Twenty years ago, Mayday Parade were selling copies of their debut EP Tales Told By Dead Friends out of Vans Warped Tour parking lots. That DIY release went on to sell more than 50,000 copies and set in motion a career that now sits at over 1.43 billion streams, multiple platinum and gold singles, and a catalogue that helped shape modern emo and alternative rock. The fact that they’re marking their 20th anniversary with their first self-release since that parking lot EP is a full-circle moment worth appreciating.
Blame It On The Youth, out today, is the latest piece of that celebration — teasing the third and final instalment of their trilogy album series, which began with Sweet and Sad in 2025. An anthemic ode to blissful recklessness, the track started life as a chorus from drummer Jake Bundrick before the whole band rallied around it, building it out collaboratively until it became what it is today.
“We knew instantly it was important to get the track right but we really just had a solid chorus and loose verse melodies,” says guitarist Brooks Betts, “so the band quickly got to work constructing multiple versions of lyrics to finish the track. We worked together in a way that was truly collaborative and with the process feel we created something we are all super proud of.”
The result is exactly what you want from a Mayday Parade anthem — big, immediate, and built to be sung back at volume. Arriving on May Day feels deliberate rather than coincidental, a fitting launchpad for what comes next.
They’re also heading back out on the road, with Vans Warped Tour appearances in Long Beach, Montreal and Mexico City among the highlights, alongside sets at Welcome to Rockville, Sonic Temple and Aftershock Festival. A run with Taking Back Sunday in Philadelphia and a January 2027 stint on Emo’s Not Dead Cruise with Yellowcard rounds out one of the more stacked touring schedules of their career.
Blame It On The Youth is out now. The third album can’t come soon enough.
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