I got the chance to interview Levi Benton, the powerful frontman for the metal/hardcore band Miss May I. Though the beacon of energy when on stage, when I was going to talk to him, he was soft spoken and it certainly caught me off guard. We met up in the dressing room area of The Webster, and got started.
Though rainy and gloomy out, he’s upbeat and positive. “The tour’s going well,” he starts. Having been on the road for quite some time, their favourite thing to stay entertained? “Video games, definitely.” The guys are fans of pretty much all different kinds of games; anything that holds their attention.
Other than video games, the guys are working on new stuff. The band’s last release, At Heart, which came out in 2012, was “something different” for the band, and the process involved a lot of new things. For their next release? They plan on continuing in that direction, being “happy with the reception of At Heart, and just hoping the fans love what we do next.” Having the success that they do, they have more freedom to do exactly what they want.
Miss May I’s success has certainly been growing, especially with one of their songs being on the Saw VI soundtrack. “That was awesome,” Levi said. “We’d want to do something like that again.” Also, the band being a big fan of scary movies, it was one of their favourite things they’ve done.
The band’s bus was shot at when they were in Texas- walking by it outside of the venue, I saw the bullet hole in the shattered glass. “We were just in Texas, on some road, and someone shot our bus. We were all asleep and our driver wasn’t there; we just woke up and noticed.” So, they slept through it? “Yeah, yeah we slept through it. We also got jumped in Texas.” Now this I’d never heard about. “We were at a gas station, there was a group of guys talking shit, and they jumped us.” This was back in about ’09 and luckily everyone was safe.
Levi, the hardcore, long-haired, tattooed man whose band was signed while he was in high school, doesn’t only love metal. “Believe, that’s a good album. I can get down with the Biebs.”
There ya have it. The metal man digs Justin Bieber, thinks the bullet hole in his tour bus is cool, and doesn’t quite carry his badass persona off the stage. But man, when Levi does do his thing, does he kill it. I was pleasantly surprised that evening when I saw them live.