Not Quite Screamo: Mayday Parade and Set Your Goals at Toad’s Friday, November 6th, 2009 by Helen Bach

AP Fall Ball Toads Place New Haven

You Me at Six
Secret Handshake
Set Your Goals
Mayday Parade
The Academy Is…


I love Alternative Press (AP) Magazine. We actually have a mailbox fight once a month to see who gets it first. They keep cranking out the info we keep sucking it up. I have to say reading it has enlightened me to a lot of bands I would never have heard of and has introduced me to some real dogs too

Bands today tour hard. Under different sponsorship (MTVU, Glamour Kills, AP) but hang tight if you miss a go round, they’ll be back.


I think collectively have seen The Academy is… about 5 times in the past year and a half, Billy Beckett is cute but lets not go nuts. They recent pushed out an EP but seriously.. park the bus and freaking record already.

Tonight our objective was to see 2 bands on the bill Me You at Six, and the ever debated (in my house anyway) Mayday Parade.

I have to preempt this by saying I hate the ‘cute band’ tours. These clubs are filled with 16yr old girls and let me tell you Id prefer a mosh pit then a gaggle of dames. They’re rude, they are pushers, they are bitches. Sorry but its true, I get hit with one more giant designer knock off bag and I’m gonna flip out. The Magpie turned to me tonight and said……”I girls my age’, poor thing doesn’t realize these cows are 4 yrs older than her at least. So I taught her to stand firm and how to elbow these bovines in the gut to prevent yourself from being tipped over. Its an art and with 30 years of punk under my belt I consider myself pro.

Back to the show.


Me You at Six……uh well they’re British. They did a super cute cover of Poker Face…and that’s about it. Poppy, punctual, polite…and forgetable. I cant even thumbs up or down it cuz I didn’t care enough.

They were followed by Secret Handshake. Big fans of the electronically altered voice. Consider them Nickasaur with drums sorta. pass

Next on our way to Mayday Parade was this weeks favorite band Set Your Goals.


I loooooooooooved them.. A 2 singer band not quite screamo not too hard a spastic killer drummer they kicked ass. I wish their set lasted all night cuz I wanted them to go on but with a 5 band bill ya gotta scoot. I did purchase their disc on our way out and listened to most on the drive home. Totally impressed. HURRAY! Love finding something new!

and now…….folks…… its time……yup…I have to offer my apologies to all those I howled at. I made a mistake.


Mayday Parade is AWESOME live…..live. Tomorrow Ill test drive the disc again (if I can get Set your Goals out long enough )but they put on an amazing live show. Of course the high school glee club of an audience made the vocals of some of the songs in audible (why do they scream lyrics and point at the stage? Looks freakin ridiculous and whats with the heart shaped hand stance? freaks)


Mayday Parades musically they were flawless. Powerful and tough but with great depth and flow. Lyrics when I was able to hear them were sweet and sounded sincere enough. Miserable(at best) is a huge sing along song and with good reason its the glass shattering pitch that was making the room spin. I loved them though. I’m not ashamed to admit wrong and I was way off on this one. I want to see them again in a different venue. Toads oversells so its literally like a jumbo box of Crayolas without the sharpener. Ya cant move and by nights end you’re covered in someone elses sweat ackkkkk.

So.. Mayday Parade…..could quite well be the next Fall Out Boy. But Set Your Goals IS a band to be heard please check them out if youre a fan of harder screamo ala Four Year Strong.

oh and we split before The Academy Is came on…….nothing new to hear ‘cept the girls singing along