Yellowcard are back in Australia with Good Charlotte, armed with a new version of ‘Bedroom Posters’ and the kind of momentum most bands would kill for two decades in.
For violinist Sean Mackin, the reunion run, their latest album Better Days, and these arena sized shows feel unreal.
“The whole yellow card ride since our reunion, the Ocean Avenue 20 year anniversary has just been insane,” he says.
“It’s unbelievable.” Sharing festival stages with Blink-182 and Green Day, dropping a new record with Travis Barker on drums, and now touring with Good Charlotte. “It’s all a dream. I never want to wake up. It feels good to be back.”
From orchestra kid to Warped lifer
Long before Yellowcard became synonymous with pop-punk violin hooks, Mackin was an orchestra kid with CDs Blu-Tacked to his bedroom wall.
“I was an orchestra guy, right? I play violin, and I used to put all our CDs that I listened to on the wall,” he says. Strung Out, NOFX, Face To Face, Bodyjar. “It was a mix of the people that I knew and a mix of the artists that I looked up to.”
The violin was not optional. “Mom played violin, and she was like, hey, when you live in my house, you’re gonna play violin.” He was never first chair. “I was always second chair, and I just knew that I had to do something different.”
That difference became Yellowcard. “I thought I was writing guitar riffs on the violin,” he laughs. It stuck. He is now the only remaining original member.
“Initially, that’s right. Yeah, they all pay royalties back to me. They’re like, founding father, here we go.”
‘Bedroom Posters’ and growing up without losing it
The band’s latest single ‘Bedroom Posters’ now features Good Charlotte’s Joel Madden, tying the tour together in a neat full circle moment, the original appears on Better Days, Yellowcard’s first album in almost a decade and their first with Travis Barker as executive producer.
For Mackin, the new era is not about reliving the past, it’s about enjoying it:
“We dropped out of college, Ryan and I bought a van. We split it, right? And, man, we just tried,” he says of the early days, Warped Tour call-ups, grinding it out, figuring it out on the fly:
“We just kept getting offered shows, we kept playing gigs, we kept figuring it out.”
Now, watching younger bands tear it up, he sees the cycle clearly. “You get into music and you want to have fun, and then it becomes hard, and the life part is hard, and somewhere along the way, you forget to have fun.” Right now, he says, “it’s not just nostalgia, it’s we’re just we’re having fun with it.”
Cancer, clarity, and playing for something bigger
Mackin’s perspective has been sharpened by far more than touring schedules, he has battled cancer himself, and his wife has also beaten breast cancer.
“It does change,” he says of how illness reframes success. “I think I tried to be very grateful the whole way.” Coming out the other side, “it changed me physically. I can’t sing the same. I try to be the best that I can, but mentally, I wasn’t ready.”
That confrontation with mortality brought focus, “You’re like, okay, really it could happen at any time, like, let’s make the best of it.” For him, that means being present. “I want to be the best dad, I want to be a great friend, I want to be a great violinist performer. I want to be a good husband.”
It also means taking care of himself on the road. Early nights. Less drinking. More golf. “I don’t want to burn out on music. So I need another hobby.”
Australia, beaches, and the biggest shows yet
Yellowcard join Good Charlotte on the Motel Du Cap World Tour, with Australian dates already underway. Mackin is more than ready to swap an American cold snap for our coastline.
“We just had a cold snap in the US. And so I had four days trapped in my house under two inch sheet of ice,” he says. “Your warm weather, that’s I’m looking forward to it.”
He is also looking forward to stepping onto some serious stages. “We were just in Australia, and we played massive shows. To come back and play these like this will be our biggest shows in Australia ever. So I’m so pumped.”
Between soundchecks, he will be chasing beaches and fairways. “Your coastline is unlike any other place on the planet,” he says. “But I travel with my golf clubs now, so I’m going to get out as much as I can.”
As for what comes next after this run and a US summer tour with New Found Glory and Plain White T’s, Mackin is no longer obsessing over the roadmap.
“I used to be the planner. I used to be like, let’s do this. We got to do this. What’s next? What’s next?” he says. “And now it’s just like, I’m just kind of sitting back, and we’re just really enjoying the spot that Yellow Card’s in.”
After everything, that might be the biggest win of all.
Good Charlotte ‘Motel Du Cap’ Australian tour ft. Yellowcard
- TONIGHT February 19th – Brisbane, Brisbane Entertainment Centre
- Saturday, February 21st – Bendigo, Bendigo Racecourse
- Wednesday, February 25th – Sydney, Qudos Bank Arena
- Friday, February 27th – Auckland, Auckland Domain
Find out more and get your tickets here.
Follow Sean Mackin on instagram here.
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