Interviews (237)

• May 29, 2025
• Colleen Johnson
• 510
• 0

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For all my elder emo’s out there, this weekend is a kickoff of what’s sure to be a summer of great shows from all your favorites. But first up on your radar, if it isn’t already, should be the Tallahassee team in Mayday Parade! The guys will be making their way to our fair city tomorrow on one of the last dates of their “Three Cheers for Twenty Years” tour tomorrow night at the iconic House of Blues, and it’s sure to be a wild ride. Not only will the band be joined by Microwave, Grayscale, and Like Roses, but they will also be back in the area in Providence this Sunday at The Strand! With a setlist filled with tracks off every EP and album the band has released, it’s a no-miss show. Limited tickets are still available here, but I’d jump on them quickly if I were you!

Prior to the show, I recently spoke with Brooks Betts from the band to talk about the tour, the planning for it, their latest EP, Sweet, and so much more. This show is the band’s at least fourth time coming to Massachusetts since live music resumed, and yet they continue to draw massive crowds of both loyal fans and new listeners. You can find our chat below and grab a ticket while you still can to tomorrow’s show!

New England Sounds: This is to preview the Boston date of the tour you’re already on, you’re in Phoenix today, home of The Maine guys, how has it been going so far? The Three Cheers for Twenty Years tour. 

Brooks Betts: It’s been incredible. I think that the shows are just some of the best we’ve ever done. The set-ups are great. Everything’s very comfortable, all around, which helps morale. But the attendance is great, we’re getting a lot of sold-out shows. I think most, maybe two, have not, but most have. And the level of production that we’re doing, the crew that we’ve got is great, so everything’s really smooth. And it just feels like it should. Just feels really nice. 

NES: Then, when it comes to the planning of these sets. I mean, obviously, you play the hits for the people that are the long-time fans, but you have been this unit for twenty years. I know you had Jason (Lancaster, former vocalist on the first EP), come out on stage in Texas. Did you sit down as a team, and maybe everyone brought one or two songs they wanted to be involved in the set list? Kind of how did you go about the planning of what you were going to be playing off each record and each EP? 

Brooks: We just looked at everything as a whole. I don’t think we tried to pick favorites or anything like that. A lot of it’s just kind of what makes sense. And it gets difficult to balance that. To have a balance between, like you said, the hits, but then you’re also having to figure out, “Okay, well, if we’re going to go through twenty years of music, we need represent a little bit of everything.” And it happens that most of the popular songs are from the debut record, A Lesson In Romantics. “Anywhere but Here,” and some off the self-titled and things like that. And then the rest are kind of spotted. We have a run of songs across the other albums. But they’re just as a whole, not as well-represented. So, then you start pulling in tracks that are maybe just more energetic as well. To balance the fact that we had so many ballads that were popular. So if you’re going to play something like “Terrible Things,” “Miserable At Best,” and “Stay,” well, it’s kind of tough to keep doing other popular, more mid-tempo ballads throughout the set. So then we end up moving some things in place that just had energy. 

NES: Then you’ve always been non-stop. But you’ve already been to Massachusetts, I think, at least three or four times since live music came back. With the Yellowcard tour, returning to Sad Summer, now this, of course. But you have been making a lot of music too. Sweet is the first one to be released of the three albums. I know it says EP, but it’s around eight songs. When did you start working on Sweet? Were all the songs written together, produced together, or are those still to come? 

Brooks: Yeah, so usually, like the process of how we do things, is that we all write individually at home. We all live in different places; it’s not that different. And we end up creating almost ninety-five percent of a song, finished, bring it in, put it on the table. Usually, between the five of us, on any given session, you’re going to have something like twenty to thirty songs. A quicker session like this, we’d have closer to twenty, thirty. Thirty is what’s usually expected if we’re doing a full-length album, right? And we’re taking the best songs, and we’re changing and working and whittling on what needs to change as a group. We’re creating parts around these guitar and vocal ideas. Writing drums and stuff like that too, but it’s a very group effort. The song itself usually comes from one person. 

NES: So you all bring your own ideas to the table? Like a democratic process kind of thing. 

Brooks: Exactly, yeah. 

NES: Then, Sweet is the first one, which only came out on April 19th.I know the releases are planned to go until 2026. You may not be able to share much, but is it something where they’re already finished, or are you just planning the timeline?  You may not be able to share or don’t want to. 

Brooks: No, no, that’s fine to speak on. Two is done. So, the second set is done. We’re in the middle of reviewing mixes for those tracks. So we try to stay very proactive and ahead of time. And then in the midst of all that happening, we’re also writing Three right now. And that has not been recorded, obviously. We’re still in the process of creating that music. 

NES: Perfect, then I wanted to ask. Just the other day, you got announced for the Warped Tour. I believe, DC? 

Brooks: Yep, and Orlando. 

NES: And Orlando? Fitting. I covered ten years of Warped Tour, and I remember you guys were on the 2018 run, which was also the last one with The Maine. Garrett and Pat (Nickelsen and Kirch, respectively, of The Maine) were outside selling CDs on the line. I think I saw you, or at least one of the members, standing around the complex trying to sell CDs, even though you guys were two of the headlining bands. I remember talking to Garrett, being like “You guys still do this?” and he was like, “We have to, this is still part of it.” Maybe considering that’s what Sad Summer came out of (the plan originated that summer), maybe things you’re glad you learned from so many summers on Warped Tour, and things you think have helped you still be a band today? All the hard work you put in then, and you were still doing it despite being headlining bands.

Brooks: Well, you know, I don’t know how much we needed to do it (laughs), in 2018, as much as there’s just nothing to do, right? Day after day, otherwise. I like being productive, as I mentioned earlier, so to me, it’s very productive to make yourself available and walk around with the CDs. Meet people, obviously, and kill two birds with one stone. So, you’re excited for whatever the new album is. So, you’re just going to push that anyway you can. I treated it as a challenge, just to do it and go out there, being personable. Almost as an example, I don’t know, it was a weird thing in my mind. It kind of goes along with it, it’s almost like you know that it’s cool that you started there, and did it there, with like the CD thing. 

But then, on top of that, Warped Tour is an experience. There’s nothing like that. There are plenty of festival runs you can do, summer tours that have always existed, aside from Warped Tour, but it’s just kind of its own thing. We had a conversation about that the other night, and I think a big reason why that tour worked the way it did is because Kevin Lyman (creator of Warped Tour) is really smart and calculated with the routing and the money that’s flowing in and out. And I think that tour is built to do two things. It’s built to be efficient, it’s built to be as cheap as possible, so that you can get as many bands on as possible at a rate that they can accept for a long run like that. The exposure that they’re going to get, but also able to keep the ticket prices so cheap, so that they have great attendance. And I think that was a big pull. I think in its own little market, it created its own little individual thing that nobody ever has done or maybe ever will be able to be replicated. Maybe the biggest reason why nobody will be able to ever do that again is because it was a time and place. And that time has just passed. But it builds character in that way. I think the whole emo scene was built around that. I wouldn’t call it spoiled, but I think we’re coming into something now that’s very cool, where you have a festival like When We Were Young. Things like that, things like that being offered, that leaves a lot more money on the table these days, you know. But there’s a lot more to go around. The scene has somehow grown even outside of its heyday, which is so cool. It’s so cool, but that’s what I’m talking about with that window and that time and that change. I think that the bands that came from this had grinded for so long. 

NES: I agree. And I think the hard work is clear. I know they may be a little bit of a different genre, but you’re still here with the same lineup, The Maine is still the same line-up, bands a little bit different like Pierce The Veil and Sleeping With Sirens are still touring this long, and probably are all bigger then you thought it would be. The ones who I feel like were a flash in the pan, I feel like, are the ones who aren’t here. The ones who maybe didn’t put in as much work or groundwork back in the day. 

Brooks: Well, it’s definitely a part of it, and it’s in that. I think a lot of it, too, is just simply that; I’m not going at all against what you’re saying; we’re saying the same thing, and they also didn’t continue to put out music. A lot of them didn’t even want to tour. A lot of them couldn’t even handle touring. I think that’s the biggest thing. And they also couldn’t handle each other (laughs), you know? If you can’t get along, then your band falls apart. It’s so silly that that happens that way, but I’m sure they have reasons. 

NES: Well, you’re in very tight quarters then, if you don’t get along, that may cause some issues, especially if it’s with someone you already don’t like. Definitely, When We Were Young and Sad Summer Fest, which I know from talking to Pat and Josh Terry, last summer to preview the tour, who I know is part of your management team. I know how hands-on you were, as well as The Maine, in creating that tour. 

Brooks: Well, especially The Maine, too. 

NES: Yeah, didn’t Pat and his brother kind of bring that idea to you guys and some other bands? 

Brooks: Yeah, I think it’s nice that people are like, yeah, you and The Maine, but I like to give them more of that credit. And that band, I give them all the credit for the way that they work. We’ll use them as an example all the time, of like how to get shit done. They’re just so innovative with that. 

NES: You give praise to The Maine, but just from covering the past five Sad Summer’s, I know the bands are always present. It’s not something where fans are paying to meet someone; it’s all just kind of walking around the festival, giving time to them, being present. So, you still have this tour. This is to preview the Boston show, which is one of the last shows. You’re going to Australia with Jack’s Mannequin on tour with you there, you’re playing with The Summer Set in Wisconsin, I believe, and you’re going to Canada. A lot’s coming up for you. Very busy. Maybe hopes or goals for you in these next few months? You’ve always been road dogs, but you’ve been constantly going these last few years.  Maybe for you as an artist personally, the band in general, if you can share? 

Brooks: Yeah, a little of both. I think we’re just really excited about the music we’ve been doing. I’m very excited about the music we have coming out. I’m very excited about all the music that we’ve been working on. I just think that I’ve never been more immersed in music in my entire life, my career. It’s kind of cool and refreshing, which is kind of weird to say, twenty years later. A lot of people would be so sick of it, at times you can be, maybe ask me in Boston if I’ve changed my mind, but yeah, right now it feels really good. I enjoy writing, so I’ve just been writing music with the band, and I’m writing music with other people. I do co-write stuff, it keeps me busy these days, and it’s been a lot of fun. I do guitar lessons on the road, like I have one today. Every morning, I have a couple that I do on Zoom. Half of those are songwriting, too. Just people I think are good players who want to write more music. So I guess right now, it’s just a great time for songwriting, in my phase of life. I’m just really enjoying that. It’s keeping the whole thing alive, as opposed to being jaded and feeling like you want to be done with this. 

Mayday Parade, Microwave, Grayscale, and Like Roses play House of Blues in Boston, MA on Friday, May 30th. Doors open at 6pm with music beginning at 7pm. The show is all ages and tickets are available – HERE.

Mayday Parade, Microwave, Grayscale, and Like Roses play The Strand in Providence, RI on Sunday, June 1st. Doors open at 6pm with music beginning at 7pm. The show is all ages and tickets are available – HERE.

Featured image by: Eli Ritter