Following the fan response and positive acclaim from Mayday Parade’s Out of Here EP last October, the group is setting those songs plus an additional track in motion with a new live EP, Live at the Screaming Eagle, out today on Rise Records.
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The four track EP features the standalone single “It Is What It Is” along with the three original songs from Out of Here. The live EP was recorded during their virtual performance, Out of Here Sessions, at Screaming Eagle Studios in Johns Creek, Georgia, with collaborators and producers Zach Odom and Kenneth Mount.
Out of Here saw rapid success upon its release in October and has since amassed 3 million streams, allowing the group—who would normally be touring tirelessly — to still perform, albeit in a different atmosphere. The Out of Here virtual performance in October was followed up by another show in December, dubbed the “Anywhere But Here Sessions,” offering fans a cover-to-cover play-through of the band’s 2009 sophomore release Anywhere But Here.
“I love how these songs turned out,” Frontman Derek Sanders said about the EP, “Playing them live was a highlight of 2020 for me.”
Songs like “Lighten Up Kid” from Out of Here, stood out for the singer, who wrote the lyrics based around disillusionment and the tendency of people to take life a bit to seriously. That same tone of perseverance set the mood for the rest of the EP and Mayday Parade’s perspective overall, during unprecedented times.
“I feel like ‘Lighten Up Kid’ and ‘First Train’ both have the general idea of moving forward and not getting weighed down by the negative aspects of life—not taking things seriously and being able to brush off the bad stuff,” Sanders previously told American Songwriter.
For a band like Mayday Parade where touring is life, last year caught them off guard and stifled their normal outlet of gigging, but they could not remain silent or idle. They adapted and prepared for what may or may not come, and figured the least they could do to extend a hand to their fans was to share music.
“There were so many things we could not do, but releasing music is something we were able to do,” Sanders said. “We’re trying to figure out when the best time will be to finish up the next full-length. We’re trying to stay creative and busy, probably going to record some more covers and just trying to make the most of this situation.”
Fans can purchase a digital download of Live at The Screaming Eagle EP here or pre-order via Spotify or Apple here. Be sure to check out the original versions on Out of Here.
