July 25, 2007
[interview by Alexa]

Estrella: Could you please state your name and what you do in the band.
Derek: My name is Derek and I sing for Mayday Parade.

Estrella: How has Warped Tour been?
Derek: It's been fun! It's been great. It's really an exhausting tour for us because we're in a van, you know. It's really such an awesome tour to be on. There's so many awesome people on the tour. There's so many kids, everyday. It's been amazing for us, we love it.

Estrella: Last year, you followed the Warped Tour and you sold 11,000 copies of your EP?
Derek: I'm glad you've got the right number, that number gets exaggerated so much. So many people are like I heard you sold 25,000 copies of your CD and I just have to tell them "No, I'm sorry!" Last year we followed it just outside, we didn't go inside, we just sold CDs to the line of kids outside waiting for the doors to open and sold 11,000 in the 2 months that we followed it and it was amazing. The response was great. It was such a great start, cause we had just really formed the band not long before that, it was just a huge kick start to get us going.

Estrella: Who are some of your personal influences?
Derek: I love Queen. I've always loved Queen. Freddie Mercury was my idol. That's one. Definitely, a lot of us - more and more lately - me and the other guys in the band have been into the 90s rock stuff like Third Eye Blind, Goo Goo Dolls, and Smashing Pumpkins, I'm not even really sure why but lately that's been kind of like what we've been listening to a lot more in the van and stuff, which is pretty cool I guess.

Estrella: Your latest album A Lesson In Romantics has been talked about as one of the most anticipated records and I was wondering how you felt about all this exposure? Like your thoughts on all of this hype recently?
Derek: It's unbelievable. It's so awesome that we actually have a full on CD because none of us have ever done anything like this before. We've never had a full length CD out on a label or anything. It was pretty overwhelming, we were pretty nervous about it, we're all really happy with the way it came out and how it sold in the first couple of weeks, we're really excited about it, we just want to push it as hard as we can and see how far we can go.

Estrella: Did Fearless pick you up on Warped Tour or through another way? Derek: We met them on the Warped Tour last year, cause they're based out of LA, whenever we were there for Warped Tour they got in touch with us, met up with them, went to their office, hung out, did a little showcase for them, we didn't actually sign with them until a while later after Warped Tour. But that's how we first got the ball rolling with them was through Warped Tour.

Estrella: What are you currently listening to... other than the 90s rock?
Derek: Honestly, one of the things that I've been listening to a lot lately is the new My Chemical Romance CD which I guess I wasn't a big fan of theirs before but their new CD to me really blew me away. I've been listening to a lot of that. I've been listening to a lot of bands that are on this tour, there's so many good bands on this. We have a lot of fun seeing these bands.

Estrella: You recently did a tour with Plain White T's, how was that?
Derek: That was great, that was awesome. They're really cool guys, they used to be on Fearless as well. They were amazing guys, super nice. We were on that for a little over a month and it was us, Lovedrug, Boys Night Out, and Plain White T's, everybody on the tour was so great and so awesome. We had a lot of fun with that.

Estrella: If you were stranded on a desert island, three things you would take with you?
Derek: I would definitely bring an Ipod, I would bring a library of books, I love reading in the van during downtime...
Estrella: Like new Harry Potter and stuff?
Derek: It's funny you mention it cause that's what I'm reading right now. I'm not on the last one, I'm only on the 5th book. I'm really rushing to finish them now.
Estrella: Don't look at anything on the internet then.
Derek: I know, I know. That's why I'm rushing because so many people that know the ending and I don't want to know it. And the third thing I'd probably bring is another person to keep me company cause it would suck to be there by yourself.

Estrella: What's your favorite Halloween costume that you've ever worn?
Derek: Probably either a Ninja Turtle or a Power Ranger.
Estrella: Which Ninja Turtle were you?
Derek: I was Donatello. Me and my brothers would all dress up as Ninja Turtles and I would always be Donatello and I don't know that was probably one of my favorite. That goes way back though actually, that was probably the first Halloween that I can remember.

Estrella: Is there any advice you'd like to give to touring bands who are ready to give up?
Derek: I would definitely tell them not to give up. But it does depend though, if it's not for you then don't do it, but if it is for you then it's really hard and really stressful sometimes being gone as much as we are and not being able to be with your family or your friends or your girlfriends or whatever, you know. It's so rewarding at the end, having kids come out and sing along everynight, it's so cool. You meet new people everyday, it's the greatest thing in the world. I would to say to have the attitude as to work as hard as you can and make it happen.

Estrella: Any closing statements?
Derek: We want everyone to know that we love hanging out with people, that's a huge thing for us - we love meeting people, hanging out with people. We want everyone to talk to us, come out to a show, go out to eat with us. We love meeting new people and hanging out and we want everyone to know that.
Estrella: Thank you.