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Better Days, And Plenty More Ahead With SEAN MACKIN From YELLOWCARD · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Sean from Yellowcard. Really excited to be back in Australia
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: for our second time in a year. And at this point,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: hopefully we'll just be granted citizenship and could find a
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: place to stay and just be part of your country.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: It'd be awesome. That would be amazing to have citizenship here.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Let's go set it upright, pre.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Do you want me to marry.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Well joshon Singles? I guess he's the only one.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: Good luck, all right, I'll do that cotulations Okay, first question,
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: what can expand so what can fans expect from your
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: live shows that are coming up for Australia.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we were just here celebrating twenty years
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: of Ocean Avenue, So we're going to mix up the
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: set a little bit. We have this new batch of
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: songs from the album Better Days with Travis Parker producing,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: playing drums, and hopefully everyone in Australia is aware of
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: those songs and hopefully play a couple off of that. We're,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: you know, a small milestone for us. Never had a
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: number one song before, so Better Days reach number one
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: on the charts in the United States and we just
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: released Bedroom Posters featuring Joel Madden from Good Charlotte. So
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: a lot of cool things happening in the Yellow Card
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  Speaker 1: realm and that's what our Australian fans can expect.
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: That is really awesome. How did you get having so?
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: How did you get Jael to be on the album
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  Speaker 4: with you guys?
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  Speaker 2: Wait? Did the introduction start with Good Charlotte.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, we go way back with those guys from
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: the Warp tour days in the early two thousands, and
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: you know, we always looked up the Good Charlotte. Their
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: music is just a staple for the scene. The songs
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: are bigger than you know themselves and you couldn't go
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: anywhere without hearing one of one of the many Good
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Charlotte hits. And I think, you know, just kind of
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: being in their orbit and admiring how well they write songs,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: how well they take care of themselves, how you always
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: just hear how kind they are. And they had their
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: album release, which is awesome, and they wanted to do
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: some shows and reached out and had asked us if
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: we would we would play with them, And I mean,
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  Speaker 1: it's just such an honor to be able to to
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  Speaker 1: play with Good Charlotte. But and just kind of like
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: with I think it was Brazil. I think we had
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: some shows in Brazil and I saw them watching our
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: show and it was just so cool to reconnect with
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  Speaker 1: the guys. We were backstage talking about releasing the next song,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: which was Bedroom Posters, and we kind of had like
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: a little record label business moment, which is hard because
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: you want to be an artist and you want to
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: like write your songs and you want to be hey,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: we're yellow card. This is what we got. Yeah, and nowadays,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: when you release a record, you have to pre release
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  Speaker 1: five songs as a waterfall or a test drive or
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it. Okay, yeah, well it's
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: just like half the yeah, half the album's released before
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: the album comes out, and droom Posters was one of
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: those songs. So the label was like, well, you already
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: pre released it, like you have to figure out a
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: different song or maybe a feature, and we're like, well
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: we just featured Travis Barker and Avril and Matt Ski.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Like what.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Else can we do? And it just was perfect timing
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: with with the good Charlotte shows coming up. I said, hey,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Ryan's got to be Joel, And so Ryan picked up
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: the phone and called Joel and just if anyone ever
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: had a doubt what type of person Joel Madden was.
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  Speaker 1: He's a one ring pick up kind of guy. It
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: was like ring, hey, Ryan, what's up? And Ryan was like, Goel,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: hey man, hope you got a minute for us. You know,
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  Speaker 1: we got this new song coming out. We'd love to
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  Speaker 1: have a version with you singing on it. And Joel,
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  Speaker 1: you know, there's always like politics, like what about your
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: record label or the business side or whatever, and Joel
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  Speaker 1: was like, whatever you guys need, and he just showed
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: up for us. So, you know, we had a small
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: idea that would line up with these shows, but Joel
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: took the ball and he took our song to another level.
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  Speaker 1: So thank you, Joel, and hope everyone likes the the
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Good Charlotte feature of Bedroom Posters.
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: You can definitely hear the Good Charlotte influence that it's
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: had in regards to the sound and the music. It's
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: yellow Card, half Good Charlotte match together to make ya
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: beautiful Bedroom Posters.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: You just killed it. Yeah, So we're so lucky that
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: he joined forces. And I mean, I think you're just
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: going to feel that energy at these shows. He's he's
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: so awesome.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Wow, that's going to be really exciting.
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  Speaker 4: We're going to be at the show on Thursday, and
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: I'm also a stage I guess we'll be ringing out
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  Speaker 4: the show as well.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm so excited.
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  Speaker 1: Nice, let's go.
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  Speaker 2: Throw one of the picks and just leave it on
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  Speaker 2: the top things. I can come along and gravity thank you.
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  Speaker 2: So who's the main songwriter?
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  Speaker 4: Because I know you and Ryan from what I've gathered,
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: are the main writers of.
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  Speaker 1: The songs the I think collaboration is really important for
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: our band, and so we're all in the room together
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: and it's a little bit more old fashioned, but we
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: worked with Travis was sort of again very lucky, serendipitous.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: We had an idea a long time ago, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: hats off to Ryan. He had said, Hey, I'm a
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: different place in my life. I'm writing you know, different music,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm into other things. He's like, I don't know
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  Speaker 1: if I could write the best Yellow Card record, you know,
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  Speaker 1: maybe we can sit down with some other people, and
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: you know, we're like, hey, we can do it, like
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  Speaker 1: no problem. But it led us ultimately to the road
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: with Ryan. We had a small rule as we wanted
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: to sit with other band dudes other guys that have
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: driven their bands around, and so that led us to
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Nick Long, who was a longtime guitar player for Ryan
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: mendez first band, Staring Back. And Nick has been very successful,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: very talented guitar player, songwriter, but he's written songs for
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Machine Gun, Kelly and Blank Twine eighty two. And so
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Nick was going to come to our airbnb. We had
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: a session and Nick said, hey, you know, I was
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: gonna come over, but Travis Barker hit me up and said, Hey,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: I have a free day. Why don't you bring Yellow
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Card into my studio? And we were like, wait, Travis
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: wants to bring us to his studio because we're I'm
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: not on a first I wasn't on a first name
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: basis with Travis, but it just was a dream. We
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: wrote two songs that first day and we ended up,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: you know, being so excited that Travis said, Hey, I
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: could write a whole record with you guys, And I
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: mean it was just a dream come true. You have,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: you know, the best drummer in the whole world playing
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: drums on songs that you're writing for your band. It's
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: so and it's just it's all been a dream come true.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: So we uh, you know, everyone has added enough to
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: make the song special. And Ryan of course great songwriter,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: but everybody you know has a role in our band.
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so do who listen to the album? There's a
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: couple of really intense breakup songs on there. Who went
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: through a breakup?
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  Speaker 1: I I just think in life there are moments that
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: you recall that get you to a good spot. And
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: I think, whether it's your life or my life, I
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: think we wanted to be able to write songs that
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: would speak to people about and Yellow Card has always
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: been pretty hopeful. But I think it's like that bridge
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: or that crossroad, and we didn't want to write songs
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: as like older statesmen trying to be young people. So
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: we just we sort of talked about these moments in
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  Speaker 1: our life. And again Ryan such a great narrator for
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Yellow Card, Ryan Key, and so there are without you know,
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  Speaker 1: revealing too much about our process, I just think that
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  Speaker 1: there are past moments that get brought up and they
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: are absolutely shocking enough or senstialized enough to be immortalized
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  Speaker 1: in a Yellow Card song. So I don't think maybe
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: you want to be an a Yellow Card song in
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  Speaker 1: that case, but hopefully again it speaks to our fans
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: and can help them get through some of that darkness
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: to the late moments.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: No, I absolutely did.
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  Speaker 4: When I was growing up listening to the Ocean, Amity,
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  Speaker 4: Lights and Sound and Yellow Card Yellow Card album, my
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  Speaker 4: sister and I were going through a lot of breakups
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  Speaker 4: and that was played through the whole entire house, the birth,
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: breakups and everything on, all the lyrics and everything that
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: was in it with exactly what we're going through. And
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  Speaker 4: I was listening to it again recently after my breakup
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  Speaker 4: and this album had some songs on there that, look,
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: I wasn't going to cry, but I was so take
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: what Take what? Take what you Want was my absolute
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: favorite on the album, just because of the relationship song.
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  Speaker 4: I absolutely love the violin and how added in You're Amazing.
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: That was the main part about Yellow Cod that has
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: made it different from all the other punk bands is.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: What you've contributed. Sorry, My next question is when did
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: you stop playing?
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  Speaker 1: So all the kudos go to my Yeah, all the
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: kudos goes to my mom. She made me play, she
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: played when she was little, and I quit. I mean
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: I quit every day, you know, like it wasn't cool.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: I had glasses with the violin casee and uh yeah,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: I mean she just made me play. She said, Hey,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: if you're going to live in my house, you have
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: to play violin. And I went, okay, yeah that was my.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Did you sorry? When did you meet Ryan?
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah? So we all went to art school together, so
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: like we had our normal academics and Ryan was acting
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: music theater and you know, there's a dance program and
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: there were visual artists. I was in orchestra, and just
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: through this artistic you know school, we all had similar
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: like love of that kind of like last skate punk
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: rock movement of music, like strung out and face to
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: face body jar right, like it just that that early
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Warped tours era. And so that our circle of friends.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: We all kind of had you know, punk rock bands
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: back in high school in the early days. And Ryan
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: and I went to college together and we just you know,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: had this musical bond and we worked hard and we
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: wanted to write songs together, and you know, I recruited
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Ryan to the band and he's just he's been a
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: brother ever since we were I think very early on,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: just trying to write the like the best songs that
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: we could like and I didn't We didn't know it
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: was going to work, but it just it ended up sticking.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: And I feel like I'm just a guitar player trapped
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: in a violince body. And my mom didn't like it
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: at first. She understand it, but I think she gets
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: it now.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: That's perfect emo teenager growing up. Mom doesn't understand me.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: You get mad, It's gonna make it pleasy. I'm gonna
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: do it my way.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: It's just a pase. It's just going.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: It was not just a phase.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: It's gone.
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Well, thank you so much for your time today.
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: I've just got one last question for you. For bands
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: that are trying to get where they're going to at
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: the moment and struggling, what would be your best advice
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: for you to give them to help them keep going.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, I would say that it's so difficult and
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: you just got to believe in yourself and you have
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: to do things that are unique to yourself. There's so
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: much content and there's so much consumption in the world,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: and that can be a good thing and a bad thing.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: So make sure you're genuine to yourself and you do
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: what you want to do and you do it the best,
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: and then you have to outwork everyone, like, that's that's
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: what we did. We made something that wasn't completely reinvented,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: but we made it yellow cards, we made it our own,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: and we just we tried to outwork everybody. So and
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: then we we got lucky after all that hard work
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: and we got in front of the right people and
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: we played great shows and we were resilient. So it's
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: just a lot. A lot happens, and it takes a
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: long time, but just dig it out work hard work,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: harder than everyone else.