It is with great pleasure that PropertyOfZack is revealing our brand new interview with Sean Mackin of Yellowcard. Yellowcard need no introduction and we’re very thankful that the band had a few minutes to talk during the midst of their tour with All Time Low. Sean and I discussed the Dirty Work tour, the reception of their new album, future touring plans, as well as acoustic recordings. Read up and enjoy, it’s a great one!

For the record, could you state your name and role in Yellowcard?
My name is Sean Mackin. I play violin for Yellowcard.
 
The band is currently on tour with All Time Low, Hey Monday, and The Summer Set in the States on your first run here since the hiatus. How has it been to see all of your fans here after such a long break?
It’s been amazing. Everyone’s getting along, and all the fans are being really amazing to us. All Time Low are such a big band right now that I don’t think a lot of the Yellowcard fans were able to get tickets. While we do have a nice presence with our fans, there definitely has been some online confusion of, “I cannot believe the show sold out so fast.” We’re humbled to be with All Time Low, who are an amazing band. We’re having a great time.
 
Before this leg of the tour, Yellowcard headed all overseas to Japan, Russia, and the UK. Can you discuss how it was not only playing your first run of shows together as a band in years, but also doing them away from home?
Playing our first shows together was kind of comical. I always have this moment of clarity when I’m on stage where I have this relationship with the audience. Realizing they were our first few shows in a long time, it was amazing how relaxed and calmed we all felt. I kind of have been describing it as just riding a bike. We’re having some fun with new songs and are rediscovering where we’re at with the band right now. Little things of just remembering where LP plays fills were really funny. One of the greatest things about are band for me was always being able to play in these places like Japan and go to new places like the Philippines and Russia and Finland. Being able to play music and play violin in these places is amazing. That’s definitely one of the highlights of our band.
 
Were there any nerves before kicking off all of this touring how your chemistry would be on stage?
I think any anxiety came before shows in the form of butterflies about how we’d be received. Our fans have been amazing. It’s been really well received and we’re really excited to have really amazing fans.
 
Some fans were slightly put off that you would be opening for All Time Low when the tour was announced. How have the crowds been in support of you guys throughout all the dates?
There has been a nice showing of our audience. Even All Time Low fans or people who have heard our songs are really getting into our show. It’s been a great tour so far and we’re looking forward to people having our new record. We’ve been selling 50/60 CDs a night. The new release of our album has been warmly received.
 
Your set is moderately short, but would you say this tour has really helped in terms of exposure?
Yeah, absolutely. Any time that you get a band like All Time Low to take a band that hasn’t been in the music scene for two or three years…Every show is either sold out, or close to sold out. I mean, exposure is one thing, but we also need to make sure that Yellowcard sounds good as a band. That’s very important to us. We want to make sure that sonically we deliver the most accurate sound from our records. I think in the forty minute set that we have, we put in a mix of new songs and old songs and right now the crowd seems to enjoy what we put together.
 
When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes was released back on March 22^nd and it landed at 19 on the Billboard Top 20. How great of a feeling was that to wake up to?
It was unbelievable just to see all our fans go out and support us like that and to think that we would have a Top 20 record again. And let me say this, it’s not super important. As an artist in a band, I’m not chasing a number. I realize that there are artists out there like Lady Gaga and Britney Spears and Ke$ha that are demanding the top of the charts, but for us to even have a moment in the Top 20 there, that’s so exciting.
 
Obviously there was a large level of excitement from fans when the band announced it would be continuing on making new music together, but did you guys expect the sales to be as high as they were in the first week?
No, I think the fact that we took a couple years off and were able to live our lives gave us some really fun things to write about. The experiences really made it a really exciting writing process, even if it was condensed. The expectations for us, we just wanted to write a Yellowcard album through and through. There weren’t any preconceived notions. We weren’t trying to do anything different. Our fans seem to really like this and I think you get a good mix of all of our Yellowcard songs.
 
Music videos for “For You, And Your Denial” as well as “Hang You Up” have been released. Were they fun to shoot, and have fans been into them?
A lot of people have said that “Hang You Up” is our best music video ever. It was nice to do something a little different. “For You, And Your Denial” was actually just supposed to be a digital release and a fun teaser. It wasn’t supposed to be played on TV; it was just something for online content. It kind of picked up traction and we give credit to our fans. “Hang You Up” was the real release that we worked on and wanted to make sure everything went well.
 
How had the writing process evolved from the time you wrote Paper Walls together to writing When You’re Through?
It was a very similar writing process. We were very fortunate to have Neal Avron sign on. We were throwing around other ideas because we didn’t think Neal would be available, but all the puzzle pieces cam together. The only difference was that normally it takes twice as long to write, do pre-production, and to do the record. We did everything in about half the time, which was stressful. Getting together to write the song felt like old friends hanging out. The only difference was that we were kind of scattered. We were emailing a lot of files and flying back and forth. That kind of had an exciting atmosphere as well. Again, just getting back together with old friends, having a good time writing songs, and drinking some beers is kind of what Yellowcard has always been about.
POZ: How was working with Neil?
Sean: Neil is such a great friend of the band and we all have such different personalities and strengths, and I think Neil plays to that. Neil, just because of the history with us, is able to do that. When I look back and I listen to this album, I truly believe that it’s our best work to date.1
 
Many have compared this record to the sequel of Ocean Avenue many were craving. Would you say that’s an accurate description whether or not you guys were aiming for that?
I think it’s pretty close. You can definitely hear some of the edgier things that we did with Paper Walls and Lights And Sounds. I think it’s a nice mix of our entire discography and we definitely showcased some new elements that we hadn’t used before. I think it’s a natural progression for our band/
 
And how has your relationship with Hopeless Records been?
We’re very fortunate to have such an awesome partner and to go back to our independent label roots. They haven’t really missed a step. I feel like we’re the only band on the record label. We had a great relationship with Capitol Records; there weren’t any awkward moments with them. Any time you feel like that you’re the premiere artist, I don’t know if it’s because the album just came out, but they’re really pushing us hard. None of us have felt like there have been any missteps, so it’s been a nice process.
 
It was literally just announced that Yellowcard would be heading out on a short co-headline tour with Good Charlotte and Runner Runner on support. How stoked are you for those dates?
It’s going to be amazing. Runner Runner are some of our oldest friends, and we’ve never had the opportunity to tour with Good Charlotte. It’s going to be great. It’s a shorter run; it’s not a full North American tour. We have to pay attention to our home state of Florida too. That’s kind of what that run is all about. The rest of the year rounds out to a lot of international stuff, and I think that we have plans to do a full US tour towards the fall.
 
What can we look forward to the set being like on those shows since you’ll be headlining?
A little bit more of the same. I’m really looking forward to playing the new songs off of the new album. We’ll mix in a couple songs that our fans have never heard before. It should be pretty exciting.
 
We should expect more touring in the summer as well?
Absolutely. We have a lot of dates set. We actually have always toured extensively in the States and have neglected our fans internationally. We’ll go to South America, hopefully Asia, Europe, and the United Kingdom as well this summer. We’ve always been a Warped Tour band, but it looks like we’re unfortunately going to miss Warped Tour this year. We’ll definitely have some really cool dates in the US though.
 
A full acoustic version of When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes was recorded. When should we expect that to be released?
It’s not the full album. I think we’ve done five out of the ten tracks acoustically. I think two of them are available. I think we already allotted the other three for release. The problem is that they’re not properly mixed yet. It’s really tough to get it done when we’re on the road and are away from the studio. A lot of that credit goes to Ryan Mendez because he did most of the engineering, recording, and mixing. As soon as he can get to a studio the songs will be available.
 
Thanks so much for your time. Is there anything else you’d like to add or that we should be on the lookout for?
Just thank you to our fans for taking care of us.