facebook photo
MANILA, Philippines — American rock band Mayday Parade is looking to brush up on their Filipino for their upcoming third performance in the country on May 25at the Makati Circuit Fest.
Derek Sanders, Mayday Parade lead vocalist, told INQUIRER.net in an exclusive phone interview, that he had learned a few Filipino words back when they performed in the country last Sept. 30, 2012.
“I have learned some words when I was there but I’m so embarrassed that I don’t remember what I learned. But I promise I will brush up and I will learn a few things that I can say while I’m there and things that I can say on stage and I’ll try to get better at it,” he said.
Sanders said that they were now halfway through with their fourth album set to be released by October. Mayday Parade has released three studio albums — A Lesson in Romantics in 2007, Anywhere But Here in 2009, and Mayday Parade in 2011.
For their upcoming performance at the Makati Circuit Fest, Sanders said they were very excited.
“[We’re] so excited about it, we’ve been so lucky to have been able to come over there two times already and this will be our third time,” Sanders said.
“It kinda blows our mind so I really cant wait, the first few times were unbelievable, we’re all definitely really excited,” he said.
The Circuit Fest event will also feature skateboarding performances from famous skateboarders Willy Santos, one of the industry’s first Filipino pioneers, and Riley Hawk, son of skateboarding legend Tony Hawk .
On skateboarding, Sanders said: “years and years ago I skated for just a little bit but I was never very good or very serious at it.”
“But I’ve always loved it and I’m just excited to see some awesome skateboarding going on during the show,” he said.
Sanders cited the clamor from Filipinos on social networking sites to have them come and perform in the country as a major factor for their decision to finally come and visit.
“I feel like, in the beginning, one of the big reasons we came over there is that we noticed that we got a lot of love on Twitter and on Facebook and social networks and stuff from the Philippines,” he said.
“I think that has a lot to do with what brought us over there in the first place and then everyone has just been so amazing that we’ve kept on coming back. So thanks for the opportunity and thanks for being excited about us coming over there,” Sanders added.
Despite their three performances in the country, Sanders said that they would still want to come back to the Philippines to perform again.
“Hopefully we’ll just keep on coming back. We try to look at everywhere we go as an investment in a way,” Sanders said.
“Because each time we go somewhere we want to make sure we come back as soon as we can … so we’ll definitely be coming back,” he said.