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The Dirty Heads 3OH!3 Blood On The Dance Floor
Vocalist/keyboardist Derek Sanders
Bassist Jeremy Lezno
Guitarists Alex Garcia
Guitarist Brooks Betts
Drummer Jake Bundrick
It doesn't happen very often, but every once in a while a band comes along who have crafted a sound that's so unique it's hard to believe they haven't been playing together for decades. For the past four years, the members of Tallahassee, Florida's Mayday Parade--vocalist/keyboardist Derek Sanders, bassist Jeremy Lezno, guitarists Alex Garcia and Brooks Betts and drummer Jake Bundrick--have been perfecting their unique brand of pop-inflected punk rock, a process that is currently culminating with the release of their major-label debut Anywhere But Here.
"We really just wanted to follow our own
path on this record and not worry about if we fit in anywhere," Bundrick
explains. "We were striving to make a record that meshed together really well
and that was actually an album in the sense that all the songs sound different,
but are working together toward a common theme."
In order to accomplish this the band decided to work with acclaimed producer
David Bendeth (Paramore, Underoath), who proved to be the perfect person to
capture the inherent energy and enthusiasm of these eleven tracks.
"It was a totally new experience going in and doing a record with someone like David Bendeth, but I really feel like these songs are much more structured than anything we've done in the past," Garcia explains.
In fact the biggest challenge while making Anywhere But Here seems to have been Mayday Parade's monumental task of determining which of the 50-odd songs they'd written over the past few years would make the cut.
"Some of the songs we all agreed on, but
other ones were more difficult because people had different tracks that they
loved and it was hard to narrow it down," Sanders elaborates, adding that the
band wrote many of these tracks during last year's tour with All Time Low. "We
just ended up taking a vote and I think we chose the right songs."
"I can't force myself to write, it has to come naturally," Sanders responds when
asked how he came up with lyrics this time around. "A lot of times it will come
when I least expect it, like when I'm riding in the car or while I'm just
hanging out at my house at three in the morning; I'll just sit down and it will
all come out." As usual, the lyrics on Anywhere But Here are largely
autobiographical, but they're written in a way that's ambiguous enough for
listeners to relate to with ease. "A lot of the songs are about relationships
whether that's involving girlfriends or friends," he continues. "There are a lot
of sacrifices you have to make to in order to get to where we are today as a
band; I've lost a lot of friends, but that's the way it goes," he summarizes,
adding that he wouldn't take back a minute of the journey. "My lyrics are always
about what we're going through at the time and the last few years have
definitely been a huge rollercoaster ride for everyone in this band."
Mayday Parade Photos!
Homepage Forever the Sickest Kids Poison Elton John
The Dirty Heads 3OH!3 Blood On The Dance Floor