YellowcardEsteemed pop punk band Yellowcard have wasted no time after announcing the end of their self-imposed hiatus. Having just finished playing this year's Warped Tour – which included The Used, Taking Back Sunday and New Found Glory – violinist Sean Mackin is enjoying the hot Texan summer with friends made over their decade-long career. “It's amazing, we are making memories daily,” Mackin begins. “This line-up is so great for us as there are so many friends in bands on this tour. It harks back to the glory days of 2004. It's like summer camp from sun-up to sundown. You are surrounded by good friends, people you have toured the world with - most notably for us the guys from All Time Low - and everyone has their signings, hanging with the fans all day, selling merch. We played soccer with some of the other bands, and every day is like that. Actually a little bit of trivia is that this tour marks our ten year anniversary involvement with (Warped founder) Kevin Lyman in 2002, and we have since done this tour five times in the last ten years, so it's been a great history and a great piece of what Yellowcard is.”
Yellowcard are also about to launch their eighth studio album in Southern Air, a feat that Mackin stresses has been about taking measured steps. “We have tried to progress as tastefully as possible,” he chuckles. “We've all grown up as teenagers and had the same passion for life and music, and that has led us through our twenties and now into our early thirties. What we have always wanted to do is show that we have this passion for life and an intense love for music. So after taking a couple years off and putting out When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes last year, we have travelled to thirty-two countries and it has all led up to Southern Air. [The music industry] is a very hard world to navigate, so for us to come out after a tiny break… we have our chinks in the armour, but we're pretty unified. We look at Southern Air and we can hang our hat, maybe even say 'Hey, we know how to write a couple of songs.'”
Having such an established back catalogue, Mackin intimates that walking the fine line between familiarity and breaking new ground is a hard yet rewarding journey. It is one that couldn't have happened without the requisite tumultuous periods that come with being in each other's pockets and learning from them. “We really tried to highlight or frame the best parts about us as Yellowcard that we have learnt over the past ten or so years. When you're younger and you are writing songs, you finish up and think, 'Well that's it, that's the best song there is!' Yet now that we have some years under our belt, we're tried-and-true world travellers and everything, we realise how much of life goes into music. It's such an opinionated thing, yet it's impossible to reinvent the wheel. So we have spent our time polishing the Yellowcard sound, and to do that we had to look back at past albums like Ocean Avenue and Paper Walls and identify what is each member's strongest moment, then bring that to what we are doing now.” This refinement of each other's musical strengths produces a confident air to Southern Air that is evident in every aspect of the band aesthetic, from frontman Ryan Key's personal, reflective lyrics right down to each member's place within each song. Mackin admits that the hiatus heightened their sense of place in the world and with each other.
“Ryan spent a lot of time with his family in Florida and Georgia, a time that allowed for much self-reflection. There's a song on the album called Awakening, and the album closes with Southern Air – it all embodies this world where we all grew up and came from. It's like the entire group has received this collective breath of fresh air, this inspired vigour for music and life, and we thought it was just that initial getting-back-together, things-slotting-into-place phase. But it's continued into 2012, and it has revitalised us.” An unusual factor of the Yellowcard aesthetic has been their long-standing working relationship with producer Neal Avron, who has been on board for the band's last five albums. Such a relationship ensures that what takes place in the studio remains true and unrushed, a personal journey that isn't sullied by outside concerns. “Neal has been with us since Ocean Avenue, so he is part of the family,” Mackin enthuses. “He has such a great musical mind. He is able to help us cater and write strong songs that highlight our strengths, he is able to pinpoint a special melody or drumbeat or a lyric from Ryan, and channel us through a conceptual point into a physical recorded moment, one that we don't foresee. We have worked with Neal for nine years, and every moment is a pleasure. We feel that he is one of the best producers in the world, and we are lucky to have gotten in with him at the ground floor. He is a class act, a privilege to work with, and he helps make us who we are.”
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The Yellowcard fanbase has always been a strong and resolute one, connecting heavily with the members and vice versa. Mackin admits that this strong connection is paramount to the band's success, and helps drive them even harder. “The music industry has changed so much, even since we started playing music as a profession back in 2001, which isn't really that long ago. Yet one thing that has never changed is how much we want to show to our fans how thankful and grateful we are. It often feels like not a lot of artists make the time to be able to do that. There is an argument that the older bands that influenced us, those guys never had to go online to talk to fans, yet it is the world that we live in and the reputation that we wanted to forge. It feels sometimes that bands forget that it is the fans that give us the gift of music. It's the fans that allow us to do this for a living, which is so incredible.”
The juggernaut continues, and the Australian contingent of the Yellowcard fanbase are looking forward to not only a new release but a series of headline shows so soon after they took part in last year's Counter Revolution festival. Mackin maintains that every moment in Australia is an especially momentous one. “Counter Revolution in many ways was an appetiser for the Warped Tour over here, so it was a chance for us to enjoy the summer weather. We had almost a week off in Sydney between the two weekend shows, so we got to let our hair down, run amok and get into trouble. There is something about Australia that makes us feel like kids again, so coming back down there so soon is fine by us!”
Yellowcard will be playing the following shows:
Tuesday 18 September - The Tivoli, Brisbane QLD
Thursday 20 September - The Hi-Fi, Melbourne VIC
Friday 21 September - The Hi-Fi, Melbourne VIC (afternoon show)
Saturday 22 September - Fat As Butter, Newcastle NSW
Saturday 22 September - UNSW Roundhouse, Sydney NSW (evening show)
