Mayday Parade
 
Origin: Tallahassee, Florida, USA
Years Active: 2005-Present
Label(s): Fearless Records
 
Members:
Derek Sanders – Vocals, keyboards
Jeremy Lenzo – Bass, vocals
Alex Garcia – Guitar
Brooks Betts – Guitar
Jake Bundrick – Drums, percussion, vocals
 
Discography:
Albums:
2007
A Lesson in Romantics
 
Links:
myspace.com/maydayparade
What do you get when you merge two local bands together, add a guitarists fondness for the word Mayday and an enjoyment for watching local parades (particularly the winter one)? Give up? Obviously it’s US five piece Mayday Parade.
The summer of 2006 for this band was long and hot, it was a two month journey across the states of America on the Vans Warped Tour, but not as most artists know it. For Mayday Parade were not on the line up this year, they were following the tour and the huge crowds in a bid to find some new friends and fans. At each location they would park up and watch the queue build, the five would brave the heat and go down the long line introducing themselves, promoting their band, playing in the car parks and selling copies of their debut EP Tales Told by Dead Friends. These few months of hard work and unbearable heat were worth it. For they sold 10,000 copies of their EP without any support other than their personalities and true talent. It got them noticed by Fearless Records (Plain White T’s, At the Drive In) and they signed their first record deal in late 2006.
The next year followed with the band recording and releasing their debut album, A Lesson in Romantics, and saw them actually on the Warped Tour line up where they found even more friends than the previous year. The crowd at each show they played grew as the summer went on and Mayday Parade’s hard work was really starting to pay off.
There is no rest for a band about to hit the big time. This year began touring the US with Alt-Rock band Emery, and is continuing with even more shows alongside the likes of Boys Like Girls, My American Heart and The Graduate. They’re on a roll as they will also be appearing at Bamboozle Festival in the US, Groezrock in Belgium and stopping here in the UK for the Give It A Name festival. Then back to across the pond for their third consecutive Warped Tour and second appearance on the line up.
Mayday Parade are not your usual pop-punk gathering, they seem older, more mature and a little more grounded. These guys are not about having the slickest image, the most stylish clothes, or perfectly sculpted hair, they do not mould themselves into the fashion icons that so many bands now a days set out to be. To Mayday it is all about the music and working hard to achieve the success and stature that their music warrants. Their debut album is fantastic from beginning to end; there is the perfect mix of up beats, lows, breaks and catchy-stick in your head choruses. It is as the title suggests all about love and relationships, and how girls hurt guys, a new twist on the usual women are perfect and only men cause the trouble! It would appear that Mayday have had their fair share of romantic problems and no doubt it hurt at the time but it must have been worth the pain as the songs that came out of it are awesome. The upbeat tunes mixed with the revenge lyrics, classic.


Meg & Dia
 
Origin: Utah, USA
Years Active: 2004-Present
Label(s): Warner Bros.
              Doghouse
 
Members:
Dia Frampton
Meg Frampton
Nicholas Price
Carlo Gimenez
Jonathan Snyder
 
Discography:
2005
Our Home is Gone
2006
Something Real
2008
Here, Here, Here (September)
 
Links:
myspace.com/megdia
 

 
Christmas day in the Frampton household; Santa has visited, little Dia receives a guitar and Meg a Karaoke Machine. It seems though Cringle got them a little mixed up, the two swapped gifts and Meg and Dia’s musical career began to ripple.
After a little practice, growing up, and some heartache on Dia’s part grew the pairs debut album, Our Home Is Gone. Self released in 2005, and made up of acoustic tracks with Meg on guitar and Dia on vocals. The limited run CD was backed up by a few acoustic shows where it became apparent that they needed to create a bigger sound and make a heavier impact, leading them to the search for a band.
Their drummer is a mechanic who fixed Dia’s car for her after a minor accident, and their bassist was found through MySpace whose contacts lead to their signing to Doghouse Records, with whom they released Something Real, their debut album with the full band.
During this time of recruiting, signing, writing and recording they were, as most bands do, getting as many kids to press the accept button on their MySpace requests as possible. Big Tom up at headquarters got a little suspicious off all the action going on around the bands page and went to check out what was going on himself. Instead of deleting the account he actually put them forward to represent MySpace at 2006’s Warped Tour. There they ended in a soil floored tent, sharing their wares and handing out flyers to anyone who would stop to pay attention. It all paid off though as they were invited back the year after to play on the Hurley.com stage where they had a crew to do all their dirty work for them, a contrast from the labour of the previous tour.
2007 was the year that made the ripples turn into waves for the band. In February they signed to major label Warner Bros. Records with whom they are currently working on their next offering due for release later this year.
On hearing that this is a female fronted band you may already have opinions formed of them even before hearing their music. Girls generally don’t go down too well in Rock, and curves are usually saved for the likes of Girls Aloud or Sugababes. On most part you wouldn’t be wrong, Paramore is really the only recent band to have made it to the big time in this genre. Meg & Dia though have broken through this usual trend. When you hear their songs such as Indiana or Monster you can feel the femininity that flows through every line in the most positive and beautiful way.
Meg is the writer behind all the songs you hear, on writing she has said It begins with a dream. Somewhere in between plunging off a cliff without any hope of reaching the bottom and finding myself nude in English class, a soft melody plays from a concealed jukebox. Her inspiration comes from literature, Rebecca and Tell Mary were formed from entire novels. Dia’s pure voice reflects her youth and apparent innocence, she is the quieter of the two who comes into her own on stage where her harmonies flow effortlessly.
This band are not trying to be anything but themselves, their sounds are almost unique in the busy industry around them. Currently in the studio with tracks that are said to be inspired more by real life than the worlds in the pages Meg reads, you can be assured that this album will be something special and with the power of Warner behind them it is a dead cert for a huge hit. Hoping only that they don’t get taken in by the over production of a major and keep hold of their pure sounds that won us over in the beginning.