After the merger of two local bands in Tallahassee, Fla., Mayday Parade, an indie rock group with emotional lyrics and raspy vocals, was born.
“The members that are now in Mayday Parade were all really dedicated and wanted to do music for the rest of our lives,” said lead singer Derek Sanders. “Things were holding both the bands back, so we took the best of both and formed one band.”
That new band was made up of Sanders, bassist/vocalist Jeremy Lenzo, guitarists Alex Garcia and Brooks Betts and drummer Jake Bundrick. The band recorded its six-song EP “Tales Told By Dead Friends” in one week in 2006 with the goal of being ready in time for that summer’s Warped Tour. The five members packed their bags and hopped in a van to follow around the tour, promoting themselves without ever stepping foot inside of a venue.
“We’d only been a band for a couple of months, and Warped Tour gave us a huge jump start. By the end, we had sold 11,000 EPs,” Sanders said.
After Warped Tour ended, Mayday continued touring the country and began writing material for its debut LP, which would be based on experiences it was going through.
“We were on tour for a couple of months and, really, [the songs] would be at that moment exactly what was going on,” Sanders said.
For instance, when the boys played a show in New Jersey and something happened back in their hometown, they got together and came up with the song “Jersey.”
“Most of the songs are about relationships, but one is about an ex-member of the band that I quit who did some terrible things to us called ‘I’d Hate To Be You When People Find Out What This Song is About,’ and one is a really good song about the girlfriend I had at the time called ”Take This To Heart,”” Sanders said.
Mayday’s album full of songs about love and friendship was released in July with the appropriate title “A Lesson in Romantics.”
Around the time the album hit stores, Mayday Parade went on Warped Tour again, but this time got to enjoy it from the inside.
“It was a lot different and a lot better,” Sanders said. “It was definitely stressful. You have to drive through the night, you hardly get any sleep, but it’s worth it because we got to play for kids everyday.”
Due to the band’s heartfelt tracks with honest lyrics that everyone can relate to, once you listen to Mayday’s songs you cannot get them out of your head. Sanders said the band members’ influences include “a lot of oldies, ’70s and ’80s, and rock bands like Led Zepplin or Guns N’ Roses, but it also differs from person to person.”
“There’s a band in Florida called Further Seems Forever that were a huge influence to me and the other guys as well,” Sanders said. “And I know that Jeremy [Lenzo] really likes Saves the Day and The Get Up Kids.”
Now fresh off their tour with labelmates Alesana, and a few overseas dates with Paramore, Mayday Parade is currently touring with Madina Lake through the end of December before heading home for a well-deserved break after being on the road for seven months straight. Even though the guys released their first album only a few months ago, Sanders said that “even now, being on the road, they are recording a lot of new music.”
“We always have our acoustic guitars, and we’ll sit in the van messing around,” Sanders said. “We all have Macs with GarageBand, too, so we’re always recording our new ideas and stuff.”
After the new year, Mayday Parade will hit the road again to continue promoting “A Lesson in Romantics” and continue grabbing everyone’s attention worldwide.
