A Day To Remember
Subscribe
X

Get the latest from Beat

A Day To Remember

adaytoremember.jpg

“It’s surreal,” says McKinnon, the vocalist in A Day To Remember. “It was a slow burn in the beginning, but now life feels like we’re on a rollercoaster ride that never stops. We’re so fortunate – we’re just a bunch of friends having a good time, travelling the world and growing together.”

 

However, like many success stories, A Day To Remember haven’t gone without scandal. In 2011, they filed a civil suit against their label Victory Records, claiming they were owed more than US$75,000 in royalties. A lengthy legal battle ensued with Victory countersuing them for breach of contract, but in 2013 the court gave the band permission to release their fifth studio album, Common Courtesy, on their own label ADTR Records.

 

As to whether A Day To Remember will issue anything else via ADTR remains to be seen, but McKinnon is optimistic. “We’re always working on new material and I’m writing all the time, but there’s no final plan as yet,” he says. “We’ll see when the time comes, but we’re not opposed to the idea.”

 

McKinnon might be elusive about future recording plans, but the Floridians have been busy preparing for the return of Self Help Fest, in which they are closely involved. McKinnon says the idea came up in conversation with his girlfriend as a way to give something back to the fans. With plans for a fifth and sixth festival on the horizon, it seems they’ve found a winning formula.

 

“Everyone was very excited about the idea, and after the first one [in March last year] was such a success, it’s evolved very naturally. Not only did we get a lot of people at the first festival, but the bands that played were very happy with how they were treated backstage, because the people running it actually give a shit about the people performing.

 

“Before [Self Help] there wasn’t really a festival besides Lollapalooza in our genre that really tried to take care of the bands, like your Soundwave or the Reading and Leeds Festivals do”, he continues. “They put a lot of time and effort into making the bands feel welcome, and that’s one of the main things we wanted to have as part of our festival. We would love to take it to Australia eventually, but we’ll just have to see what happens as it grows.”

 

In the meantime, McKinnon says A Day To Remember’s return to Australia as part of the Big Ass Tour(which will see them co-headline with their buddies The Amity Affliction) could be considered a trial run. Rounding out the bill are LA’s The Ghost Inside and Pennsylvania’s Motionless In White, making the Big Ass Toura big fat must-see. “Australians are always super welcoming and we’re excited to be coming back so soon,” McKinnon says.

 

A Day To Remember are no strangers to our shores, with this tour marking the sixth time they’ll play for Australian audiences. While they’ve been known for energetic and unpredictable live shows for close to a decade, this year the good folks at Alternative Press finally caught on and named them Best Live Band Of 2015.

 

“It was so unexpected. We’d been nominated for a bunch of stuff in different publications around the world but we’d never won anything, so when we did it felt awesome. We put a lot of time and effort into doing something special every time we do a big tour, so it was cool to see that people appreciate it.”

BY NATALIE ROGERS