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.
Levi! Good to catch up with you man. How is the tour going?
It’s been good. Today is the real first day we’ve done the routed shows. We did some shows to get prepared for the full tour. Today is the first day of the official tour with all the bands. We’re excited!
I’m psyched for people to hear Shadows Inside.. It’s definitely a complete album for you guys. New year, new label, new process: take us through this journey.
Going into this record, we’re changing our label up. Nothing wrong with Rise Records, we just wanted to see what was on the other side. We were just ready for a change. Going to Sharptone gave us a whole new team that had new ideas we embraced. The biggest difference on this record was, they gave us a bunch of time. “Here is a ton of time, and here is a vocal producer”! That wasn’t even in our vocabulary before. We even extended the time even longer, and they were cool with it. That was the biggest difference, all that time being in the studio. We took nine months off to do this record and four months in the studio to record. We wrote this entire record about all the changes we’d been going through. And there was no theme at the beginning, but it just turned into that theme. It ended up being all the stuff going through our heads, what it was all about. All theses changes we were going through. By the time the album was finished we looked back and this is what it was about.
What was the number one thing in the process that was improved on this album by having that extra time in the studio?
A lot of it was pro-pro. We had Nick Sampson working with us too again, same as last time. When were doing vocals, when we did the lyrics, we used to just knock the songs out back to back. With two producers on this record, we would spend a whole day on just one line, one vocal part a day sometimes. It made a real difference in the album. And for instruments, the guys were writing really over the top stuff. We weren’t throwing away ideas that were too ambitious. We wanted to go as crazy as we possibly could.
Few bands are really skilled at self-editing, and clearly, the extra time to make the record has helped you guys with that. Have you ever wished in the past you had more time to go back and change something after an album was finished?
I think every Miss May I record until this point was like that. We’ve never had this amount of time for that in the past. We listened back to the album every day in the gym. Me and Ryan (Neff) listened back to the record every day, like forty times this time and I thought of all the times in the past we wished we could go back and change things.
It sounds to me like you and Ryan really topped yourselves in terms of vocals, and vocal range choices on the songs. Is there one track that really stands out to you?
We tried to change it up. I’m happy you noticed that. I think the last song, ‘My Sorrow’ is the one that is really special on the record. That one stands out and it’s one of the best songs we’ve ever written. There is so much emotion in Ryan’s voice, for a metal song it’s really weird to have those feelings. It’s phenomenal, and that makes me really love that song.
The cool thing was when me and Ryan went to do vocals we weren’t really just doing vocals and recording them. When Ryan and I did our vocals, the takes we used were the first takes. We did some pre-pro on the vocals as we went along. When you re-record vocals, you lose the emotion of the first take. Drew Faulk, our co-producer this time around, wanted to make sure we had those first takes, to keep that well of emotion built up so we wouldn’t have to redo it.
Your band is always known for its positivity lyrically. Did all these changes make it easier or harder to get that across on Shadows Inside?
It was such a weight off of our shoulders. I think it was the most upbeat we’ve ever felt. It was such a good feeling and emotion, I felt like a little kid. It’s crazy! Even now with the tour too. If there was stuff we didn’t want to talk about on the record, once we were done and got out of the studio, it felt amazing!
Ghost Cult shared a few of your behind the scenes clips and I noticed the band is sharing more stuff like that than before. Is that routine nowadays?
You sort of have to do that now. You want to give the fans stuff they can’t get anywhere else. Now that with the internet, you have to just share as much as you can, all the time.
What are you most looking forward to on this current headline tour?
We are looking forward to the production. We are really bringing the biggest production we have ever done for the performance. We want people to leave our shows feeling like “Wow! That was a show I went to that was really memorable”. We had all these custom stage props made for us and we’re bringing it everywhere. It’s incredible.
Do you prefer headline tours in clubs or the festivals?
Oh festivals, for sure. You get to play and hang out and see other bands. Festivals are my favorite because you have to go over the top for them. Our songs translate really well over that. It’s really great.
What is the most important thing need for this tour to survive?
Shampoo and conditioner! I have to take a shower every day. My hair will turn into dreads overnight. I just need to wash my hair every day to keep it from dreading up. I don’t even care about the soap or my smelly body, I just need to take care of my hair!
Miss May I’s Shadows Inside is out now on Sharptone Records and you can buy it here!