Brooks Betts of Mayday Parade

For more than 20 years, Mayday Parade has been one of the defining bands of the pop-punk and emo scene. From packed clubs and Warped Tour parking lots to sold-out venues around the world, they've built a career that has stood the test of time while continuing to connect with new generations of fans.

On this episode of Caught on the Mike, guitarist Brooks Betts joins me for a conversation about the band's incredible longevity, staying creative after two decades together, the evolution of the scene, life on the road, and the challenges and rewards of keeping Mayday Parade moving forward year after year.

We also discuss the band's ambitious anniversary era, the collaborative songwriting process behind recent music, the return of Vans Warped Tour, and what it means to still be creating and performing at a high level twenty years into the journey.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Disclaimer, the views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent. Listener discretion is advised. For a lot of people, Mayday Parade isn't just a band, they're a timestamp. Their songs have been there for first love, bad breakups, road trips, growing up, and somehow, 20 years later, they're still connecting with new audiences while the original fans are still singing every word. Today I am joined by guitarist Brooks Betts to talk about the band's incredible longevity, the challenges of staying creative after two decades together, life on the road, the evolution of the scene around them, and why Mayday Parade continues to resonate with fans across multiple generations. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mic. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Caught on the Mic, and I am pumped for this one. 20 years into a career that helps soundtrack an entire generation. Mayday Parade isn't slowing down, they're reinventing. From celebrating two decades as a band with their ambitious sweet, sad and sugar trilogy to bringing new music to the warp tour and stages around the world. Brooks Betts joins me today to talk about longevity, creativity, and what keeps Mayday Parade pushing forward after all these years. Welcome to the show, my guy. Yeah, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Yeah, it's uh I love doing interviews anytime I can, and they're great and easy to do right here from the comfort from my basement. You know, yeah. It's uh it's so much better than being on the road and then and then having to like go somewhere or like have to find a quiet space somewhere in a venue.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

A little extra freedom for sure. Let's get right into it. Last year marked Mayday Parade's 20th anniversary, a milestone, very few bands in the scene ever reach. Um, a lot of emo pop punk content creators referenced that as kind of being the MySpace era. How did that platform impact your band?

SPEAKER_01 2:35

It was really what we probably owed everything to because that was the main vehicle or the main you know platform for bands to be noticed at that time, you know, around 2005 to 2007, very much so. Um and I can't even remember far enough back to know when it actually ended, when MySpace kind of you know fell more to the to the wayside. Um, but in the early years, that is what put us on the map because that is where everybody heard the music and talked about the music. And it be in it and it was like a street level kind of um word of mouth thing that happened, but the internet is what really fueled it.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Did you have a moment during that anniversary year where the longevity of the band just kind of hit you? Uh I think so.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

I think I think in the last five years I feel confident in in my so many things have happened to do this, but I think maybe post-COVID really is when you started to feel that. Um I think maybe people coming back to music in that time, uh, there was there was like a kind of a flood of people coming to the shows, and uh just we knew that it was appreciated, that we were still playing music, and and that we had staying power because you could go away for a time like that and people still cared. Um and also I think maybe a lot of my understanding of music really just kind of culminated around that time and in the last five years in general, uh, where I really do feel very knowledgeable about what it is I do, and I work in that way with a lot of people where I can I get a chance to put that knowledge onto them, and and and I've learned how to teach that or to express that to young artists in a way that I think is super helpful and I can tell translates. Um and so that's when I've really felt like wow, I'm getting kind of wise in my years of music, and that went along with everything else, like I said, like of just the band not disappearing, not going away, and people not stopping, you know, uh caring and coming out to shows and listening to the new music and everything. Uh it's just it's just interesting how I how I felt like and I'm 40, about to be 41. It's interesting how just now I start to get that feeling of of like, oh, like I feel very uh like I've obtained expert level.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Right, you know, um, in in all things music. So what keeps this lineup motivated after two decades together?

SPEAKER_01 5:28

Uh I think it's just that we enjoy doing it, first off. Um I think if we didn't enjoy doing it, somebody would have quit, you know, at least one of us, and then who knows how that destabilizes the whole the whole uh band. But um, you know, I think ultimately we enjoy it. Ultimately we enjoy each other. Um and and there's no reason to really stop. We're able to kind of dial it back a little bit if we want, or at least we say we do. I don't know if we actually do when you count up the shows every year. But um this year certainly we will pull back a little bit, and that but all that means is that we'll we'll get ready for another, you know, another big year in 27. Um and I think the fact though that we know that we can take our foot off the throttle a little bit, you know, uh makes it feel as if there's no reason to like stop doing it, you know. And and even if you did want to stop doing it, I never really thought it made sense to break up. Like I think it's a weird thing for bands to break up because I just don't know why you wouldn't just take a hiatus and come back to it if you wanted to.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Shortly after we record this episode, the third part of the Sweet Sad and Sugar trilogy will be announced. The trilogy concept has become one of the most ambitious projects of your career, and now sugar is finally entering the conversation. At what point did you realize that this wasn't going to be one album but three separate releases? Uh couldn't sway the vote to do one release.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

I I I really did not want to do three releases, and um although I do think the to really answer your question, I think that the the whole reason why it happened is because there was too much good material on the table, and we all always run into the problem of having to leave out uh good songs, and sometimes they get recorded later, but really what ends up happening is you just write more good songs, and then maybe those songs that you left out of the last album, maybe one or two makes it into the next, you know, that the one you're on currently or whatever. But um we we had too much good music, and we didn't want to cut too many of them, so we decided like, hey, let's just record a three-part and we'll draw it out, you know, because when we went into the first session, we had enough songs to do nine or whatever it is um comfortably, and then nobody was like upset about recording any of those nine songs. Um and and then we were like, well, can we keep that up? And we thought so because we always come into every session with like 30 plus songs because everybody in the band is writing. So there's always a lot of material um to sort through. On the other side of it, we had become self-funded and independent where we wanted to retain more royalty. We hadn't been super happy with what most of the labels had done with us over the years, and it felt like we were just kind of going through the motions of like, here, you know, you you you're the bank and you fund the project and you get a you know, you get a royalty. A lot of those were 50-50 splits, but you didn't really see them doing anything that you didn't feel you could do on your own. So we decided to start self-funding. That that's one of the biggest reasons why I was not excited about doing a three-part because I just don't think that any business should start on a new endeavor and go all out. I feel like it should scale, right? You know, so and build. Um, but it's been good and it's been successful doing it this way. I think, you know, it feels good. The fans like it. So I think it was a really cool move. Now, I don't think you keep doing that, right? Of course, it's a cool thing to do that. It's like special in a time capsule in its moment. And then thankfully, we can now hopefully, yeah, we can pull back from going crazy and writing an insane amount of music and recording an insane amount of music, and we can hopefully concentrate on doing single records um again, and maybe we'll downscale the business a bit, you know, and I'll and it will be less stressful in that way. Um, but the music's good, and so I think that uh however you measure success is well, many different ways, but I measure it through the um reaction of the fan base.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Looking at the completed trilogy now, what does sugar add to the overall story?

SPEAKER_01 10:14

I I think it's just more of what we had done. So it's not it's not like a uh concept record or anything like that. It's just it's just cool to have like a theming of the colors and the florals and try to have music that speaks to the terms of what each EP, if you will, or each part was of this trilogy. Um but I will say like at the end of the day, we don't we're not we're not over worried about like theming it uh lyrically or subject-wise. It's just whatever songs are good, you know, that's great. And then what's cool about it is you can take some lyrics out of each one and play on it a little bit more, and that's just if it happens that way. You know, um we'll just take some keith terms and just kind of pull it all together. And uh but like like you know, s we have well, I don't want to speak too much on it. I get I get I get in the I get all lost in the timeline of when things are released and what information's out and what's not. So I so I don't want to speak too much about about like the things that we're pulling from in the lyrics, you know, for this stuff. But we that is that is the goal is to just use the loose, uh cool thematic things that come out of the songs naturally.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Well, one song we can talk about is Blame It on the Youth. It started with a chorus that Jake brought in and then it became a full band effort. What made everyone immediately gravitate towards that song?

SPEAKER_01 11:59

I think it was just a really good chorus, and um I think that it has like a really strong uh and message right off the top. It's something that is very tangible, you know, and you can not every Mayday song is that way, nor should it be, and not every song by any band should be like kind of on the nose in that way. But I do think that because it had a strong message and it had really good, catchy chorus, uh melody with the lyrics, it was easy to see that we had to match that somehow with the verses, pre-course, you know, the rest of the song. Uh, although it was difficult to do that because when one guy starts writing a song, usually what ends up happening is somebody else tries to bring in other lyrics on top of it and it just doesn't feel quite the same. It feels a little disconnected, and that's the thing that you had to really, really work through. And we did that as a band, you know. I I think I think I probably I think I wrote I think I wrote two or three versions myself of what I would have done with the rest of that song around that chorus while we were in the studio and other people were doing the same. And then we would I would honestly I would have I felt like I had to push it a lot. I had to kind of gather everybody up and be like, hey, I have this, but I need to know what you're doing, and I need to know what you're doing, and we need to sit down and we have to talk about it, and we need to start kind of l being real honest with each other about like what is it you like about my version, what is it I like about your version, what are the things where the like we obviously are writing towards a chorus in a certain way, so it's gonna be and it's a focused chorus, so it's easy to make sure you're kind of in the on the same subject, but um yeah, it was difficult to do that, and and but I I like the challenge of that. I like the idea of having to write a song two or three times if it's if one part of it is really good, and you just have to match that energy with the rest of it. Uh, I think that's the really thorough writing. I think that's really uh it it's it's it's like taking your job super serious. And I think that we that it's cool because we don't usually get to do that as a group. Usually it'll be like one guy has this piece and somebody else helps, you know, or it would be like, you know, one guy has most of a song and somebody suggests something, so he goes back and rewrites it a different way or something. Um, you know, usually it's it's hard for us to get on the same page and actually collaborate line by line, lyric by lyric. And a lot of that was because everybody really felt good about the song that they wanted to be so active.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Well, I think there's a lot of freedom in that. And speaking of freedom, as you had mentioned, one of the coolest aspects of this era of the band is that you're doing it independently. How different does independence feel now compared to selling CDs in warp tour parking lots?

SPEAKER_01 15:18

Yeah. Well, I mean, then we were just trying to get started, obviously, and we had no idea where it would go, and we had no money. And and it was super hot and kind of sucked. Um now, you know, where we're at with it, it's um independently. We're like I said, it's it's stressful, but since we got through part one and then kind of figured out things and set up our financials a certain way and kind of knew what it would take to do part two, and then again what it would take to do part three. It was less of a question mark of how the money was gonna flow for the self-funding, um, and a bit more of like, okay, well, now we budget to get through that, um, and we're not, you know, living on nothing. Uh, but we weren't doing that anyway. Like it it's not like I was living off nothing. It's just simply the startup, the startup of it was a bit tough. Like it things got squeezed a bit uh for everybody, and everybody had to learn how to rework their finances almost. I did, I mean, maybe I shouldn't speak for everybody. I had I had to actually for a year figure out how to reassess my finances to know that I was going to get through to the next bit. Um, and once I learned that, like everything was fine. Uh but yeah, like nothing, nothing is close to what it was like selling CDs out of backpacks and eating dollar menu and sleeping in a hot van and waking up at the next warp tour because it was seven hours away and doing it all over again for two months, you know. That's an insane, that's an insane process that I that I hope every band gets to go through.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

Are there additional challenges that fans might not realize that come with being more hands-on with your career at this stage? It depends on how you look at it.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

I'm pretty laid back. So in the beginning, I felt like with the band, especially when we were selling CDs out of backpacks, I was very much, I was very hands-on. I was very um kind of even pushy, you know, maybe even like, you know, like kind of ruffled feathers a little bit, you know, even with the guys, because I had to be the business voice of reason with things. And I do feel like that was something that that like put a wedge between your friendships a little bit. So once we got into the point of like management and not just management, but like professional management and really professionalism as a business, I pulled way back. I pulled way back and just wanted to be a musician. So my job became much, much easier. Uh and I get to focus on the fun parts and halfway check my email and and wait till my manager texts me personally to remind me that I have an answer to certain questions. And uh, and and life is so much better that way. Now, for someone like Jake, our drummer, I think he enjoys this, but he he is super hands-on now with stuff. I don't want to do that. I don't want to do it. I want to be a musician, I want to worry about that, you know. Uh uh like I just want to worry about writing music, playing music. Um, but some people are, some people in our band are more or less uh more involved in the business side of things, whether that's just curating merch, you know, which is what Jake does a lot of, and he's really good with that, and making sure that what we're doing with social media is all like working and our content and the amount of content we're getting and what type of content do we need to be recording and stockpiling so that we can get through the uh off season of us not touring and being together. You know, he's very much on that. I don't want to care about that at all. I don't I don't even want to get on social media to begin with. You know what I mean? So, so like, yeah, you could, you know, it's choose your own adventure.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

Yeah. Um, Mayday Parade and Warp Tour have always kind of felt synonymous with one another. You guys are doing some dates on the Warp Tour. What was your reaction when Kevin Lyman announced that Warp Tour was coming back?

SPEAKER_01 19:56

Well, I thought it was really exciting because I think that it was something that made our band along with MySpace, like we talked about earlier. Um and it was he was really cool to us back when and allowed us to do that, to sell those CDs, even though we were not a part of his tour to begin with. And um it it's one of those things where it was sad when it went away. And it I thought it was going to take a huge hit or you know, make a huge hit on the scene of our uh like in our genre. Like it was kind of the culmination of the genre each year. And luckily there were some others, including what we did with um Sad Summer, to try and fill in and segue those gaps. And and it was really cool when when we were young came into the picture and made it feel like this genre was even bigger than it had ever been. Um and then, you know, obviously with that, I think you've got you know, warp torque always had a place to come back, and you know, why wouldn't you if you see how good how successful some of these other festivals were doing, um you know, and and and I kind of wish that Warp Tour had come back in the old way that it was uh established before or formatted before, where it would run consecutive days across the country, like a true tour. But I think that the model had to change. And I think we even back in the day before Warp Tour was gone or went or hiatus or whatever, um I think everybody knew that it the model wasn't working so well. No matter how cool and great of a thing it was, the way he established that tour with you know equal billing and no headliners and that kind of thing. Um it's it became Like one of those things where you're like, I think it needs a headliner to survive, you know? And so now it had that time off. It could look at some of the other festivals that were happening, especially with like when we were young, and then say, like, well, what if we do that? You know, and then we go into other cities and they're not touching Las Vegas. So like that's kind of its own thing over there with when we were young. And uh, and I think also I do think too though, because Warp Tour came back when we were young, took a step back for a moment as well. Because because you can't have you can't have too many cooks, you know, in the kitchen. But we're super happy to do these dates, and I think it's so cool that it's gone international, and we get to do Montreal and Mexico City. That's amazing. Um and we're just happy to be a part of whatever it is that Kevin's doing. So we think he's a great guy, we think the world of him, and we have a lot, we have a lot to you know that we owe to him.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Yes. I was gonna ask your feelings about the expansion internationally, specifically to Mexico.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

Yeah, I mean I I think it's great anywhere you could go. Um yeah, why why not? I I I know they did like warp to Europe at some point, uh, and I don't think that went over super well back in the day when they did that, but I think it's cool that they can they can now do it under a new model.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

You know, as a compliment to you guys, Mayday Parade has one of those rare fan bases where people who see you and grew up with a band are going to be standing next to teenagers discovering you for the first time. Why do you think the music continues to connect across generations?

SPEAKER_01 23:43

One thing is that parents show their kids the music, which is which is hilarious to me to that that like we're old enough that you know, if if their parents were our age, roughly in their young 20s somewhere, and uh had a kid somewhere in their younger 20s, then that kid would be well for sure at least you know, teenage age or to to 20 years old, right? And like prime age for what what our fan base had always been. Uh so it's kind of crazy to see those those people that basically were born when we started, now at the age where we had started, if that makes sense. And attaching to the music. Uh a lot of its siblings, it's crazy. A lot of siblings are listening to to the music. It's getting it gets handed down uh in a really cool way. And also I think there's just I mean, you can be an only child too, I suppose, or whatever. I don't know. You could that there's there's tons of young um 20-year-old kids who are listening to Mayday Parade who um were not introduced by a a family member, you know, it's friends and stuff as well. And that's the way it should be, and that's the way it's always been with music, is just like word of mouth is just so cool and strong.

SPEAKER_00 25:07

So I guess it begs to ask then what's the balance between honoring your legacy and continuing to move the band forward?

SPEAKER_01 25:15

I'd like to move forward faster, but I would I I mean, you know, the creatively, I there's so much that I like to do and I like to mess with music and I work with lots of other people and write music with other people, but um I always like the idea of pushing the envelope and doing different things, but also having a home base with it, um, just to see if you could go bigger with something, you know, and be it in just more of a mainstream way. I I I love the idea of like it reaching the most amount of people you could reach. And we're very genre specific, and our genre seems to have a bit of a glass ceiling. There's a couple who break that mold or break that ceiling in like paramours or Fallout Boys and Panic of the Discos and things like that. Uh but but I would like to be able to push that that bar in that way. And uh so I think that's answering what you're saying, where like how do you stick to your guns, you know, or or or would you rather stick to your guns and just have like kind of like keep that successful, you know, stage that you're at, or would you like to push it and try to go bigger? But at the same time, that can also shoot you in the foot. So it's it's really it's really tough. I just like to gamble a little bit with things like that because I think I think that that's creative, and I think that music should be and artistry should be creative, and it's not so much fun just to try to stick to what you're used to.

SPEAKER_00 26:51

Yes! After 20 years, billions of streams, countless tours, and a catalog that helped define an era of alternative music. What is it that still makes you excited to walk on stage as Brooks bets from Mayday Parade? Uh I think it's the workout.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

No, it's the it the workout helps. Um I always think I I treat it as I treat it as uh as like just that's the most important thing that I can do all day, you know? So anytime that there's any kind of banter or talk about like ah, gotta go do this or we gotta do that or whatever, it's like it's like sure, like if I have to go do a signing, like I'm not stoked to sit there for you know 30 minutes to an hour signing signatures necessarily. Sorry, fans, I just that's just to break it to you, that's not Ben's favorite thing to do. We do it because we love you. We do it because we love you, but it's not our favorite thing to do. Our favorite thing to do is to go on stage and play every night and have a great time and just leave it all on the field. And that's the way I view it, you know. Same thing with interviews, and no offense to you either, Mike. Like, interviews are like not that that's like the thing that we're like, oh man, I gotta go do that today, you know, when you're in the middle of whatever it is. Like, like, like when you're on tour and you've got um you have a whole day set out, right? Like you could you could do anything in Philadelphia, but the interviews and the meet and greet breaks up your entire day, so you literally get to do nothing. And then and then you had to go on stage, right? But what I'm saying is if there's anything I'm ever gonna complain about, it's all the excess stuff. Never going on stage. Stage is like that's game time, and that's what's fun, and that's why we do this.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

Well, my friend, I have to voice some appreciation because you made time for an interview with my ugly mug today, and I've really enjoyed this conversation and talking the legacy of the band. My closing question that I ask every guest on my show, no matter what walk of life they come from, is what's your advice for making the world a better place tomorrow than what it is today through your eyes and your level of experience?

SPEAKER_01 29:24

That's uh that's a tough question, I think, because I don't have the answer. Because I think about this a lot and I don't think I have the answer. But if I had to say what I think I do in general is just try to be respectful and treat each person that I'm around um in a way that I would want to be treated, you know, especially it's an it's crazy. It's crazy how many nice people I know who still do like some really I'm trying to think of a better term, but you know, some some like just like bad, bad energy, you know, type mentality stuff. And it always boggles my mind. I try I feel like I try so hard to keep a positive energy when I'm around uh groups of people or interacting with people. And I think that's just the that's the biggest thing you could do, right? Like there's all these, there's all these little things that people care about, right? Like you name it, like it's it, there's a long, long list of what people think will make the world a better place, like whether it's you know, recycling or or you know, not eating meat, or I don't know. Like there's a million things, and all those things are great, but the easiest thing you could do is just be kind or nice to people. And that's something that Derek loves to say, and I think it's really cool that he likes to say that on stage every every night. Because he's he's very right. Like that that is that is the biggest impact you can have.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

Man, I love it. Thank you so much for being generous with your time. I know you didn't have a lot today. Brooks Betts, Mayday Parade. Thank you so much for doing the show. The world is a much better place with you and it, my friend. Thanks, Mike. I appreciate the interview. Once again, I want to thank Brooks Betts for joining me on the podcast today. What a great conversation! You can follow Mayday Parade on Instagram at MaydayParade. Go check out their music on all the streaming platforms. You've heard their songs before, you've seen their live show. It's absolutely fantastic. While you're being generous with follows, make sure you're following at Caught on the Mike on all social media platforms. Please go to my YouTube channel and give me a subscribe and share a favorite episode with one of your friends. It helps the show grow. You can also visit me, www.caughtonthemic.com. Learn more about me, learn more about the show, and see the entire show catalog there. Or shoot me an email, caught on the mic at gmail.com. This has been Caught on the Mike with Michael Clark. I'm Michael Clark. Until next time, thank you.