Her latest single Doomsday Clock, the second track to be lifted from Bitchcraft following June’s Are We Flirting?, was already generating buzz in its first week in the world. If that wasn’t enough, she’s just wrapped up a national tour alongside Midnight Oil frontman and former Labor politician Peter Garrett, with whom she performed as both an opening act and as a guitarist in his backing band.
“He’s such an intelligent and insightful man, and an incredibly talented artist,” says May. “I really enjoyed having conversations with him about various subjects, including political issues. We share a very similar corner of the political spectrum, so I found his words very informative. As a musician, I learnt so much. Opening for anyone isn’t an easy job – people are there to see the main act, so it can be really daunting. I found Peter’s audiences to be really open minded. A lot of my new music has a dialogue about certain political issues, including sexuality as a woman being a political statement of sorts. I really enjoyed speaking to members of the audience about these topics – I feel like they understood what I was trying to say.”
Bitchcraft arrives three-and-a-half years after the release of her last LP, Kiss My Apocalypse. After all but abandoning her garage rock roots, May is now freely in the midst of melding together genres away from the immediate comfort zone of the guitar, which is an exciting prospect for an artist that’s been in a constant state of evolution since starting out in music at the ripe age of 17. “It’s basically a record of gospel, soul and hip hop,” May says.
“I grew up listening to soul music, and my brother and I had a great love for hip hop in the ‘90s. We still love listening to it these days – there’s a lot of great artists right now in that realm. Mostly, what I’m inspired by from hip hop is the use of beats – my producer Matt has been working on these new songs with me with that style in mind, particularly when it comes to the percussion, the kick drum and the snare. I also have a group of girlfriends over here in Perth who I sing ‘90s R&B songs with in gospel a cappella style. They ended up singing with me on Doomsday Clock. I’ve been singing like this for quite awhile in my own time for fun – it’s natural that it’s made its way into my music.”
May and her band are heading out on tour this November in support of Doomsday Clock, her brother KT Rumble joining her on the road, the pair originally performing together in May’s first band The Fuzz back in the early 2000s. “We’ve been playing music together for about 20 years,” says May. “He’s on bass for this tour, which is an interesting position for him considering he’s been a guitarist for pretty much his whole life. He’s settled into the role really well and gotten himself a nice little Fender Precision. I’ve also got Chris Wright, who is the brother of the drummer from Methyl Ethyl. He’s an incredibly creative guy – he’s also a painter – and he’s really chilled and easy to tour with. I’ve got a great band together – I’m even bringing along my gospel singers when I can.”
BY DAVID JAMES YOUNG
