Jack’s Mannequin is back in transit. Next stop: L.A.

Andrew McMahon reunites the band for 20th anniversary of its debut

- By Rachel Brodsky

JAY MCMILLAN, from left, Andrew McMahon, Bobby Anderson and Mikey Wagner of Jack's Mannequin.

(LUPE BUSTOS)

It’s easy for Andrew McMahon to feel self-conscious when he listens back to “Everything in Transit,” his 2005 debut album as Jack’s Mannequin.

“There are funny moments when I think about the words that I wrote — that I love,” McMahon says over Zoom, looking back at the first album he wrote following the dissolution of his breakthrough band, the more pop-punk-leaning Something Corporate. “But I’m also like, ‘Oh my god, you were such a moron.’”

It’s taken some time and a great deal of introspection to look back on “Everything in Transit” and its tightly wound singles like “Holiday From Real” and “The Mixed Tape” with more warmth than anxiety, a growth journey that culminated in McMahon proudly celebrating the album's 20th anniversary.

On Saturday at the Wiltern, he and the rest of a reunited Jack’s Mannequin (guitarist Bobby “Raw” Anderson, drummer Jay McMillan, bassist Mikey Wagner) will embark on the second leg of their MFEO (Made for Each Other) tour, revisiting songs from “Everything in Transit” and its two followup albums, 2008’s “The Glass Passenger” and 2011’s “People and Things.”

“Part of the reason it’s possible for me to do this is because I spent enough time on the other side of a room from a therapist to find forgiveness for that whole time in my life,” McMahon says. “This was my 20s, and your 20s are about making mistakes and fumbling in the dark to try and find who you are, what you're meant to do and who you're meant to be with. Sometimes hearing that laid bare is embarrassing.”

Complicating his memories even further is the 20th anniversary of another milestone, one McMahon's 22-year-old self never expected to forever associate with his music career.