Sad Summer Festival Fills a Void for Emo and Punk Fans

When Vans Warped Tour ended its annual cross-country run in 2019, members of the Maine wanted to keep the community-centric spirit of the scene alive any way they could. So, five years ago, the indie-leaning rock band partnered with pop punk band Mayday Parade to co-found the Warped-like Sad Summer Festival, which makes its way to Jacobs Pavilion on Monday, July 29.

“There was definitely a void that was left when Warped Tour stopped,” says lead singer John O’Callaghan in a recent phone interview. “We’re not in the slightest trying to be like, ‘We’re replacing Warped Tour’ because that can’t be done. If anything, we can try to give people a little slice of what that was like.”

Once the group of five 30-somethings that make up the self-described “Arizona emo group” and their co-founders had begun to assemble the artist lineup for the festival’s first year, they had a plethora of logistics to resolve.

“With very minimal budget and no proven history with the tour, it was harder to get people, especially promoters on board with the idea, but we got lucky. We got a lot of help,” says O’Callaghan. “The first year had its growing pains, but now, five years deep, there’s a lot of people that help make the thing run, make it happen, make it look and feel the way it does. So, at this point, we’re just trying to give people the best day that they can have.”

O’Callaghan and the rest of the Maine are still very hands on with the festival, however, and they incorporate fan feedback from the previous summer’s run to help improve the experience, each year.

“I’d be lying if I said we didn’t wake up early and still try to do things, says O’Callaghan. “[We do] whatever [we can], in our power, to put our fingerprints on it, because that’s just kind of in our DNA. But, at this point, it doesn’t feel like it’s all on us anymore.”

For O’Callaghan, getting to co-headline with longtime friends, Mayday Parade, on tour every summer is a treat within itself. That’s not to mention how the alternative artist collective that the two groups are actively building with different performers on the festival bill each year can be leveraged to introduce music to each other’s fanbases.

“It’s a great time to be in our position – 17 years into being a band and having this opportunity to still play in front of new people, see old faces, see old friends,” says the 35-year-old. “It just makes for a great summer.”

O’Callaghan is excited to get to play songs from the Maine’s self-titled ninth studio album. Prior to this tour, the band hasn’t had a chance to play some of the new tunes in front of audiences.

When the band was in the studio cutting the 10-song release, how the songs would translate to the stage was at the forefront of band members’ minds.

“We focused heavily on energy and tempo on this record,” says O’Callaghan. “We talked a lot about what songs would feel like in a live setting, which was a first for us. When you can see a room transform from song to song, that’s a nice feeling.”

Of the songs that have already been played at the Maine’s shows, prior to this summer’s festival run, up-tempo tracks, “dose no. 2” and “blame” are crowd-favorites that the band always has fun with. But it’s the softest, most intimate song on the album, “funny how?,” that O’Callaghan claims is his favorite. He wrote it for his daughter.

“It’s an overwhelming thing, being able to be that vulnerable in a song,” says O’Callaghan. “I got what I needed out of writing that song. The idea that it’s resonating with people is just bonus.”

And it’s resonating.

The deluxe version of the album, which the Maine released earlier this year, even features a reimagined version of the song, “funny how? – wedding version” for fans to create their own special moments with.

Three of the other songs on the original album are also reimagined on the deluxe version, adding features from fellow alternative bands Valley, MisterWives and Beach Weather.

Another one of the masterfully minimalistic tracks on the Maine’s latest record, “how to exit a room,” was inspired by Goo Goo Dolls.

“I tuned my guitar to sound like that,” says Callaghan.
At first, the band was worried that the simplistic production style wouldn’t fit with the rest of the album, but once they landed on the riff that made it into the final recording, it was full steam ahead.

Since the Maine has been cultivating its community of music-lovers for nearly two decades, choosing the right blend of back-catalog songs to play is just as quintessential to the set as showcasing new material.

“Having nine albums makes it hard to build a setlist,” says Callaghan.

But 2017’s “Black Butterflies and Déjà Vu” has received enough positive crowd feedback to become a setlist staple, so fans can look forward to hearing it, among other standouts from the band’s first eight studio albums.

After nearly two decades of building the Maine, the band wants to keep the project going, so long as it has an audience who is eager to listen.

“Because we’ve been so fortunate to have new doors open for us, especially in the last five years or so, it feels like we’re experiencing firsts, this far into our band, which is pretty unique,” says O’Callaghan. “The opportunity to go on tour with Fall Out Boy in arenas, and to be played on the radio, things like that. And as long as we keep having firsts, I think that’s what keeps us inspired and keeps us hungry to keep creating.”

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