Straight Up Random

Warped Tour ‘08: Mayday Parade

Interview with Derek Sanders of Mayday Parade

So what’s the deal with the “Jamie All Over” music video? When is going to premiere?

Derek: You know, I don’t even know for sure right now. We’re kind of being updated on that as we go. I still haven’t seen like the final edit of it. We’ve seen a few kind of rough edits, but I’m definitely excited about it and I hope that’ll it’ll be doing stuff with it soon. I don’t know exactly what the word is yet so, sorry.

I was looking at the video stills on MySpace, and it looks like the theme is Las Vegas. How’d you come up with this concept? 

D: Well, you know, we did one music video for the song “When I Get Home You’re So Dead,” and this one we kind of wanted to make it a more fun - us having a good time - and the song is actually about a dream of going to Las Vegas, and just having fun and losing all your money and so it we figured it kind of made sense to do that. So the whole video is us in a casino, having a good time and losing all our money.

You guys are playing all of Warped Tour, and it’s a pretty rough tour, did anybody think you were insane for doing that? 

D: It is a rough tour, but actually for us this year, it’s super easy because we have a bus. We’ve done Warped Tour several years in the past in a van and trailer where we’ve followed the tour one year and sold CD’s outside. I followed the tour in a different band and sold CDs outside and we played a few weeks in a van last year so having done it three years in a row in a van, and then, doing it now on a bus, it’s just like, it’s so easy. So, it’s definitely awesome, I don’t see how anyone can complain if you’re in a bus you know. 

What’s been your favorite part about Warped Tour so far? 

D: Obviously you know playing is awesome. There’s always so many kids everyday, everyone’s really excited, everyone’s having a good time. Meeting all the rest of the bands, hanging out, it’s like a big summer camp. You become friends with everybody, and everynight you get to hang out, and you don’t have to worry about driving or anything and you have your own bunk and so it’s just awesome.

 What about your least favorite part? 

D: It’s hot. It gets tiring sometimes just being out in the heat all day, but that’s really all you can complain about. It’s not even really that bad.

You guys are from Florida so you should be used to the heat.  

D: Yea, exactly, exactly.  

How do the crowds at Warped Tour compare to that of regular venues? 

D: Warped Tour…it’s different sometimes because it’s outdoors, but sometimes, obviously there’s like that barrier so a lot of times at club shows the kids are a lot closer - right up next to you there - and that sometimes can be cool. It’s pretty similar. Everyone likes to go crazy, crowd surfin’ and stuff, and just have fun. Everyone’s really hot though, so that’s kind of a bummer, but everyone has fun. 
 
Do you guys get more nervous to get up on stage at Warped than you would at a normal show?
 
D: No. I can’t speak for everyone, but I don’t really get nervous at all. 

Do you have any memories of the first time you went to Wapred Tour?

D: Yes. The first time I went to Warped Tour, I can’t remember if I was 15 years old, maybe I was 15 or 16, I don’t know. The first time I went, I had actually just had lung surgery, about two weeks before hand, and was still kind of in rough shape. I was supposed to go in a wheelchair, but I ended up not going in a wheelchair, and we just went. It was definitely a pretty exhausting day, but it was awesome, we got to see a lot of really cool bands. I can’t remember if it was the first year that I went, but I remember seeing Thursday and New Found Glory, and Good Charlotte, From Autumn to Ashes, The Starting Line, there was a lot of really good bands.

Is there any bands you would recommend bands to see?
 
D: There’s a lot of good friends of ours on this tour that we’ve toured with recently and our now back on tour with them again, so that’s cool. So definitely we have a lot of friends in Pierce The Veil, We The Kings, The Color Fred, Four Year Strong, The Audition…there’s so many good bands. Family Force 5 is one that if you have not checked out, you have to check them out, absolutely. 
 
On AP.net, they posted that on Amazon.com that you’ll be touring with All Time Low and The Maine in the Fall. Is that true?
 
D: Yes. It’s us and All Time Low, The Maine, and Every Avenue. And that’ll be in the Fall, yea.  

Can you give us one truly Straight Up Random fact about yourselves? 

D: Our bass player’s nickname is Cabbage, and none of us know why. He has always been called Cabbage and he won’t tell any of us why his nickname is Cabbage. I’ve known him for about for years, and I have no idea why they call him Cabbage. He won’t tell me.