When Miss Might I first started to make plans for his or her seventh studio album, Curse Of Existence, in late 2019, they have been admittedly in a little bit of a lull. The Ohio-based metalcore group had seemingly reached each milestone conceivable throughout the style and have been on the level the place they hit a ceiling. To make issues worse, the pandemic enfolded shortly after, inflicting a sequence of delays within the recording course of and the overall shutdown of the touring trade. Like so many others, Miss Might I have been crammed with uncertainty, aggression and an awesome sense of hopelessness, subjects that started to bleed into the lyrical content material of the brand new report. Nevertheless, the band ultimately skilled a breakthrough in the course of the recording course of when frontman Levi Benton and bassist/singer Ryan Neff determined to lean on what Miss Might I does greatest: anthemic, uplifting lyrics of perseverance and optimism it doesn’t matter what the circumstances are.
Learn extra: The HardLore: Tales from Tour podcast goals to encourage the following technology of hardcore artists
The shift in perspective paid off. With a contemporary lyrical method, coupled with the band’s signature thrash guitars and pummeling but creative breakdowns, Miss Might I’ve penned considered one of their strongest information but, with overwhelming help from followers each new and outdated. With Curse Of Existence being the band’s first album in 5 years, they haven’t solely survived a sequence of setbacks but additionally thrived. With report attendance on their present headlining tour and new generations of followers approaching board for the primary time, it is clear that every one Miss Might I wanted to do was take a step again and rediscover who they honestly are.
You’ve gotten been open concerning the downtime that you just have been allotted in the course of the pandemic as being helpful to the creation of Curse Of Existence. How did you develop as a band throughout this time?
LEVI BENTON: With all the pieces being taken away [due to the pandemic], I found simply how a lot Miss Might I meant to me. I used to be all the time in a trance occurring tour for a decade straight, and when that stopped, it helped all the pieces soak in and provides me an appreciative perspective on how a lot an album actually means. This was like doing our first album once more, which felt actually refreshing.
Would you say that being desperate to play stay once more and join with followers after such a devastating time resulted within the vitality and urgency on this report?
BENTON: Numerous the vitality and the angst on this album are so real. I feel you possibly can actually hear the aggression that we’re going by in the intervening time.
RYAN NEFF: I additionally don’t suppose we got here off the perfect momentum to enter this report both. Pre-pandemic, we did the 10-year anniversary tour for Monument, after which Levi instructed us he was having his first child. We instantly made plans to hit the studio in March 2020, and the studio time received moved again six months, after which the world was like, “Listed here are 9 or 10 extra months that you need to wait to even begin.” It was simply months of being annoyed, however after we completed the report, we knew we had one thing particular.
What was the recording course of like working with Will Putney (Knocked Unfastened, Each Time I Die)?
NEFF: The method was not something like what I assumed it was going to be in the beginning, nevertheless it turned out to be nice. The vocal finish is the place working with Will actually shined. We truly sat on the report over the vacation and realized that we may perform a little higher, so Levi and I flew again out to New Jersey to do a second session with Will. After we went again to the studio the second time, we got here up with the “Unconquered” refrain, and now it’s one of many coolest components I’ve ever gotten to sing. Will labored so exhausting and made certain that the report was good for us.
Will’s home the place the studio is predicated is like an oasis — it’s in the midst of the woods and tremendous secluded. We recorded the vocals first in the course of the 2020 presidential election, and also you couldn’t deal with something apart from that, the pandemic and the truth that we have been all primarily “jobless.” It was no surprise we got here into the lyrics feeling so destructive, however Will was like, “We’re in a recording studio with nice individuals, and also you’re going to be superb.” Swiftly, the lyrical content material shifted proper again to traditional Miss Might I. We have been on empty, however then earlier than we knew it, we have been again to the triumphant and overcoming nature of our music.
Talking of the vocals, it feels such as you pushed yourselves more durable than ever with this report. With Levi particularly, there’s a far more melodic method, and with Ryan, the anthemic choruses are on a grander scale.
BENTON: For the extra melodic vocals, it comes from numerous our deep influences like In Flames and Darkest Hour, and it by no means shined in our earlier albums as a result of we both didn’t have room, or I wasn’t assured sufficient in them. As a result of we now have had such an extended profession, I actually didn’t need any stones unturned or wait to throw in [melodic vocals].
NEFF: I needed my voice to be deeper on this report, and I knew that was a serious aim of mine from the start. I’m older now and may’t be ripping on the high of my vary on a regular basis. I needed a sensible, recreatable anthemic type of singing.
Miss Might I began once you have been all in highschool, and now you are in your seventh report. Did you ever suppose that this band would journey to date, promote so many information and mean you can headline reveals internationally and maintain itself for thus lengthy?
BENTON: It labored a bit backward for us. We have been an area band that occurred to get acknowledged. This experience has been so thrilling as a result of it was even additional than a pipe dream for us. I feel the largest phenomenon for us is to not solely survive the pandemic however come again in a greater place than earlier than and see these youthful demographics come on board. Miss Might I is out of our arms now. It’s not even ours — it’s all people’s.
NEFF: This report simply feels totally different. It’s the primary time the place we dropped an album and it’s simply doing it by itself. We’re watching Spotify numbers go up and ticket counts go up — and that stuff is good, however much more importantly, new individuals are popping out. A few years in the past, we reached a lull, however now these fantastic new individuals are discovering us. It’s been a lucky and enjoyable time to be on this band.
You may actually hear Miss Might I’s affect on the brand new technology of heavy bands.
NEFF: That’s such a bizarre factor for us. We have been all the time the band that was completely punishing the technology of bands above us. It’s so sick to be experiencing that now.
BENTON: There have even been celebrities which have mentioned they have been impacted by Miss Might I. I used to be lucky sufficient to satisfy Put up Malone a couple of years again, and he instructed me that he used to play “Forgive and Neglect” from our first album again within the day and the way excited he was for us. I used to be like, “What are you even speaking about?” [Laughs.]
