Go Radio vs Mayday Parade

Mayday Parade, for those who've been living under a rock, is a pop rock/pop punk band from Tallahassee, Florida. I first heard about them on the 'Punk Goes Acoustic 2' CD back in 2007. Three Cheers for Five Years was my song crush back then. I was literally obsessed by it. When I learned that they also had a normal, non-acoustic version, I definitely had to check it out. Got the EP, checked out the other songs, and ultimately fell in love with all the songs on Tales Told By Dead Friends (particularly One Man Drinking Games; that song could make me cry when I'm feeling emo XD)

They also released the renowned A Lesson in Romantics album later that year. It's still one of my all time favourites. The songs were lyrically perfect. Yet, the best had to be the delivery. They sang with such a raw passion. The emotion they conveyed was almost palpable. The dual vocals just blew me away.

Even later that year, while youtubing some videos, I found out that Jason Lancaster had left the band. Not really certain about the role he had in the band, I looked him up and soon realised that he was the deep voice on the songs. The one who sang the "And if you sing to me..." part on You Be The Anchor, the one who sang the "This will be the first time in a week..." part on Miserable At Best. The one whose parts I sang each time my sister and I had our Mayday Parade duets (she was generally Derek).

God was I heartbroken. I didn't have to mourn for long though, cause I soon found out that Jason had formed another band.


Go Radio, an Indie/pop/rock band from Tallahassee, Florida, United States, formed in 2007, after Jason Lancaster left Mayday Parade. It consists of (from left to right) Alex Reed, Steven Kopacz, Matt Burns and Jason Lancaster.

According to an interview with Alternative Press, when Jason left Mayday Parade, he was pretty much tired of music in general. However, with the support of his friends and other awesome persons surrounding him, he decided to come back into it.

Thanks to God.

It only took me one listen at I Miss You to fall for them. The raw emotions I loved in Mayday Parade were still there, the lyrics still as brilliant. Plus they had their demos up for free! That California Song and I Wish It Would Snow are still two of my favourite songs from them. (Moot point since I can't decide on any actual favourite. All their following songs are just that awesome.)

And the best was that they were not a Mayday Parade wannabe. They had their own sound. No dual vocals (they didn't need it!), more catchy tunes.

They were Go Radio, a totally different band with oh so talented artists. I started loving them as much as I loved Mayday Parade. Maybe even more.

I followed their career as an enthusiastic fan almost since the very beginning. Waited for their EP Welcome To Life with impatience and was rewarded by its awesomeness.

I hadn't forgotten my love for Mayday Parade though. Tales Told By Dead Friends and A Lesson In Romantics were still constantly playing on my media player. And I kept waiting for their new stuff with impatience.

Nevertheless, I must admit that I was somewhat disappointed when I saw their music video for 'Miserable at Best' - released in early 2009. For one, they had cut THE best part (which was sung by Jason on the CD) out of the song and for two, they had made Jake lip-synch Jason's part.

Still, I started to get impatient for their new album when I saw Derek's acoustic video of 'I Swear This Time I Mean it' at that time still known as the 'Untitled Song'. My anticipation kind of died when they posted 'Anywhere But Here' and 'The Silence' before the release of their new album, though.

I knew that they were going to sound different, with Jason gone. And those songs definitely proved that. They sounded poppier, still good but a lot more generic. It started to mentally prepare myself to be completely disappointed by Anywhere But Here, their new album.

However, Anywhere But Here recently came out (October 6th 2009) and to my surprise, I was not completely disappointed. Sure, the new album is no way as good as ALIR or TTBDF, but it features some good songs.

Get Up is terribly catchy, I Swear This Time I Mean It could be considered the Miserable At Best of this album, and Still Breathing has something of the old Mayday. The lyrics are simplistic, but still good considering the fact that they've lost Jason's lyrical genius. They do sound a lot more poppier and generic, but I guess that had to be expected.

Anyway... I don't know if it was intentional or not on Go Radio's part, but they also released two new songs to be featured on their new 'FREAKING EPIC' EP (nah, that's not it's actual name) on that exact date.

And while I was expecting something awesome from them, they exceeded my expectations. Like totally. Fall Asleep First and Thanks For Nothing are so f-ing good that I actually had to use an expletive to convey such awesomeness. I've been playing those songs on repeat, and I just can't stop listening to them.

Anyway, to conclude that long post, I just wanted to say that my love for Mayday Parade is still intact. I'm not going to give up on them after Anywhere But Here. They're still great artists and I do expect a 'comeback of the year' after their imho second LP's 'sophomore slump'.

As for Go Radio, well, I believe that those guys are talented as hell and definitely criminally underrated at the moment. As I've said and will continue to say, GO RADIO IS THE NEXT BIG THING!!! And I sure hope that they're going to be heard on all radio stations very soon.