Mixtapes' upcoming No Sleep Records release Ordinary Silence is set for release June 25. The album launches off with “Bad Parts,” which you can listen to exclusively below. Vocalist/guitarist Maura Weaver enlightened us on the life experiences and observations that inspired the song:

“The message of 'Bad Parts' is simple. I feel like a majority of people I know metaphorically sleep through life–instead of viewing life as the great big opportunity that it is, they try to avoid viewing it at all and simply go through the motions hoping for the least amount of pain possible.

They might be going to school to get a steady job that they're miserable in because they feel like they have to, or [they're] dating some dude who makes them dislike themselves because he's great half the time and it'd be hard to break up, anyway.

During the quiet parts of the day that they're forced to think about these “bad parts” of life, they try to forget them through television, alcohol, religion, and superficialities. This matters to me a lot because I spent years of my life living like this and it's miserable–it took some awful stuff happening to me to wake me from my sleep.

Even after going through it I have to remind myself daily to keep awake and not settle for less. So when I see friends and the adults in my life laying down in their suffering, I get really sad. No one deserves or has to feel like this and shouldn't have to hit rock bottom to realize it.

I believe that our society sort of wants us to not like ourselves and stay distracted and it can be hard to combat that, but also that it's easy to be happy if we learn to stop avoiding the bad parts and start embracing them.”









Hear more from Mixtapes when they make their way through your town on tour and on select Warped dates this summer:

May 12 – Columbus, OH – Kobo Live Music (w/Masked Intruder)

May 13 – Altoona, PA – Archway Center (w/Masked Intruder)

May 14 – Danbury, CT – Heirloom Arts Center (w/Masked Intruder)

May 15 – Ottawa, ON – Pressed Cafe (w/Masked Intruder)

May 16 – Toronto, ON – Rancho Relaxo (w/Masked Intruder)

May 17 – Montreal, QC – Pouzza Fest (w/Masked Intruder)

May 18 – Freehold, NJ – Skate and Surf

May 20 – Poughkeepsie, NY – The Loft (w/Masked Intruder)

May 21 – Rochester, NY – Bug Jar (w/Masked Intruder)

May 22 – Baltimore, MD – Charm City Art Space (w/Masked Intruder)

May 23 – Christiansburg, VA – Monroe Specialty Coffee (w/Masked Intruder)

May 24 – Cleveland, OH – Mahals Bowling Alley (w/Masked Intruder)

May 25 – Howell, MI – Bled Fest

[more tour dates]