EXCLUSIVE: Bunbury’s Abbe May ready for post-pandemic career as she prepares to perform at Out Of The Woods

Only weeks away from one of the most anticipated festivals the South West has ever seen, Bunbury’s own rock-and-roll musician Abbe May sat down with the Bunbury Herald as she prepares to perform at the sell-out festival. After a ripper first day of the Out of the Woods Festival in Busselton, Abbe May with her WA Badass Gospel Choir will be opening the third stage on Sunday, giving tired festival-goers a second wind of energy. Last time May was in the region, she took out the closing night of Bunbury Fringe an incredible battle-of-the-bands style show with Perth-based musician and friend Queency back in January. May has built up her reputation in the WA music space as a talented singer and songwriter who is an outspoken advocate for issues close to her heart. Now billed as WA rock royalty, May’s guitar-slinging, beat-driven cocktail of sexy, indie riff-rock, gospel, soul and electronica will be a performance not to miss on day two of the festival. May said she can’t wait to get back into preforming after the music industry faced such uncertainty during the last two years. “I am so excited, it’s really special because we haven’t quite had a chance to preform in the past couple of years so it will be really fun preforming at the festival with some of my closest friends and singing our favourite songs,” she said. “We all had a period of uncertainty, many of us had questions if we would ever be able to have a career like we did before and it’s stripped everything down to releasing even if we can’t do it for a living any more, we absolutely love it, so you keep going. “I think it’s really brought everything to basic foundation too, you either love music or you’re doing it for the wrong reasons, and I think the people standing just really absolutely love music. “We are so delighted to be doing what we love again.” May told the Bunbury Herald some of her favourite Australian artists are in the line-up. “Looking at the line-up, it’s so exciting seeing such top-shelf artists coming to WA and from WA coming together and celebrate,” she said. “I really really want to see Odette, she is just an amazing artist and I was really privileged to be included in the judging panel for the Australian Music prize, and I have heard her incredible album recently and would love to see it live.” “There are so many wonderful artists, like Children Collide, just great to see an iconic Australian Band and the lead singer has gone off and done some incredible work in New York, but knowing they are coming back together to play some really awesome and dynamic rock and roll. “Of course the Bamboo, love them, and stuff like Grinspoon who are just giants of Australian music, it will be awesome to see them on the big stage.” Born in Bunbury and a former student of Bunbury Catholic College, May said she is keen to be back in her hometown region. “My parents still live in Bunbury so I will spend some time with my parents after the festival, having a little coffee on the cafe strip before I have to drive back home,” she said. “Bunbury is such a beautiful place, no matter what season it is, it’s always so gorgeous so I am excited to spend some time there, for sure.” However, May’s newest addition to her family will need her to return home soon enough. “We recently fostered a kitten who is only four weeks old, she was found in a bin so we have named her Trash Panda,” May laughed. “We were intending to look after her until she is old enough to be adopted out but now I can’t give her away. So I have a little baby at home so I will have to see how long I am away for.” May’s future is looking bright, with COVID restrictions easing across WA and a renewed sense of creativity, she is set to begin creating her next record. “I am going to spend most of the year working with Matt Geo, who I made my last record with and that was a real success for me,” she said. “I am really excited just to spend a whole year working and doing some fundraising shows to pay for the record, because records are really expensive!” “Without a lot of opportunity to play the level of shows we did pre-COVID, it has been a case of figuring out other ways to get people to invest in this record.“