Songs for Lovers

It’s not hard to oversaturate the market. Year after year music genres come on strong only to disappear just as quickly. With more fickle music fans, downloading, over-marketing by the labels and modern radio playing the same three songs to death, music fads have come and gone at an alarming rate.
The only exception, up until recently, seemed to be country music. But then hip-hop stuck around, possibly just to spite Bill O’Reilly, and pop-rock keeps dominating the charts. It’s hard to sift through it all, but there are a few gems mixed in there. Hailing from Tallahassee, Fla., Mayday Parade is one of those bands.
The band formed in 2005 and is currently comprised of Jeremy Lenzo, bass/vocals; Alex Garcia, guitar; Brook Betts, guitar; Jake Bundrick, drums/vocals; and the great vocals of frontman Derek Sanders. Not really known as a big music city, Tallahassee provided a good training ground for the band to hone its chops while playing small venues.
“At first, it was easy for us to get a good local following. I think the first show we played in Tallahassee was sold out with about 400 kids. That’s really about as far as it goes as there are only a few venues in town,” said Derek Sanders in a recent phone interview. “It’s cool, though, ‘cause all the local bands are friends, and there’s a good sense of community of all the local bands.”
After signing to Fearless Records and recording their debut EP, “Tales Told By Dead Friends,” the band hit the road with the Warped Tour, but not as performers: With backpacks of CDs and portable disc players, the band members walked the parking lot and entry lines of the venues selling discs for $5. By the end of the two month tour they had sold 11,000 copies.
Following the success of “Tales,” the band released “A Lesson in Romantics,” which sold over 100,000 copies. A big chunk of rock, pop and strong vocals, ALIR showed their debt to bands of the past like Jimmy Eat World and The Ataris as well as newer bands like Taking Back Sunday and Brand New. The first single and video, “When I Get Home, You’re So Dead,” recorded 75,000 plays the first two days it was on MySpace.
Now signed to Atlantic, and with a new (the title’s a secret) album coming out October 6, the band is excited for the prospects of being on a major. “The album process was very different recording this album compared to recording the last album,” said Sanders. “There’s a much bigger budget for it, so that was cool having a lot more time in the studio.”

But along with the perks of being on a major there are also the pressures of having to deliver.
“There’s so much more pressure this time” Sanders said. “Before we didn’t have much of a name, we were just recording a CD. But now, you have to follow it up and have to make everyone happy that bought the last CD. I feel like it’s the same band and same kind of stuff, it’s really hard to say, but I feel like anyone that liked the last album will like this one. ”

One of the more interesting ventures the band has gotten involved with is Modlife. Started by Tom DeLonge (of Blink-182, Angels and Airwaves fame), Modlife is a new networking site that connects fans with artists using live video, blogs, texting, etc. At this point it’s mostly made up of bands that you’d see on The Warped Tour, but it could become more than just a cool tool.
“It’s really an amazing web site,” Sanders said. “It’s so easy to get on there and just be connected. It’s all set up for you with our Mac books, just open up and hit broadcast and you’re live with the kids. It’s a really fun and easy way to be connected with the fans.”
As with most punk bands, Mayday Parade is extremely close to and interactive with their fans, so that they spend a lot of time on Modlife, Twitter and Facebook is not really that surprising. And, if you’re at the show, you’ll notice the similarity to another Florida band, Dashboard Confessional, in that the fans know every word to the point of making it hard to hear the band at times.
“That’s really what makes it so worth it, to do this and be in a band is to have all those kids sing along to your lyrics,” said Sanders. “That’s such an amazing moment, even to the point where when we started doing in-ear monitors. I only wear one ‘cause I hate being disconnected from the crowd.” 

Questions and comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Who: Mayday Parade w/Metro Station, Mitchell Musso and Evan Taubenfeld
When: Thursday, July 30, 6:00 pm
Where: The Venue
Cost: $19, All Ages