Brace yourselves, local long hairs, as US metal mainstays, Miss May I, are teaming up with newcomers Sylar this November for what is set to be one of the best heavy tours of 2017. A staple of the global metal circuit since their formation in 2007, Miss May I have gone from strength to strength throughout their decade-long career, with their 2015 effort, Deathless, peaking at #5 on the US rock charts. We talk to Levi Benton all about the tour and more.
Rob: Hey everyone, we are speaking to Levi Benton from Miss May I, how are you doing today mate?
Levi: I’m good bro, at rehearsals right now on our way to head down to you guys in Australia.
R: That’s awesome! We’re really excited for you guys to play in our city. Can you tell us about the show you’re bringing out to us?
L: It’s really cool because Australia is one of our favorite places and we haven’t been there since 2013 so we know we’ve missed out on a lot of records and haven’t been able to play them so we’ll be making up for lost time and this show is really cool, and really special for us because we’re playing songs we haven’t played in a while, just for you guys. That’s why rehearsals are so long today, we’re making sure it’s going to be a good one.
R: Awesome! As if we weren’t already excited enough! So you’ve been touring with new material for a bit now, how was the reaction to the new stuff?
L: It’s been great! It’s our first record really ever that we’ve predominately out live and we’re still getting requests for fans wanting hear even more new songs. So almost our entire lives spent on the new record because it’s just been more requested. We haven’t had a record like that in a while and the press has been great and everyone has been loving it. It’s been the most fun I’ve ever had with a record.
R: Oh that’s fantastic man, could you tell us more about the thinking and process that went into the new stuff?
L: Yeah this record was different because we changed our label and our management, and almost everything behind the scenes – not that anything was bad, just thought some stuff that needed changing. So with that, it was very fresh and everything else was very fresh and we sort of felt like kids in this record and we felt young again because it was all new and this record was great because this time around we really had so much ambition and angst just built up because we were so excited about this record. Going into it we didn’t want to sort of delete all the crazy obnoxious stuff and all the over the top metal stuff that we really wanted to put on the records like we did back in the day. We didn’t want to delete any of the stuff on this record if “it wasn’t the right time” or if people “wouldn’t get it”, so for this record we thought it would be great not to delete stuff like that and really go for it and just play what we really wanna play. It was sort of a flip of a coin doing this record. But it was great; the kids loved it and it’s been the most fun I’ve ever had playing live because it’s just so over the top and the live show has the most energy we’ve ever had with this crowd. This record has been great and it’s all come full circle because we were thinking about the live shows in the studio this time around. We spent a long time in the studio for this record, it was the longest time we’ve spent in the studio, we took 9 months off doing this record, to make sure it was perfect. It was great overall.
R: It was such a great album and it’s great to hear some of the behind the scenes stuff that went into it. Me and a lot of my mates enjoyed the album a lot and we’re excited to hear some of that content live next week.
L: Thank you!
R: So what are your favorite songs to play live, from both the newer and the older stuff.
L: Oohh man, the new stuff; Swallow Your Teeth is one of my favorite songs to play, finally in our set, and My Sorrow is really fun to play live. But, one of the classics that’s one of my favorites is playing Hey Mister live. The show gets next level when we play that.
R: Excellent, those are some of my personal favorites songs there.
L: Haha thank you again!
R: So I had one big question, don’t have to answer if you don’t feel comfortable but there’s a lot of talk in the scene recently about the allegations around sexual misconduct. Could you tell me your thoughts on these situations and these bands that are being called out on them.
L: I don’t have any specific thoughts on any of the bands and I don’t really want to think about the members of other bands but overall, it’s a problem that I think everyone knows has been there and it does suck that this is all coming out at one time and it’s sort of overwhelming for everyone to take in all at once, but I feel like it’s been going on for a very long time and it should have been addressed at some point. It sucks that this has or ever had to come up but now is the time for it to come up. but I haven’t singled out any single bands and I’m not trying to talk about any single ones.
R: Of course, thank you for answering that and voicing your opinion. One last question for today, do you have any parting words for your fans?
L: Yeah, if anyone’s coming out to the Shadows Inside tour in Australia, we have VIP tickets and missmayimusic.com and we also have our entire tour setlist on our Spotify that you can follow and listen to the songs that we’re going to be playing on our tour so you can sing along when we start and help me out. It’s going to be sweaty and crazy and we cannot wait, so we’ll see you guys there soon.
R: Thanks so much for joining us. We really appreciate your time and we’re looking forward to seeing you guys!
L: Appreciate it! Thank you for having me!
Destroy All Lines, Chugg Entertainment & Hysteria Present
MISS MAY I – ‘THE SHADOWS INSIDE’ AUSTRALIAN TOUR
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS: SYLAR
MONDAY 20 NOVEMBER – THE TRIFFID, BRISBANE LIC AA
Tickets available from www.tickets.destroyalllines.om or Oztix Outlets
WEDNESDAY 22 NOVEMBER – THE CAMBRIDGE HOTEL, NEWCASTLE 18+
Tickets available from www.tickets.destroyalllines.com or Oztix Outlets
THURSDAY 23 NOVEMBER – THE FACTORY THEATRE, SYDNEY LIC AA
Tickets available from www.factorytheatre.com.au
FRIDAY 24 NOVEMBER – MAX WATTS, MELBOURNE 18+
Tickets available from www.tickets.destroyalllines.com or Oztix Outlets
SATURDAY 25 NOVEMBER – UNI BAR, ADELAIDE LIC AA
Tickets available from www.tickets.destroyalllines.com or Oztix Outlets
SUNDAY 26 NOVEMBER – AMPLIFIER BAR, PERTH 18+
Tickets available from www.tickets.destroyalllines.com or Oztix Outlets
