Mayday Parade frontman Derek Sanders tells us the story behind his bracelet collection

Anyone who has ever seen Mayday Parade frontman Derek Sanders has likely taken note of the mass amount of bracelets he wears on his arm. The collection is comprised primarily of fan-given gifts, about which Northwest Correspondent Caity Babcock asked him when she interviewed him recently in Vancouver. "When we first started touring in the band, we could get a couple bracelets here and there, but we would never wear them," Sanders explains. "In late 2008 [on the AP Fall Ball tour], I decided, 'I'm going to start wearing these bracelets.' Then, as you start doing that, you start getting a whole lot more because people realize you wear them, and it just kind of became this whole thing." At first, Sanders' goal to wear the bracelets became "a bit much" with both of his arms covered. He's since refined his wearing them as he does now one one arm and taking some off whenever he gets more. But what happens to the bracelets he no longer wears? “I keep all of them. I have a couple bags full of them at home with hundreds and hundreds,” he says. “One day maybe I’ll try to do something with them—donate them or do some kind of artwork with them. I don’t know. We’ll see.” If you plan to give him a bracelet at one of Mayday’s upcoming shows, he offers some advice on the types that are easiest to wear. You never know, yours could end up like the bracelet he’s been wearing roughly five years. Yeah! Seriously five years! Watch and learn!