SCRANTON — A Day to Remember is a musical Jekyll and Hyde — they’re able to seamlessly switch between the singalong choruses of pop-punk and the screaming aggression of the genre’s cousin, hardcore, making them logical tour mates for everyone from Blink-182 to Slipknot. They’ll share the stage with both this year, but for ADTR, summer 2016 is a summer of pop-punk.

On Aug. 25, ADTR will play alongside Blink-182 and All Time Low at The Pavilion at Montage Mountain. The band’s supporting the forthcoming Sept. 2 release “Bad Vibrations,” its sixth full-length and second released independently on the aptly-named ADTR Records. For vocalist Jeremy McKinnon, the album represents another opportunity to look at life through the lens of his band’s signature style, dubbed “easycore” by genre enthusiasts.

“It’s just about day-to-day stuff that people go through, and it’s no different from any of our albums, its just about different things,” McKinnon said. “We’re in a different place in our lives right now and one song is about feeling like you’re becoming an adult and kind of missing being naive and that younger feeling of I can do anything and take on the world. It’s just different things for different times in your life.”

In this moment of McKinnon’s life, the Ocala, Florida musician is on tour with Blink-182, a band he says is in his top three dream tours, “if not number one.” He said every show on the tour has been either sold out or close to it, and the reaction his band is getting from the Blink faithful is a good one — he described ADTR as a production band, and the big-venue tour circuit plays right into their hands.

“We’ve been playing these types of venues for awhile now, overseas in Australia we do that and we’ve been playing these types of outdoor, big-rock festivals in the UK for years now, so honestly, I feel like we’re at a place where we were ready,” McKinnon said. “We got to go on tour with Rise Against a few years back and we got to play a lot of these size venues so we were ready for it, and Blink was really cool and gave us the room to do production.”

ADTR’s production compliments their 45-minute set list, which includes “Bad Vibrations” single “Paranoia.” With six albums worth of material to pull from, McKinnon described the set as an ADTR greatest hits compilation; a marathon of crowd favorites that highlight each of the band’s strengths.

“Forty-five is actually a little bit challenging for us these days, because somebody’s going to walk out of the room disappointed,” McKinnon said. “We try to do the best we can with it though and it’s been going over really well, I like the flow of the set. It’s got some hills and valleys and the energy is good the whole time.”

The second half of 2016 sees ADTR wrap up their tour with Blink-182, wrap up their lawsuit with former label Victory Records and wrap up an overseas stint that includes a performance in November at Knotfest in Japan. Despite the busy schedule, ADTR fans at The Pavilion at Montage Mountain will have 45 minutes with the band on Aug. 25 — more than enough time for a breakdown-fueled workout session interspersed with softer jams made for those who have heart.

A Day to Remember is Kevin Skaff (left), Neil Westfall, Jeremy McKinnon, Joshua Woodard and Alex Shelnutt. The Florida band will play The Pavilion at Montage Mountain in Scranton Aug. 25 as part of Blink-182’s summer tour.
http://www.theweekender.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_ADTR-resized-untoned.jpg.optimal.jpgA Day to Remember is Kevin Skaff (left), Neil Westfall, Jeremy McKinnon, Joshua Woodard and Alex Shelnutt. The Florida band will play The Pavilion at Montage Mountain in Scranton Aug. 25 as part of Blink-182’s summer tour. Submitted photo
Vocalist Jeremy McKinnon talks new album, tour

By Gene Axton

gaxton@timesleader.com

Reach Gene Axton at 570-991-6121 or on Twitter @TLArts