Photos by Grace Pendleton
May Rio is a strikingly creative person. Within about five minute of meeting her she pulls out a stuffed elephant which she knitted herself and mentions that she is taking a break from knitting because she was beginning to indulge in it too often (“it was becoming a problem”). She designed a cocktail for the album release party and brought party streamers and rubber animals to put inside the brightly colored drink. May describes herself as a highly organized and type A person, but she also has a mystical and almost elfin artistic side to herself, one that she is glad to indulge in her solo pursuit. With her band Poppies, May was a manager and in charge of much of the logistics of the band, but she felt that the creative side of the endeavor was falling by the wayside. Now with her solo album Easy Bammer, May can fully follow her instincts and do what makes her happiest: create.
What made you decide to experiment as a solo artist? How is it different from being in a band?
May Rio: When I started, it wasn’t a decision or an ambition. I had played a few solo shows before the pandemic and that was more to challenge myself. I do feel like the pandemic and isolation, definitely pushed this along but it’s been cool because I started playing music pretty late and Poppies was my first real project. It’s completely different. What’s cool about being solo is that I can do it as much as I want. The biggest difference for me is that I am thinking less about decisions and being intuitive.
Do you feel like you have found a different sound as opposed to what you do with Poppies?
A lot of how this record sounds, I wanted to make something that didn’t sound like Poppies. A lot less guitar, and Poppies was a lot of changes with tempos. I wanted to not touch any of those tricks.
What were some of the inspirations of the album?
A lot of it was just what I was going through emotionally. But there were some lulls where I was just like, literally everyday is the same so there’s not much to process. There were a couple of points where as an escape I would imagine something out of my world. A couple of songs have nothing to do with me, I just embody someone else.
What did you do to keep busy over quarantine? How do you think it effected you creatively?
I hate to say this but I think the quarantine was good for me. Before the pandemic, living in New York can be crazy. With the band I was so busy and I was also a manager and did everything for the band and the creative aspect felt like such a small percentage. It was cool to just sit down and work on this project for no reason. I didn’t sit down and just decide to make an album, I just did it for fun. No FOMO, no distractions.
Have you missed performing live at all? Do you think you will go about it differently after the long isolation?
I played a secret show a couple nights ago that I didn’t tell anyone about. I don’t really know quite how to do this yet. I want to try a few different things and make every show different. Have some friends guest with me and occasionally have a full band. I have a show coming up where I have that. I want the shows to be flexible and I don’t want to feel like I have it figured out. I want to keep it open.
The video for “Party Jail” has a very 1930s lounge singer vibe, what about that aesthetic inspired you?
We just wanted it to feel like this classic theater setting. I made it with my friend Brandon out in LA who makes movies. His idea was to have me play this performer who is sentenced to perform to an empty crowd forever.
How do you go about performing live as an introvert?
Throughout most of my life I have a lot of control and I’m on top of my shit. It’s good for me when performing to just let myself let go. That’s what I try and do. it’s like walking off a cliff.
Worst party you have ever been to?
There was one night on tour where we were stuck at this place and there was a pet turtle being passed around and he peed on me.
Best party you have ever been to?
I love birthday parties. I love my own birthday party because it’s the one day of the year when you can make all the people you like be in a room together. I love bringing people together.
Have you ever been to jail, if not, have you ever accidentally locked yourself out of anywhere?
I have not been to jail. There’s another tour thing. One night when we weren’t able to find a place to crash after a set and these kids came up to us and offered us their practice space. We got to the space and it was this warehouse and we could hear another band practicing and it was so late but we weren’t going to ask them to leave so we just waited it out. They were a jazz/metal fusion band and then they came down and I thought it was over. But then they saw we played music and they wanted to jam with us. The guys in the band wanted to jam so I just spent the night with earplugs and the works just sleeping in this unventilated warehouse room with this jazz/metal fusion band jamming.
May Rio’s debut record Easy Bammer is out now. Keep up with May on Instagram