MAYDAY PARADE: Portrait and interview, by Brittany Bell

Posted by rootwebzine on December 29, 2009 · 7 Comments

Mayday Parade is a pop rock band from Tallahassee Florida that formed when members of Kid Named Chicago and Defining Moment came together in 2006. The original line up was Derek Sanders as vocalist, Jake Bundrick on drums and backing vocals, Alex Garcia on lead guitar, Jeremy Lenzo on bass and backing vocals, Brooks Betts on rhythm guitar and Jason Lancaster who was a vocalist, the lead guitarist and the lyricist. This same year they signed with Fearless Records and made their “Tales Told By Dead Friends” EP. During recording the guys decided on the name Mayday Parade. The “single” from the album was “Three Cheers For Five Years”, however it seems as though the music video cannot be found.

In 2007, they began recording their first full length album, “A Lesson in Romantics”. Shortly after the album was completed, Jason Lancaster left the band for creative differences. Come to find out, he later created the band Go Radio who I saw with Monty Are I (and I was clueless at the time of the connection of these two bands). The album was released in July and Mayday Parade was able to support the release on Van’s Warped Tour in both 2007 and 2008. They released music videos for their songs “When I Get Home, You’re So Dead” and “Miserable at Best”. The second of which I was impressed made it onto MTV.

Their first song that caught my attention was “Black Cat” which has a catchy riff and lyrics. I couldn’t stop listening to it the first couple days after I found it and their other songs quickly caught on once I got a hold of the album and they became a top ten on my list of favorite bands. Other songs worth mention are “Jersey”, “Walk on Water or Drown”, “Ocean and Atlantic”, and “Take This to Heart”. One of my other favorite songs from that album that caught my attention immediately was “You Be The Anchor That Keeps My Feet On The Ground, I’ll Be The Wings That Keeps Your Heart In The Clouds”. A ridiculously long title, however it is an amazing song. They aren’t a Christian band, but it doesn’t stop them from talking about God. The lyrics combined to the melodies of the vocals make it a treat for the ears, especially when one is in the mood for a slower song. Here is the chorus:

“And I’ll be here by the ocean just waiting for proof that there’s sunsets in silhouette dreams. My sandcastles fall like the ashes of cigarettes, and every wave drags me to sea. I could stand here for hours just to ask God the question, ‘Is everyone here make believe?’ With a tear in his voice he says, ‘Son that’s the question. Does this deafening silence mean nothing to no one but me?’”

I was excited when I bought both of their first releases, the lyrics in “Tales Told By Dead Friends” are pretty amazing as well. I was excited to catch them on the Compromising of Integrity, Morality, and Principles in Exchange for Money Tour with The Maine, All Time Low, and Every Avenue. I couldn’t care less about All Time Low, I had seen them multiple times before that, the first time being in 2006 when they opened for Amber Pacific. This tour with ATL was where I first discovered Every Avenue, who was also mentioned in my article about the Take Action Tour. However, Mayday Parade impressed me the most and needless to say I thought they were amazing and I was hooked.

Like so many other fans, I was eagerly awaiting their next release. As if to tide the fans over they released a cover of the Pussycat Doll’s “When I Grow Up” for the Punk Goes Pop 2 compilation and put it on their myspace. As far as covers go, it was good because they put their own spin on the sound of the song. I never really liked the original, but I couldn’t stop listening to this version and was thinking “If this is how their new album will sound, it’ll be great!” I enjoyed the guitar and vocals on it.

They began recording “Anywhere But Here” in 2008 and released the title track on myspace in the summer of 2009. Their first single was to be “The Silence”. I have a couple friends who also enjoy Mayday Parade and we were a tad weary of this song, it wasn’t “typical” Mayday Parade, or rather the Mayday Parade that we were used to. Loving music as much as we do, we have seen bands change over the years and figured we’d wait to hear the rest of the album before judging. “Anywhere But Here” had been a good song after all.

The album was released on October 5th, just four days before I saw them on the Alternative Press Fall Ball Tour as co-headliners with The Academy Is… Other bands who played this tour were Set Your Goals, The Secret Handshake and You Me At Six. I was thankful for Mayday Parade for posting the album for full stream the week before it’s release which allowed fans to listen to the whole thing. Yes the album was different, but not as bad as I had feared it would be, so I was relieved. Songs that stuck out and reminded me of their older stuff were “Anywhere But Here”, “Bruised and Scared”, “Center of Attention”, and “Get Up”. They all had the catchy guitar, drums, and lyrics that got me hooked. Even their slower songs were great, “Save Your Heart” and “I Swear This Time I Mean It” have great lyrics as well.

Overall my friends and I felt that the album turned out great. I even have a friend who “doesn’t like them” but quoted “Get Up” on Twitter because she liked the lyrics. “This place is not quite what it seems or anything I was told it’d be. New York you know you make my heart skip, in my dreams I make it into Vegas. Seattle hits me every time, I can’t get Chicago off my mind, New Jersey taught me how to let go, and I’ve learned that’s all that I need to know.” Mind you she isn’t from Seattle, but the east coast.

Seeing them at the AP Fall Ball Tour was an amazing time. The guys have a great stage presence and knew how to get the crowd going. The set (not in order) was: Black Cat, Three Cheers For Five Years, The Silence, Anywhere But Here, Kids In Love, When I Get Home You’re So Dead, Miserable At Best, Jersey. I wasn’t the biggest fan of “Miserable at Best” but after that night, I couldn’t get it out of my head. They left a big impression on me that night and I was lucky enough to interview Derek Sanders.

Brittany Bell: So how would you describe your music to readers?
Dereck Sanders: It’s just pop rock, simple as that. It’s obviously kinda poppy you know, with some rockin’ feel to it, and it’s fun and we like it.

BB: What are some of your influences?
DS: For me personally Queen and Freddy Mercury, a lot of classic rock stuff.

BB: Is there a message that you try to get across to your fans through your music?
DS: More than anything else we just want fans to be able to relate to songs. We write songs about anything that we’re going through at the time and just hope that people will listen to it and relate to it as well.

BB: What do you want readers to know about your new release, Anywhere But Here?
DS: It’s a big deal for us, we’ve put a lot of work and effort into it. Spent the last, more than 8 months working on it, demoing it, recording the songs, and they really mean a lot and we just want everyone to listen to it, give it a chance, and let us know what you think.

BB: Is there any meaning behind the red umbrella on the covers of “Anywhere But Here” and “A Lesson in Romantics”?
DS: I’ve never been a big part of the visual artistic part of this band, but the person who did the art for our first CD incorporated the red umbrella thing. And we thought it’d be kinda cool to keep the same character going in the second CD. But I can’t say the specific meaning of what it means. We thought it was cool.

BB: I remember Jake saying on Twitter that you guys were recording some Bsides, do you plan on releasing any of them?
DS: Yeah, I can’t say for sure, we record the B Sides and I guess the label decides what to do with them. I don’t really know what the deal is, but I personally love all the Bsides. A couple of the Bsides I actually wish were on the CD because I like them that much. So hopefully we’ll release them as well because they’re definitely important songs to us.

BB: I really liked “So Far Away”.
DS: Oh, you heard that? Well thank you.

BB: Do you guys have any charities or organizations that you guys support and/or promote.
DS: Other than To Write Love on Her Arms, that’s the only one that I guess collectively as a band we support. It’s a great organization for sure.

**** NOTE: “So Far Away” was one of two bonus tracks available on iTunes when you download their album Anywhere But Here. Their website also lists the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation as their favorite charity.

If you wish to find out more about this band and other artists mentioned in this article (not to mention listen to their music), click on these links:

www.maydayparade.com
www.myspace.com/maydayparade
www.myspace.com/goradio
www.mysace.com/montyarei
www.myspace.com/themaine
www.myspace.com/everyavenue
www.myspace.com/alltimelow
www.myspace.com/amberpacific
http://www.myspace.com/theacademyis
http://www.myspace.com/setyourgoals
http://www.myspace.com/thesecrethandshake
http://www.myspace.com/youmeatsix

Charities/Organizations mentioned in this article:
http://www.twloha.com/ (To Write Love On Her Arms)
http://www.pedaids.org/ (Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation)

Author’s Note -

I apologize for the wait on this article. I got injured at work the day after the show. Since then it’s been physical therapy, work, and attempting to sort out medical bills. Not exactly the most inspiring thing to have happened. However you can thank my friend Sarah for inspiring me to finish this. She loves this band and I wanted to finish this around Christmastime. Until I get fully better and can start going to shows again, you may see a couple other articles from me on things that interest me like certain documentaries, organizations, or photography. It’s my other passion if you can’t already tell. I’ve done it all: photoshop, plain digital, and my favorite black and white. We shall just have to wait and see.

If you want to contact me, feel free to. I would love to hear feedback and even simple little comments.

www.myspace.com/hidinginhorribleweather

Sincerely,
Brittany B