More than two decades after its peak, Yellowcard's music represents a pop-punk message in a bottle. A note washed ashore from simpler times, it describes the image of a young, sharply dressed band, full of ambition, strumming their instruments (including a violin) in the echoing grave of an underground parking lot in the music video for “Ocean Avenue” as the chorus goes into overdrive.
“If I could find you now, everything would be better, we could leave this town and run forever, let your waves crash over me and carry me away,” frontman Ryan Key raved at the top of his lungs.
That hit song, the title track of 2003's “Ocean Avenue,” created a tidal wave of success that changed the course of their careers from struggling artists to internationally touring headliners and darlings of MTV's Total Request Live.
“The first time this happened, we were very young,” Key said, carefully gripping the spoon with his heavily tattooed hand and stirring a cup of hot tea. “One minute we were literally a garage band, and the next minute we were performing at the MTV Video Music Awards, David Letterman and wherever.”
The moment is not lost on him 22 years later. Now he and his bandmates—violinist Sean McKean, bassist Josh Portman and guitarist Ryan Mendez—are far from the ocean, but not too far from the water as they look out over the sparkling pool from their room at the Yaamava Resort and Casino in Highland. In a couple of hours the band will play a gorgeous pool party on 98.7 ALT FM. The set will feature all the old hits, including, of course, “Ocean Avenue,” as well as their first new songs in almost a decade.
Before the release of the first singles from their new album, Better Days, it was easy to write off their 11th album as yet another release destined to eclipse their early catalogue. However, with the right amount of internal inspiration and external help from Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, who produced and played all the drums on the album, the result was a batch of new songs that weren't simply washed out to sea. In fact, quite the opposite.
Prior to the album's release, the title track “Better Days” peaked at number one on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart. This achievement comes after a 22-year wait since their first chart appearance with the single “Way Away” from Ocean Avenue. Key also notes that for the first time, fans are using the band's new music for their TikTok videos instead of “Ocean Avenue.”
“It’s crazy,” Key said. “Everyone is using Better Days.” I don't think we're alone in this. I think for the bands in our scene, new music is getting a lot of love and attention again, which is amazing.”
It's been about three years since the band resurfaced to play a reunion set at RiotFest in Chicago following their 2017 farewell show at the House of Blues in Anaheim. Just as they were about to call it quits, the band struggled to sell enough tickets to their shows to keep the dream alive. For Makin, fatherhood also forced him to question his family's financial stability, which prompted him to go to work for a corporation as a sales representative and eventually become Toyota's service director. At one point he was responsible for managing 120 employees. “I just thought this is what I’m going to do to take care of my family for the next 20 years,” McKean said.
Following Yellowcard's hiatus, Key continued to play music on several projects that distanced themselves from the pop-punk sound, including recording solo work under his full name William Ryan Key and touring with bassist Portman at his side. Key also produced a post-rock electronic-heavy project called Jedha with Mendes, and the pair also work extensively in film and television scoring. For a long time, Key and his bandmates mourned the loss of what they had with Yellowcard. It was the most important event in Key's life, although he said he didn't realize how much the group had truly shaped him until it was over.
During the break, the band members got part-time jobs. One member managed 120 Toyota employees before the 2022 Riot Fest reunion reignited their enthusiasm.
(Joe Brady)
“Ingratitude is not a word that can be used to describe how I felt back then. It's more like I didn't have the tools to appreciate it, to feel grateful and to really let things happen and stay in the moment and stay focused. Because I was so young, I was so unsure of my place, my role in all of this,” Key said.
But after some time, the buzzy 2022 Riot Fest reunion reignited the band's fire in a way they didn't expect. They followed it up with 2023's Childhood Eyes EP, which pushed the band to move on and release a new full-length album. Along with these plans came the stunning news that Barker would agree to produce and play drums for them on the project. For a band that grew up idolizing Blink 182 and Barker, especially as the band's hotshot engine behind the rig, and which has grown into a music mogul over the past 20 years, it was a surreal experience.
“We look up to him as a general. It's never forgotten that we have the best drummer of our generation playing drums with us,” McKean said. “Now we know him as Travis, but man, this guy just oozes talent – he does all these amazing things and he doesn't seem to be caught up in it or distracted one bit. He was right there with us while we were recording.”
Key says he was initially afraid to sing in front of Barker in the studio, and had several moments when negative, self-conscious thoughts got the better of him in the vocal booth during recording. Instead of getting annoyed, Barker helped ease his anxiety with a few simple words, he said.
“Travis walked into the booth, closed the door, put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'You'll do this as many times as you need to. I'll be here the whole time.” Barker spoke candidly from experience. He told Key at the time that he had just recorded 87 rough takes of his parts for “Lonely Road,” his hit song with Jelly Roll and MGK. “It was a real crossroads for me,” Key said.
The aspect of the album that was most similar to “Ocean Avenue” was that Barker never let them think too much when it came to songwriting, a skill the band had unwittingly learned as children during the “Ocean Avenue” days, writing songs on the fly in the studio without having time to worry about how a song might end before they recorded it.
“There’s something about the way we made this record with Travis, where we came in and did it in a way that we hadn’t done in over 20 years, where he was like, ‘We’re going to write and record a song today,’” Key said. “It was a return to that style of songwriting where you have to kind of step out of your comfort zone and just quit and go.”
The final product quickly consists of 10 songs, the track listing starting with a flurry of energy from the bombastic opening drums of “Better Days” that propel the song into an internal reflection on the past. Next up is the energetic “Love Letters” featuring Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio. Avril Lavigne lends her soaring vocals to the song about unrequited love, “You Broke Me Too.” Songs like “City of Angels” and “Bedroom Posters” reflect moments in Key's life when the band's hiatus negatively impacted his outlook on life, as well as his search for a path back to reinventing himself. The album closes with the acoustic lullaby “Big Blue Eyes,” which Keys wrote as a tribute to his son.
According to Key, although the songs on “Better Days” often deal with self-doubt and uncertainty, fan reaction has been surprisingly supportive.
“I can't remember seeing this level of overwhelming positive feedback. People are just going crazy for these songs,” the frontman said. “Recording was such a whirlwind. When I listen to it, I still get the feeling of, “When did I write this song?” It happened so quickly and we made the record so quickly, but I'm glad we did it.” Despite their success, Key is hesitant to call the group “comeback kids,” “probably because we're officially recognized as a kids' label,” he said.
“Perhaps this is the return of the gentlemen?” McKean joked.
Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker produced the album, helping the band recapture the spontaneous energy that defined their 2003 breakthrough “Ocean Avenue.”
(Joe Brady)
Whatever they call themselves, returning to the group after so many years of varied experience made the second step in Yellowcard's career even more rewarding.
“Because you feel like you know you're capable of something more than being in this group, able to connect with your family in a way that you couldn't when you were on the road all the time,” McKean said. “Things happened during this hiatus that set us up for success as people, not just as creative people.”
For Key, it's about taking all the lessons they've learned as a band and applying them to their future, understanding that the album's title refers not only to the past behind them, but also to what lies ahead.
“This record was supposed to be the ultimate rebirth, the ultimate redemption song for our band,” Key said. “And so far it has been proven.”
