After their success in the UK in 2009 and 2010, Mayday Parade returned to our shores again in May 2011 along with Blitz Kids, We are the in Crowd and A Rocket to the Moon on a headline tour. It's clear to see from the crowds turning out early to see them that over the past couple of years, their popularity has grown massively.

Organised-Sound caught up with singer, Derek Sanders in Glasgow to chat about that success, this tour and what's in store for the band in the next year, including their self titled album set to be released in October.

OS: How are you doing today?
Derek Sanders [vocals]: Great, we're having a good day.

OS: I know that you're in the middle of tour just now, how's it gone so far?
Derek: It's been awesome, today is actually the exact middle day of the tour, it's halfway done and it's flown by. It's been a really good time so far, Germany was really awesome, we spent the first five days over here in Germany and then we've been in the UK for, I guess about twelve days or so. We've had some really great shows and all the bands on tour are awesome to hang out with, so it's been a lot of fun.

OS: Are your fans in Germany much different to the ones over here?
Derek: I wouldn't say so much to the ones over here, they're pretty similar, I think in general whenever we go outside of the US, maybe people appreciate us more because they haven't been able to see us as often. They really appreciate being there and it gets a little wilder. All the fans are great so it's really awesome being able to play everywhere.

OS: You've got quite the line up this tour with We are the in Crowd and A Rocket to the Moon as well as Blitz Kids. How's it been touring with them?
Derek: Yeah, great, we love being able to watch the other bands play every night. Blitz Kids have been with us since the beginning of our UK shows and we didn't know them before this tour, but it's been great to tour with them, they're really great guys and they're a lot of fun. A Rocket to the Moon, we've supported them several times in the past, so it's awesome to be with them again, we love those guys. This is our first tour with We are the in Crowd, we did Warped Tour with them when they were on it but we didn't get to hang out with them a whole lot so it's been really nice to get to know them a little better and have lots of good times.

OS: What's your setlist like tonight?
Derek: It's a real mix of all of our songs.
OS: Do you feel it's important to mix all your songs on a setlist?
Derek: Yes! Unless you're doing a tour dedicated to an album. We always try to do a mix, it gets harder and harder and once we put out our new CD it's going to get harder again to pick what songs to play. We want to play songs that people want to hear. We're lucky on this tour because we have an hour long set, but it's hard when you're on a tour when you only have a thirty minute set.

OS: Well your last album was very successful over here, so how are your plans going with the new one?
Derek: We just finished it a little over a month ago. I can't even tell you how excited we all are about it. We love it.

OS: Does it sound similar to your older work?
Derek: Yes, well it sounds like Mayday Parade. I think you can tell that we all love these songs. There's a lot of passion in them and they're meaningful to us. We had a lot of fun making it and I think people are going to like it a lot.

OS: Are there any particular stories to any of the new songs which stand out?
Derek: All of them at least for the lyrics I write are about things that have happened in my life, things you think about, write about, a lot of it's about relationships that I've been in and different things.
OS: Would you say your relationships and your past are your main influences?
Derek: Yeah, exactly.

OS: Who would you say influences you most?
Derek: Tonnes of people, it's hard to list but a couple that I like but some of my favourites are Bright Eyes, a lot of Brand New, and lots of other bands.

OS: And you let out 'Valdosta', the acoustic EP last year, why did you want to make an actual EP of your acoustic material?
Derek: It just seemed like a fun thing to do at the time. I've always enjoyed having artist's acoustic work when they make it. I have a lot of acoustic EPs and cover EPs or even EPs in general, just little things that are released aside from albums. It's cool and it's really nice to do. I think we're going to keep trying to do that kind of stuff, we've done it before and I think we'd like to put out another EP sometime in the future, before the next album or after, I'm not sure, but I hope that we do. We'll release this CD in October and then y'know a year, or a year and a half later maybe do an EP.

OS: Your `Kids in Love' video, the 18+ version is really different to your other music videos, was that to reach out to new audiences or was that again, just something else that you wanted to release on the side?
Derek: No, none of it really is I wouldn't say. It's all about just doing what we want to, creating what we want to create. We had done like, four music videos before that were all a really great experience, but they were all sort of, cookie cutter in a way, they were all sort of videos that you expected to see, so we really wanted to do something completely different, so we just ran with it, and I think it's really cool.
OS: I think it's beautifully done! It's really cool.
Derek: Thank you! I mean obviously, it's a bit extreme to watch at different parts but it's very real and I think you can tell that they had fun filming it. We weren't there for most of it, we were only there for the little bit of the video that we're in.

OS: What's your favourite song of yours to play live?
Derek: I don't really have one, I would say a lot of the more energetic songs, Jamie All Over, stuff like that. I don't know, lots of them, I like them all.

OS: Have you got any big plans for the rest of 2011?
Derek: The rest of the year is pretty much packed out, we have about two weeks left on this tour, short break and then we're going to Japan and South East Asia for a little while and we're really looking forward to that, and then we're home for another few weeks and then we're doing a tour with All Time Low and We are the in Crowd are on that as well, and lots of other great bands, The Cab are on it for a little bit, Cartel are on it for a little bit and we'll hopefully release our CD in October, then probably another tour to support the CD then. We'll be home for December, and working again in January 2012.

OS: Any plans to come back to the UK then?
Derek: Not yet. I'm just kind of guessing, I'm thinking for sure it'll happen at some point in 2012, hopefully early on.

OS: And lastly, are you excited about becoming a dad?
Derek: Yes! Very, very excited.

Mayday Parade will release their self-titled album on October 4th 2011. Congratulations also go to Derek, whose baby daughter Grey was born on August 29th!