Results tagged “mayday parade” from J-14 Magazine

Hey J-14ers,

I'm a big fan of compliation CDs -- I have all those punk goes pop albums and will scour YouTube for a good cover, so I was psyched to check out Take Action Volume 9. The whole CD was put together just for charity as part of the 2010 Take Action Tour. We The Kings, Mayday Parade, A Rocket To The Moon, and There for Tomorrow are a part of the tour and the two-disc CD includes 35 songs, and bands like 3OH!3, Cobra Starship, Taking Back Sunday, and All Time Low join them on the album.

There are two things I really like about this CD. One is that 5% of the retail price will be donated to Driving For Donors, a group started by 14-year-old Patrick Pedraja and his family. When Patrick was 10, he was diganosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and at 11, he started the group to get people to sign up for the National Marrow Registry. The other cool thing is that the album isn't filled with hit songs you've already heard on other albums. Eighteen of the 35 tracks are exclusive or previously unreleased, including We The Kings' riveting acoustic cover of Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle."

The acoustic tracks make the mix for me. I love when musicians can strip down their tunes and get to the real essence of the lyrics and melodies. You can really hear the pain in Mayday Parade's "The Silence," and if a song on the mix gets you a bit more down than you'd expect, a tune like Hit The Lights' "Liars And Cheats (Acoustic)" comes along and makes you want to clap your hands -- in the most rockstar way, of course. I was most surprised by There For Tomorrow's "Backbone (Acoustic)" -- it was truly stripped-down and let singer Maika Maile's voice shine through.

3OH!3 and Cobra Starship's start off disc two with remixes of "Don't Trust Me" and "Hot Mess," and they're the kind of versions you want to hear when getting ready to go out on a Friday night. Much of the second disc was hit with the dance stick with tracks like Let's Get It's "Maps" to Lights' "Saviour," which I thought was a Britney Spears song the first time I listened to it. Disc two very quickly moves into the hardcore world with August Burns Red's "Indonesia" but then gets right back to pop punk with All Time Low's "Poision" and The Downtown Fiction's "I Just Wanna Run" - both got me totally pumped up.

Take Action Volume 9 runs the gamut from punk to pop to dance thanks to the acoustic versions and remixes. While I lean towards pop punk over anything else, the compilation has a good mix for everyone -- think the type of CD you could put on when you have friends over and never need to change.

So tell me - what do you think of charity compilation albums?

<3,
Emily, J-14 editor

Take Action Volume 9 drops tomorrow, February 9. More information on the tour and the charity can be found at TakeActionTour.com and Sub City.

J-14 has five copies to giveaway - enter the contest here!

Photo: Courtesy of Fueled By Ramen

Mayday Parade stopped by the J-14 offices today, and they were super fun guys to talk to! They filled us in on the Hot Topic Presents 2010 Sub City Take Action Tour that they're currently on along with We The Kings, There For Tomorrow, A Rocket to the Moon, Stereo Skyline, and Call The Cops. This year's tour spotlights a charity called Driving For Donors. It was started by Patrick Pedraja, a 14-year-old who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when he was just 10 years old.

Lead singer Derek Sanders says the tour has been awesome so far. "Touring is so much fun as it is, and it's already just a great time," he explains. "To have that extra bonus factor that it's for a really good cause just makes it even more rewarding." Even cooler? In the ten years since the tour idea was started, The Sub City concept has raised nearly two million dollars for over 50 non-profit organizations.

Check out tour dates after the jump and their shoutout vid just to J-14 below!

Hey J-14ers,

Yesterday was a busy day for us at J-14! In the middle of all of it, I was lucky enough to check out Mayday Parade live at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza -- I've been a fan of the band since they went on tour with Brandston back in 2006.

Mayday Parade was so energetic it was almost contagious! Actually, it was completely contagious if you saw the huge crowd that was not just singing along to every song -- a group of guys in the back formed their own mosh pit and one girl attempted crowd surfing! I was psyched because they performed my fave Mayday song, "Miserable At Best," and I even got to meet guitarist Alex Garcia after the show!

Mayday Parade is currently part of the Fall Ball '09 tour -- The Academy Is... headlines the shows, and both bands are supported by Set Your Goals, The Secret Handshake, and You Me At Six -- and their first headlining tour starts November 27. Their new album, Anywhere But Here, is on sale now! Check out Mayday Parade's tour dates after the jump.

I'm such a fan that, I even bought a pair of Mayday Parade shorts! Hello, they were kelly green and awesome! Which reminds me -- I used to collect tees from every show I went to. Are you guys into buying band gear at shows? And who are you dying to see live this winter?

<3,
Emily, J-14 editor