With the release of their fourth album Monsters in the Closet out on October 8th, Mayday Parade has quickly become a key figure band in alternative rock. Now the headliner of the Glamour Kills tour, playing alongside Cartel, Man Overboard, and Stages and Stereos, Mayday will be playing shows across the country and performing their newest songs live for the first time.
During some down time before he rocked the homecoming stage, I was able so sit down with lead singer Derek Sanders and talk to him about coming up to PSU and what Mayday has coming up for the rest of this year. His backstage, laid back style was a stark contrast to the energetic and fearless personalities him and his four band mates have on stage.
Have you guys played up here before past Boston?
Not too much, I think. We’ve obviously played Boston a lot. We were talking and I don’t think we’ve ever played anywhere in NH before. In an old band that some of us were in we did.
When did you know that music was what you wanted to do with your life?
I don’t know. I think it was just a slow transition from being about 12, I guess. My older brothers played music and I thought that was cool so I started to play guitar. I met Brooks when I was in the 7th grade and we started a band and that just became the main focus for us. We took music much more seriously than school or anything else so we just kept going with it. When we graduated we decided we weren’t going to go to college and we were going to try to tour and just push it as far as we could. After about a year or two we quit that band and started Mayday Parade.
So your headlining the Glamour Kills tour that starts next week, what cities are you most excited to play?
There are a lot of them that I’m really excited about. Sayreville, New Jersey is always a good one. It’s one of our favorite venues there called Starland Ballroom, it’s one of our favorite places to play anywhere in the world. So I’m looking forward to that and a lot of the east coast, the east coast is usually the best for us. The Boston show will be incredible and the New York City show is going to be awesome. The west coast is pretty cool too, you know, California, Portland, Seattle, it’s going to be fun everywhere. All the bands on the tour are just so amazing, it’s gonna’ so much fun.
Have you played with any of the bands you are touring with before?
We’ve played shows with Cartel before. We’ve never toured with any of the bands yet but we’ve met all of them and kinda know all of them but we’ve never toured together so it’ll be the first time and I’m really excited
Are you excited to play the House of Blues in Chicago on Halloween?
Yeah, I’m really excited that’s a great place! We’ll whip together a good costume last minute. We usually wait till literally the day of, and then scramble to put something together with what’s left at any costume stores. If the band ever breaks up it’s going to be over an argument we get in on Halloween over what we’re going to be.
What’s your favorite song to play off of your new Album, Monsters in the Closet?
As of right now we haven’t played any of it live yet. We’ve just been rehearsing it at sound checks and stuff like that but this tour will be the first time we play the songs live and I’m really excited about it. I think my person favorite is the first song called Ghosts which we released already. It’s really hard to say, throughout all of our CD’s there’s always one that’s my favorite and it might change throughout time. I’m just pumped to play it live. It’s an exciting thing playing a new song for the first time and seeing everybody’s reaction and to have them sing along and stuff. It’s pretty rewarding because it’s songs that we’ve been working on for years so it’s cool to finally have it out and be playing it live.
When you guys put together a song, is it more collaborative or does one guy take the lead?
It’s definitely a collaborative thing. Usually somebody has the original idea and the skeleton of a song and then we get together and finish it as a full band.
Any guilty pleasure songs you’re listening to lately?
The 1975 band is pretty good and it’s a little different than stuff I would usually listen to but I’ve been into that CD, it’s pretty cool. I hardly ever listen to any radio.
Any shows you’re addicted to?
Well it’s all Netflix, there are so many awesome shows on there like Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, and Arrested Development.
What about Breaking Bad?
I watched the first three seasons so that’s all I ever saw. At the time it seemed like it was getting repetitive but everybody that stuck with it to the end seems to think that it’s amazing. I may end up going back and trying to watch all of it. I definitely loved the part of the show that I watched and I’ll definitely have to go back once they have all the seasons on Netflix.
What is it about you guys that makes you stand out in your genre and work so well together?
A lot of it is probably just our relationship with each other and how most of us have known each other for a really long time. We kinda grew up together playing music in different bands and so I feel like we all genuinely appreciate being here and being able to do what we do. We don’t have much conflict in the band at all. You see some bands with a lot of internal conflicts and struggles but we’re pretty easy going and we just love to play music and have fun. It’s pretty easy to do that when we have such a good time.
One of my favorite things about playing for colleges is going out after. I never went to college so this is like my glimpse at what college is like.
Later on at the show he was telling the crowd this was their first time in NH, to which they reminded them of the time in 2011 they played the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom with All Time Low in 2011. “Well you guys make us feel like it’s the first time!” said Sanders