Alternative rockers Mayday Parade are paying us a visit this weekend, on a tour that’s almost entirely sold out – kind of impressive for a band that’s only been here twice…
The Tallahassee quintet is set to perform shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, showcasing songs from their latest self-titled album released last year, as well as older favourites from their first two records, 2007’s A Lesson In Romantics and 2009’s Anywhere But Here.
Lead vocalist and frontman Derek Sanders is particularly ecstatic at the response from Australian fans, exclaiming, “It’s wild. I can’t believe that things have gone so well over there for us. We’ve only been twice to Australia and this time most of the shows are sold out so it’s very humbling and we’re really looking forward to it!”
Joining them on the bill are fellow US pop rockers We Are The In Crowd and our home grown pop punk boys Heroes For Hire.
“We’ve known We Are The In Crowd for a while and we met Heroes For Hire in Japan, so we’re stoked to be playing with both of those amazing bands. It’s gonna be a heap of fun,” promises Sanders.
Though while they’ve managed to keep their Aussie fan base pretty solid, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing for this pop punk outfit. Following a heap of criticism from their sophomore album Anywhere But Here, the fivesome spent the last couple of years rethinking exactly what Mayday Parade is about.“We had to jump through hoops for the label and play the whole game and in the end we came out with an album that we didn’t believe in as much… and fans reacted the same.”
What remained was a band that’s sure as hell passionate about where they’re at and where they want to be.
“The most frustrating thing about the second album was that we felt like we could have done a better job,” admits the frontman. “We signed to a major label so it was a big deal, money was a big thing and everything had to go their way.”
“We had a bunch of songs that we wrote that we wanted to record, but we had to jump through hoops for the label and play the whole game and in the end we came out with an album that we didn’t believe in as much and we didn’t care about as much, and fans reacted the same,” explains the singer.
He continues, “after that we felt we needed to prove ourselves again, to our fans, and that’s why the self-titled album came about. We learnt a lot doing Anywhere But Here. So since that experience… we had to seriously think about what we want… and we wanted to go back to just getting together, writing songs, and recording them,” says Sanders. “Simple as that.”
So arrived 2011’s Mayday Parade, an eponymous statement that allowed the band to show exactly who they really are and where they’re headed.
“Now we’re in a good spot and everyone’s happy and content and there’s a renewed energy and life in the band,”Sanders happily reveals.
Luckily, as the band had hoped, the self-titled album did indeed regain a network of fans, which has led Mayday to grace Australian shores once again. But the good news doesn’t stop there. There’ve been talks of a new album on the way, and the frontman is more than pleased to confirm just so.
“We haven’t got together as a band and started pulling together our ideas for songs yet, but we individually all have a lot of ideas that we’re really excited about.”
“I think we’ll probably spend the rest of December and January writing and then get in a studio hopefully by February or so, and get the next album done and out. I can’t wait,” he raves.
With promises to stick to their new formula of doing things the way they want to, the vocalist ensures the new album will be just as good as the last, if not better.
“From here on out that’s the way we’ll continue to do things. I can’t imagine us ever working with co-writers again or having any kind of outside involvement creatively. On the self-titled we went back to our producers from our first record (Zack Odom and Kenneth Mount) and I think I could see ourselves doing that again with the next one,” Sanders notes.
“But for the most part, it’ll just be us making music that we wanna make. Which is the reason we started the band in the first place,” he adds.“Now we’re in a good spot and everyone’s happy and content and there’s a renewed energy and life in the band.”
However, whilst their creative methods are set in place, the frontman is unclear on what Mayday Parade’s future will hold in terms of labels.
“It’s tough to say how we’ll do things and what’ll happen with the next album, but we’re just trying to figure all that stuff out now. Regardless of how things work out, we will most likely be on an independent label that will give us the freedom to do things the way we want to,” he affirms.
In a genre that often leads to acts being dubbed ‘sell-outs’ or turning ‘too mainstream’ by their fans, Sanders comments that the fivesome are well aware of the situation within their genre’s scene.
“For me the only thing that’s really selling out is if you compromise the things that you believe in. And honestly, in a way we sort of went down that road with the second album,” he concedes.
“But I guess none of that stuff bothers us too much. We started the band because we love creating music; and despite any negative stuff, if there’s still people that want us to make albums and go on tour then we’ll keep doing it,” asserts the vocalist.
While their tour only spans across the one weekend, Sanders hopes Mayday will be back down under again soon – they’ve even got their own fingers crossed for another Soundwave.
“I would love to come back for another Soundwave. That was one of my favourite things we’ve ever done with this band,” he enthuses. Here’s hoping!
Mayday Parade is out now, and Mayday Parade kick off their Australian Tour this Friday 7 December at The Hi-Fi in Sydney, with two dates in Melbourne and Brisbane on Saturday and Sunday respectively. Full dates and details here.
