It was a Tuesday like any cold Tuesday during winter in Austria, cloudy, cold and raining. My friend Octavio called me around 9 in the morning to give me a ride to the industrial city of Linz, I took a shower pretty fast, I prepared my coffee to go, bought 2 donuts and I was ready to travel to the snowy city of Linz, the trip was pretty cool, this was gonna be my first time ever in Linz so I didn´t have any idea where to go arriving there. 13:00 hello Linz I was excited, first of all because I was visiting a new city and second I was about to witness something that for me personally wasn´t just any show BUT THE SHOW of 2011! 2 of my favourite bands Yellowcard and Saves the Day together plus a newcomer band from Philadelphia called The Wonder Years!! So I wandered through the city, the snow showed up too but at 17:30 I was already at the Posthof ready to make this interview with Sean Mackin, enjoy!
How you came to the idea to release an acoustic version of “When you are through thinking, say yes”?
Sean: We were really excited to have a Yellowcard record in an acoustic setting, so most of our songs sort of start in an acoustic sort of writing environment and then we move from there but with the violin and it really gives me a nice pocket to show off and that´s one of my favourites sounds, the strings with the acoustic guitar, it came together pretty organically, we had a couple of songs for B-sides and then we put up another ones together and then we put 3 or 4 songs for finishing the entire record , the recording quality was really good, Ryan Mendez and Ryan Key produced the entire thing so Hopeless records got behind, and then we put the entire acoustic record just this fall.
How was the work behind your new videos produced by Roby Starbuck?
Sean: It was great working with him, he really came and wanted to do something for Hopeless for “Sing for me” and then he got the whole acoustic record, he wanted to do a couple of other sort of other more for our fans, to do the package deal but this was the first time we had a song for a producer or director that embodied exactly what we were feeling when we wrote the songs and when he wrote, sort of the idea behind the “Sing for me” video we didn´t make any changes, no comments and we just wanted to be something beautiful and to show some people struggling and being a bit more aware about what’s going on in life and Roby made a great job on that.
We all know there are more than hundred thousand bands out there now but, What do you think is more important for a band now to succeed, Talent or marketing?
Sean: Obviously everything in the music industry it´s a balance, something that Yellowcard has done is that we always mix hard work but I’m very lucky, I have amazing musicians in my band and I think 
that´s what makes our sound a little bit different, because we have so many different musical influences, but I’m definitely more on the musical side so I think marketing obviously helps but at the live shows is better for us to have a good sounding live band so I’m more at the musical side of that balance.
Saves the day is a band you used to look up to when you started the band, what’s the feeling of the band now that you are playing a headlining tour with them in Europe?
Sean: We did co-headline shows in the U.K. so we definitely feel like we are sharing the stage with Saves the day, Chris has been such a great song writer, such a great influence to us, to our band and it´s been like a dream come true to be able to hear them every night, whether sound check or at the show, we are touring as well with The Wonder Years from Hopeless records too, they are awesome kids, I’ve been listening to them a lot and they are really good, so every show is an evening of awesomeness.
Any guy grabs a guitar, drums, bass or the microphone, why did you choose to play violin?
Sean: Well I´m half Japanese, my mom was born in Japan and so a part of the Asian cultures like when you grow up, they always teach you music, you are good on math and obviously in academics but my mom played the violin, so I learned to play it, my mom also plays piano and my brother took the piano and I quit everyday until I was around 15 and got to this art school and I felt in love with music because I wasn´t different, I was able to exhale the music, instead of being musician in a public school so then I met my friends who later became the members of Yellowcard. That´s why I got to play violin because my mom, I didn´t like it at first and then now is a gift she gave to me and I thank her everyday.
Something you would like to add?
Sean: Being in Yellowcard is amazing for us, the fact of being a musician and travel all around the world, today we are in Austria where we only played once a festival show and today we are playing a club show just about 3 or 4 months later so it´s a gift that we are very grateful for and I thank our fans for being supportive and we are looking forward for a kick ass show tonight.
By: Miguel Guinness
Visit us on Facebook: Hearingthevoice
Check our Youtube channel: Hearingthevoice
