Aaron Pauley Breaks Down Of Mice & Men’s Shoegaze Left Turn On ‘Wake Up’

Nine albums deep, most bands settle into muscle memory, Of Mice & Men are doing the opposite.

On Another Miracle, the metalcore staples lean into texture and atmosphere, nowhere more clearly than on ‘Wake Up’, a track that pulls shoegaze and ’90s alternative straight into their orbit.

Speaking with Full Metal Jackie, frontman Aaron Pauley explained that while the band have flirted with those influences before, ‘Wake Up’ was the first time they pushed it fully to the front.

“I’ve always said that it’s sort of an homage to like ’90s alternative and shoegazy,” Pauley said.

The song began as a demo from drummer Tino Arteaga, built independently and dropped into the band’s shared Dropbox, part of their now standard process of pooling ideas remotely and seeing what sticks.

“He felt initially like maybe this wasn’t going to fit with Of Mice and that maybe it’s just a really cool-sounding instrumental,” Pauley explained. “But I was like pretty adamant about wanting to use it and figure it out.”

Of Mice & Men ‘Wake Up’ video

That instinct paid off, Pauley says the track hit him instantly.

“It just hit me right in the nostalgia feels. It reminded me of everything that I loved about metal and hard rock and alternative and everything about that feeling.”

‘Wake Up’ sits inside a broader creative shift on Another Miracle, an album the band wrote, engineered, and self produced internally, Pauley also handled mixing and mastering duties, continuing a hands on approach that began during COVID lockdowns.

“We try and just push things as far as we can ourselves,” he said. “It is essentially another job that somebody has to do, but I really enjoy it, so it’s fun.”

Melody became a central focus across the record, with Pauley describing it as a deliberate step forward rather than a reinvention.

“For us, melodicism is like a really, really important part of songwriting.”

As for taking risks this late in the game, Pauley admits it’s daunting, but necessary.

“It can be kinda scary to be on your ninth record and to do something that’s a little bit maybe left of center like that.”

The gamble seems to be working, fans have latched onto ‘Wake Up’, and Pauley’s wish is simple:

“I think if ‘Wake Up’ could be in the top five at radio, that would be pretty amazing.”