Here they are, alive

PHOTO: Hopeless Records

WHEN Sean Mackin was diagnosed unexpectedly with thyroid cancer in December last year, the news came as a devastating blow.

The 33-year-old violinist of US pop punk band Yellowcard was overcome with fear, depression and grief.

“I couldn’t believe something like that was happening to me,” Mackin told LOUD in a phone interview from his home in Seattle.

"It was hard to take in... I kept thinking, no, no, I’m still young and I have a wife.”

Yellowcard – consisting also of singer Ryan Key, drummer Longineu W. Parsons III, bassist Josh Portman and guitarist Ryan Mendez, all in their early 30s – will be in town next month for their first ever concert here.