Shadows Inside, Sunny Outside- Levi Benton Of Miss May I Talks New Album


In a little over a decade, Miss May I have become one of the most consistent bands in the scene in terms of putting out good albums and backing them up with a captivating live show. With their recent change from long-time label home Rise Records, to Nuclear Blast sub-label SharpTone Records, the band feels energized as they prepare to drop their new album on June 2nd Shadows Inside. Ghost Cult’s Keefy caught up with front man Levi Benton to discuss the making of the album, how the band dealt with all the changes they went through, their current touring plans and more. Continue reading


Summer Survival Guide: Levi Benton and Ryan Neff of Miss May I


miss may i warped crowd 2015

The start of the summer music festival season is here and Miss May I are no strangers to touring all summer, in a van or a bus. We met up with Levi Benton and Ryan Neff at The Rockin Derby in New York, and right before they headed to Europe for a tour. They also had stops at Rock On the Range, this weekend’s Amnesia Rock Fest, Chicago Open Air, and many more. We asked the guys how they survive the grind of the road in an interview with Ghost Cult.


Levi: For me, it’s been the front man, and trying to direct the crowd. Festival crowds are the easiest to direct. It’s a blast to have them do crazy, insane stuff that they can’t do at a venue. That’s my favorite.

Being touring veterans like you guys are, I’d love to ask the question what is your survival kit like? What do you need to take on tour for the summer, five things, a bag of things, specifically what is it that makes your touring experience bearable?


Ryan: We’re about to try and do the U.K. without suitcases, which is not normal for us. Normally, the tour is so long that you’ve got to have one. We’re about to do it backpack wise. I think it comes down to … You’re going to get soap everywhere, that sort of thing, you need a toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, and a phone charger.

Levi: Phone charger. A phone charger that works in the U.K.

Ryan: If things work … Yes, yes. If things work out for you there, then you’re going to be in good shape. You’ll probably get good luck. You find soap. You find all that sorts of stuff. I shave my head every couple of days, so maybe some razors for me, but you really don’t need that much because you’re going to run into … the venues are usually really generous to you, especially on the festivals, they’re sort you out with anything you need. A good attitude would probably be … if you can buy a good attitude, that would get you through a lot of tours.

Since the band has a big following already in the USA, we asked what they look forward to most when touring Europe. What is the bigger draw: sight seeing or the food?

Levi: Yes, the food.

Ryan: They’ve got different food than we do.

Levi: I’m trying to think. Food, big thing. There are other things … I love the shopping there.

Levi: The stores they have. It’s really weird, like the Nike store, or anywhere else there, it’s different stuff than you see in the U.S. It’s awesome because it doesn’t cost any different, but you get that there, and then you come home, and everyone is like “Where did you get that?” You just giggle because you know they can’t get it. It’s pretty … I love the shopping over there.

Ryan: Yeah. Man, the Wagamamas and Nandos, two of my absolute favorite foods.

Levi: Two more days!

Ryan: Yeah. We’ve been counting down. There’s only two Nandos in the entire country, I’m pretty sure, here in America, and you go over there, and you find them every five minutes.

Levi: They have Wok To Wok will be everywhere.

Ryan: Wok To Wok. That’s another one. Loads of them.

KE_MMI_08 Miss May I


We next asked about essential tour bus music:

Ryan: We are very eclectic. We are very eclectic as a group. Different guys like different things, like I go CD obsession. I don’t go song obsession. I go CD obsession until the CD is just so played out that I can’t even stand it.

Levi: I think Jared, our drummer, is the DJ of the bus.

Ryan: Yeah. He always, he finds goofy songs or like happy songs, like he just … The most outrageous things, and he always will grab the chord. No matter where we’re at, if he hears something playing that’s ridiculous, he’s over there giggling with his iPhone playing it.


Describe ridiculous.

Ryan: I don’t know if you’ve heard of … Group X is one.

Levi: Group X. Turquoise Jeep.

Ryan: Turquoise Jeep is one.

Levi: That’s a band with these two like rapper dudes.

Ryan: A lot of goofy stuff.

Levi: Talk about fertilizing some eggs. Yeah, so that’s the stuff we listen to.

turquoise jeep

KEITH CHACHKES

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Miss May I – Deathless


Miss-May-I-deathless

Despite possessing one of the least pernicious of names imaginable, indeed one that summons memories of primary school lavatorial permission-seeking (could their moniker imply anything less metal if they tried…?), metalcore quintet Miss May I have been around long enough to use the facilities of their own free will, with Deathless already their fifth album (all Rise Records) in seven short recording years.

Stacking up against its predecessor, the anaemic Rise of the Lion, it was imperative that Miss May I brought the thrash, aggression, groove and above all conviction to banish their previous misstep. And, thus, lo, and ye-gads, they do, as crushing ‘I.H.E.’ (I Hate Everyone/thing) makes the required statement of intent from the off, seguing from a dark build up to hit thrashing triplets and a feral almost black metal howl to one slab of a breakdown. It might not be the most progressive move they could have made, but there’s something about doing what you do, and doing it well, that a lot of bands would be served paying attention to.

It has to be said, most of Deathless could be glibly dismissed as metalcore 101, but to do so would be to deprive yourself of what is close to a masterclass in the art. Roll up, roll up, for we have Avenged Sevenfold melodic twin guitars, we have breakdowns, we have ‘core throat vocals, we have clean choruses (that either pick a track up and take it to sing-along town, or provide a darker twist) and we have Adam Dutkiewicz inspired post-classic metal entwined with thrash riffery, but what we also have is the sound of a band who have returned to their roots to show that they can smoke the opposition when it comes to metalcore.

Most bands, at their core, are genuinely best doing one thing and while there is often a rush to abandon a sound or style because it’s not “cool”, anymore, there will always be those who want to hear their favourite style performed well. There is no denying Miss May I are convincing and amongst the best of the current second wave of American metalcore acts. There may not be any need to abandon ship if they keep delivering the goods.

 

7.0/10

STEVE TOVEY


Rise of the Deathless- Miss May I


miss may i

Miss May I has been known to be one of the hardest working artists on the heavy music scene today and rarely leaves much downtime in between recordings. They spent the summer on the Unicorn Main Stage on the Vans Warped Tour, in support of their forthcoming album Deathless (out August 7, 2015 via Rise Records).

It’s important to have something new and exciting to do these summer fests. We dropped [the last] record a little bit before the summer tour last year and it worked really well for us, so we pushed real hard to write a really good one for this year. Luckily we got it done just in time,” explained bassist Ryan Neff, about the quick turnaround on the new album.

We didn’t have any breaks really. We just slept after it was done for a month straight,” said vocalist Levi Benton.

It was three or four weeks off right before this [Warped Tour], but we’ve pretty much been out solid, between touring and going into the studio to do this record, since January,” added Neff.

The band had debuted a new song within their set list “I.H.E.,” giving fans a taste of what was coming from Miss May I.

On Deathless, the band reunited with producer Joey Sturgis, who worked on their Rise Records debut – 2010’s Monument. While they worked with someone familiar, the subject themes on the album took on a heavier yet darker overtone.

It’s mainly written about the struggles we went through as a band. I know we’re young but we’ve been around for a long time. It’s our fifth album,” explained Benton.

We had a rough year behind the scenes. I think it’s the first time we’ve ever gone into a recording session with a…I don’t want to say a negative attitude because we were obviously very excited about doing a record…the meanings behind the lyrics that Levi would write and then I would write with him a little bit. There’s a lot more aggression on this record than we’ve ever had before,” added Neff.

Miss May I at Warped Tour 2015 (via Facebook)

Miss May I at Warped Tour 2015 (via Facebook)

Following a year’s worth of solid touring behind their last album, 2014’s Year of the Lion, they began working on new material immediately following the conclusion of their album’s touring cycle. They began writing new material and got the creative juices flowing.

We came into the studio with over 20 songs on the last record, and then we slim it down to ten. Our guitar players (Justin Aufdemkampe, B.J. Stead) are our main writers. They’re on their computers making riffs all day. So we’re always constantly writing.

We wrote songs right when we left the studio. We left the studio, went home for a couple of weeks and there were already a couple of songs. They’re like ‘ah…we’ve got some ideas,’ “ explained Benton.

It’s a lot different than we used to do it, where we went and got started until that time to record everything. We’d try to have everything done, or at try to start it so the ideas are forming and we can starting working on stuff a little bit earlier now,” added Neff.

Miss May I Deathless Sessions (via Facebook)

Miss May I Deathless Sessions (via Facebook)

They spoke about reuniting with Sturgis, and how working with him differed from working with two different producers on the past couple of albums.

He definitely brought the heavy back out of us, like the first couple of records, which was fun. We haven’t worked with him in a while so it felt like high school again. It was nice to jump in there,” explained Benton, about the working environment with Sturgis.

Joey Sturgis Producing Miss May I (via Facebook)

Joey Sturgis Producing Miss May I (via Facebook)

We did one with Machine [2011’s At Heart] and one with Terry Date [2014’s Rise of the Lion]. We bounced around for a couple of records, and the thing about those two records was, with those two particular fellows, we didn’t know them before we started the recording. So you kind of have a two week period where you’re getting to know each other and try to figure out how things work, and with Joey it was Day One and we were already friends, ready to go and the working atmosphere was really great for us,” said Neff.

We brought a whole new sound too. We’re the band that hates releasing the same thing twice, so it’s nice to jump back to Joey because it’s completely different from the last record,” added Benton, about the musical direction on Deathless and working on it with Sturgis.

Miss May I Warped Tour 2015 Crowd

Miss May I Warped Tour 2015 Crowd

As they are now reaching five albums with the release of Deathless, Neff admits building a set list covering a cross section of their catalog has become a lot tougher to please both themselves and their fans watching their shows.

It’s such a pain in the ass! It is the longest discussion that we have as a group. We all have the same goal – make as many people who are watching our band as happy as we can, and everyone has a different opinion about what particular songs to use. For us, it all still comes down to we only get 30 minutes to play and we’ve got five records with at least 30 minutes of material on it. So we can play one fifth of what we’ve created in our career. Maybe a little bit less. It’s a lot more difficult than it used to be.

I remember when we did this tour the first time when we had two records obviously we would play these six or seven songs. Everyone would know these six or seven songs. It was easy. It was a lot more difficult this time.

While pleasing both themselves and their fans on what songs to play, they have occasionally thrown in Miss May I’s versions of deep cuts, which is met with mixed results.

I remember we tried in the winter with August Burns Red, we threw in this song ‘Tides’ off of our first record. It’s a diehard fan from the early days would know that song, but we played that and it was a whole lot of arms crossed like ‘what the hell is this?’ We’re on stage having a great time, like ‘I remember this song!’ It’s a lot harder to do those to go over real well. Like I said, the whole point of the show is to make the people buying the tickets happy. Sometimes what we feel like playing is not exactly what they want to hear.

By Rei Nishimoto