First two words that come to mind when I think of Mayday Parade? Raw emotion.

The one thing this band has always had going for them is there outstanding ability to relate the emotions they’re feeling. Even if a note is off or they fall off the beat, you hardly realize because you’re too wrapped up in the immense emotion put into their songs.

It’s real, it’s pure, it’s perfect. You laugh, you cry, you feel with them. Whether it’s anger, frustration, sadness, nostalgia, you feel the thick emotion they play their music with.

Take their song “Stay”, filled with so much longing and pain that you could take away the words and still feel exactly what the band is feeling as they play. It tears at your heart from beginning to end, from lead vocalist Derek Sander’s voice to the instrumental interludes. “Please understand I’ve been drinking again and all I can do is hope,” sings Sanders as he is backed by the rest of the band.

Whether you like their songs or not, there’s no mistaking that this is a band that knows how to connect with their music.