Little May
Little May are one of Australia’s hottest prospects going around at the minute and 2015 is set to be a career defining year as they plan to record and release their debut album. Already they have a self-titled EP to their credit and they are supporting Angus & Julia Stone on their national tour throughout January and February. Across The Ocean talks to Annie Hamilton about the journey ahead for Little May.
It must be a really exciting time for the band on the verge of great things?
It has been amazing and the last couple of months have absolutely been incredible. I think because none of us have been in bands before I had barely played guitar outside of my bedroom let alone with anyone. I can remember the first few times jamming with Liz in each other’s bedrooms. We played our first couple of gigs as open mic nights in pubs and that at the time was such a thrill, exciting and nerve racking. I could never have imagined we would be here in a couple of year’s time.
Is it hard keeping a lid on the excitement and the expectation from others?
I don’t think we try and think about it to be honest, if you do start thinking about it I think it could get really overwhelming and if I start thinking about it too much I start saying “what is happening?” Our focus is to keep writing the best music we can and playing the best shows that we can. The support we have had from everyone has been so incredible and we are so lucky to be in this position.
Is the pressure on to get an album out to capitalise on what you have achieved so far?
We’re getting ready to start recording an album and we’re all so excited because the EP took so long and we do have a bank of songs that we have been working on and playing live. There is a little bit of pressure to keep the momentum going that we have built up at the moment. It can be hard juggling touring with recording. At the moment we’re trying to plan 2015 and finding a good couple of months of recording time without missing out on tours or shows. Its healthy pressure and a good challenge for us which is really motivating us to keep working to get it all done.
It must be a challenge when people want you to play in their city yesterday?
I love touring so much and we’ve been lucky that we have been able to tour so much and that the responses to our shows have been real good. It’s all so amazing and fun that we just want to do everything and you do have to make some sacrifices and say no to things to make the time. I guess that’s the way it is.
Do you think the band’s sound has matured?
All the songs on the EP are really old and were written two or three years ago and it has taken such a long time to release them. The music has definitely evolved in that time and that’s part of the reason why the EP took so long because we were constantly reworking the songs and changing them. We weren’t happy with them enough to release them. The album coming out will probably have a different taste to the EP, it’s a bit rockier but that’s the way our music has evolved through playing live with a full band and the way that we have found our own sound over the last couple of years.
Do you feel up against the clock to get an album out?
We don’t want to rush anything and we would rather take another three years to do an album and create something that we are really proud of and really love rather than focusing on a deadline saying we need to get to this point to keep the momentum up. It works both ways in that we want to put something out and keep the momentum going but we don’t want to sacrifice any quality.
Any plans to release vinyl?
We have just received delivery of our EP on vinyl which is exciting and we’ll be selling those at shows. Hopefully the album will be released on vinyl when we finally get around to doing that.
What can fans expect on the tour?
We’re playing lots of new songs which is exciting and we have our full band on tour which is great. We’re playing the EP songs again, we stopped playing some for a while there because we felt they were really old. In reality we only just released them, so they might seem really old to us but to anyone listening they are really new songs.
Do you have plans to tour overseas in 2015?
Very much so, we do have a rough timeline for 2015 including recording and releasing the album as well as going overseas once or twice. It’s just all so amazing and seems like a lot to fit in to a year but I’m sure we’ll make it happen somehow.
Do you feel like pinching yourself thinking that it feels too good to be true?
Yeah! When we were overseas in October I’m wandering through New York thinking to myself what am I doing? How am I here? It is very surreal at times that’s for sure.
Whether it is rummaging through vinyl at record stores such as Clarity and Title finding hidden gems to scouring the internet to find that album by the next big thing or chasing bands to get that elusive autograph and photo his passion is music all the way.
- Aversions Crown - January 27, 2017
- Sick Of It All - January 19, 2017
- Refused - January 11, 2017
