by Maddy Yen
Maya Cummings, professionally known as MAY-A, just wrapped up her U.S. tour opening for Nessa Barrett. The Australian singer-songwriter from Sydney, New South Wales, has been nominated for multiple ARIA awards in her musical career. Last year MAY-A released a song with Flume titled "Say Nothing" that became wildly popular. I got to sit down with MAY-A before the last show on her 21-stop U.S. tour before she jets back to Australia to play some festivals back home.
Q: This is your last stop on your tour with Nessa Barrett. How has it been?
A: This tour has been insane. The shows have been really good, and it has been really fun to engage with American crowds because they are quite different. But the behind-the-scenes of the tour has been unpredictable. Our van door broke off, and we had to drive three hours with it bungee corded together. Before that, we had to duct tape the inside of the van so the door wouldn’t let the wind in. We also had two vans at first, but one of them just broke down. On the first day of the tour, the tire popped. We also had tech issues and had to lay off two sound guys who had lied about their experience and had never done sound before. This tour has been so funny but character-building.
Q: How have American shows differed from playing shows in Australia?
A: Aussie crowds are a little hard to crack, but when they do, they are so into it and committed and do their research. They are also usually really quick to support the openers, whereas American crowds are a little more skeptical and can be standoffish until they get into it. You really have to win them over, but it’s kind of fun — it’s like a challenge.
Q: Which city has been most memorable?
A: Boulder, the crowd was so drunk. Girls were getting kicked out left right, and center, one of them tried to fight another girl for a vape.
Q: How do you choose your tour outfits, are they based on the city at all?
A: It’s kind of based on how tired I am. Sometimes I’ll put heaps of effort into my outfits, and other times, I won’t. It definitely changes per tour. On this tour, I wanted to wear skirts and it’s always darker vibes – like black and leather usually. This tour has been really nice because I used to get insecure about wearing oversized stuff, but now I’m like, “Oh I like that,’ and it’s chill to wear it.”
Q: How has it been navigating the industry at only 22?
A: I’ve technically been in the industry for ten years because I met my manager when I was 13 years old. I’ve been writing demos and recording demos since then, so I feel like I have a pretty solid grip on it. I know a lot about the inner workings, and I’ve done a lot of research on the business side of things. So you know, everybody gets fucked over once, just make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Q: Where do you get your inspiration from? Whether that be songwriting or performing.
A: Kind of everything. I pretty much write every day, and I consume so much media from books, poetry, different graffiti, or videos of people performing online.
Q: I know you love The 1975. What is your favorite song of theirs?
A: I like “It’s Not Living If It’s Not With You,” which always goes off. We saw them twice, and I got Adam’s pick at the Milwaukee show.
Q: Is there anything in the U.S. you’ve had culture shock with?
A: The portion sizes of the food. It’s crazy. To the point where I consider ordering and being like ‘can you half the portion? I’ll even pay the same amount.’ Or a large coffee. The first time I ordered one, I was like, this is insane. Everything in Australia is a lot smaller.