Mayday Parade is giving fans another sneak preview of upcoming album SUNNYLAND with the release of their new single, “It’s Hard To Be Religious When Certain People Are Never Incinerated By Bolts Of Lightning.”
Set for a June 15th release, SUNNYLAND is the band’s 6th studio album and first with Rise Records. Fans who pre-order the album by clicking HERE will receive “Piece Of Your Heart,” “It’s Hard To Be Religious…” and “Never Sure” as instant downloads.
About the new song, lead singer Derek Sanders told Billboard, “I would say it’s a little bit more angry than anything we’ve done before. I wrote it shortly after the 2016 presidential election, when Trump won. I was just kind of horrified something like that was even possible – not that it’s all directed towards him, necessarily, but that’s kind of the mindset I was in. However, it’s not all dark. There is, at least to me, a hopeful outlook towards the future and trying to appreciate what we have.”
The Tallahassee, Florida-based quintet (rounded out by bassist/vocalist Jeremy Lenzo, guitarist Brooks Betts and drummer/vocalist Jake Bundrick) recorded this follow-up to 2015’s Black Lines with longtime producers Zack Odom and Kenneth Mount, and for the first time, also teamed with Grammy nominated producer John Feldmann (blink-182, Panic! At the Disco) and Howard Benson (Of Mice & Men, My Chemical Romance). The result is an album built on impassioned vocals, sing-along choruses, and deeply heartfelt lyrics.
The album’s title comes from an abandoned hospital where the band members hung out as teenagers. “The hospital shut down sometime in the mid-’80s but then it just stayed there for decades,” says Sanders. “It was a super-creepy place—it was overgrown with vines, and still had some of the hospital beds and IV stands—but we have all these good memories of hanging out there when we were younger.”
A few days after the album’s release, Mayday Parade will hit the road to headline this year’s final Warped Tour, which kicks off June 21st in Pomona, CA (see itinerary below). The band actually got their start selling CDs in a Warped Tour parking lot, then went on to headline the tour five times.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun, but I think it’s gonna be really sad, too,” Sanders told Billboard. “It’s been such a big thing for us. We kinda got our start on the Warped Tour, so it’ll be sad to see it come to an end. But we’ll be happy to be there for it, and we have so many friends who are doing it, so we know it’ll be a blast, like it always is.”
Over the course of the last 10 years, Mayday Parade has sold more than a million albums. Four of their releases have sold over 100,000 units each, with their most successful album (2007’s A Lesson In Romantics) selling more than a half-million copies. They have 60+ videos on YouTube with over 1 million views, and their songs have amassed over 350 million streams in the US alone.
TOUR DATES
6.08.2018 – Darby, UK – DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL
Warped Tour Dates
06.21.2018 – Pomona, CA – POMONA FAIRPLEX
06.22.2018 – San Diego, CA – SDCCU STADIUM LOT
06.23.2018 – Mountain View, CA – SHORELINE AMPHITHEATRE
06.24.2018 – Ventura, CA – VENTURA COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS
06.28.2018 – Phoenix, AZ – AK-CHIN PAVILION
06.29.2018 – Las Vegas, NV – DOWNTOWN LAS VEGAS EVENTS CENTER (DLVEC)
06.30.2018 – Salt Lake City, UT – USANA AMPHITHEATRE
07.01.2018 – Denver, CO – PEPSI CENTER
07.03.2018 – Maryland Heights, MO – HOLLYWOOD CASINO AMPHITHEATRE – ST. LOUIS
07.05.2018 – Bonner Springs, KS – PROVIDENCE MEDICAL CENTER AMPHITHEATER
07.06.2018 – Dallas, TX – STARPLEX PAVILION
07.07.2018 – San Antonio, TX – AT&T CENTER
07.08.2018 – Houston, TX – NRG PARK- MAIN STREET LOT
07.10.2018 – Nashville, TN – TENNESSEE STATE FAIRGROUNDS
07.12.2018 – Virginia Beach, VA – VETERANS UNITED HOME LOANS AMPHITHEATER
07.13.2018 – Camden, NJ – BB&T PAVILION
07.14.2018 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC BANK ARTS CENTER
07.15.2018 – Hartford, CT – XFINITY THEATRE
07.16.2018 – Burgettstown, PA – KEYBANK PAVILION
07.17.2018 – Toronto, ON (Canada) – THE FLATS AT BUDWEISER STAGE
07.18.2018 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH – BLOSSOM MUSIC CENTER
07.19.2018 – Cincinnati, OH – RIVERBEND MUSIC CENTER
07.20.2018 – Detroit, MI – MEADOW BROOK AMPHITHEATRE
07.21.2018 – Tinley Park, IL – HOLLYWOOD CASINO AMPHITHEATER
07.22.2018 – Shakopee, MN – CANTERBURY PARK
07.23.2018 – Milwaukee, WI – AMERICAN FAMILY INSURANCE AMPHITHEATER
07.24.2018 – Noblesville, IN – RUOFF HOME MORTGAGE MUSIC CENTER
07.25.2018 – Darien Center, NY – DARIEN LAKE PAC
07.26.2018 – Scranton, PA – THE PAVILION AT MONTAGE MOUNTAIN
07.27.2018 – Mansfield, MA – XFINITY CENTER
07.28.2018 – Wantagh, NY – NORTHWELL HEALTH AT JONES BEACH AMPHITHEATRE
07.29.2018 – Columbia, MD – MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILION
07.30.2018 – Charlotte, NC – PNC MUSIC PAVILION CHARLOTTE
07.31.2018 – Atlanta, GA – CELLAIRIS AMPHITHEATRE AT LAKEWOOD
08.02.2018 – Jacksonville, FL – THE OLD CYPRESS LOT NEAR MET PARK
08.03.2018 – Orlando, FL – TINKER FIELD
08.04.2018 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA CREDIT UNION AMPHITHEATER
08.05.2018 – West Palm Beach, FL – CORAL SKY AMPHITHEATRE