Ask Abbe May what she doesn’t like about contemporary music and she’ll give you a lengthy and definitive answer; “The stuff that offends me, what bothers me, is standard female music which is basically acoustic pop. That I find quite irritating because it doesn’t seem to be doing anyone any favours, it perpetuates the idea that women are not as good at music as men because a lot of it melds into one. There’s so much average crap out there that it can get a bit depressing.”
As front woman of The Rockin’ Pneumonia, May has been twice awarded ‘Best Female Vocalist’ in 2007 and 2008 at the WAMi awards but has not been spared external pressure to conform to a so called ‘norm’ of female musicianship.
“At the recent Live at the Wireless gig while we were setting up all these little kids are up the front and these girls are like, ‘let’s sit down’ and the other one goes ‘why are we sitting down’ and her friend looks at me and goes ‘well we’re not going to listen to this’ obviously thinking chick vocalist…” she shrugs. “We’re our own worst enemies, we really are, it’s a battle against ourselves. It was really funny. Then we cranked up our loudest song at the start and they stood up pretty quick. I just thought it was really fucking funny because I would have probably been that kid when I was their age.”
Coming out of a childhood where experimental religious worship and changing tastes in music defined family life, May had an uneasy adolescence staring at the unreachable images of tabloid magazines. Despite her reservations about popularity, image and notions of artistic credibility May admits that her success to date has kept her doing what she loves and out of working in a cafe.
With the release of The Rockin’ Pneumonia’s Howl and Moan LP in mid 2008, opportunities have been presented that will extend the reach of May’s music; since the Sydney and Melbourne film and television industry have been in touch wanting to license some of the songs.
“We’ve got one song on a Foxtel series about high-class hookers, it’s called Satisfaction and the song they’ve used is Howl and Moan. I believe the scene is where one of the prostitutes is walking up to a room and waiting for her customer, if only they knew what the song was about,” she laughs.
“It’s been interesting to see how people react to the music because I went through a period where I absolutely hated the album and you just can’t, you have to let it go. Because we’re so different to it how we are now I feel a bit embarrassed about it sometimes.”
Writer/director David Caesar, of Idiot Box and Dirty Deeds had May in mind when scripting a scene with the leading male character for his next movie; called Prime Mover about truckers.
“I’ve always liked his stuff, it’s a slice of Australiana without the cringe factor or in fact it plays up on the cringe factor. I’ve got to sing a duet with the lead actor called In Spite Of Ourselves. It’s a pretty funny country song, it’s so daggy that it’s actually kinda good. The other one is a cover of a Hunters and Collectors song called Stuck on You which I think will be really good to sing so I’m going to Sydney this week to record that.”
May is hasty to dissuade assumptions that may put her in the leagues of the cross-over musicians.
“I’m a terrible actor, I’m quite wooden and just not a good actor, far too self aware to let go and just do it. It’s good to be aware of your limitations so you don’t end up acting and making a noodle of yourself.”
Contorting her voice into eerie howls, high pitched whistles and primal growls, Abbe May has escaped the formulaic female model in both live and recorded formats. Playing to local and national audiences May admits the pleasure is all hers. A self education in the blues has given her enjoyment on stage and off.
“I spend a lot of my time listening to the blues and also reading about it in an anthropological sense. It’s something that’s quite universal and older than anyone or anything. They talk about it in this book I’ve been reading, how the blues rose up from the ashes of when Africans were cast into slavery and sent away in ships where they spent months and months on their way to America to live a life lower than animals.”
“Something positive, something so strong within them was so resilient that it developed into the blues and I think that the potential for that exists in everybody. So it’s a little bit mystical and a bit romantic I guess is my notion of it.”
During a recent string of gigs at the Norfolk Basement in Fremantle, May felt she presented her version of the blues, and asserted that whether the audience was ready to go along with the experience was their own choice.
“I thought it would be a good excuse to get it out there. I wanted to see if it was possible to recreate that kind of sing along style that you would have with Lead Belly’s Goodnight Irene and sometimes depending on how drunk the crowd was we were able to achieve that,” recalls May with a reflective grin.
With plans to record in progress, an experimental two-day recording session has been set up to try and harness May’s volatile voice and the shrieking sounds that typify her present tastes. She aims to absolve herself of Howl and Moan in a striking fashion.
“The rock and roll I play with The Rockin’ Pneumonia is quite heavily infused with the blues and I really enjoy that but since doing the blues shows with The Devil ( Alex Archer of The Kill Devil Hills) and Todd Picket, there’s just been something that has been re-awoken.”
“The next Rockin’ Pneumonia stuff, the new stuff to be recorded is going to be all about sex a lot of the titles are going to be pretty full on. I kind of want to upset my mum a bit. She’s pretty much going to like anything I do but at the same time that’s a little too easy. I kind of want to make her feel a bit uncomfortable but not literally, more as a metaphor, I want to push a little further.”
