Mayday Parade’s Jeremy Lenzo On ‘Sugar’ And 20 Years As A Band – Interview

Once upon an emo summer, the guys of Mayday Parade could be found selling their CDs in the scorching parking lot of Warped Tour, simply hoping to turn a few attendees into fans. What they didn’t expect was to become staples of the festival and scene, with pop-punk anthems like “Jamie All Over” and “Jersey” granting them a legacy spanning an impressive 20 years (and counting).

To celebrate this milestone anniversary, Mayday Parade — Derek Sanders, Jeremy Lenzo, Brook Betts, Alex Garcia and Jake Bundrick — ambitiously recorded a trilogy that fully encapsulates what they’re all about. A little rock, a little pop and, in true Mayday fashion, plenty of emo lyrics that are best screamed into the heavens on a clear summer night.

Following Sweet and Sad in 2025, the final installment Sugar is set to drop on July 24. Featuring tracks like “Lying to Myself” and “Weekend Music,” Sugar sits in the middle of its two predecessors, merging optimism and heavy themes for the perfect conclusion to this epic three-part release.

Ahead of Sugar, PopHorror caught up with bassist Lenzo, who shared how the idea for a trilogy accidentally took shape, what it means to achieve 20 years in the industry alongside many day one fans, and details behind his other creative endeavor — the horror graphic novel Mayday Parade: The Faceless.

PopHorror: Sugar marks the final chapter in the Sweet, Sad, Sugar trilogy. What inspired this ambitious three-part concept? And when did you first realize that it could actually work?

Jeremy Lenzo: We were in the studio recording part one and, at the time, we only planned to record just the one album. During one of the nights in the studio, we were hanging around discussing album names, and someone threw out the song title “Sweet Sad Sugar” as an album title instead. That sort of snowballed into a conversation about, what if we made a separate album for each word? And after thinking about it for a few days, we decided we would take a shot at it. I think we realized we could actually do it after discussing the logistics of it with our manager and checking with our producers on their availability for the year. We knew it would be a lot of work, but we were open to it.

PopHorror: Releasing roughly 30 songs across three connected releases within a year is a huge creative undertaking, especially at a time when so many artists focus on standalone singles. What kept the band excited and inspired throughout the entire process?

Jeremy Lenzo: Writing and recording is some of the most fun we have as a band. We all love making music, so being able to write consistently like that is a lot of fun for all of us. The real issue is, how do we make time for writing so consistently when we all have families and different things going on in our lives now? In the end, we had to move a lot of things around in our schedules to accommodate everything, and there were times some of us were bummed because we had to miss out on events that were important to us. But I think in the end, it was worth it and we created something unique we can look back on in the future.

PopHorror: Each release has had its own emotional identity. How would you describe Sugar in relation to Sweet and Sad? What makes it feel like the perfect conclusion while still standing on its own?

Jeremy Lenzo: I think Sugar is kind of a mix of the first two albums — it has a little bit of everything. Sweet leans more toward optimistic themes, while Sad leans into some of the more heavier emotions. Sugar seems to sit right in the middle. We wanted this last record to have a little of everything. It definitely wraps up the trilogy nicely, but we wanted it to be strong enough to stand on its own as well.

PopHorror: Songs like “Weekend Music” and “Blame It On the Youth” immediately feel unmistakably Mayday Parade. After two decades together, how do you continue evolving as songwriters while still holding onto the sound that longtime fans connect with?

Jeremy Lenzo: It’s a tough balance. We have tried branching out to something that wouldn’t be identified as Mayday on first listen with the album Black Lines, but that was too much of a departure for a lot of our fans and we heard the feedback, so we reeled it in. Now, we try to straddle the line — keeping it sounding uniquely Mayday, but seeing what we can do within that sound. Luckily, we’ve had 20 years of writing this style of music, so that part is easy. But the harder part is, how do we throw in things we haven’t done to make it feel fresh and new and different from what we’ve done before? I don’t really have an answer for that either. I would say just using our best instincts when in the studio, keeping in mind what we’ve done before.

PopHorror: Mayday Parade has become almost synonymous with Warped Tour [read our interview with Bowling for Soup’s Jaret Reddick] for so many fans. What did it mean to return as part of its recent resurgence, and how did it feel seeing a new generation experience that atmosphere alongside fans who’ve been there since the beginning?

Jeremy Lenzo: Warped Tour was such a huge part of our story. It’s crazy being on stage playing to people who discovered us back when we were walking the line selling CDs out in the Warped parking lot standing next to kids who weren’t even born when we first played Warped. That’s a pretty surreal moment. That’s one of the coolest things about this — it’s become a family event. You went to it as a kid and now those people are older and taking their kids. Seeing that happen in real time was really meaningful.

PopHorror: Your audience as grown up with you over the last two decades. Have you noticed the relationship between the band and your fans changing as everyone has moved through different stages of life together?

Jeremy Lenzo: I’ve noticed it for sure. The crowd is a little tamer. A lot of them are bringing their kids, which I love. I feel like it’s sort of a safe space for people to come to now to sing along without the risk of getting a kick in the head. I just try and single people out in the crowd to sing too and get everyone smiling. Playing music as a career really is one of the best things in the world.

PopHorror: Looking back at the band’s earliest years, what’s one piece of advice you’d give the younger versions of yourselves?

Jeremy Lenzo: I would tell our younger selves that we are the boss. Don’t let anyone tell you what your music should be. I felt like there were some times during the first few albums we made changes or did things on our albums we didn’t want to do for the sake of playing ball. Looking back on it now, those changes didn’t really make or break anything — we could have did exactly what we wanted and the album would have been the same.

PopHorror: Earlier this year, you co-created Mayday Parade: The Faceless, bringing the band’s iconic Umbrella Man imagery into a horror graphic novel. So cool! What inspired you to expand that world into a completely new medium, and what was it like seeing it come to life?

Jeremy Lenzo: I mean, if the band was going to make a comic, it would undoubtedly have to be somewhat about the Faceless Man. So we knew he had to be a part of it somehow. It was just a matter of, what way could we incorporate him? It was very cool seeing things come together and slowly take shape. There were some bumps along the way and I wasn’t sure if we would eventually finish it, but happy to say we got there in the end.

PopHorror: Horror has always been a subtle part of Mayday Parade‘s visual identity. Were there any particular horror films, books, comics or creators that influenced the atmosphere you wanted to capture in the graphic novel? Would you ever be interested in exploring that world again?

Jeremy Lenzo: I wanted to make something that could be real, not something where you’d have to suspend disbelief while reading it. A large theme of it was from the sleep paralysis shadow people stories — I thought that fit nicely with our Faceless Man. I don’t want to say too much for people that haven’t read it. As to whether or not we would do it again, I don’t know. I’ll be honest — making this one was tough. I felt like a lot of concessions were made to get it finished. I wish we were allowed more pages and time to tell a larger, broader story. But trying to make a story fit within a certain amount of pages, and the slow back and forth of emails really made for a tough project.

PopHorror: After spending so much time building and completing the Sweet, Sad, Sugar trilogy, what excites you most about what’s next for Mayday Parade?

Jeremy Lenzo: Right now, I’m really enjoying the time off. We have been going heavy the past few years, so just getting to spend the summer home with my family has been amazing. Next year, we will be out a lot. I’m sure we will start posting some stuff about that before too long.