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Mere months before the release of Jack’s Mannequin’s debut album in 2005, frontman Andrew McMahon was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia — a type of cancer where bad white blood cells multiply and overproduce in the bone marrow causing damage and possible death.

“I wouldn’t say [cancer] changed my songwriting as much as it changes your prospective,” McMahon said. “And when you have shifts in perspective, those things manifest themselves in what I’m saying.

“Having that illness has definitely effected me. Hopefully, over time, it will recede into the distance and just become part of the menagerie of what you go through in life.”

Cancer aside, McMahon’s life has included more than its fair share of turmoil.

Rising to fame as a young teenager with the California pop-punk band Something Corporate, McMahon soon found himself in an awkward position after the band’s hiatus left him with material he knew could never work for Something Corporate.

McMahon formed Jack’s Mannequin as a more solitary outlet for his personal brand of pop rock songs. The band seemed poised for a breakout tour when McMahon’s diagnosis was delivered.

But that was 2005. Now, almost seven years in remission and with three Jack’s Mannequin’s records under his belt, McMahon is ready to step in a new lyrical direction.

“On this record, I think a lot of myself has moved past being sick,” he said.

Just look at the verse in “Hey Hey Hey (We’re All Gonna Die)” from the 2011 release:

“I’ve returned to the scene of the crime/ With my bus and my band, I’m making a stand/ So sympathy now for the last time,” McMahon croons.

After the release of the band’s second album, “The Glass Passenger,” McMahon went back to the East coast for a tour, where he played some of the very same cities he was scheduled to play when he was originally diagnosed with cancer.

“That line about my bus and my band was very much about the aftermath of everything I went through,” McMahon said. “It’s a personal lyric.”

With so much intimate emotion lurking in McMahon’s lyrics, what should Cincinnati expect when Jack’s Mannequin hits the Bogart’s stage on Friday, Jan. 27?

“People should bring their dancing shoes,” McMahon said.

But how do you manage to keep things fresh on the road, playing shows night after night?

“We try not to play the same set list, but sometimes, it’s just me telling a story about one song on one night and then telling a completely different story about a completely different song the next night,” McMahon explained. “We try to reinvent the flow.”

Switching things up in the studio has also affected the live show. In the past, Jack’s Mannequin has largely been a solo affair. But starting with 2011’s “People and Things,” McMahon opted for what he called a more “classic rock” approach to cutting a record.

“After a couple of false starts, we decided to bring the band [that has been playing live for several years now] into the studio,” he said. “We just learned how to play these songs as a band, and we recorded them as a band.”

This group tactic cut down opportunities for synth and computer wizardry, but ultimately allowed for better tunes.

“These songs really come to life on the road,” he said.

Catch Jack’s Mannequin playing at Bogart’s on Friday Jan. 27.