Florida pop punkers Mayday Parade will soon be back on Australian shores playing tracks from their now 10 year career. We caught up with bass player Jeremy Lenzo ahead of the tour to talk about their latest album Black Lines.

SCENEzine
Firstly how was it playing Warped this year. Is it as fun as you’d imagine?

Jeremy Lenzo
I think this was our 6th year playing Warped, maybe 7th, I can’t really recall. One of the cool things about doing it so many times is that you get to know everyone, it starts to feel like a family reunion, and I don’t get that feeling doing any other festivals.

As far as the crowd, we couldn’t be happier, we always have a blast playing on Warped. One of the great things about Warped Tour is that there are so many people who have never heard your music, so there’s always potential to make new fans.

SCENEzine
Congrats on your newest album Black Lines, it’s awesome. It’s coming up on a year from it’s release looking back are you stoked with how it turned out?

Jeremy Lenzo
I think we are all very excited with how it turned out. We wanted to make something a little more rock, and a little different than what people would expect, and I think we did that. Now we are writing for the next record, and trying to figure out what approach we want to take this time around.

SCENEzine
One of our favourite songs from the album is “Letting go” did that song come easily in the writing process?

Jeremy Lenzo
Every band writes music their own way. The way we go about it is, we start writing ideas separately by ourselves, and then when we have a good version of our idea, we bring it to the group and try and expand upon it as a band. so for “letting go”, that was an idea Brooks wrote, and we all loved it when he brought it to the group. I think it feels natural working on those more mid tempo somgs, that is something our band has always done well.

SCENEzine
How did it come about getting Dan Lambton to sing on “One Of Them Will Destroy The Other”? and was the video a fun experience to make?

Jeremy Lenzo
Well us and Real Friends are label mates, so we met them through Fearless, but since then we have gotten to know those guys pretty well and have become good friends with them. So when we were writing that song, we were thinking what can we do to make this special, and we decided to reach out to Dan because we though his voice would fit well on it.

Recording the music video was fun, we always try and just go with the flow of the producer. Having Dan on set was fun because it was a different experience for us, and because of that I think we all were able to just have fun and relax filming it.

SCENEzine
You’ve just announced an anniversary edition of Tales Told By Dead Friends. Can you tell us a bit about this new version?

Jeremy Lenzo
The new version has been remixed and remastered, we felt that was appropriate due to its age, and we wanted to make the new mix sound current to what you would hear today. We have also added a new track on there that we felt was reminiscent of the sound we started with, and just something new to keep fans tied over until we release our new album.

SCENEzine
It’s not long until you’re back touring Australia. Do you have a favourite memory from a previous tour down under?

Jeremy Lenzo
Our very first time in Australia we came over with Paramore. It feels so long ago now, but that was always a great memory. We never thought we would be able to go there, so it was surreal when we finally did.

SCENEzine
Are you excited to be bringing The Early November along for the tour?

Jeremy Lenzo
Yes, we’ve been huge fans of theirs from back in the day. And their latest release shows just how good those guys are as musicians. Plus I just want to be able to watch them from the crowd every night to get pumped up for our set.

SCENEzine
Is there anything you like to do in Australia when not playing shows?

Jeremy Lenzo
Well you guys have some awesome beaches, so that’s something we always try and do every trip.

SCENEzine
Our favourite Mayday Parade song and old crowd favourite is “When I Get Home You’re So Dead”. Can you share any memories of writing that song?

Jeremy Lenzo
That was probably the second or third song we ever wrote. I feel like it came naturally when writing it, I don’t remember there being any spots where we said “ok, what do we do here?” It was also one of the songs that made us think, maybe we can actually do this for a career.

SCENEzine
Can you leave us a last message for your Australian fans excited for the tour and let us in on what kind of setlist we can expect?

Jeremy Lenzo
Well the set list is pretty long, and covers a little bit from every album. So if you’re a long time fan you should be happy, and if you’re a relatively new fan you should be just as happy.

Lastly I just want to say that we are super excited to be coming back, it’s always too long and never soon enough, but were happy to be sharing the stage with our friends and playing for you guys coming up very soon!

(Interview by Christian Ross)