Hard To Hate… Little May

By Ash London on December 13, 2013 in Arts

Theirs is the kind of music that is hard to hate. Sydney three-piece Little May have got the indie-folk chick thing down pat, but their new single ‘Hide’ reveals a darker side to their music (dubbed ‘ghost-folk’), which I’m kinda digging. And by kinda, I mean really. It’s sexy, it’s ethereal, and I can’t wait to hear how they pull it off live when they hit the Brighton Up Bar later this month. I caught up one third of this gorgeous trio, Liz, for a chat…

‘Ghost-folk’ is… creepy.

The three of us met… at school and through mutual friends. Hannah and I would hang out on weekends and write music as a bit of a hobby, then in 2011 we had a jam with Annie and it happened pretty naturally from there.

The first time we played together… we sucked. Annie and I had only ever played guitar by ourselves in our bedrooms so it took a while to get used to the idea that you actually need to listen to someone else and work off them. I still have voice memos of when we first jammed, the majority of which is just really awkward chat and out of time guitar playing.

Our hometown is… Sydney.

The best thing about the local music scene is… meeting new people, discovering new bands and the off chance we get freebies.

Our latest single ‘Hide’ was written… in a hotel in Mallacoota. I had these chords, a hook and a concept in mind for a while, but we hadn’t had the chance to flesh it out completely. We were playing a gig in Melbourne and Annie flew down but Hannah and I decided to drive. It took us 16 hours because we took the coast road. We stopped overnight and finished writing the song pretty quickly. I wrote the first verse and Han wrote the second, based on our own experiences, which were ultimately quite similar.

My earliest music memory is… listening to my dad play Kashmir by Led Zeppelin and thinking that the strings were scary, and being confused why I liked it; hearing Oasis’ ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ in the car on the way back from visiting my grandma in hospital; and hearing ‘The Roof is On Fire’ by Bloodhound Gang in my dad’s truck, and my brother and I thinking it was naughty.

There was this one time when we were starting out that… we had a gig and Hannah and I forgot all of Annie’s instruments. It was an important gig for us, so it was pretty bad at the time. She was able to use someone’s guitar and amp but we had all sorts of horrible sound issues.

If I could have written any song, it would be… this is a tough one. Too many, but right now I am wishing I wrote Humiliation by The National.

Boybands are… essential. I wouldn’t be the woman I am today without Hanson or the Backstreet Boys.

Our biggest fan has got to be… our parents.

If you come and see us play this month, you can expect… everything, except twerking.

The best gig I’ve ever been to was… Local Natives at the Metro and Half Moon Run at the Vanguard.

My dream gig… could be anywhere. Obviously playing big crowds one day would be amazing, but I also love it when we can play an intimate low-key gig in a room packed with people.

You can catch Little May when they launch their single ‘Hide’ on December 20 and 21 at Brighton Up Bar. For more info check out www.littlemaymusic.com.