This October pop-punk favourites Mayday Parade return to NZ & Australia, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of their iconic cult classic debut album A Lesson In Romantics.

Mayday Parade will be bringing along acoustic duo This Wild Life. The Cali-born internet sensations took the world by storm after the release of their critically acclaimed debut album Clouded. The band are returning to Australia with their new album Low Tides in tow, fans would have last seen This Wild Life at Soundwave Festival 2015.  

We caught up with vocalist and guitarist Kevin Jordan to ask him about finally returning to Australia and touring with Mayday Parade on their iconic celebratory tour.

Upside: You’re coming back to Australia and last time you were here was for Soundwave and I remember seeing you quite early in the day up against some stupidly loud bands. You were one of the more unusual acts on the bill but you had a massive crowd even back then in 2015, how was that experience for you?

Kevin: It was incredible, the first time we went to Australia we went on a small club tour before our first album was even out. So we were just playing singles and covers. We didn’t really know what to expect once we came back after our record was out. We always joke around about that Soundwave Festival, if you look at the tour poster with the smallest bands at the bottom and the biggest bands at the top, we were literally the last name on the flyer and the smallest one.

We played first on the day on the smallest stage, so we didn’t expect a whole lot, when you play something like Warped Tour back home if you play first you tend to play for a really small crowd, it is what it is. But we went out there and played for what we thought was a really big crowd, everyone was singing along and it was really successful, we sold out of all the merch that Soundwave. We kind of underestimated ourselves I guess. Unfortunately, we haven’t even been back since so we’re really excited!

Upside: I think the combination of Mayday Parade and This Wild Life is a great example of nostalgia and more modern pop-punk teaming together. Did you originally think that This Wild Life and Mayday Parade would go together so well?

Kevin: Yeah I think it actually works together really well. Their fans were really receptive to us and vice versa. I don’t think our bands exactly sound the same, but the spirit and the influence of where we both come from are really similar. I think the biggest comparison would be lyrical, we touch on pretty similar subjects and it works really well. We always joke around about wanting to tour with bands that don’t have like ‘a star’ in their band, you know some bands where you only know the one guy? And that’s all you know about them and they have that ‘celebrity’ factor to them? Well, we feel like when we tour with bands like that the quality of the fan isn’t as good. Where when we tour with a band like Mayday Parade, they know everybody in the band and they’re really big fans of the music as well, not just the members. Those are the types of people that when they come out to a show they’re willing to give an opening band a shot.

Upside: Did it always happen where This Wild Life fell into the pop-punk world or the alternative scene and go to festivals like Soundwave, or did you start off as an acoustic duo taking the more traditional route?

Kevin: It’s always been a thing that’s existed in the punk world. We started off as a full band playing pop-punk stuff and it kind of evolved, or devolved if you will, to a few of us playing acoustic. I think because we were so connected in that world, that’s where we came from and that’s what we’re fans of we’ve always been happy to tour with bands that are punk, hardcore, screamo and anything in between. We’ve always been the odd man out but we think it’s in a good way.

Mayday Parade and This Wild Life come to The Gov on 17 October.

Tickets Available: selecttouring.com.au/tours/mayday-parade/