Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / 20 Years Of MAYDAY PARADE: DEREK SANDERS Reflects On Milestones, Music, And Memorable Moments

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20 Years Of MAYDAY PARADE: DEREK SANDERS Reflects On Milestones, Music, And Memorable Moments · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: My name is Derek Sanders. I sing in Mad Day Parade.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Happy to be here, beautiful, Thank you so much.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Congratulations on reaching the twenty e milestone. How does it
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: feel to be celebrating such a long and successful career.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: It's wild. I mean, I don't even really know how
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: to put it into words, especially because for the upcoming
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: touring and stuff that we have, I've been going back
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: and you know, I guess I don't want to give
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: anything away, but I've been looking up a lot of old,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: you know, interviews and footage of the band to kind
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: of you know, put some stuff together, and it's just
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: it's so crazy to me to see these young guys
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: out of Tallahassee, Florida. You know, just no clue what
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: is ahead of them, and you know, it feels like
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  Speaker 1: it's both gone really fast. But also, you know, it
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: does kind of feel like twenty years. But I don't know,
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  Speaker 1: it's wild. I'm very appreciative. I'm very grateful. I love
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: creating music and playing music and performing in front of people,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: and to still be able to do that. You know,
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  Speaker 1: I was nineteen years old when we started this band
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  Speaker 1: that I'm thirty eight now. It's just really insane.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's crazy, isn't it. As a fan, I remember
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  Speaker 2: where I was when I first heard you guys, and
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  Speaker 2: I was quite a lot younger than I am now,
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  Speaker 2: so to think that it was twenty years ago is
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: kind of scary.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it goes by so quick.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and your debut album, A Lesson in Romantics has
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: become a classic looking back, How do you feel about
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: that record now?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm so proud of it.
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  Speaker 1: I'm so proud of you know, what it has become
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  Speaker 1: and what it has done for us and our band,
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  Speaker 1: and the fact that we can still play songs from
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  Speaker 1: that record all these years later and still get the
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: reactions that we do.
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  Speaker 3: You know.
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  Speaker 1: It's again, it's so crazy because I think back to
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  Speaker 1: writing and recording that album and really having no idea
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  Speaker 1: the impact that it was going to have on our lives.
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  Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm very very grateful.
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  Speaker 3: I'm very proud.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Awesome. And you guys have obviously toured with some
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  Speaker 2: huge bands as well.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Do you have any memories from any of those encounters
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  Speaker 2: with those bands that you'd like to share?
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  Speaker 3: Oh?
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  Speaker 1: Goodness, I mean it's it's tough. I mean, the first
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  Speaker 1: thing that comes to my mind, but this was very
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  Speaker 1: very early on. This was just a very meaningful one
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  Speaker 1: for me because of my relationship with the band. As
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: a band called Further Seems forever there was a you know,
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  Speaker 1: really influential emo band. They still play music, I think,
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  Speaker 1: but it was a huge band for me growing up
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  Speaker 1: and you know, in high school. And Chris Carrabo was
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  Speaker 1: their first singer, and I love Chris. And we got
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  Speaker 1: to way early on when maybe Prayed had been a
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: band for probably only you know, four months or something
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  Speaker 1: like that. We got to open for them in Tallahassee, Florida,
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  Speaker 1: our hometown, and at the time, John Bunch was their
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  Speaker 1: singer and I met him before the show and he
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  Speaker 1: was just super kind, and I asked him if they
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: were going to play a certain song and he was like, no,
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  Speaker 1: we're not gonna play that one tonight, and I was like, hey,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: it's all good. And then but then during their set,
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  Speaker 1: he was like, where's that singer guy from the first band,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: And he pulled me up on stage to sing that
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  Speaker 1: song with them, And then they asked us to finish
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: out the tour with them, so you know, we hopped
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: in a van and did the last three or four
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  Speaker 1: shows and he brought me up on stage every night
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  Speaker 1: to sing that song with them, And I know that
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  Speaker 1: was like just at the very beginning of our band,
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  Speaker 1: but that was just one of the coolest experiences I've
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  Speaker 1: ever had. But you know, obviously, yeah, there have been
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  Speaker 1: so many things that have that have been amazing. You know,
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  Speaker 1: last year we toured with Simple Plan in Europe and
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  Speaker 1: that was just so cool to play. You know, that
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  Speaker 1: band is massive like everywhere, and to play those shows
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  Speaker 1: with them in front of these huge audiences in Europe,
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  Speaker 1: and the guys were just so kind and so sweet
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  Speaker 1: and you know, went out of their way to make
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  Speaker 1: us feel welcome and at home, and you know, it's
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  Speaker 1: it's Yeah, the twenty years has been pretty full of
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  Speaker 1: experiences like that, So there's a lot.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I can really imagine. That's so lovely. And you
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  Speaker 2: just briefly mentioned some of your early influences. How about now,
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  Speaker 2: what are some of your musical influencers now or do
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  Speaker 2: what music do you like at the moment.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Oh gosh, I'm so bad at answering these. I've I've
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: been on a big dashboard confessional kick lately, which I
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  Speaker 1: know is not new or surprising or anything. I mean,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: I've loved Dashboard again since I was a teenager, But
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: for some reason, the last like two months been just
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: like listening to so much Dashboard and just in awe
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: of how awesome Chris is and his voice and how
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: talented he is. I got really into I've always loved
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: ben Folds or your ben Folds five or you know, whichever,
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  Speaker 1: but I got super into ben Folds, you know, two
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  Speaker 1: or three years ago, and that was one of the ones,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I got inspired to to play, to get
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  Speaker 1: better at playing piano because of him, people like him
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  Speaker 1: and Andrew McMahon.
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  Speaker 3: So I've been listening to a lot of bit Folds,
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  Speaker 3: and then there's there's a.
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  Speaker 1: Ton of things that are just kind of always I'm
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: always huge on Queen. Queen always puts me in a
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: good mood. I've been listening to Beach Weather lately. Nick
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  Speaker 1: Santino's newest project. That's just so cool. Yeah, you know
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  Speaker 1: a little bit of all kinds of stuff.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, sounds like a good mix of the classics with
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  Speaker 2: just a few good new new.
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  Speaker 3: Artists for sure. For sure, And you guys.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Have recently announced a new three part album project Can
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  Speaker 2: you share a little bit more about what fans can
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  Speaker 2: expect from the first installment suite.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, we decided to do this three part
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  Speaker 1: release as you know, kind of a grand gesture for
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  Speaker 1: our twenty year anniversary as a band. And yeah, I
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  Speaker 1: think it's you know, we've released three songs so far,
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  Speaker 1: the rest will be coming in a few weeks, and
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  Speaker 1: we're super excited about it. I think it's you know,
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  Speaker 1: pretty pretty on par for a media parade release. It's
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  Speaker 1: what we always kind of try to balance, kind of
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  Speaker 1: a mix of playing our standard core kind of media
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  Speaker 1: parade sound, but then adding something new to it.
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  Speaker 3: And my son's coming to say hi.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so you know, so you know, we try to
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  Speaker 1: branch out a little bit. And by the way, I
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: think is an example of a song that feels a
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  Speaker 1: little bit like something we've never done before and feels
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  Speaker 1: very like Third Eye Blind inspired to me, but I
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  Speaker 1: think like works really well and feels like a good,
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  Speaker 1: you know, step forward for our band. So yeah, it's
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  Speaker 1: a little bit of all those things.
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  Speaker 3: You know.
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  Speaker 1: And then we have part two recorded already and I'm
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  Speaker 1: very excited about that similar kind of thing, you know,
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  Speaker 1: making those core fans happy as well as incorporating some
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  Speaker 1: new elements as well. And then we have yet to
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  Speaker 1: record Part three, but we'll be doing that in the
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: next few months and very excited about it.
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  Speaker 2: So exciting. And you guys are set to tour in
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  Speaker 2: Australia later in the year, I believe what can we
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  Speaker 2: expect from that? And do you have any memories from
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  Speaker 2: the last time you guys were in Australia.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. I'm very excited to be back. Jackson
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: Mannequin and the Home Team both incredible bands. As I said,
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  Speaker 1: Andrew McMahon huge inspiration to me and I've met him
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  Speaker 1: and kind of hung out with him a handful of
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  Speaker 1: times throughout the years, but I've never had the chance
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  Speaker 1: to tour with him. So very excited for all of that.
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  Speaker 1: These will be the biggest shows that we've headlined in Australia.
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  Speaker 1: It'll be I assume, you know, our biggest production and
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  Speaker 1: we're gonna, you know, put everything we can into making
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  Speaker 1: these sets, you know, as special as possible.
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  Speaker 3: So very excited for that.
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  Speaker 1: And then you know, yeah, last time we were there
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  Speaker 1: with All Time Low was so cool. You know, we've
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  Speaker 1: known those guys back two thousand and seven was the
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  Speaker 1: first time we toured with them, and we've toured with them,
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  Speaker 1: you know, many many times throughout the years. They're the
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  Speaker 1: sweetest dudes and we always appreciate when they bring us
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  Speaker 1: out on the road.
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  Speaker 3: So, yeah, that tour was so much fun.
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  Speaker 1: That would have been one of the bigger tours we've
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  Speaker 1: ever done in Australia. And you know, gosh, it's hard
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  Speaker 1: to think of a particular well, I'll tell you this.
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  Speaker 1: One thing that we always do in Melbourne after the
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  Speaker 1: shows is go to Heartbreakers and you know, we did
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  Speaker 1: that with those guys on that tour, and that always
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  Speaker 1: is just I don't know why even it's like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: it's kind of just a cool, dive rock and roll bar.
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  Speaker 1: But like every time, you know, whatever tour we're on,
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  Speaker 1: we wind up there with some of the other bands
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  Speaker 1: and it just ends up being like a magical night,
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  Speaker 1: you know.
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  Speaker 3: So that's a memory that stands out for sure.
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  Speaker 2: Oh that's awesome. That sounds like Hapes so fun in life.
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  Speaker 2: It's almost like a tradition. Now now you.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Have to come exactly, yeah, we'll be there.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, awesome. And what's one piece of advice you
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  Speaker 2: give your youngest self when you first started out, since
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: you guys have been doing this for so long.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's tough to say, it really is,
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  Speaker 1: but I think that, you know, probably the best advice
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  Speaker 1: I could give is just that, you know, as as
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  Speaker 1: we went through this thing, especially you know, in the
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  Speaker 1: early years, the first four or five years, I feel
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  Speaker 1: like we're the biggest uh, you know, learning curve and
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  Speaker 1: it was it we didn't really know exactly what we
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: were doing and had a lot to learn, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: pretty early on we were relatively successful. And then you know,
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  Speaker 1: within a couple of years we were signed to Atlantic Records,
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  Speaker 1: you know, on a major label, and that whole process
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  Speaker 1: I feel like was probably the closest we ever came
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  Speaker 1: to falling apart as a band. And you know, I
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  Speaker 1: think a lot of that was because we didn't realize that,
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  Speaker 1: you know, we needed to be the ones steering the
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: ship and and and you know, creatively in control. You know,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: you kind of have to give up a lot of
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: creative control in a situation like that, at least for
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: our band. And you know, at the time it kind
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: of made sense. It was like, well, you know, this
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  Speaker 1: is Atlantic records, like truly, they know what they're doing.
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  Speaker 1: You know that surely they know how to make us
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: a massive band, you know, but then you know you
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: kind of had to learn well, that's you know, at
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  Speaker 1: the end of a day, like this is our project,
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  Speaker 1: it's our band, and we want to you know, create
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  Speaker 1: stuff that we're happy and proud of first and foremost,
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  Speaker 1: you know, and we kind of lost sight of that
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  Speaker 1: for a little bit there, So you know, maybe something
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  Speaker 1: along those lines.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, I don't know that I even would give.
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  Speaker 1: That advice because I feel like it, you know, going
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  Speaker 1: through that process was such a good learning experience and
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  Speaker 1: and we you know, who knows what would have happened
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  Speaker 1: if if things have gone a different way.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: So it's yeah, it's tough to say.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you guys really learned a lot by going
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: through it, as you just said, So it sounds like
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: that was the best sort of learning experience you could have,
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  Speaker 2: I guess for sure.
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
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  Speaker 2: And just quickly, last question, is there are some of
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: yours that you absolutely still love to play live? And
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: is there one that you are absolutely tired of?
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, most of them I still really love
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: to play live. I mean, it's tough to say which
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: one kind of stands out the most. I mean, Jamie
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: all Over always has been one of my favorites, just
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  Speaker 1: because it's kind of always been the biggest crowd pleaser,
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: and you know, it's just it's hard.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: How do you not love that? You know, how do
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: you not love.
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  Speaker 1: Playing a song that just kind of the crowd really
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: goes off for and sings and crowdsurfs and you know whatever.
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  Speaker 1: Just that that energy is just always electric and so
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: much fun. And so that one's definitely up there, you know,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: as far as the least favorite, or maybe the one
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  Speaker 1: that I'm kind of tired of playing, I might go
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: with Miserable at Best, just because you know, I love
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: the song and I really do, you know, I I
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: do enjoy playing it. I think it is a nice moment.
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  Speaker 1: But it's a really long song. It's a pretty, you know,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: sad bummer of a song. So it's just like five
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: minutes of just the lowest energy. But you know, I
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: still think it's it's special and it is one that
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: people sing really loud and I get enjoyment out of it.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: But every now and then I'm like, maybe maybe we
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: maybe we skip Miserable best on this tour. But yeah,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: the guys usually don't. The guys are usually like, now
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: we got to do it, but yeah, who knows.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: You kind of have to do it in Australia. I'm
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: just saying because.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm you know, I imagine it'll be the same
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: set that we're about to do. Do We have this
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: North America tour coming up, and I imagine we'll do
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: this same set in Australia and it's it's in there.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: So yeah, wicked Derek. We can't wait for you guys
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: to be here. Thank you so much for your time today.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: Oh thank you. I appreciate it. We're excited to be there.