Space Cadets: 25 Things We Learned From ¡MAYDAY!’s Reddit AMA

Sep 24 2015

AMA

Even for the hardcore ¡MAYDAY! fan, there is apparently still plenty to be learned about the Future Vintage masterminds.

Recently while on the road in support of their new album Future Vintage, ¡MAYDAY! agreed to hop on Reddit for a good ol’ fashioned “Ask Me Anything”.

The AMA turned out to be just as fascinating as we thought it would be, and even we learned a few things about the Miami crew in the process that we didn’t know before.

Check out some of the coolest things we learned below, and make sure to hit up Best Buy to snag your copy of Future Vintage!

1. ¡MAYDAY! is down for a joint album with CES Cru

Q: You guys rule!!!! My question is do you think it would be possible to make a Ces Cru/Mayday joint album?? That would be so dope!!!

A: We would love to do that at some point. Ces Cru are great guys and undeniable talents. I don’t know if the world is ready for that yet though.

2. Wrekonize named “Galil” after his favorite gun on Call Of Duty

Q: This one is for Wrek, I loved your album “The War Within,” and there was a ton of great stuff in there. I loved the song “Galil,” but I can’t for the life of me figure out how the title relates to the song seeing as an Israeli Rifle. What was your inspiration for the title?

PS: I was at Spokane last night and got the USB bracelet and love what was on it!

A: Thanks!!! This is going to sound funny but i got the idea from Call of Duty. At the time my go to weapon in the game was the Galil and i loved the sound of the word. I consider myself to be a passive person. Never been a confrontational person. I wanted to write a song about what happened when you push the nice guy too far. Everyone has their breaking point and when you reach that, that’s when you feel the need to strike or lash out. So i used the name of the rifle to liken to the feeling of letting some shots off and retaliating to being treated badly. Glad you got the bracelet my brother. I hand picked a selection of goodies from the vault for those! Thanks for coming out and supporting!

3. Shortcuts & Dead Ends is ¡MAYDAY!’s most meaningful ¡MAYDAY! song.

Q: What song means most to you and why? Love the music guys!

A: Currently I think we’d all agree that “Shortcuts & Dead Ends” means the most to us. It was a very personal record and it was a real challenge to complete but when it was finished it quickly became one of our favorite records and it’s a great song to perform live. Singing that with the crowd every night is one of the current highlights of touring for us!

4. ¡MAYDAY! is headed across the pond this winter.

Q: When are you coming to England?

A: February and i can’t even front, I’m so excited i might pee myself right now. Been wanting to play my home country since i sung my first note! – Wrek

5. A Bernz solo record is in fact happening.

Q: Bernz! Where is your solo album?

A: It’s coming. It started as an EP but the last few tracks weren’t finished in time before we started cutting Future Vintage so i held it off and now i think it’s developing into a full length album due sometime next year!

6. They believe aliens haven’t found us yet because of Candy Crush.

Q: What do you guys think aliens out in the universe do for fun? Do you think if they’ve had millions of years longer than us to evolve that they would have the technology to map the universe and be aware of our presence?

A: They probably haven’t seen us for the same reason we haven’t seen them yet, We’re all too busy looking down at our phones. 🙂

grape

7. ¡MAYDAY! fucks with grape jelly heavy.

Q: If you had to pick only one…what kind of Jelly would you put on your peanut butter and jelly? Grape or Strawberry?

A: Ha ha. good question. all in unison “GRAPE!”

8. ¡MAYDAY! might be headed to India?

Q: What do you have to say to the fans from India?! Have you ever thought of doing a show there?

A: Funnily enough, that was just proposed to us a month ago. We’d love to do it and are looking at logistics as we speak! Much love from ¡MAYDAY! to INDIA!!

9. To Pimp A Butterfly had some influence on Future Vintage.

Q: I saw someone say “you can tell To Pimp A Butterfly had a huge influence on Future Vintage” would you agree?

A: I would probably agree. We definitely spun it a bunch in the beginning of our album process. We really admired Kendrick’s approach to the album in the face of his commercial success.

cam ron

10. Wrek’s favorite Cam’Ron album is Confessions Of Fire.

Q: I guess to all of you, what is your favorite Cam’Ron album?

A:  Whichever one he says “Lemonhead end up dead Ice like Winnipeg Gemstone, Flinstones You could say I’m friends with Fred”
hahahaha. Nah but in all honesty, mine is still Confessions of Fire. SO much Nostalgia when i listen to that album. – Wrek

11. ¡MAYDAY! thinks very highly of Tech N9ne

Q: What is it like to work with Tech? That guy seems like a blast to be around.

A: Tech is an amazing guy. He’s like a big kid who loves his craft more than anything. He is the definition of dedicated. Just being around the guy makes you want to be a better artist. He’s shown us an incredible amount of love and we’re happy to return it. We continue to learn from him and we’re happy to call him a friend.

12. Wrek cleared up his MTV/Roc-A-Fella fiasco

Q: Wrek, if I may, what was your genuine thought process after MTV pulled that bullshit on you years ago?

A: MTV actually held up all of their parts of the deal. They were a joy to deal with. It was Roc-A-Fella who never contacted me about doing the single deal that was promised. I looked at their roster of signed but unreleased artists and it honestly seemed to me like a better move to just go do my own thing. So began my long journey to get to where i currently reside. In a twist of fate, Dame Dash is a Strange Music fan. I’d love to shake his hand all these years later and have a laugh about it. – Wrek

RTJ

13. Wrek really wants to work with Run The Jewels or Little Dragon

Q: Which is your dream collab?

A: Dream collab for me personally is Run The Jewels or Little Dragon. If we could go beyond the grave, then James Brown.

14. ¡MAYDAY! had a tour bus driver bail on them.

Q: What is the craziest thing that has happened to you while on tour?

A: So many tour dates it’s all gets a bit fuzzy but i was recently on a bus that crashed into a building and the driver panicked and bailed on us.

15. ¡MAYDAY! has a few ideas for the revolution

Q: How can we have a revolution without words?

A: Communication and unified goals is a good place to start. Tough world out there but it’s so easy to connect now. Easier than ever before. That’s if we haven’t overstimulated ourselves to death first.

16. They know their name can be a pain in the ass to type

Q: Does it get annoying always having to search for the upside down exclamation mark on your keyboard?

A: I got used to it because it’s easy on macs. We’ve definitely cursed using it though as it hinders some people from finding us. Damn artists and their wacky ideas.

17. They want to play with some other styles

Q: What styles of music would you be interested in making other than your own?

A: Would definitely like to try some more rock ballad stuff like “Against My better Judgement” or some straight up Funk James Brown type stuff.

Del

18. ¡MAYDAY! fucks with Del The Funky Homosapien

Q: Favorite Strange/Non-Strange artist to collaborate with?

A: Sounds political but on Strange everyone is a true joy to work with. Non Strange we had a blast working with Del.

19. They really know how to sell themselves

Q: As someone that doesn’t listen to hip-hop, how would you convince me to try out your music?

A: People often tell us they listen to our music but don’t really like hip hop. We’re a hybrid that takes the best out of the genre and puts it in a incubator with a half dozen other ingredients for a tasty mix.

20. ‘The Noose’ was a very personally-inspired song

Q: What was the back story behind ‘The Noose’? What happened that made it a song and was it resolved?

A: I had a friend who lost a family member to suicide and it really shook me up. Got the music for The Noose that day and wanted to make a song from the perspective of someone going through that to attempt to help give them a voice and let them know we all feel that way sometimes and they aren’t the only ones.

Tech N9ne Strangeulation

21. We’ll be hearing plenty of ¡MAYDAY! on Strangeulation 2

Q: Are you guys on Strangeulation 2?

A: We’re currently on 2 tracks and hoping for a 3rd.

22. There’s a reason the skits on Future Vintage aren’t separate tracks

Q: Why do you choose to attach the spoken word pieces/skits of the albums to the end of songs instead of making them separate tracks like you do on mixtapes?

A: We didn’t want to cloud up the CD with skits on tracks. Some people prefer it that way and some people prefer it on it’s own track. We just tried it this way for this album.

23. ¡MAYDAY! has plans to work with Jarren Benton again in the future

Q: Do you guys plan on collaborating with Jarren Benton again, or anyone else from Funk Volume?

A: We would love to. Love that crew. All amazing talents. Hopefully we can have Jarren on an upcoming project of ours!

24. ¡MAYDAY! wouldn’t mind if you brought them a nice meal on the road

Q: Would you ever let a stranger (fan) cook you a meal while on tour?

A: home cooked meals on the road are always welcomed! It’s hard to eat good on the road so we never turn down a home cooked meal!!

25. Keep an eye out for ¡MAYDAY! on TV & in movies

Q: You’ve had some success with having music in television and movies in the past. Is that something you seek out, or is it more the TV/movie crew reaching out and asking for permission to use the tracks?

A: We try to seek it out for sure, but sometimes we luck out and someone reaches out to us. It’s a tough racket though. Lot of competition!

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

¡MAYDAY! – FUTURE VINTAGE!

Future Vintage Best Buy

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