Interview: Ugly Mayfly on their new single 'Bad Queen' and more
To celebrate the release of their new single, we caught up with Notts-based band Ugly Mayfly
Hi! Please could you tell us a bit more about Ugly Mayfly, to introduce yourselves to our readers?
Hi Gemma, and thanks so much for asking us to do this interview. Ugly Mayfly is a four piece rock band based in Nottingham. The band consists of Carrie McNabb (vocals), David Bailey (bass), Andy Baines (drums and percussion) and Andrew Baker (guitars). With a diverse range of individual musical influences, we write, record and perform original music which is quite diverse stylistically as we each like a wide range of musical styles and rich in texture through the use of both acoustic and electric guitars.
How and when did the band meet and form? What's your origin story?
The band came together quite quickly, to be honest. We formed in the summer of 2023 when Andrew and David met to discuss the possibility of working on original music prior to which, David and Carrie had met to discuss a similar idea. It seemed logical for the three of us to meet and it was obvious as we started getting to know each other that we had a shared interest in writing original music. A rehearsal was organised during which a decision to “give it a go” was made. We still needed a drummer though, and Andrew had worked with Andy a few years ago as part of the band for a musical theatre production. Andy was approached, came to the next rehearsal and agreed to join and the band.
What are your individual musical histories?
Carrie grew up on power ballads and hair metal, being particularly drawn to ladies in leather and guitars that sound like they're crying. Whether headbanging to Dio or singing along to Lee Aaron's Metal Queen, the urgency of rock and the storytelling of music have always been her long-time companions. Carrie says, “When I met up with the guys in Ugly Mayfly, I had been writing music for a couple years and I wanted to have an opportunity to share original music directly with audiences. Before then, I was recording demos in my bedroom but I was eager to collaborate and put songs together as a band”. Originally from Canada, Carrie grew up on classic horror movies and cheesy romcoms, both of which have strongly influenced the music she writes. Carrie is also involved with a local roller derby team which is affectionately referred to as rugby on roller skates, so if you're looking for her, you can usually find her onstage, on the track, or at the bar.
David was inspired by a number of bands including Pink Fairies, Budgie and Sparks and has been in a few Nottingham bands that focused on writing their own songs. David says, “Some folk might recall Monkey Grip, Crooked Smile or Ultimate Fuel. Once heard, never forgotten. They stretched sonic boundaries!”
Andy spent a few formative years trying to play the piano and was offered a place in a scout band playing either side drum or trumpet. According to Andy, “The drum seemed much cooler back then and I’d long held an ambition to look and sound like Ian Paice or even Ringo Starr and so percussion became my thing. Over the years I’ve belted the skins to punk anthems and hit covers and whilst still thinking Paice is one of the best, I’ve added people like Levon Helm, Steve Gadd and Buddy Rich to my influences list.”
Andrew has been playing guitar for almost as long as he can remember having been influenced in his teens by Alex Lifeson to pick up a guitar. He says, “With my family coming along in my late twenties, I didn’t seem to have much time to play in a band until I turned 50 when I joined Nottingham based David Bowie tribute band, Miss Bowie and the New Killer Stars. We had a great few years together but having called it a day in 2022, I spent a year or so with The Red Monroes before moving on and starting the search for a group of like-minded of musicians that would eventually become Ugly Mayfly.”
What inspires and influences your sound?
In many ways, the diversity of our individual influences means that it’s slightly tricky to pigeonhole our music. At our heart, we are a rock band but we really like the idea of exploring, experimenting with and integrating different genres rather than sticking more rigidly to a particular style or sound. A good example of this would be ‘Hazy’ which was intended as a song to evoke those long, warm and carefree summer days on the beach. It has a very laid-back feel with some almost jazz style chords. Contrast this with songs like ‘Driving in the Rain’ and ‘Hot Ice’ which are up-tempo, high-energy rock and roll songs. ‘Love is Open Wide’ then offers a completely different pace, style and feel. As musicians, we are keen to explore all kinds of different musical ideas even if they get jettisoned or re-imagined.
When you're writing music, how do your songs tend to come together?
Prior to Ugly Mayfly’s formation, Carrie, David and Andrew had a number of songs they had each written and, in some cases, recorded and many of these have now become Ugly Mayfly arrangements. Some songs have been more collaborative in nature for example, ‘She Loves the Horses’, where Andrew had written the first verse and had the musical ideas in place and Carrie completed the lyrics. The two of them worked similarly together on ‘Heart of Static’ which was recorded back in October 2023 but held over and released as part of our second EP. In our current sets, songs including ‘Robot Gorilla’ and ‘Bad Queen’ were written by David, Carrie wrote tracks including ‘It’s Not a Race (But I’m Winning)’ and ‘Zombie’ and a couple of Andrew’s include ‘Driving in the Rain’ and ‘Love is Open Wide’. With quite a few songs already completed before we formed, we haven’t really tinkered with them too much to be honest. Looking forward, we are planning a return to the studio in April 2025 and so we’re currently working on some new material.
What is your recording process?
Up to now, all of the ten tracks on our two EPs have been recorded and engineered by Natt Webb at RatCat Studios. Natt has proven to be invaluable to us when we’re recording as he has a great ear which really adds another dimension to our recorded music. We tend to try and not over-produce our recorded songs as we want to be able to replicate them as fully as possible in a live environment but that said, Natt will add some keys where he thinks they add something extra to the song and we’re more than happy to be guided by him on this.
As the songs are written and well-rehearsed by the time we enter the studio, we tend to work fairly quickly. At the start of the process, we do some basic recordings following which we focus on the drums and once Andy’s happy with his parts, David and Andrew will play through each track to get several good performances of each. Once the musical tracks have been completed, we might double track some electric guitar parts, add guitar solos and also some acoustic guitar if needs be and lastly, Carrie records her vocals and any harmonies and Andy adds some backing vocals. On a slightly different note, Carrie and Andrew also recently completed a couple of acoustic recordings of previously released tracks with a long-time associate of Andrew’s, Richard Owen Wiiliams, at the helm and we will be looking to release these soon.
Your new single 'Bad Queen' just came out - please could you tell us more about it?
David wrote this song and in short (and to Carrie’s delight), ‘Bad Queen’ is about roller derby athletes. David says, “They're cool, fierce, mean and quick! The snake motif was chosen as they represent power, transformation and evil. This is what happens when the skates go on.”
You've also got a song called 'Zombie' which will be released soon. What's the story behind that track? What are the lyrics about?
According to Carrie, “Zombie is a song about waking up each day feeling like you have the undead living inside of you. Where everything feels so heavy and impossible to break through. I wrote this song about living with the weight of depression and the overwhelming urge to break through. It's got some of that swampiness from early Black Sabbath and a really great hook in the melody.”
The release will be aligned to Halloween, which is a big deal in Canada, and a few of your songs have that angle. What is your favourite thing about Halloween, Carrie, and what are your plans for this year's?
Carrie says, “What isn't there to love about Halloween and autumn?! It's this magical time of year where the leaves are turning and everything feels a little spooky. Growing up in Canada, I always found that autumn marked the beginning of something fresh and new, more so than the 1 January. Crisp air and horror movies in the dark, it's just a wonderful time of year that sings to the little freak inside of me!
“This year, I'll probably be spending some time seeing some bands at Tap & Tumbler like I did last year and watching everything from 'Hocus Pocus' to 'Carrie' to 'Maxxxine' when the sun goes down. And that inspires our music too. We've got songs that we've worked on and performed about things that go bump in the night: demons, movie monsters and mythical creatures. Depending on how ‘Zombie’ is received, we'll see if we lean more towards that in the future.”
You're playing a gig in Nottingham at Ye Old Sal in Nottingham, in November. What should fans expect? What are you most looking forward to about it?
With each and every gig we play, our aim is to pick up a few new fans along the way. Being an originals only band comes with its challenges especially as we tend to shy away from including any covers in our sets. In this regard, when we are provided with opportunities to play, every gig feels really important to us as it helps us to bring our songs to a wider audience. The gig at the Sal will be our second with The Railyard Dogs and promises to be a great evening of live, original rock music from two great Nottingham based bands.
What else have you got coming up that you'd like to shout about?
Andrew recently re-mixed ‘Hazy’ from our second EP with Natt at RatCat Studios to give it that chilled Ibiza vibe and we’ll look to release this version at some point. We have a couple of gigs lined up before the end of the year and are really looking forward to making an appearance at Oxjam in Beeston on the 5 October. As mentioned above, we also have a double header with The Railyard Dogs on the 15 November at the Sal in Nottingham. We’re constantly on the lookout for gigging opportunities in and around the East Midlands so if anyone reading this is interested in booking us, please do get in touch!
By Gemma Cockrell.