​This here post is the latest edition in our recurring feature that takes a look at what outside musicians think about the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Each week or so, we'll present a conversation with a touring act, and conclude it with a quick word-association game focusing on certain aspects of Big D and the surrounding region. Check it out. We think it's pretty fun.

Mayday Parade is no stranger to band turmoil.

​Mayday Parade's brand of emo pop/punk has brought the band to the precipice of major stardom.

Hailing out of Tallahassee, Florida (same hometown as Creed), Mayday Parade's 2007 debut, A Lesson in Romantics, featured the interesting vocal interplay between keyboardist Derek Sanders and lead axeman Jason Lancaster. Sadly, Lancaster left the band just after the album was released, leading to way too much Internet fodder discussing whether the band is better with or without him.

To his credit, remaining vocalist Sanders does not shy away from discussing Lancaster's departure and the effect it had on his band's most recent effort, Anywhere But Here. Speaking from Orlando, Sanders was kind enough to answer a few of our questions--and even play a little Dallas word-association.

Mayday Parade has played on the Vans Warped Tour the last couple of years. Is the heat a beating?
It depends entirely on how you do it. We've done it on a van and on a bus and it's like a night and day difference. It's really hard to escape the heat. But if you have a bus that you can go to, it's really not that bad. It's a lot of fun because of so many bands and you get to play in front of a lot of kids.

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This here post is the first edition of what will be a weekly peek at what outside musicians think about the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Each week, we'll present a conversation with a touring act, and conclude it with a quick word-association game focusing on certain aspects of Big D and the surrounding region...

Terry Woodside

Matt Taylor of Motion City Soundtrack

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For this inaugural post, I caught with Matt Taylor, bassist for the Minneapolis rock band Motion City Soundtrack. As you can tell by his answers, Taylor was a bit confused by the format. But he still played along like a trooper.

Motion City Soundtrack is now signed to Columbia Records after a lengthy stay with Epitaph. How different is it being on a major label?
So far, it's been a very smooth transition. It hasn't been all that different. The cool thing is that we still have a lot of artistic and creative freedom--as much as we did on Epitaph. We learned a lot on an indie label and I think the people at Columbia have seen and respect that. It's a cool, mutual respect situation. The band is not going to be down with every idea the label pitches and they understand that we are going to have our own ideas. It's been great so far.

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