Thea May in our Spotlight Interview (Alt Rock) - Indigenous in Music and Arts

Welcome to Indigenous in Music with Larry K, this week we welcome rising Anishinaabe artist Thea May, a fearless voice from Atikameksheng Anishnawbek. Her debut EP Brought To You By Tragedy dives deep into themes of loss, love, and resilience, blending alternative sounds with heartfelt storytelling. With powerful vocals and raw emotion, Thea is quickly making her mark in Indigenous music.

Enjoy music from Old Soul Rebel, Samantha Crain, Def-i, Marie Font, Q052, David Strickland, Blue Moon Marquee, Duke Robillard, Mitch Walking Elk, Jessica Hernandez and the Deltas, Martha Redbone, Willie Nab, Irv Lyon’s Jr, Joanne Shenandoah, Jullian, Taylor, Nige B. Coletta, Shon Denay, Big Skoon, Leela Gilday, Eadse, Khu.eex, XIT, Natalie Calvier, Indian City, Richie Ledreagle, Shylah Ray Sunshine, Stolen Identity, Elastic Bond, DJ Bitman, Iskwe, Nina Hagen, Aterceopalodos and much more.

Look around our site to find out all about us and our programs and visit our SAY Magazine Library with all our featured guests.

OUR INTERVIEW IS 30 MINUTES INTO THE PROGRAM

**INDIGENOUS IN MUSIC WITH LARRY K AND THEA MAY**

THEA MAY IN OUR SAY MAGAZINE FEATURE

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THEA MAY – GONE

CONTACT INFORMATION

BOOKINGS: [email protected]
WEBSITE: theamaymusic.com/home
SPOTIFY: open.spotify.com/artist/6xLGFcntYI6WZdy54Qd7Ar
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/theamaymusic
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/theamaymusic
YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/@theamaymusic

ABOUT THEA MAY

Don’t bother with anything but honesty with TheaMay. An emo kid at heart, the Anishinaabe artist from Atikameksheng Anishnawbek, near Sudbury, ON, makes music because she has to. As a child, singing, dancing and performing was driven by impulse, an inner force of truth that found its way out. Now as an adult, May is a songwriter finding her purpose, or more accurately, understanding the purpose that found her. “My artist journey hurts sometimes, but it’s healing and it’s important that I am here to share this with the world,” says May.

Mining, both as a metaphor for the emotional depths explored in her songs, and an actual day job for a time, is a handy prompt to consider what it might be like to be in May’s position, an artist out of instinct, talent, and necessity. There’s something very precious within. “We bare our souls so you don’t have to, we provide safe space in an unsafe place. I’m grateful to be able to connect with people who share pain in this world.”

Brought to You by Tragedy, May’s first EP with her new label, is a raw-edged, candid and gutsy collection that May describes as “healing out loud,” with songs of immeasurable grief, defiance and resolve in equal parts. Throughout the EP, May wields her raspy, rock-ready voice on torched ballads and emo screamers alike. On “Gone,” driven by 90s power chords and red-hot rage, May channels the energy of classic pop punk break-up anthems into a song of permanent loss, about the shock and fallout of sudden death. “This song is everything I didn’t get to say,” says May. “The chorus? That’s me screaming at him, calling him out for leaving me like this, for making me figure out how to exist in something we were supposed to build together. It’s grief, but it’s also defiance. I’m not the kind of girl you get to leave like this.”

“None of this music should exist, but it does,” says May. “Brought to You by Tragedy is not just one tragedy,” continues May. “To date I’ve lost so many people that I’ve known well. And that is normal for a Native person. I’m going to say that hard, I’m gonna say that with my chest, because we are not strangers to compounded and very complex grief and trauma. I just happened to be blessed with a gift to express it in the way that I can.” Ultimately, Brought to You by Tragedy, TheaMay’s commanding entrance, is a thrilling, thrashing, compelling and compassionate work of love.

A kindred bridge enthusiast, May is determined to craft her own distinct eras, starting now with an EP that establishes her powerful voice and clear directive. Offered to others for the same reason she does it herself, for May, music is a place of renewal: “I am on this journey for every version of me that suffered, I am on this journey for every person who fears that sadness and darkness are all that exists, I am on this journey to normalize a path we all walk.”