After all the time we spent together, we finally got married. And the marriage didn't last. So, I didn't write any of those songs. It might be strange when you listen to "31 Candles" or whatever, but I really was writing a character. Tim and I, because of the past, we had a history, we weren't in a monogamous relationship at the beginning of our relationship ten years ago. With the Mendoza Line, I don't think I ever got out of that even after I felt very secure in our relationship, and he had asked me to marry him, and we were married. I like this conflict of a man and a woman riding in a van together, in this sort of banter, sort of arguing all the time. Which is really hard for other people to imagine, but Tim and I were never upset with each other.

I mean it makes sense. I'm trying to just imagine how someone could sit there and say these things, if they were actually true. When you're right next to the person.

If Tim would have said to me, "In sixth months, I'm going to leave you. And this is what that song is about. Will you sing on it?" I think I would have said "No!" The songs were all recorded certainly before we had separated. We owed [Seattle-based independent label] Glurp a record. . . So, when the band broke up, we had to give them what we had, and this is what we had.

It was put together and packaged without my consent. I really resented that it came out as a divorce record and was marketed as that. I think people found it interesting and that it helped sales, but this isn't a record to me. It's not one that I really felt was one done with the intention of putting together as one.

30 Year Low is like 25 minutes long. It struck me as ironic―the collapse of the band, and the name of the band.

It was destined to happen. I kind of always felt that way. I joined the band after, and there was always this sort of attitude. It never seemed quite right. I just really enjoyed making music with Tim, and I loved this idea of having an artistic endeavor with someone who I really loved. And it's really nice, and I know a lot of musicians who are away from the person they love for so many months a year. I felt like we were really lucky.

When was [Summer of the Whore] conceived, written, and recorded?

Tim left in February and I didn't do a thing. Then I had a terrible back accident. Someone tripped me going down the subway stairs, by mistake. But it was a very serious accident, involving rehabilitation. It looked like I was pregnant in my back, it was the most disgusting thing. I'll send you a picture.

Oh, you don't have to do that...