Q&A: Mayday Parade Releases Heartfelt Anthem “Pretty Good To Feel Something”
MAYDAY PARADE HAS DONE IT AGAIN – Their brand-new single, “Pretty Good To Feel Something,” is a heartfelt and poignant reminder of the emotional rollercoaster that life often becomes. Released just as the band headlines the 2024 Sad Summer Festival, this track showcases their ability to interlace raw emotion with melodic prowess.
“Pretty Good To Feel Something” delves deep into the essence of human experience, exploring how bad things happen that alter your life and how eventually you have to let those things go and move forward. At its core, the lyrics express the struggle of letting go and the beauty of appreciating what's left after the dust settles. This song resonates with anyone who has faced life's challenges and emerged stronger, capturing the bittersweet journey of healing and acceptance.
The single heralds a return to form for Mayday Parade following the March 2024 release of their Lofi EP – a collaboration with Less Gravity. The EP saw the band take five of their most beloved tracks and reinvent them with downtempo, chill vibes. While the Lofi EP was a diverse experiment that showcased the band's versatility, “Pretty Good To Feel Something” brings Mayday Parade back to their roots with a sound that fans have long cherished.
“‘Pretty Good To Feel Something’ is a song about bad things happening that alter your life and how eventually you have to let those things go and move forward. It’s about appreciating what’s left after it’s all said and done,” frontman Derek Sanders says.
The new single is the latest self-released music for the band who decided to take the independent route after fulfilling their most recent record deal with their seventh studio album What It Means To Fall Apart – released in November 2021. The freedom to do things on their own terms and timeline appealed to Mayday Parade who are nearing the two-decade mark in their career.
As Mayday Parade hits the road this summer, they are sharing the stage with The Maine on this year's Sad Summer Festival. The festival, now in its fifth year, is a celebration of alternative music and its community. It's fitting that Mayday Parade and The Maine, who co-headlined the inaugural event, are joining forces again for this special anniversary run. Their combined energy and shared history promise an unforgettable experience for festival-goers.
Mayday Parade has always had a unique ability to connect with their audience through their music, and this latest single is no exception. The song's emotional depth is matched by its melodic strength, creating a powerful listening experience that stays with you long after the music ends. “Pretty Good To Feel Something” continues to be a refuge for fans, offering solace and strength through life's ups and downs. The band’s latest single is a reminder that even in the face of adversity, there's beauty in the resilience and the ability to feel deeply.
LUNA: Thank you for sitting down and talking to Luna. For anyone who isn’t familiar yet, what kind of atmosphere or emotional space do you aim to create for your listeners?
BROOKS: I think in general, we write a lot of sad music and I think that is somewhat therapeutic, but I think that's the same for most music. I always gravitate towards music that's on the sadder side of things. And our genre, certainly, is good at that. I think it's a combination of what we grew up listening to and putting that back out into the world, but what I feel we get out of that and what the fans get out of that is somewhat of a way to relate into a therapeutic sort of feeling.
LUNA: You just released your single “Pretty Good To Feel Something” and I absolutely love how uplifting and affirming the energy is. What is the inspiration behind the single?
BROOKS: Our singer Derek wrote that song, but none of his songs are super direct in the sense that everything in that song is reflecting on one part of life or one story. When you say pretty good to feel something, I think it has to do with a lot of the hardship that he's been going through and then trying to write a good song about some of the good moments when he can when he's had those.
LUNA: How does “Pretty Good to Feel Something” fit within the broader narrative of your upcoming projects or album? Can fans expect similar themes or sounds in your future releases?
BROOKS: Everything that we do, everything that Derek writes, seems to feel like that’s a good representation of all of us and our experiences. If you listen to any of our previous releases that we’ve had probably over the last three records, it’s been a good mixture of writers in the band, so if it’s a Jake song, or a Brooks song, or a Jeremy or Alex song, they all have their own specific deals. Derek is a strong writer and the fans seem to gravitate towards his music so you can certainly expect to feel more of that on this record, but it's going to be an eclectic bunch like the last three records.
LUNA: This is your first release since your Lofi EP in collaboration with Less Gravity. Have you experimented more or taken any risks – either lyrically, sonically or emotionally – with “Pretty Good To Feel Something” since your previous releases?
BROOKS: We're always trying to expand that envelope a little bit. I do feel like with the song “Pretty Good To Feel Something,” it is when you have a downforce with a bit of an 808 type beat going on. That's certainly something that we haven't really experimented with in the past. The 808 sequencer beat field is something we haven’t really messed with, and we always try to introduce other fun things. We do have a track that feels more on the 80s rock side, but in a way that a lot of indie-rock has been doing recently, so it plays into that realm a bit. It's going to be eclectic across the board. I would say we're holding back some of the best stuff. We didn't want to come right out of the gate with the best song that we've recorded and we have to go back in and record more. We've got seven tracks lined up, and we're going to go back and do a lot more and maybe create a longer record than you're used to seeing. Maybe you get more singles on the front end than you're used to seeing before the release because of it. The best is yet to come. This song is great, but there's ones that we love even more.
LUNA: Mayday Parade is currently headlining the Sad Summer Festival. What have been some of your favorite experiences or memories from the shows so far?
BROOKS: It's always cool touring with these bands. We're good friends with The Summer Set, We The Kings, The Maine and The Wonder Years, and we're getting to know some of these other bands. It's cool because it's comfortable right off the bat. We're trying to put a couple of things together. We got a party we're putting together in Detroit. That'll be a lot of fun for an after party to help better commingle the opener bands who are young and shyer than we would be, but then, everybody has their own things that they're doing on the road. You gotta put these things together to bring everyone closer. Those are some of the fun experiences that we'll enjoy, but we're also just popping in and out of everybody's bus as it stands. The road isn't as interesting as you think, but that's part of the whole thing, playing on stage every night.
LUNA: How do you prepare for a festival performance compared to a regular concert? Are there any differences in your approach or setlist?
BROOKS: You do have to be a little bit more on the rock side for a festival gig. We have piano ballads and that sort of thing. You don't want to do that too much. You don't want to get heavy into that, so you know you sprinkle it in because it's a part of what you are and you want that to be represented, but you've got to be happier with your setlist and it's tough because we have so many albums and we're headlining, but we're still only stuck to a 45 minute set. It's very, very difficult to choose the songs that you're going to play.
LUNA: Do you have any pre-show or post-show rituals that you do to help ensure you play your best?
BROOKS: No, nothing crazy. We used to drink a lot. Now I don't drink at all before I go on stage as the general rule. I don't check up on anybody, but I feel like that's pretty much across the board. I'd like to think that it makes us better live musicians. In a weird way, I think you start doing that sort of thing for anxiety purposes getting on stage and then later you can get over that. I get the first show jitters but that's it after that. It's super easy, like coming into rehearsals for a tour. That first show is stressful, but there's not a ton that we do except for talk over the setlist. We spent about two days of rehearsal getting ready, locking in all the transitions and making sure all our effects and everything that we’re going to do, new changes on guitar and everybody else what they have to deal with for themselves is in line and ready to go. That's the most stressful part is the rehearsal days going into the first show. After that, it's all easy, very easy. We put our hands in a circle, Alex says some nice things, we scream bangarang on three and go hit the sage.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like for you that you would love to share with Luna?
BROOKS: This year is really light actually because we had a crazy year in ‘23 and it was so cool to be able to do a lot of support tours. We got to go out with All Time Low. We got to go out with Yellow Card. We got to go out with Simple Plan. We packed our schedule. This year, we're focusing all our energy on our summer tour here and recording music. We're gonna go back into the studio in the fall, we're going to finish a record and we're going to gear up for a big tour in ‘25, and that's what's on the horizon and that's our mission right now is to get everything set up and we'll finish this tour out right, get set up for ‘25 and go bigger than we've gone before.
