Taking rockabilly baby on the road
IMELDA May has a theory. “I think I need to be bored to write songs,” says the best-selling rockabilly singer. “I toured my last album for three years. It was busy, busy, busy. And I found it difficult to write on the road. I’ve had some time off and the songs have started to come. I began to get bored. That’s just how it is for me.”
By her usual standards the Dubliner’s previous record, 2010’s Mayhem, was a lush affair. Her major label debut, it was put together in an expensive studio and had a commercial sheen. A significant amount of cash had clearly been lavished on it. For her next LP, the salty Liberties native wants to return to the sweaty intensity of her early days. The goal is to approximate the furious sensibility of her live shows.
“It’s going to be recorded live,” she says. “I want to return to my roots, make it grittier. I love how our band sounds in the flesh.
“We’re fantastic at rocking out. The idea will be to capture some of that. We want to go into a small space and make it happen.”
May is a busy woman. As well as writing another long player and preparing for a summer tour, she and her guitarist husband Darrel Higham have a 10-month-old daughter, Violet, to care for.
“I’ll be taking her on the road,” she says. “It’s going to be fantastic. We won’t be the first or the last band to do it. I was actually talking to [roots singer] Mary Black about this because she did it with her children too. A lot of musicians do — until the kids are old enough to go to school. I’m really looking forward to it, to be honest. We’ll all be together.”
May plans to road test her gutsy new songs on her upcoming jaunt around Ireland. She will be playing headline dates as well as supporting Bruce Springsteen at Kilkenny. The prospect of sharing a bill with Springsteen brings out goosebumps, she admits. She’s been a fan for as long as she can remember. It will be instructive to see him in action, she feels.
“I can’t wait,” she says. “It’s going to be great. I am really looking forward to seeing him perform. When you watch these legends up close, you learn a thing or two.”
She speaks from experience. May has toured and recorded with 1960s guitar hero Jeff Beck. This has opened doors, especially in America.
Beck is regarded as one of the original blues rockers. His imprimatur has vastly expanded her fanbase and given her credibility with the die-hard rock demographic.
“He’s a genius,” she says. “I love working with him. The man is just terrific. You learn an awful lot.”
If you lean too heavily on an established fanbase you can become complacent, she feels. To grow as an artist you must constantly challenge yourself, consistently rise to new heights. Otherwise you risk going backwards. Fiercely ambitious, standing still isn’t on her agenda.
“You don’t want to get too comfortable,” she says. “We’ve gone from doing really well in Ireland and England, playing to thousands of people, and then going to Germany and performing to 200 — and having to get them interested. You’re starting from the beginning all over again. It’s a challenge we relish. I love winning over new fans.”
May was raised in Dublin and started singing while still at school (she had to be escorted to and from the stage at an early show because she was too young to legally even be in the venue). She moved to the UK ten years ago to be with Higham, a rockabilly guitarist of considerable standing within the genre.
Initially, she and her husband were required to tour separately in order to earn a living. It was a struggle. The audiences were small, the hotels cheap and cramped. Often May would have to travel alone, or with a tiny crew. Higham would do likewise, though their paths seldom crossed. Sometimes she would pass through a city, 24 hours after he had, rendering their separation even more painful. It was a difficult period, even if her love of music always kept her going.
Gradually, however, the hard work started to pay off. The UK television presenter Jools Holland became a cheerleader, inviting May to open for him in Britain. She started to notch up television appearances. The audiences at her gigs grew and grew. One morning she woke and realised she had a proper career. Such was her popularity, it was suddenly feasible for her and Higham to tour together.
She misses Dublin but is back and forth so often it sometimes feels like she never left. One of her proudest moments as a performer was at The O2 in Dublin. For a Christmas show in 2011, she was joined by the lead singer from an up and coming local group.
“I asked Bono would he be up for a duet on ‘Desire’ and he said ‘yeah’,” she says, breaking into an uncharacteristic giggle. “I was delighted.
“He’s a terrific singer and an outstanding performer. If you take away the fact that he is famous that’s what you take away from it: what a great performer he is. It was tremendous fun — an absolute blast.”
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