Mayday Parade are no strangers to Australian shores. From festival appearances to supports slots and headline dates the band have returned to the land down under as much as possible. In December 2018 Mayday Parade will be part of Good Things festival in Australia and also play some of their own side shows. We caught up with Mayday Parade guitarist Brooks Betts to talk about their accomplished new album Sunnyland and he shares his excitement to play Good Things festival.

SCENEzine
Firstly what was the experience like being part of the last cross country American Warped tour?

Brooks Betts
It was great. A lot of people came out and made it a great last cross country full tour. It worked out perfectly that we did every even year it seemed like. It’s such a great way to make new fans even for a band like us who’ve been around and maybe people have heard the name but have never seen us. There’s so much cross platform of genres of rock it’s going to be a tough thing to replace with our next summer coming up. We are happy to have done the last one.

SCENEzine
Congrats on your latest album Sunnyland. You must be stoked with how it turned out?

Brooks Betts
Yeah we are getting a really good reception on the record. We are playing a bunch of the songs right now on the road. It’s cool to see people really liking it. Some people are saying it’s their favourite record. You can see it with the sing-alongs in the crowds.

SCENEzine
What was it like working with John Feldmann on the album?

Brooks Betts
It was good, he’s a really smart guy. He really knows his melodies and how to put a really catchy song together. He works really fast on stuff, our pace likes to be a little slower but sometimes you get different results out of things. We switched around with three different producers on this record. It probably helped to make it more diverse.

SCENEzine
Yet again this album gives fans songs to escape into and help them through dark times. It must be a cool feeling knowing you can help people with music?

Brooks Betts
Yeah we get a lot of people who come up and say that, mentioning we’ve helped them out through hard times. It’s good because that’s what music is for a lot of people, it’s therapy. Even though our music is dark it’s actually really a positive thing. We are humbled that our music is helpful and impactful because everyone hopes for their music to impact in some way.

SCENEzine
What was it like making the video for “Piece Of Your Heart”?

Brooks Betts
Simple nothing to crazy. We are pretty used to videos at this point. We have a tough time usually deciding on exactly what we are going to do for the video, that’s the hard part. Getting there and doing it that’s easy, you don’t even have to play. Well you play but if you mess up nobody hears it.
 

 
SCENEzine
Our favourite song from the album is the title track “Sunnyland”. Can you tell us a little about that one?

Brooks Betts
That’s a Derek song he put together. “SunnyLand” really is a abandoned hospital that was in Talahassee that’s been demolished since. It was a place that we used to sneak into and not really hang out in the sense of drinking beers more just innocent kid stuff. We didn’t break in we just hopped a fence. Police would stop by and once in a while we would get stuck there waiting for people to leave so we didn’t get caught. It was a really creepy place that we would go and explore. If you look up the history of Sunnyland it’s actually Sun Land technically but people started calling it Sunnyland for some reason after it closed down. There’s some history in it and it’s definitely a very haunted place. The has a lot to do with the song but it’s also about losing our childhood innocence.
 

 
SCENEzine
It’s not too long until you will be back in Australia. You must be excited to be a part of the very first Good Things Festival ?

Brooks Betts
Yeah it’s going to be really cool. When Soundwave went away it was one of those things where we were losing a really cool festival that we got to do. We are hoping that Good Things festival can replace that and become that staple for us to look forward to.

SCENEzine
Are you keen to watch any of the other bands on the lineup?

Brooks Betts
The Used will be great, Baby Metal is great and The Offspring is great. I actually saw The Offspring way back in 1999 at this rock festival that was in Atlanta Motor Speedway with around 50,000 people. Tons of great 90’s bands were on it. So it will be really cool to see The Offsping again.

SCENEzine
Is there anything you like to do when you get to Australia? Like have a Aussie beer?

Brooks Betts
I’m honestly not a big fan of Australian beers but I will drink them anyway (laughs). I don’t know if that’s a interesting fact. I don’t know what it is but it doesn’t taste like a beer I’ve had anywhere else in the world that’s for sure. I don’t like XXXX but VB is not so bad though.

SCENEzine
Do you have any advice for people going to Good Things festival to get the most out of the day? Like don’t get too drunk early in the day?

Brooks Betts
Well that would definitely be one thing because that just kills any day, you’ll just go to sleep. But you’ll need sunscreen obviously since you are in Australia. If you can bring your own water then a cool thing would be if you could bring a large bottle of water that’s frozen. Hopefully they will let you take that in but don’t get me in trouble. If you bring that in it slowly melts over the day and you can keep adding water to it. That’s one of the coolest things I’ve seen people do at festivals. Other than make sure you get there on time for all the bands.

SCENEzine
One of my favourite Mayday Parade memories is seeing you supporting Paramore at Roundhouse Sydney back in 2007. Do you remember that tour?

Brooks Betts
Yeah that was our first time in Australia it was such a cool experience. Somebody brought that up the other day and I was like oh yeah I forgot we toured with Paramore, because it was so long ago. That was a really cool tour it opened us up in the market. Hod Rod Circuit was on that tour as well. I saw some of those guys in Birmingham Alabama the other night and it brought back old memories. We actually did Japan too with Paramore that was the first time we went there as well.

SCENEzine
With the new Freddie Mercury movie Bohemian Rhapsody coming out is there any chance you will start adding your cover of “we are the champions” to your setlist live?

Brooks Betts
I don’t remember if we’ve ever even played that live but we should. I didn’t even think about that it’s good you brought that up. I’ll bring that up to the guys.
 

 

SCENEzine
Lastly do you have a message for the Aussie fans of Mayday Parade?

Brooks Betts
Thanks for having us back in the country we are super stoked. It’s such a cool thing that after all these years that we are so welcome there. You guys make it possible for us to travel the world. We will see you all there, come say hey. We are not shy.

(interview by Christian Ross)