INTERVIEW: YELLOWCARD IN CONVERSATION WITH WILLIAM RYAN KEY

Interview by Cecilia Pattison-Levi

Florida's favourite violin-credible pop-punk alt-rockers Yellowcard are demonstrating that they are indeed living their best musical lives on their eighth studio album ‘Better Days’ with their renewed energy, sound and a bunch of fantastic songs.

William Ryan Key (known as Ryan) very graciously talked to No Barriers about the new album ‘Better Days’, Yellowcard’s first full-length 10 song album in almost a decade. There were references to ‘Point Break’, surfing culture, influences from Blink-182, and the importance of community and friends in building connection and songwriting. The result is Yellowcard’s best album since ‘Ocean Avenue’. Their new album ‘Better Days’ is a stunner full of optimistic realism and hope for the future, and the great melodies will be the sound of the summer here in Oz.

Yellowcard played some great sold-out concerts here in Australia earlier in the year and even sickness couldn’t stop the flow. “Yeah. It was a shame about the Sydney and Newcastle shows,” stated Ryan Key. “I was just so sick. But we promise we will make it up to fans when we return in 2026. Melbourne and Brisbane were really good. We got to play some of the new songs like ‘Better Days’ and we got great reactions from the fans. I don’t think we’ve ever had that reaction to a brand-new song ever before. That was really important to us to see that. We wanted to know if we could get our Yellowcard sound back. It’s hard to accomplish that – how people want me to be and sound as opposed to how I want to be heard and sound. We hope the fans like and can hear and see Yellowcard in the new songs.”

Yellowcard, like all bands, have had their ups and downs. The band split in 2017 and it was a hard time. “The bust up was tough,” explained Ryan Key. “We just all went in other directions. I was still recording a lot of music like electronica, EDM, and cinematic film scores – nothing like the – should we call it ‘pop-punk’. Going back out on tour and recording a new album together was a big decision. The question was for us: how do we capture ‘the source’ of Yellowcard? How do we get back to that energised sound we all fell in love with 20 years ago?”.

Well, I think ‘Better Days’ answers those questions. The music is tight with, Travis Barker’s drumming giving it that distinctive machine-gun sound. The rest of the band sounds controlled and self-assured on their instruments, but the key is the songwriting. The songs hit that sweet spot of optimism and melancholia. They reflect Yellowcard, as a band, what they have learned through some tough life lessons, but now with the wisdom of hindsight, how they can move forward. They are in their element as they rock out in ‘Honestly I’ and ‘Love Letters Lost’. Yellowcard are at the top of their game!

“Working with our friends has been important to us,” said Ryan Key. “They have helped us sharpen our songwriting. And watching Travis in the studio playing with the drums and seeing his understanding with production has been incredible. They have helped us realise our goal. Travis is the Godfather of the album with his dedication, patience and his guidance in walking the band through the album making process. His ability to pull out what we do best, but make us somehow create this entirely new sound for ourselves at the same time was fascinating to be a part of - I literally just watched these songs become these really new, fresh takes on who we are and what we do. It was a huge thing to do. We are proud of the songs and what we have achieved together as a group”.

“We wanted to build on the pillar of Ocean Avenue,” stated Ryan Key. “We think we have finally done this with ‘Better Days’. It’s an album that’s grounded and a perfect storm of sound and it’s energised like our early work. The songwriting vibe was positive, and when we started writing, the floodgates opened. Our friends like Andrew Goldstein, Nick Long, Rug (Matt Wilson) and Travis Barker were able to guide us. And the songs are making it. It’s amazing to think Yellowcard has had our first number one hit on the US charts in 20 years. ‘Better Days’ has been at number one for three weeks, and eight weeks at number two. We have better songs coming and we are getting back to that place where we want to be”.

Yellowcard certainly have better songs coming. The fabulous song ‘Bedroom Posters’ and ‘Take What You Want’. The themes that link all the songs is Yellowcard’s unflinching reflection on taking one step at a time in life: the acceptance of change, forgiveness and gratitude are tempered with perspective and purpose. Ryan Key, Sean Mackin, Ryan Mendez and Josh Portman have never sounded stronger. “We poured our hearts into this record,” explained Ryan Key. “All the travel we’ve had to do away from our families to go to LA over and over again to record it. The anticipation and the hype and energy around Travis being involved, it’s a lot. The difference is just being able to manage it and not fixate on the potential failure or any of that negative shit. Just recognise that you’re nervous about it, let it happen, it’s natural.”

For Yellowcard, the future looks bright and ‘Better Days’ will be another reason for the band to come back to Australia. “We will also have new music on top of the album coming in the future,” explained Ryan Key. “Just wait! But we hope to get back to Australia in late 2026.”

It really does seem that Yellowcard have hit that beautiful sweet spot in their music and rediscovered their chemistry whether it’s touring or in the studio – they have found their source.

Yellowcard’s ‘Better Days’ will be available on 10 October 2025.