image//denny renshaw words//cady drell

Dent May is difficult to categorize. For one thing, with his poppy sound and cuddly lyrics, he’s arguably the most accessible musician signed to Paw Tracks right now. For another, he’s a tried and true country boy, but he lived in New York City, but his sound is so beach-y it sounds straight out of SoCal. To clear this up, May took some time out of his rather confusing life to talk to Artist Advocacy about the country, the city, the summer, and swine flu.

Dent May – Meet Me In The Garden

So you’re from Taylor, Mississippi. Uh, what’s the music scene like there?

Well, you know, I grew up in Jackson, and Taylor’s a super small town so there’s not really a music scene there. But my roommates do have bands. My roommate is in a band…it’s kind of, I don’t know, swampy sounding? But I live near Oxford, so I guess that would be the closest place with any sort of music scene going on. There are some cool bands. It’s a pretty diverse music scene, though. Pretty much everybody sounds different.

How’d growing up in a small town affect you as a performer? Jackson is kind of small, right?

Jackson is like 200,000 people, so it’s like a small city. And I’ve lived up here for about five years now. It has its advantages and disadvantages. It can be alienating not knowing a lot of people with similar interests. For me, I turn to the internet. I use that to find out more about music and find people I have similar tastes to and stuff like that. But on the other hand, I live in a town of, like, 200 people now, so there’s a lot more time and space to work on things there than there would be in a bigger city. There’s a tight-knit community feel, everybody is really supportive of each other, whereas I feel like in bigger cities there’s a lot of competition and stuff, which kind of kills the vibe.

Let’s talk about summer. It comes up in your lyrics, Magnificent Ukulele has a very summery sound. You obviously put a lot of stock into this particular season, so the obligatory question is: How’s Summer 2010 treating you so far?

Summer is amazing, it’s really hot down here, but it’s really great. Oxford is a college town, so it’s kind of a different feeling here when all the college students are gone. I really enjoy it; it’s a lot quieter around here. People are really social and hang out a lot. As far as the music goes, I try to always bring a positive vibe and summer is the best time for that kind of thing. Everybody’s happy, feelin’ free, you know?

Yeah. I feel that. I’m up in Boston and it gets a little dead here in the summer. Way different.

Yeah! I feel like the people who stick around, like, form a pack. And it’s like, “We’re all going to go do this or go here.” So that’s fun.

So, I read somewhere that you got swine flu on tour last year. It fucking sucks, right! How long were you out?

Oh yeah…I actually hadn’t left for tour yet, I was about to start touring with the Fiery Furnaces. And I was out for, like, two weeks. I only cancelled about four shows, so that’s not too bad because just as the shows were starting I was at the tail end of it. I met up with them in Chicago, or somewhere like that. But I missed the northeast leg of the tour. Which kind of sucks. And I missed a Halloween show back here at home, which I’d been really excited about. But yeah, glad that’s over.

So you went to NYU Film School for a while. What made you want to pursue music? And particularly, magnificent ukulele music?

I was always doing music before I went to college and stuff, and I guess I kind of just realized it was what I wanted to do. I met a lot of people at NYU and it was cool and all, but I realized it wasn’t for me. It was too expensive and I didn’t really feel like I was getting that much out of my classes. It was fun but I decided to move back home and work on music.

And as far as the ukulele goes, I started playing that because I wanted to travel and play shows a lot without having to haul around a lot of gear. So I wrote a lot of songs for just a ukulele and that’s it, and sing pop songs and stuff like that. And since then, I don’t really play the ukulele that much, but it’ll still always be a part of what I do. But I’ve started to do more things, with more instruments. And sometimes I regret that decision when I’m lugging around guitars and keyboards and stuff like that. But it’s worth it to do something different for a change.

Plus you can’t beat the muscle definition.

Yeah I’m really toned right now…got a nice beach body. [Laughs]

So what kind of vibe do you like in a live space? What’s your ideal audience?

For me, live shows have to be fun. I like a rowdy crowd, people should have fun and sing and dance and hang out afterwards. I like to meet people. So for me, I like that community atmosphere rather than a performance. When everybody participates it’s the best kind of [show]. We used to do more theatrical stuff. We had a bubble machine we were touring with, and changing outfits and stuff like that. But eventually I decided to cut the bullshit and be direct.

So your shows are more straightforward now?

Yeah, man. Summer casual.

Your last full-length release was on Paw Tracks. How did you hook up with [Animal Collective]?

I met the Animal Collective guys in Oxford, Mississippi where they were recording some music and we became friends, hung out a lot. Eventually they caught some of my shows and asked me to release on their label. I’m pretty honored, I’m a big fan of a lot of the other artists that have been on the label like Black Dice and Ariel Pink. So it’s a huge honor to be in that company.

Did you find that [being on their label] changed your audience at all?

I don’t like to think too hard about my audience and who it appeals to. But I do think a lot of people were surprised that [Paw Tracks] released my music because it is, you know, super poppy. And most of the stuff on there is on the experimental side. But it did change my perspective toward making music. Being in their company and going on tour with Animal Collective, who are always changing things up and challenging themselves is part of the reason I decided to drop the ukulele for a while and challenge myself. So that definitely positively affected my outlook for awhile.

Right on. So, uh, another obligatory. What’s on your summer playlist?

[Laughs] I’ll tell you what I’ve been listening to a lot. I got a box set of Time Life Classics: 70s Soft Rock, and it’s got a lot of Hall and Oates and Doobie Brothers and Alan Parsons Project and stuff like that. I also love R&B from the ’90s. Anything produced by Teddy Riley. Anything fun, with harmonies and melodies and stuff. So that’s fun.

So what’s next?

I have a 7” coming out on a label called Forest Family, out of Texas. But I’m working on an LP for Paw Tracks, hopefully out next year. I’m kind of taking my time and refreshing. I played a lot of shows last year, almost 200 in the past year. I had a really good time, but I kind of got burned out. So I’m just taking it easy and then next year hopefully I’ll put out an album and tour. We’ll see.

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To find out more about this artist, check their website or MySpace page.