Having interviewed Little May back at the release of their self-titled EP, the chance to catch them again a year down the road – on the eve of a massive May touring schedule and with their debut album,For The Company, now under their belt – was far too enticing to pass up.
The Sydney trio’s music is one of those rare and captivating finds, whose indie stylings are selling out gigs at home and abroad. In what seems like a fine idea at the time, however, we meet in a bustling Surry Hills café, and the sound of other diners and the screech of coffee machines transforms the recording of our conversation into something of an omelette.
“I definitely still get nervous before we go onstage,” Hannah Field tells me… or at least, I think it’s Hannah. While their words are clear, distinguishing who is speaking at any one moment against the background hubbub is a taxing task. “There’s a rush just before we step out and you realise, ‘Oh, that’s still a thing.’ It’s less nervous leading up to the show now, it’s more straight before.”
“We each have a little huddle before we go onstage, a kind of, ‘Oookay… now, let’s actually be good!’” laughs Annie Hamilton. “There’s usually not a pep talk, we’ll just walk around saying nonsense words to warm up.”
It would be a sight to see; the darlings of the indie-pop world roaming backstage, spouting nonsense as the susurrus of the crowd seeps through the walls. Little May have come a long way in a relatively short amount of time, and though the size of the venues may have jumped up a few notches (Oxford Art Factory to the Metro), the support of a particularly ardent fan base will almost guarantee a strong show. Little May’s fans are a passionate bunch, and are clearly not afraid to open themselves up to the band’s scrutiny.
“The only way we really get to connect with fans is through Instagram, which is actually a huge one,” Liz Drummond explains. “We have a lot of messages there, and a lot of them can be really personal. Emails as well. Fans sharing their stories can really be quite deep, so I think it’s really important for us to reply to those people and talk to them. It’s not often that you have someone really tell you their life story, so I think it’s amazing, and we’re really lucky that we get to have that opportunity with people. We’ve started trying to meet up with fans after our shows, and we’ve met some really beautiful people like that. People that I’ll stay connected with. It’s really special for us, but it’s even better to see that it’s something special for them.”
“I think that’s the most rewarding thing,” Hamilton agrees. “To have people share something about their lives.”
This upcoming tour will find Little May roaming from coast to coast after having taken a brief hiatus from band commitments. The break gave each of the girls a chance to recentre themselves and come back to the band revitalised, brimming with fresh perspective and input. Their next release will likely showcase a stronger group again, given their craft has developed a great deal between EP and album and is certain to keep evolving.
“The album was done in a really short space of time,” Hamilton recalls. “And because we did it in New York, we couldn’t go back and change things. What wasn’t done in that five weeks just wouldn’t be changed. Same with mixing, that all happened while we were touring in the UK, and depended on us getting back to our hotel, finding Wi-Fi and having to approve stuff by 7am – it was all very rushed. So we didn’t have the luxury of, ‘Oh, let’s just sit on this beat and see how we feel about it.’ It was more like, ‘Ahhh, get it down!’ It’s definitely a very different process to our EP.”
“We all approach music very differently,” Field reflects. “I know for me, I can be very critical, and want to go back and change things quite a bit. Like [EP track] ‘Dust’ had very different stages of life. We just weren’t happy with it, it never felt right. The EP was something we stewed on for a really long time, and I think back in those days we were a lot more self-conscious and critical. We poured pressure on ourselves, whereas now it’s all a bit more free-flowing.”
“We’ve only recently been writing again,” Drummond continues, “but before we got together again and locked ourselves away for a week, we’d spent some time apart. We were all doing our own thing but still sending each other little demos and ideas, so I think having space allows for a different kind of activity than when we’re together. It’s great, but sometimes [creativity] doesn’t happen that easily. I think for a long time we thought the way to write was, ‘OK, the way to do this is let’s go and write ten songs in two weeks!’ Sometimes we’d come out then with just one song and it would feel really disappointing. But now, we’ve put less pressure on ourselves to get results right away. If an idea comes and we love the song, great. But if it doesn’t, we won’t beat ourselves up as much as we used to.”
For The Company is out now through Dew Process/Universal. Little May, along with E^ST and Australia, perform at theMetro Theatre on Friday May 6.
