February 22, 2026 • 12 mins
Ahead of Yellowcard’s long awaited return to New Zealand, Sean Mackin called up to talk about the band’s resurgence, the legacy of Ocean Avenue, and why Better Days feels like a new chapter rather than a nostalgia lap. From skate punk roots to violin powered anthems, Sean reflects on 20 plus years of music, growth, and what it means to play these songs all over again.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome Radio Hotoke's Off the Record podcast recon with Big Sandy's.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
It was not every day you see a violin player
and sort of an emo I would call them like
a punk indie band. Yellow Carter coming to New Zealand
to play alongside Good Charlotte, Ted Pole and Highly Suspect
and I've got Sean mackin with me right now. Who
is the violin player in this band?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Hello?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hi Sean? How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I'm doing great. How have you been?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, I'm pretty good, pretty good. Nice summary weather here
in New Zealand and Auckland today, So I'm happy.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
I'm excited. We can't wait where we had a cold
snap here. I'm in Austin, Texas, the musical capital of
the world, but very excited to revisit Auckland.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
It's been a long time for us.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, when was the last time you were over? Was
it pre COVID?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (00:55):
I think it was well beyond maybe ten years ago
or a twelve years I think.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
So we're excited to come back.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
It's a long way from us, but very grateful to
have a quick run with our friends in Good Charlotte
and play pretty big festival and get to come over
and see y'all.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
So this is your one gig that you're doing in
New Zealand when you come over.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
The one gig, Yeah, we're again. It's pretty tough to
travel and we want to put on the best Yellow
Card show, so you know, to bring the whole circus
with us. But we're supporting the brand new record Better Days,
and we're excited to bring it to the New Zealanders.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, we're excited to have you over here because Ocean
Avenue it was a big hit here in New Zealand.
Do you think that is sort of like your flagship
shown that the crowds are really going to get on
board for.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
So Ocean Avenue obviously, you know we toured extensively for
that and it has been our biggest song in our
whole career. But you know, Better Days for us, it's
funny to be at this stage in our career and
you know, we had it as a number one song
on the radio.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
For a little bit this past year, and.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
I mean Ocean Avenue didn't reach number one on the
radio charts here, so we're just it's it's great being
at this stage in our music career and have a resurgence,
and we just celebrated the Ocean Avenue twenty year anniversary
and just to kind of have some new highlights in Milestone.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
So every day's a gift.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
We're just trying to be the best Yellow Card we
can be.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
You're coming all the way. It's such a long time
to travel just to do one gig. And actually the
fans take that on board and very appreciative that you're
going to be sharing the new album and plotfully playing
some classics.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Yeah, oh yeah, we got to mix in some of
the old favorites. But I mean it just warms my
heart to hear that and again for us to you know,
we started a long time ago and high school and
writing songs with our friends and now to have a
new record and new song better days out to to
you know, be popular in a place like New Zealand
(03:06):
and we're just we're just so happy.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
So we can't wait to get it going.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
And what I love about Yellow Card is, of course
you play the violin, and it's not often the music's
being built around the violin, not just the violin being
just have sort of added extra just to add a
little bit to it, a bit of flear when you
started performing, was it always about rock music because it
was kind of like your vibe. Would you call it amo?
I call it and punk almost yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
I think, you know, for us to be put and
labeled and put in a box, I think a lot
of people conventionally would call it emo or pop punk.
I think for us, we grew up and inspired by
like true punk rock musicians, So for us to be
on the pop side of that, you know, rock and roll,
I think it's it's hard for us, with respect to
(03:57):
the to the old punk rockers, to say that we're
we're punk, But we do have you know, that last
sort of skate punk warp tour, you know, strung out,
no effects, you know, influence.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
I think you can hear that in the guitars and
how we write our songs.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
But the violin origin, I think some of our songs
I just imagine myself a violin player that's you know,
a guitar player that's trapped in a violinist body, right.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
So, and I shoehorn my way in.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
But I think with better days and with a little
bit of age, you know, the guys in Yellow Card,
they've embraced you know, what our sound is and what
we do, and the other guys they support me as
an artist, and we pick out the right moment to
showcase that sound. And I think in a studio production,
it's not unusual to hear string instruments or other you know,
(04:50):
production elements in a recorded version. I think it's just
awesome that I get to travel and I have cool
gear that makes my violin sound awesome. I'm live, and
I you know, fit in in the band. And you know,
Ryan taught me how to sing all those many years ago,
and so you know, just try and be the a
team player in our in our little music group as
(05:11):
we travel halfway around the world to play songs for
you guys.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Yeah, well that's about being the team a like, that's
the main point of any band. And it's interesting because
you know, no fix was sticking on my eye was
one of my favorite shuns back in the day, snowboarding
up the hell. So I was just really interesting.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Here is awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, because I do hear that. I do hear that
skater of punk element to your music.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Yeah, you're on it. That's awesome. I'm right there with you.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
And and that influence of listening and loving music and
finding it, you know, at that age where we're doing
things and we're learning things and we're growing, I don't
think we grow out of that.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Like it's just such a soft special spot.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
And I have it for you know, artists that I
grew up listening to, and I know that listeners have
that for Yellow Card and so you know, we're just being,
you know, in our middle aged forties, trying to you know,
write good songs. And we don't want to try and
be a twenty year old band. We want to be
a Yellow.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Card, but we want we want to be good at
what we do. And I think you hear that at
the live show.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, And I guess it's that journey that you've had
because you've been together how many years now many years,
you've done that journey for twenty years. That music that
you first wrote twenty years ago, playing it now must
feel So does it? Does it hit differently when you're
up there playing it to different audiences and different sort
of generations? What does it.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Express like for you guys? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (06:37):
I think when you look out in the Yellow Card audience,
I think, you know, we see that there's a younger
element that's discovering us. Whether it's like, oh, my brother
or my dad or my uncle or whatever it is
used to listen to you guys, And when I found you,
I have these new songs or this new appreciation.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
They're finding us for the first time.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
And then you see the you know, the crowd in
the back, maybe their knees are a little sore, and
they're by the sound booth where it sounds good, and
you know, they're nodding their head and approval and remembering
the moments maybe where they were in the mosh pit
or whatever. And I think that for us, you know,
there's a couple of different ways that we can look
at it, like oh my gosh, I have to play
(07:19):
the song again, or I really like looking at it
like I get to play this song again. This I
get to play these songs that have taken us around
the world. And so it really is a gift. And
I missed playing music and the time that yellow card
was away and life gets hard, but we're in a
good spot right now where the sun's shining down and
(07:41):
we're trying to be the best musicians we can be,
and we get to travel all the way down to
a beautiful country called New Zealand, and play shows for
the first time in twelve or fifteen years. It's just
been so long, like we can't remember, right, So and
it's not like I can get in my truck and
drive to the end of the street pretty far.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
So it's a big deal for us.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
A lot of our team is actually staying in New
Zealand because your country is so beautiful. So I have
to get back, and I coached the boys baseball team
and the girls basketball team for my for my kids,
so I have to run back and complete my my
coaching duties because I know and speak ball as well.
(08:23):
But our time there, we're really excited. It's a highlight
for us for sure.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Yeah, do you remember from last time you were here?
Is any special places that you'd like to revisit.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I mean, I did everything.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
I I didn't get to the countryside, and it was
a whirlwind, you know, with the show and the festival.
But I did the thing where I jumped off the
tower in the middle of one of those one of
those guys that they were like you want to do this,
I'm like, I'll do anything, let's go. So jumped off
the building and we did a helicopter ride and I.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Just you know, the people were just so great.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
I think we're just excited to kind of absorb it
all and be in the middle of it.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah. Well we're getting good weather at the moment, so well,
I think it's only three weeks, not even until you're here,
so not even. Yeah, hopefully the whare the holds out.
You get to enjoy the beaches and just soak up
the New Zealand vibe. I was just going to ask
about Ocean Avenue. How did that chune come about for
you guys?
Speaker 4 (09:22):
What was the process That was actually a kind of
I mean, I don't want to say it was a
happy accident. I just think we in the music business,
you know, looking back, you have your whole life to
write your first record, and so we had songs like
Breathing and way Away and believe that We're just they
were long standing, you know, written pre production like this
(09:47):
is how we're going to build this album, and it
was kind of going to be built around the song
way Away. And we get in the studio and I
had a chorus or what became only one, and Ryan
had a verse, and we ended up putting those two
ideas together.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I think only one.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Came together pretty well, and we spent a lot of
time on that because it just was such a special
song for us, and it just had this journey and
it really had all the elements to the to a
Yellow Card song. And Ryan had this really cool vibe
for a verse, but again we're kind of just you know,
didn't really have a chorus, and it wasn't finished, and
(10:25):
he and I went in a room and we came
up with a melodic motif and kind of almost wrote
the song on like it was like the second to
last day in the studio.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
We had an extra day.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
And totally changed the element of that first Yellow Card record.
You know, the label was doing it label stuff, we
need another song, you guys need another blah, you know,
like we don't have enough, we need more. And through
that journey, you know, we kind of finished this you know,
kind of bouncy verse thing into a you know, big
(10:58):
sing along you know, early and nostalgic kind of remembering
the best of days chorus, and it turned into Ocean
Avenue and basically is you know, our biggest legacy of
our band to date.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
So we're really proud of that.
Speaker 4 (11:15):
I think, you know, I think looking back and thinking
of all those stories and all the memories in the studio.
You know what our life would be like had we
not written that song or not finished it, or you know,
not challenge ourselves to really to really push ourselves to
be uncomfortable or comfortable with being uncomfortable. But it really
(11:40):
is is special for us, and it took us around
the world and kind of led us to this. So
we're very grateful for that moment in our Yellow Card life.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Well, I can't wait to see you guys play it
live when you're here in a couple of wakes. Thank
you so much for your time.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Of course, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Radio ardichees Off the Record podcast.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Why not subscribe so.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
They download automatically and don't forget to rate us five stars?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Thanks mate.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Find out more about this podcast and the people who
make it at hodache dot co dot nz It
Welcome Radio Hotoke's Off the Record podcast recon with Big Sandy's.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
It was not every day you see a violin player
and sort of an emo I would call them like
a punk indie band. Yellow Carter coming to New Zealand
to play alongside Good Charlotte, Ted Pole and Highly Suspect
and I've got Sean mackin with me right now. Who
is the violin player in this band?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Hello?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hi Sean? How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I'm doing great. How have you been?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, I'm pretty good, pretty good. Nice summary weather here
in New Zealand and Auckland today, So I'm happy.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
I'm excited. We can't wait where we had a cold
snap here. I'm in Austin, Texas, the musical capital of
the world, but very excited to revisit Auckland.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
It's been a long time for us.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, when was the last time you were over? Was
it pre COVID?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (00:55):
I think it was well beyond maybe ten years ago
or a twelve years I think.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
So we're excited to come back.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
It's a long way from us, but very grateful to
have a quick run with our friends in Good Charlotte
and play pretty big festival and get to come over
and see y'all.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
So this is your one gig that you're doing in
New Zealand when you come over.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
The one gig, Yeah, we're again. It's pretty tough to
travel and we want to put on the best Yellow
Card show, so you know, to bring the whole circus
with us. But we're supporting the brand new record Better Days,
and we're excited to bring it to the New Zealanders.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, we're excited to have you over here because Ocean
Avenue it was a big hit here in New Zealand.
Do you think that is sort of like your flagship
shown that the crowds are really going to get on
board for.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
So Ocean Avenue obviously, you know we toured extensively for
that and it has been our biggest song in our
whole career. But you know, Better Days for us, it's
funny to be at this stage in our career and
you know, we had it as a number one song
on the radio.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
For a little bit this past year, and.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
I mean Ocean Avenue didn't reach number one on the
radio charts here, so we're just it's it's great being
at this stage in our music career and have a resurgence,
and we just celebrated the Ocean Avenue twenty year anniversary
and just to kind of have some new highlights in Milestone.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
So every day's a gift.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
We're just trying to be the best Yellow Card we
can be.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
You're coming all the way. It's such a long time
to travel just to do one gig. And actually the
fans take that on board and very appreciative that you're
going to be sharing the new album and plotfully playing
some classics.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Yeah, oh yeah, we got to mix in some of
the old favorites. But I mean it just warms my
heart to hear that and again for us to you know,
we started a long time ago and high school and
writing songs with our friends and now to have a
new record and new song better days out to to
you know, be popular in a place like New Zealand
(03:06):
and we're just we're just so happy.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
So we can't wait to get it going.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
And what I love about Yellow Card is, of course
you play the violin, and it's not often the music's
being built around the violin, not just the violin being
just have sort of added extra just to add a
little bit to it, a bit of flear when you
started performing, was it always about rock music because it
was kind of like your vibe. Would you call it amo?
I call it and punk almost yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
I think, you know, for us to be put and
labeled and put in a box, I think a lot
of people conventionally would call it emo or pop punk.
I think for us, we grew up and inspired by
like true punk rock musicians, So for us to be
on the pop side of that, you know, rock and roll,
I think it's it's hard for us, with respect to
(03:57):
the to the old punk rockers, to say that we're
we're punk, But we do have you know, that last
sort of skate punk warp tour, you know, strung out,
no effects, you know, influence.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
I think you can hear that in the guitars and
how we write our songs.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
But the violin origin, I think some of our songs
I just imagine myself a violin player that's you know,
a guitar player that's trapped in a violinist body, right.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
So, and I shoehorn my way in.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
But I think with better days and with a little
bit of age, you know, the guys in Yellow Card,
they've embraced you know, what our sound is and what
we do, and the other guys they support me as
an artist, and we pick out the right moment to
showcase that sound. And I think in a studio production,
it's not unusual to hear string instruments or other you know,
(04:50):
production elements in a recorded version. I think it's just
awesome that I get to travel and I have cool
gear that makes my violin sound awesome. I'm live, and
I you know, fit in in the band. And you know,
Ryan taught me how to sing all those many years ago,
and so you know, just try and be the a
team player in our in our little music group as
(05:11):
we travel halfway around the world to play songs for
you guys.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Yeah, well that's about being the team a like, that's
the main point of any band. And it's interesting because
you know, no fix was sticking on my eye was
one of my favorite shuns back in the day, snowboarding
up the hell. So I was just really interesting.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Here is awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, because I do hear that. I do hear that
skater of punk element to your music.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Yeah, you're on it. That's awesome. I'm right there with you.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
And and that influence of listening and loving music and
finding it, you know, at that age where we're doing
things and we're learning things and we're growing, I don't
think we grow out of that.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Like it's just such a soft special spot.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
And I have it for you know, artists that I
grew up listening to, and I know that listeners have
that for Yellow Card and so you know, we're just being,
you know, in our middle aged forties, trying to you know,
write good songs. And we don't want to try and
be a twenty year old band. We want to be
a Yellow.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Card, but we want we want to be good at
what we do. And I think you hear that at
the live show.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, And I guess it's that journey that you've had
because you've been together how many years now many years,
you've done that journey for twenty years. That music that
you first wrote twenty years ago, playing it now must
feel So does it? Does it hit differently when you're
up there playing it to different audiences and different sort
of generations? What does it.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Express like for you guys? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (06:37):
I think when you look out in the Yellow Card audience,
I think, you know, we see that there's a younger
element that's discovering us. Whether it's like, oh, my brother
or my dad or my uncle or whatever it is
used to listen to you guys, And when I found you,
I have these new songs or this new appreciation.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
They're finding us for the first time.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
And then you see the you know, the crowd in
the back, maybe their knees are a little sore, and
they're by the sound booth where it sounds good, and
you know, they're nodding their head and approval and remembering
the moments maybe where they were in the mosh pit
or whatever. And I think that for us, you know,
there's a couple of different ways that we can look
at it, like oh my gosh, I have to play
(07:19):
the song again, or I really like looking at it
like I get to play this song again. This I
get to play these songs that have taken us around
the world. And so it really is a gift. And
I missed playing music and the time that yellow card
was away and life gets hard, but we're in a
good spot right now where the sun's shining down and
(07:41):
we're trying to be the best musicians we can be,
and we get to travel all the way down to
a beautiful country called New Zealand, and play shows for
the first time in twelve or fifteen years. It's just
been so long, like we can't remember, right, So and
it's not like I can get in my truck and
drive to the end of the street pretty far.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
So it's a big deal for us.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
A lot of our team is actually staying in New
Zealand because your country is so beautiful. So I have
to get back, and I coached the boys baseball team
and the girls basketball team for my for my kids,
so I have to run back and complete my my
coaching duties because I know and speak ball as well.
(08:23):
But our time there, we're really excited. It's a highlight
for us for sure.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Yeah, do you remember from last time you were here?
Is any special places that you'd like to revisit.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I mean, I did everything.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
I I didn't get to the countryside, and it was
a whirlwind, you know, with the show and the festival.
But I did the thing where I jumped off the
tower in the middle of one of those one of
those guys that they were like you want to do this,
I'm like, I'll do anything, let's go. So jumped off
the building and we did a helicopter ride and I.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Just you know, the people were just so great.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
I think we're just excited to kind of absorb it
all and be in the middle of it.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah. Well we're getting good weather at the moment, so well,
I think it's only three weeks, not even until you're here,
so not even. Yeah, hopefully the whare the holds out.
You get to enjoy the beaches and just soak up
the New Zealand vibe. I was just going to ask
about Ocean Avenue. How did that chune come about for
you guys?
Speaker 4 (09:22):
What was the process That was actually a kind of
I mean, I don't want to say it was a
happy accident. I just think we in the music business,
you know, looking back, you have your whole life to
write your first record, and so we had songs like
Breathing and way Away and believe that We're just they
were long standing, you know, written pre production like this
(09:47):
is how we're going to build this album, and it
was kind of going to be built around the song
way Away. And we get in the studio and I
had a chorus or what became only one, and Ryan
had a verse, and we ended up putting those two
ideas together.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I think only one.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Came together pretty well, and we spent a lot of
time on that because it just was such a special
song for us, and it just had this journey and
it really had all the elements to the to a
Yellow Card song. And Ryan had this really cool vibe
for a verse, but again we're kind of just you know,
didn't really have a chorus, and it wasn't finished, and
(10:25):
he and I went in a room and we came
up with a melodic motif and kind of almost wrote
the song on like it was like the second to
last day in the studio.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
We had an extra day.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
And totally changed the element of that first Yellow Card record.
You know, the label was doing it label stuff, we
need another song, you guys need another blah, you know,
like we don't have enough, we need more. And through
that journey, you know, we kind of finished this you know,
kind of bouncy verse thing into a you know, big
(10:58):
sing along you know, early and nostalgic kind of remembering
the best of days chorus, and it turned into Ocean
Avenue and basically is you know, our biggest legacy of
our band to date.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
So we're really proud of that.
Speaker 4 (11:15):
I think, you know, I think looking back and thinking
of all those stories and all the memories in the studio.
You know what our life would be like had we
not written that song or not finished it, or you know,
not challenge ourselves to really to really push ourselves to
be uncomfortable or comfortable with being uncomfortable. But it really
(11:40):
is is special for us, and it took us around
the world and kind of led us to this. So
we're very grateful for that moment in our Yellow Card life.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Well, I can't wait to see you guys play it
live when you're here in a couple of wakes. Thank
you so much for your time.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Of course, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Radio ardichees Off the Record podcast.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Why not subscribe so.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
They download automatically and don't forget to rate us five stars?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Thanks mate.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Find out more about this podcast and the people who
make it at hodache dot co dot nz It
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The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.