James caught up with Mayday Parade’s Derek Sanders and Alex Garcia before their sold out headline show at the Birmingham Institute.
You released your latest album ‘Monsters In The Closet’ back in October, how would you say the album has gone down with your fans and the press?
Derek: I’d say it’s been successful, I’m happy with the reaction. It did our biggest first week ever with 30,000 in the billboard top ten so yeah, all in all with it being our 4th album to still see growth like that has been great.

How did you find the whole writing and recording process for ‘Monsters In The Closet’ compared to your other albums?
Alex: I’d say it was more of the same with this as the self-titled, we wrote in a beach house in Florida and then we went to Zach and Ken in Atlanta, the only difference is we had more time, so we never felt rushed, which was very beneficial for the songs.

You said the last time I interviewed you, that the last album was different to the first two, so would you say you prefer this style of writing and recording?
Derek: Yeah, I think we’ve worked out how it works best and I think we’ll continue to work with that method in the future.

Chilling out by the beach?
Alex: Yeah, although it is in January

Derek: Yeah, the location is important though its mostly us getting together isolated somewhere writing together.

You are currently back in the UK in the middle of a 14 date tour, how does it feel to be back in the UK? And how have the shows been so far?
Derek: It’s great to be back and the shows have been incredible. Super High energy and most have been sold out, it’s our 8th time over hear and it’s great to see how much we’ve grown as a band, as when we first played these venues as support and now where headlining them.

Is there anything in particular you love about England? Whether it be something like the music or the food?
Alex: The food is something for me that I really enjoy, in the US there’s this stereotype that British food is terrible, but for me I have something everything that’s good.

Derek: There’s always something for vegetarians too.

Alex: Yeah, myself and Derek are vegetarians and every place I go to England has something for vegetarians to eat.

Is it not like that in America?
Derek: Well, not always, everyplace over hear it’s labelled and nice and it’s not always the same in America. Something else I enjoy about coming over to the UK is the partying. The club nights at shows are great, and it’s not always possible in America with the drinking age being 21, and the audience is younger so they can’t stay, but over hear people stay around and have drinks at the bar and at club nights and that’s something special that only really happens in England that I look forward too, but unfortunately I haven’t really been doing it on this tour as I’ve been sick, so I’ve not been drinking.

Have you been living it up?
Alex: OH Yeah!

You have Man Overboard, Decade and Divided By Friday supporting you on tour, how have you found touring with these bands?
Alex: Great, we toured with Divided By Friday in Japan, so we were already friends with them and we toured with Man Overboard in the fall in the states, so we get on really well with them, Decade we didn’t really know until this tour but they’re cool people and have great music.

Derek: Yeah they’re an awesome band. It’s been good for the shows and we share a bus with Man Overboard as we get on really well, and yeah it’s been good times!

Once your UK and European tour comes to an end you are heading out to Australia for the Soundwave festival, how much are you looking forward to these shows?
Derek: We’ve done Soundwave once before and it was incredible, there’s nothing else quite like it, that we’ve done. It’s an easy tour for us, as there’s allot of days off and no sound check, and we really just show up and play and hangout.

Alex: I’m really looking forward to the weather too, as it’ll be warm and sunny.

You have also been confirmed to play the Vans Warped tour this summer, how do you find playing such lengthy yet amazing tours?
Alex: I think it’s something were used to, it’s tough on the warped tour as you might have like 13 days in a row with only 1 day off, and then the same again, so it can be kinda brutal. I think I have it easiest in the band though, as I just play guitar whereas Derek has to look after his voice and the crew are the ones running around, but its part of the cause. In general is a tough tour regardless of how many days you have off.

Can we expect to see you back in the UK for some more shows before you wrap up the tour schedule for the album?
Derek: I would think so yes, maybe some festivals but we don’t really know as of yet as the warped tour takes up allot of the summer.

You spend a lot of time on the road touring, what do you get up to in-between shows to keep you busy?
Derek: Everyone kinda has the own thing, I have a daughter and a family life at home, so I try and communicate with them, and it depends really. But I think we all pretty much do the normal, read books, listen to music, play video games and drink.

Where do you hope to see Mayday Parade in a year’s time?
Alex: We’d probably be writing a new album

Derek: We’ll have probably ended the touring for this album and yeah, be settling down to write a new album in January.

One last random question that we ask every band, if you could be an animal out of a zebra or Giraffe which one would you be and why?
Alex: I guess a giraffe, as I feel like you see allot of footage of zebras getting taken down by lions but I feel like giraffe are huge so you’d be able to trample anything, and you’d get to see a great view up high.

Derek: Yeah I’d be a giraffe too.

Thanks for your time is there a message for your fans reading this?

Derek: Thanks for the support and the opportunity, were great full to be able to do this.

Interview by James Daly