Interview: Jason Manns and Paul Carella Reflect on Their UK Tour [EXCLUSIVE]

Conny
10 Min Read
Courtesy of Staff Photographer, Mandi.

For the past two weeks, singer-songwriters Jason Manns and Paul Carella have toured the United Kingdom together for the second year in a row. With stops in a variety of places like Glasgow, Oxford, and London, the duo has managed to grow their audience since their tour last year. After the final show of the tour in London, they took some time to answer a couple of questions about their tour, their connection to the Jonas Brothers, and their dream collaborations.

Courtesy of Staff Photographer, Mandi.

Nerds And Beyond: The UK tour just ended, what was the best part of the tour or a favorite moment?

Jason Manns: Seeing the growth from last year, we have doubled ticket sales in some of the cities.

Paul Carella: I agree, it’s great to see a number of new faces coming to each show.

Nerds And Beyond: Do you guys have a funny story you can share?

Jason Manns: It’s always funny when you find out which jokes make us laugh but not anyone in the audience…

Paul Carella: …which happened on a few occasions [laughs].

Courtesy of Staff Photographer, Mandi.

Nerds And Beyond: Was there a favorite show or favorite venue, and if so, why?

Jason Manns: There are three ways to answer this question, favorite venue, favorite crowd, and favorite performance. The venue is Studio 2 in Liverpool because it is so unique, the crowd would be in London because of the energy and the performance would be Edinburgh because I had knocked the rust off but I wasn’t vocally tired yet.

Paul Carella: Yes the first two are the same for me, Studio 2 because the sound is incredible and I love the design and the history of the great bands who have recorded there, it is fascinating to me. The crowd in London because of the energy and the singing along to all of our songs is very special and performance in Oxford, I feel like everything was working in sync during that show particularly well.

Nerds And Beyond: You’ve done a couple of tours over the last couple of years that have pub crawls and various fan events that aren’t concerts, what made you add that component and is it something you’ll continue doing?

Paul Carella: These kind of events are great opportunities to get to know everyone a bit better in a different surrounding.

Jason Manns: Agreed and it’s something we’ll continue to do.

Nerds And Beyond: What’s the hardest part about touring for ten days?

Jason Manns: For me, it’s being so physically busy that keeping up with day to day logistical stuff like emails and work back home is tough to do. I find as hard as I try when I get home, I’m very far behind.

Paul Carella: I’d say the sleeping patterns are the hardest part because after you play a show, by the time you get back to the hotel, eat, try and catch up on social media and emails, etc, you end up getting to sleep very late and before you know it you are up and on the road again.

Courtesy of Staff Photographer, Mandi.

Nerds And Beyond: We heard Paul sing “Perfect Spot” this tour. Jason if you had a song of Paul’s to cover, which one would you do?

Jason Manns: I like “New Age” but I’d have to learn harmonica so I’m going to go with “Hero”.

Paul Carella: Good choice!

Nerds And Beyond: On that note, you both covered songs you haven’t really sung before in front of an audience. Do you find that more challenging or is it fun to do something different on stage?

Jason Manns: Definitely more challenging for me, one of the reasons I don’t play new things as often as I like is because there is comfort in knowing something so well you don’t have to think about it.

Paul Carella: Yes, I agree. I like to challenge myself with playing different things but you definitely have to pay more attention to what you are doing and what is coming next in the song when you don’t know it as well as other songs you play every night.

Nerds And Beyond: You both have been working on some new music, can we expect anything this year? Any hints?

Jason Manns: Yes we are, yes you can and no you can’t [laughs].

Paul Carella: I like that, I’ll go with that.

Courtesy of Staff Photographer, Mandi.

Nerds And Beyond: What’s the story behind the Jonas Brothers story during the tour? What Jonas brother is your favorite Jonas brother?

Jason Manns: I have always been a Nick guy, Paul has trouble deciding between Kevin and Joe!

Paul Carella: True story, I just can’t decide! Our buddy Tyler Caroll is an amazing bass player who has filled in for the Station Breaks before and he just got hired by the Jonas Brothers and we were all on tour in Manchester on the same night so we went over and watched him do his thing after our show. We really were impressed with his playing and the Jonas Brothers, they put on a great show!

Nerds And Beyond: Is there a collab with a musician coming up that you’d want to bring on tour with you in the future?

Jason Manns: I have a lot of collaborations this year, some new, some old and I’d love to bring any of them on tour sometime.

Paul Carella: I’m not collaborating as such with anyone, I’m trying to write for more people which is nice and like Jason said, it would be great to tour with all of the ladies and gents that we’re involved in with.

Nerds And Beyond: Is there a song you wanted to play on the tour you ended up postponing/never playing?

Jason Manns: I have some new songs that I haven’t performed yet, but in the moment I didn’t feel like I was ready and will probably save them for my New York show on Friday, March 27th.

Paul Carella: Similar to Jason, I toyed with the idea of trying out one of my new songs but I decided against it, need some more practice with them first [laughs].

Nerds And Beyond: Have either of you have any shows to plug in the near future?

Jason Manns: Already did [laughs], also pretty sure everyone knows about it but Dick Jr and the Volunteers and The Station Breaks on April 20th in Nashville will be joined by Tyler James and Emma Fitzpatrick who stole some hearts at Rockwood Music Festival.

Paul Carella: I have a few things planned throughout the year which are in pencil at the moment so I can’t confirm anything but there will be more coming.

Courtesy of Staff Photographer, Mandi.

Nerds And Beyond: Is there a plan for a tour next year? When can we expect info for that?

Jason Manns: Yes, it’ll be sometime between the end of February and the middle of March but we need to see what next year’s calendar looks like to see where it fits.

Nerds And Beyond: Last question, if you could each sum up the tour in 3 words, what would they be?

Jason Manns: Music, memories, and laughs.
Paul Carella: Blood, Sweat, and Beers.

As Jason stated above, you can see Jason playing with Dick Jr. and the Volunteers and The Station Breaks on April 20 in Nashville, and he’ll also be playing a show with Billy Moran and Hayden Lee in Charlotte, North Carolina on April 21. You can also catch Jason appearing at Creation Entertainment’s Supernatural conventions, so make sure to say hi!

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By Conny
Conny joined her first fandom at the tender age of three and somehow never stopped finding new things to obsess about and love. Her current love is everything Marvel, especially two characters who tend to be frozen at one point or the other. From Drag Race to Harry Potter or musical theatre, as long as it makes her smile (or cry), it’s probably her thing.
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