Sean Mackin of the band Yellowcard performs at Rams Head Live on Thursday, November 15, 2012 in Baltimore, MD. Photo By: Anthony Washington
Welcome to 20 Minutes With. Presented by Music Photographer Anthony Washington and MetroMontage.com.
20 Minutes With features an interview with an artist in the music industry. This months edition of 20 Minutes With features an interview with Sean Mackin of the band Yellowcard. I had the chance to sit down with Mr. Mackin before his bands performance at Rams Head Live in Baltimore, MD on Thursday, November 15, 2012
Southern Air, what are you most proud of about this album?
I think I am most proud of the journey of it. We went out on tour last year with a big question mark. We did not know what it was going to bring us. We did not know if it was going to be a reunion year, or if we were going to be able to build and keep playing music.
The tour took us to 32 different countries, and it gave us the springboard to get to the next level. We were also excited and wanted to do a new record. As we were writing and recording the early part of the record, I had some personal health issues that kind of brought us all together. It really made it more of a personal journey as well. The fact that we came out on the other side, we’re the closest we have ever been in 14 years, and most people are saying this is our best recording to date, is just a crowning achievement for us. We never imagined any of this. Just the fact that we put out a brand new record, Southern Air, just that in itself is an amazing moment for us.
As I was doing research on-line for this interview, I noticed that the band has done a lot of interviews over the years. Has the band always made a conscious effort to be so accessible?
Yeah, pretty much.
When we first started touring a lot of bands were thriving through the internet. That is how we booked a lot of our earlier tours before we got a booking agent. I think that is what helped get us to that next level, and the way that the market is changing there are very few artists that have a private quieter life. Be it because of the tabloids, television, or the internet, every type of artist has some type of public part of their career. We try to embrace it instead of fight it, and it has made things really special for us. We have a great fan base.
Early on, we had a street team called the “Underdogs”. We have the most passionate fans. They have always been there for us, and they continue to be there for us. Were just very fortunate that we embraced being accessible, and it has gotten us to the next level.
When Yellowcard’s first album Ocean Avenue hit, Total Request Live was huge and music videos were on during prime times making for maximum visibility. Not so much today. What are you and your band mates doing to keep Yellowcard in front of your fans and others since the industry has changed so much?
The economy changed in 2008 when we took a break. When we came back, we realized that these outlets have kind of been gone. But we were still fortunate enough to have relationships with record labels. Hopeless Records signed us and still had a relationship with MTV, but the internet content is still in the forefront. There’s Tumblr, Facebook, and a bunch of dot com’s. Hopeless has put together a You Tube profile with us, and we’ll spend a fraction, less then a tenth, of what we had spent on videos, and we’ll make three videos and just put them on-line. A couple of our videos from last years record, When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes, have a million plus hits already in ten short months.
So those outlets are still there. I think they have evolved into something different. The television and the movie crowd are now yelling “piracy is real” and that is something musicians have been dealing with for 20 years.
So we try to scrape and get by where we can and make sure people still support us. But you know Tumblr, You Tube, and Twitter are major outlets for artist. We’re just trying to make sure that we can continue to work the social media outlets, and we’re trying to make sure we stay available to our fans through those outlets.
Both you and Ryan Key started playing instruments at a very young age. It reminds me of my dad, he started playing clarinet when he was five. Who introduced you to music?
Yeah that is about the age I started playing violin; when I was five.
I’m half Japanese. My mother was born in Japan. Growing up in an ultra disciplined household, how my mother reared me, it was business sports first like golf and tennis. “Those are your first recreations” she would say. When I lived in her house that is what I did first. If I wanted to play basketball, soccer, or football, I could do that secondary.
I think I quit playing violin everyday until I was fifteen when I went to Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. That is where I ultimately meant the rest of the guys in the band.
My mom would continually remind me that “Music is a gift. One day you’ll thank me, violin is a gift.” This is sort of our second lease on our music career. We just played at the House of Blues in Orlando, FL and my family drove down from Jacksonville to see the show. I saw my mom up in the balcony and I told the crowd that my family is here and I said “Mom, you always told me music is a gift and I quit everyday. You made me keep doing it and I am here now because of you.” Then we played a song for her. I saw the tears in her eyes. All the credit goes to her.
The guys in my band influenced and inspired me to adapt my playing to more of a contemporary form of the violin. From the very beginning, I was classically trained.
Who are some of your favorite violinist?
Very early I was drawn to Izthak Perlman because up until high school I was only influenced by classical music.
Joshua Bell came to our high school, and he did a master class on technique. During the class, he started playing a little jazz violin. And I was like…“Hmmm what’s going on over here?” It sort of opened my ears and I started being more open to hearing classical influences in other types of music.
Most notably, Chris Shiflett of No Use For A Name. He is currently playing with the Foo Fighters. Just the way he would guitar solo and the way he would get around the neck were just really natural sounds to me because I was use to those sort of scales and those movements my whole life. So I started learning and writing songs based on No Use For A Name guitar solos. And then I started playing that to other things. So those three instrumentalists sort of shaped me for where I am at in Yellowcard.
Do you remember where you were when your first heard a Yellowcard song on the radio?
Yes. We were in Fort Collins, Colorado and it was 2003. We just got our first tour bus, and we were with some friends in a band called Over It. A majority of them reformed into a band called Runner Runner.
We were just hanging out on the bus listening to music and they were like, “Wait, you guys are on the radio right now”. And we were all like, “No this is a CD.” It was such a surreal moment. At the time that we got started and we were touring, everything was heavily driven by CD’s. The iPod had not taken over yet, and we were constantly putting in demo’s and CD’s of local bands and friends bands on the tour bus. I was absolutely convinced that they were incorrect. They all said, “Nah, Nah, this is real.” It was such a shocking moment that we all sat down. Then the cheers came, and the cracking of the beers, and the toast and everything. It was unbelievable. Still to this day, I’ll be going through the mall, the grocery store, in the gym working out, and one of our songs will come. It is still so surreal. We don’t take those moments for granted.
What are you listening to right now, what’s in your smartphone?
So I have the iPhone now. Music is streaming through the air right into my ears. [Laughs.]
Recently I downloaded the new Mumford & Sons record — the band is great. I like the passion; you can hear the conviction in his vocal. Being a violinist, I still love the folk sound, which is my favorite Yellowcard sound and really the reason that I am here.
We used to play acoustic before we were a rock band. I really attach to that folk singer songwriter sound. The friends that I’ve toured with, and that I remain very close with, like the band All Time Low, their new record came out. So I am listening to a few of their songs.
One of my favorite workout records right now is by Pierce The Veil. They put out a new record called Collide With The Sky. They have some classic influence that I attach to. A little edgier then what I would normally listen to, but still very well composed. All the textures are a bit fresher. They have managed to use the guitar, bass, and drums so it mimics a digital sound. Not a dub-step keyboard synthetic style, but they sort of mimic that. I think that is very creative. So I have been listening to Pierce The Veil a little bit more then I have in the past.
Yellowcard is headed back to Europe again for Vans Off The Wall Music Night tour. What differences do you see in how the crowds react to your music in Europe compared to how the crowds react to your music here in the United States?
I don’t want this to come across the wrong way. The touring in the United States is more fun because we have more friends here, and the convenience of using the cell phone, eating, and things like that. But there is so much music here that sometimes the fan base is a little spoiled.
Overseas, it’s a little bit harder to get the internet, food, and sometimes there is a language barrier. But the fan base is so ravenous for the music and the culture.
You know, we come from a punk rock live show where we have a high energy relationship. Up until recently, only Los Angeles was a little to cool for school. Not really doing a lot of moshing, or a lot of cross arms, and doing a lot of focus listening which I encourage absolutely. But that relationship when you’re giving it your all and you look out and its absolute chaos, there is no better feeling in the world. And I’m not saying people have to jump around, mash, scream, and dance, or whatever. But music evokes some kind of emotion, and the energy that we put into our songs – you know a lot of bands that I listen to I have to workout to. I cannot sit still and just listen to the song. It makes me want to be very active. So sometimes in the United States we are starting to see that trend a little bit. But Brazil, Germany, France, Italy, these shows are sweat soaked and in your face. Even in Japan, totally polite in between songs and super quiet, but when the music is playing it’s just an absolute celebration and everyone in the audience just lets go.
So were seeing that trend a little bit more. Baltimore being the most southern, but Boston, New York, Philly, New Jersey, that area is still ravenous for music. Those are the trends and that is what we are seeing a little bit.
Is there a song that you look forward to playing every night?
I have two if you don’t mind.
We just put out a record called Southern Air and the title track “Southern Air”, the last song on the record, we are sort of closing the set out with that and it has a real nice end to it. I like the way that we arranged that song; it has so many different elements to it. And the way that the audience sings it back. There is a line in there “Remember where you’re from.” For a lot kids, fans, and even us on stage, it’s a real resonate point.
Then for the history of our band, we wrote a song very earlier in our career called “Believe” and we put that on Ocean Avenue. How the lyric repeats “Everything is gonna be alright. Be strong. Believe.” Through out the song you can see the unity in the audience and it’s just a real special moment. And Ryan being a great narrator has orchestrated that moment for the past decade. He’s done a great job.
For more information about Sean Mackin and Yellowcard, visit www.yellowcardrock.com. To see photos from their most recent performance at Ram’s Head Live in Baltimore, click here.
