Let’s be honest, every teenager wants to have a summer like Mayday Parade portrayed in the “Kids In Love” video. We caught up with Derek to talk about the inspiration for the video, their upcoming tour with Go Radio, and more! Make sure you catch Mayday rocking out on the Ernie Ball stage everyday on Warped!First introduce yourself and what you do in the band.
My name’s Derek and I sing for the band.
Tell a secret about yourself and everyone else in the band.
I’m lazy. Jeremy is weird. Alex is funny. Brooks is organized. And Jake is interesting. And Vic from Pierce The Veil is awesome.
You released Anywhere But Here in the fall. What is the overall theme for the album and what was the inspiration for it?
It’s always been the same for us when it comes to writing songs. They’re about whatever’s going on with us. It’s always just been us trying to write the best songs that we can. And there’s not so much an overall theme I guess.
How did you come up with the concept for the Kids In Love video?
It was the director of the video’s idea and we liked it because we wanted to try something different and make a video that would kind of turn some heads.
What was the overall fan reaction to the video?
It was a lot of positive and a lot of negative, obviously. There was controversy. But that’s kind of the goal was in the beginning.
How is Warped Tour this year compared to the last time you were on it?
We were on it in ’08, that’s the last time we did it. And it’s still awesome and still so much fun. Everyone gets to hangout and just have a good time all day. It’s hot, obviously, but it’s good times. I feel like this year we know more bands on the tour than we did in ’08, so we have more friends on the tour. It’s great.
What bands have you been watching and what bands do you think are going to breakout after Warped Tour ends?
I’ve been watching Pierce The Veil, Four Year Strong, Enter Shikari. You know, Enter Shikari does really well over in the UK, so I’d like to see them get bigger in the United States. They’re a great band. It’s hard to say what bands will get bigger after this tour. The band playing right now, Sparks The Rescue, I think they’re an amazing band and I’d like to see them get bigger as well.
You just announced the Fearless Records Tour the other day. What can fans expect for that and is it weird to be going on tour with Go Radio?
That tour is going to be so much fun, we’re really excited about it. It’s not too weird to be going out with Go Radio. It’s going to be weird, obviously, because our bands are playing together every night, but it’s not going to be too weird. We know all those guys, we’re friends with all those guys, I hangout with most of them whenever I’m home. It’s going to be fun and it’s going to be interesting.
Do you have one big goal that you want to reach in the band?
There’s not one big goal, there’s a lot of goals. Having a gold or platinum album would be a huge accomplishment. Something like that.
What do you think some problems in the music industry are today?
Based on what I know, I’d say labels having too much control over music, but that’s always been the case.
That’s pretty much it. Do you have anything else you’d like to add?
We’re having a blast on Warped Tour! Thanks to everyone who’s come out and watched us or supported us, it means a lot.
