Just in time for their ten year anniversary, Mayday Parade are set to release their fifth album Black Lines. The rockers from Tallahassee, Florida have continuously showcased their talent song after song, show after show, while fans all around the world fell in love with them. Frontman Derek Sanders shares his thoughts on the new album, their ten year anniversary and upcoming shows.
So there’s a lot going on in the world of Mayday Parade at the moment. You got the new album Black Lines coming out on October 9th. How did that record come about?
Well, [it] is an exciting thing; it’s our fifth album and it’s coming out right at the ten year mark of the band. So we felt like we wanted to do something a little bit different with this one and that’s kind of been an evolution from our previous album, Monsters In The Closet. We all liked that album and enjoyed making that album, but we felt like it was a little similar to things we’ve done in the past; it felt like it was a good time now to try and go a little further outside the box of what we’ve done before and try to make an album that sets itself apart from our previous albums. That was the overall vibe of it and with that in mind, we went with a new producer Mike Sapone, who really is just an amazing guy. He did so much to help us head down this path with this new direction, we’re all very happy about it and proud of it. We’re very excited to get the album out to see what people think.
With you guys touring a lot, were the songs written on the road or did you guys sit down and write it all in a block of a couple of months?
It’s both, really. As we tour, we put out an album and we tour for about a year and a half or so on each album. In that time, we all sort of individually come up with some ideas and demos or whatnot and then when one album wraps up, we start really focusing on the next one. We start getting together and bringing these ideas together and really hashing out the songs and finishing the songs. Then we go to record them and repeat the whole process all over again.
From the new album, you’ve already released “One Of Them Will Destroy The Other”; how was filming the music video for it? What was it like teaming up with Dan Lambton from Real Friends?
It was cool, it was a little weird playing in water like that and getting water dumped all over you throughout the whole time. But it was a lot of fun and one of the more fun video shoots I think we’ve ever done. I like how kind of simple it is; it’s just a performance, very high energy and obviously, it was great to have Dan from Real Friends there with us.
Will there be any other collaborations we’ll see on the album?
No, there aren’t, it’s just that one and that’s it.
Are there any other future collaborations we can expect?
Who knows? I certainly hope so, I really enjoy doing stuff like that. So I can imagine that absolutely we would do something like that, but it’s kind of tough to say.
Now, October 9th is a big day for you guys. Not only is the album being released, but you guys got a documentary Three Cheers For Ten Years coming out. Can you tell me a bit about it?
Yeah, it felt like it was the right time for it. We’ve never done any sort of DVD or anything like that before. Close to a year ago now was when we were thinking about our fifth album; we knew it would come out right at the ten year mark as a band and thought now would be a good time to do a DVD. We’ve got all this old footage we’ve never used, so we can put that altogether with some new stuff focusing on the new record. The name Three Cheers For Ten Years fit perfectly for the timing and it’s a really exciting part of it as well.
What can fans expect from the documentary? Is it a glimpse behind the scenes?
It’s sort of two parts; there’s a part focusing on the past ten years and then just the story of the band and how we got started and a lot of really old footage from the years. The other part of it is when we’re in the studio recording Black Lines, sort of looking towards the future and kind of just behind the scenes of getting this album put together and starting this whole new album cycle.
You mentioned that the documentary touches on how the band formed, can you give me a quick run through of how you guys came together?
Yeah, yeah for sure. There were two bands in Tallahassee that split to form one. There were three members from one band and three members from another band and we quit our other bands and merged together and started Mayday Parade. Before that, we all played in sort of different bands together and it just made sense. So we got together and wrote our first EP Tales Told By Dead Friends and released that ourselves and followed Warped Tour and now signed to Fearless. Everything sort of took off from there. There’s a lot of history of the band in there and its really neat to look back at all that.
How did you guys decide what sound you wanted the band to have?
It was just sort of the music we were all into at the time. In saying that, all of us were about 19 years old when we started the band and we were heavily influenced by Jimmy Eat World, Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, Saves The Day and all those kind of bands. It was also the kind of music our previous bands were playing as well.
You guys are going on the AP tour later this year with Real Friends, This Wild Life and As It Is. What can fans expect from this tour?
A really, really good time. It’s going to be just so much fun. I’m really really excited about that tour.
Will you guys be playing tracks from Black Lines?
Oh yeah we will be, for sure. I don’t know exactly what the set list will be yet but we’ll be playing at least four or five new songs as well as a lot of old stuff.
You guys are also on the cover of the November issue of AP. What’s that like?
It’s cool! It’s the second time we’ve done a cover with AP and it’s an honour to be part of that. A couple months back, we went up to California and shot the cover. I just got my copy in the mail two days ago. So yeah, it’s cool stuff.
In the article for AP you said, “I feel like if we are going to be a band for another 10 years, we’ll have to do something different”. What would you do differently?
Well, that’s what I mean with the music. It’s kind of the idea behind some of the songs on the new album. They’re kind of different to anything we’ve done in the past and I guess we felt like we needed to do that because we didn’t want to keep making the same album or the same music over and over again. We felt like that was starting to happen. With Monsters In The Closet, we felt like it was just a self-titled album part two and we weren’t pushing ourselves enough. We felt like if we’re going to keep this up for another ten years, we’re going to have to change something about it a little bit.
The last time you guys were in Australia earlier this year, you were touring with Yellowcard. How was it?
That was amazing. I really love those guys and the shows were amazing. I got sick for part of it which really was a bummer but other than that, it was just a great time. It was too short, honestly. It was a lot of fun.
Are you guys planning on returning to our shores anytime soon?
I’m not sure. I’d imagine that we definitely will, I would think next year in 2016 sometime we’ll make it over there.
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Black Lines is out October 9th.
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