When Miss May I first started to make plans for their seventh studio album, Curse Of Existence, in late 2019, they have been admittedly in a little bit of a lull. The Ohio-based metalcore group had seemingly reached each milestone possible throughout the style and have been on the level the place they hit a ceiling. To make issues worse, the pandemic enfolded shortly after, inflicting a sequence of delays within the recording course of and the entire shutdown of the touring business. Like so many others, Miss May I have been crammed with uncertainty, aggression and an amazing sense of hopelessness, subjects that started to bleed into the lyrical content material of the brand new document. However, the band ultimately skilled a breakthrough throughout the recording course of when frontman Levi Benton and bassist/singer Ryan Neff determined to lean on what Miss May I does finest: anthemic, uplifting lyrics of perseverance and optimism it doesn’t matter what the circumstances are.
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The shift in perspective paid off. With a recent lyrical strategy, coupled with the band’s signature thrash guitars and pummeling but creative breakdowns, Miss May I have penned one in every of their strongest information but, with overwhelming assist from followers each new and previous. With Curse Of Existence being the band’s first album in 5 years, they haven’t solely survived a sequence of setbacks but in addition thrived. With document attendance on their present headlining tour and new generations of followers coming on board for the primary time, it is clear that every one Miss May I wanted to do was take a step again and rediscover who they honestly are.
You have been open concerning the downtime that you just have been allotted throughout the pandemic as being helpful to the creation of Curse Of Existence. How did you develop as a band throughout this time?
LEVI BENTON: With all the things being taken away [due to the pandemic], I found simply how a lot Miss May I meant to me. I was all the time in a trance going on tour for a decade straight, and when that stopped, it helped all the things soak in and provides me an appreciative perspective on how a lot an album really means. This was like doing our first album once more, which felt actually refreshing.
Would you say that being wanting to play dwell once more and join with followers after such a devastating time resulted within the vitality and urgency on this document?
BENTON: A variety of the vitality and the angst on this album are so real. I suppose you may actually hear the aggression that we’re going by way of in the meanwhile.
RYAN NEFF: I additionally don’t suppose we got here off the most effective momentum to enter this document both. Pre-pandemic, we did the 10-year anniversary tour for Monument, after which Levi advised us he was having his first child. We instantly made plans to hit the studio in March 2020, and the studio time obtained moved again six months, after which the world was like, “Here are nine or 10 more months that you have to wait to even start.” It was simply months of being annoyed, however after we completed the document, we knew we had one thing particular.
What was the recording course of like working with Will Putney (Knocked Loose, Every Time I Die)?
NEFF: The course of was not something like what I thought it was going to be initially, nevertheless it turned out to be nice. The vocal finish is the place working with Will actually shined. We really sat on the document over the vacation and realized that we may do some higher, so Levi and I flew again out to New Jersey to do a second session with Will. When we went again to the studio the second time, we got here up with the “Unconquered” refrain, and now it’s one of many coolest components I’ve ever gotten to sing. Will labored so exhausting and made certain that the document was excellent for us.
Will’s home the place the studio relies is like an oasis — it’s in the midst of the woods and tremendous secluded. We recorded the vocals first throughout the 2020 presidential election, and also you couldn’t focus on something aside from that, the pandemic and the truth that we have been all basically “jobless.” It was no marvel we got here into the lyrics feeling so detrimental, however Will was like, “We’re in a recording studio with great people, and you’re going to be fine.” All of a sudden, the lyrical content material shifted proper again to basic Miss May I. We have been on empty, however then earlier than we knew it, we have been again to the triumphant and overcoming nature of our music.
Speaking of the vocals, it feels such as you pushed yourselves more durable than ever with this document. With Levi particularly, there’s a far more melodic strategy, and with Ryan, the anthemic choruses are on a grander scale.
BENTON: For the extra melodic vocals, it comes from loads of our deep influences like In Flames and Darkest Hour, and it by no means shined in our earlier albums as a result of we both didn’t have room, or I wasn’t assured sufficient in them. Because we’ve got had such a protracted profession, I actually didn’t need any stones unturned or wait to throw in [melodic vocals].
NEFF: I wished my voice to be deeper on this document, and I knew that was a serious aim of mine from the start. I’m older now and might’t be ripping on the high of my vary on a regular basis. I wished a sensible, recreatable anthemic type of singing.
Miss May I began once you have been all in highschool, and now you are on your seventh document. Did you ever suppose that this band would journey up to now, promote so many information and let you headline reveals the world over and maintain itself for thus lengthy?
BENTON: It labored somewhat backward for us. We have been a neighborhood band that occurred to get acknowledged. This trip has been so thrilling as a result of it was even additional than a pipe dream for us. I suppose the most important phenomenon for us is to not solely survive the pandemic however come again in a greater place than earlier than and see these youthful demographics come on board. Miss May I is out of our fingers now. It’s not even ours — it’s everyone’s.
NEFF: This document simply feels totally different. It’s the primary time the place we dropped an album and it’s simply doing it on its personal. We’re watching Spotify numbers go up and ticket counts go up — and that stuff is good, however much more importantly, new individuals are popping out. A few years in the past, we reached a lull, however now these great new individuals are discovering us. It’s been a lucky and enjoyable time to be on this band.
You can actually hear Miss May I’s affect on the brand new era of heavy bands.
NEFF: That’s such a bizarre factor for us. We have been all the time the band that was completely punishing the era of bands above us. It’s so sick to be experiencing that now.
BENTON: There have even been celebrities which have mentioned they have been impacted by Miss May I. I was lucky sufficient to satisfy Post Malone just a few years again, and he advised me that he used to play “Forgive and Forget” from our first album again within the day and the way excited he was for us. I was like, “What are you even talking about?” [Laughs.]
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