Abbe May

Abbe May

A 30-year-old woman is shown in upper body shot, taken in black and white. She has blonde hair; and wears sunglasses, a leopard pattern shirt and an elaborate shell necklace. Her head is slightly tilted to her right, with her right arm bent at the elbow and her fingers close to her hair. Background walls include some artworks.

Abbe May in Bali wearing a shell necklace, October 2013
Background information
Birth name Abbe Joanna May
Born (1983-07-19) 19 July 1983
Subiaco, Western Australia, Australia
Origin Bunbury, Western Australia, Australia
Genres Rock, dance, electronic, pop
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, musician, human rights campaigner
Instruments Bass guitar, guitar, synthesiser, vocals
Years active 2000–present
Labels Independent
Associated acts The Fuzz, The Rockin' Pneumonia, The Devil & Abbe May
Website abbemay.com

Abbe Joanna May i/meɪ/ may (born 19 July 1983) is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician and human rights campaigner. From 2002 she pursued her music career in Perth-based groups, The Fuzz, Abbe May and the Rockin' Pneumonia, and The Devil & Abbe May. In 2010 she began to perform as Abbe May and released her solo album, Design Desire, in July 2011. She followed with Kiss My Apocalypse in May 2013. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2013 May was nominated for Best Female Artist for her album. May has been nominated for a total 23 (winning 17) West Australian Music Industry awards since 2008.

Biography

Abbe Joanna May[1] was born on 19 July 1983 in Subiaco, a Perth suburb. She grew up in Bunbury, a port city 175 kilometres (109 mi) south of the capital.[2] Her mother taught English literature.[3] May has an older brother, Douglas May (born ca. 1980).[2][4] She attended a local Catholic school.

By 2002 she had moved back to Perth to further her career in music and performed lead vocals in a music group, The Fuzz, alongside her brother, KT Rumble (aka Douglas May), on lead guitar.[2][4] The Fuzz had been formed by Douglas with Jiah Fishenden on guitar, Shayne Macri on bass guitar and Ben Mountford on drums.[4] One of their early tracks, "The Bomb", which was co-written by May with her band mates,[5] won the Western Australian final of national radio station, Triple J's Unearthed competition in October 2002.[4]

The Fuzz issued two extended plays, Dead on the Road (2004) and Take the Money (November 2004), and a studio album, 100 Demons (8 August 2005). In October 2005 Dylan McCardle reviewed their CD launch of the latter for PerthSounds.com, which was "a return to simple but powerful formula that is rock 'n' roll ... a night where female vocalists came to the fore, and Abbe May is certainly amongst the cream of the crop. She gave 110% percent with her vocals, she jumped up and down the stage like a woman possessed".[6]

By 2006 May (on lead vocals and guitar) had formed an "electric blues" group,[3] Abbe May and the Rockin' Pneumonia, with Douglas, joined by Alex Archer on violin; Todd Pickett on percussion and vocals; Alien Smith; and Pete Stone on bass guitar.[7] They issued a self-titled EP in that year and followed with an album, Howl & Moan in April 2008.[8]

May is singing into a microphone on its stand. Her should length hair is brown and the fringe covers her eyes. She stares forward, wearing a brown sleeved tee-shirt with a design printed on front. Stage lights are visible behind and above her.
May performing with the Rockin' Pneumonia at the Fly by Night Musicians' Club in Fremantle during August 2008.

Abbe May and the Rockin' Pneumonia released a second EP, Hawaiian Disease, in June 2009. For that disc May supplied lead vocals; wah, delay and slide guitars; and a 70's drum machine.[7] The Sydney Morning Herald's reviewer, Bernard Zuel, found the EP was another "hugely impressive release" from "Perth's blues-rock guitarist/tear-down-the-walls singer";[3] he cited her description of the title track, "Every line is a euphemism for oral sex. I've been collecting sex slang over the years and I've got this great dictionary of sex slang, too, as well as having a general interest in all things sleazy".[3]

In 2008 she formed a side project, The Devil & Abbe May, which was a "more country blues outfit",[3] with Douglas, Archer, Pickett and Stone, joined by David Craft on vocals and harmonica; and Jesse Woodward on banjo and bass guitar. This group issued an album, Hoodoo You Do in that year.[9] Amazon.com's editorial review declares "[it] is a shambolic voodoo blues album that is both hauntingly beautiful and disarmingly humorous. A five star album from a five star eccentric".[10]

From 2010 Abbe May performed under her own name and released her debut solo album, Design Desire, in July 2011.[11] Zuel noted that May is "drawing from urban and country blues rather than pub rock boogie, riding on swing rather than just thrust, wearing its open sexiness lightly and its wicked humour comfortably" and she had delivered "a rock album smarter and tougher than the rest".[11] According to May it is "about love and lust and the mysteries and miseries that accompany those things. I didn't consciously sit down and decide to write about these themes but I guess they were playing on my mind at the time of writing these songs".[12]

May released another album, Kiss My Apocalypse, in May 2013. Cate Summers at theMusic.com.au felt May had "made a swift U-turn on her previously guitar-heavy style, and this new album highlights her subsequent transition towards what she’s labeled 'doom pop'".[13] Mess+Noise's Kate Hennessey noted that May is "strong, talented, irreverent and sexual; aspects of being a woman that are so rarely role-modeled in a holistic way – or in a way that talks to me – that I want to defend her against comments that seem irritatingly reductive" and despite some fans' fears that "ditching the blues muse and aspiring to a mainstream pop aesthetic would leach her authenticity. The opposite occurs ... By snipping ties to the blues' ground-bound earthiness, May’s self-expression can – and has – soared, and she's transmitting more personally than ever".[14] At the ARIA Music Awards of 2013 May was nominated for Best Female Artist for Kiss My Apocalypse.[15]

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

May at the ARIA Awards ceremony, December 2013, Star Event Centre, Sydney
Year Recipient/Nominated work Award Result
2013 Abbe May Best Female Artist[15] Nominated

West Australian Music Industry Awards

Year Recipient/Nominated work Award Result
2008 Abbe May and The Rockin’ Pneumonia Favourite Newcomer Nominated
2008 Abbe May and The Rockin’ Pneumonia Most Promising New Act Won
2008 Abbe May and The Rockin’ Pneumonia Best Blues/Roots Act Nominated
2008 Abbe May (Abbe May and The Rockin’ Pneumonia) Best Female Vocalist Won
2009 Abbe May and The Rockin’ Pneumonia Most Popular Album - Howl and Moan Nominated
2009 Abbe May Best Female Vocalist Won
2009 Abbe May and The Rockin’ Pneumonia Best Blues / Roots Act Won
2010 Abbe May Best Female Vocalist Won
2010 Abbe May Best Female Vocalist Won
2011 Abbe May Most Popular Music Video Nominated
2011 Abbe May Best Female Vocalist Won
2011 Abbe May Best Blues & Roots Act Won
2012 Abbe May Most Popular Live Act Won
2012 Abbe May Most Popular Solo Artist Won
2012 Abbe May Most Popular Single / EP Nominated
2012 Abbe May Most Popular Album / EP Nominated
2012 Abbe May Rock Act of the Year Won
2012 Abbe May Blues Act of the Year Won
2012 Abbe May Guitarist of the Year Won
2012 Abbe May Female Vocalist of the Year Won
2013 Abbe May Female Vocalist of the Year[16] Won
2013 Abbe May Solo Artist of the Year[16] Won
2013 Mathas – Nourishment (ft. Abbe May) Single of the Year[16] Won
2014 Abbe May Female Vocalist of the Year[17] Won

References

  1. ↑ 2010 Contemporary Music Funding Recipients
  2. 1 2 3 Emery, Patrick. "Abbe May: Sympathy for the Devil". Mess+Noise. Sound Alliance. Archived from the original on 2013-11-12. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Zuel, Bernard (17 July 2009). "Abbe May and the Rockin' Pneumonia". The Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax Media). Archived from the original on 2014-05-02. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "The Fuzz – WA Unearthed Winner". Triple J. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. October 2002. Archived from the original on 2013-11-17. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  5. ↑ "'The Bomb' at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Archived from the original on 2013-11-12. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  6. ↑ McCardle (21 October 2005). "Live Review: The Fuzz CD Launch @ Amplifier". PerthSounds.com. Archived from the original on 2013-11-13. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  7. 1 2 Abbe May and the Rockin' Pneumonia (2009), Hawaiian Disease, Abbe May, retrieved 13 November 2013, Performer: Abbe May, vocals, wah/delay/slide guitars, 70's drum machine; K.T. Rumble, tremolo/octave guitars; Todd Pickett, percussion; Pete Stone, electric bass; Alex Archer, violin; Dr. Alien Smith, magic
  8. ↑ May, Abbe; Rockin' Pneumonia (2008), Howl and Moan, MGM Distribution. National Library of Australia, archived from the original on 2013-11-13, retrieved 13 November 2013
  9. ↑ Devil & Abbe May (2008), Hoodoo You Do, Abbe May, retrieved 13 November 2013
  10. ↑ "Hoodoo You Do". Amazon.com. Archived from the original on 2013-11-14. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  11. 1 2 Zuel, Bernard (9 July 2011). "Review: Abbe May". The Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax Media). Archived from the original on 2013-12-14. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  12. ↑ "Start to Finish: Abbe May's Design Desire". Home & Hosed. Triple J. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 July 2011. Archived from the original on 2013-12-07. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  13. ↑ Summers, Cate (30 May 2013). "Abbe May – Kiss My Apocalypse". theMusic.com.au. Archived from the original on 2013-11-14. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  14. ↑ Hennessey, Kate (17 May 2013). "Abbe May – Kiss My Apocalyse". Mess+Noise. Sound Alliance. Archived from the original on 2013-12-22. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  15. 1 2 "2013 ARIA Awards Winners By Year". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  16. 1 2 3 "WAM Award Winners 2013". Archived from the original on 28 April 2014.
  17. ↑ "WAM Award Winners 2014".

External links

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