Latest / The Front / Asia’s rock gods Mayday are heading our way

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Asia’s rock gods Mayday are heading our way · The Front

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Mayday's beautiful singalong melodies get a huge response from the crowd,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: just about all of whom are holding these flashing led
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: light sticks, which are links to a smartphone app.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Before the show started, there was like repeated.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Trailers being shown on the big screens showing people have
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: a link their phone to the light sticks. So it's
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: this whole interactive element which is a huge part of
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Asian pop in general and certainly may Day's fan base.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: From The Australian, this is the weekend edition of The Front.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: I'm Claire Harvey. If you staged a gig at Sydney's
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: forty thousand seat Acor Stadium, could you get a full house?
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: That's the question, making one of the world's biggest bands nervous,
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: which is kind of surprising given just a few months
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: ago may Day played ten consecutive eighty thousand seed gigs
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: to delirious fans at Beijing's National Stadium. So why the nerves?
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Because may Day sings in Mandarin and most Australians have
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: never heard of them. Today, can Asia's rock gods pull
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: off this wildly ambitious crossover? All bands can be traced
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: back to humble beginnings before the Beatles became more popular
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: than Jesus. They paid their dues in the CD clubs
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: of Hamburg. Ed Sheeran and Tracy Chapman started as buskers
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: the Temper Trap. All met working at the same General
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: pants store in Melbourne. The start was also humble for
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: may Day, the Taiwanese musical juggernaut that's one of Asia's
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: biggest acts. Here they are talking to our music editor
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Andrew McMillan after a recent gig in Singapore.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: We start paying school.
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: We are a classmate, so we really know each other
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: for long time. We start to perform in a park.
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: Only one person's there and it's the Aborss, the.
• 2:09
  Speaker 5: Owner of the pub.
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: Yes, and we passen on the spree and there's no
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: one and it's pouring rain there and no one wants
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: to listen to us.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: Despite starting out singing to no one in the pouring rain,
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: may Day aimed high when it came to their ambition
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: as a band, like really high. Here's a guitarist Stone
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: also known as Si Chinhan.
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: We always want to achieve the achieved amount of Beatles.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: Well, in terms of longevity, they've outdone their idols. The
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: Beatles lasted less than a decade. May Day has been
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: together a quarter century something. Bassist Massa also known as
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: Saishen Yen has a theory.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: About we don't have your cal.
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: And they've evolved over those years. The setup is traditional rock,
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: two guitars, a bassist, a drama and a singer. May
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: Day's early stuff is clearly Beatles inspired, with traces of
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: U two and the roller Stares. It's rock now may
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: Days producing melodic, even syrupy pop like the Beatles, but
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: with glow sticks.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: They are superstars in really throughout Asia, throughout the whole continent.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: They start in Taiwan, they moved over to mainland China
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: to find a huge audience there, and they're very well
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: known throughout all of the Southeast Asian countries. I would
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: say so while most Australians have almost certainly never heard
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: of them, they are the equivalent of someone like U
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: two or Coleplay within that part of the world, but
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: with beautiful sing along melodies which get a huge response
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: from the crowd, just about all of whom are hol
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: in these flashing led light sticks, which are links to
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: a smartphone app.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Before the show started, there was like repeated.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Trailers being shown on the big screens. Strange people have
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: a link their phone to the light sticks. So it's
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: this whole interactive element which is a huge part of
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Asian pop in general and certainly may.
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: Day's fan base.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: They kind of come to expect to wave their glow
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: sticks and sing along together, and that's been a part
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: of their show for a decade or more.
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: Baps and now they sing in Mandarin. Right. Are there
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: any English lyrics in their songs?
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: There is very Occasionally they do have some English I
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: guess melodies or catchphrases.
• 4:41
  Speaker 5: One that comes to mind is spelling out the word love.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: There's a big chanted l ove kind of section throughout
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: one of their songs. But by and large they are
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: entirely Mandarin, and they obviously have a huge audience within.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: That part of the world. So the fact that they're.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Coming to Australia and trying to pick up some English
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: speaking fans who may be interested in their music is
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: a part of what interested me in wanting to report
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: this story.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: Nich Just like the Beatles, desperate to make it beyond Hamburg,
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: beyond Liverpool, beyond the UK, there's a yearning in may
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: Day to go bigger. It's this giant leap may Day
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: will be attempting on February twenty two when they headline
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: Sydney's Apple Stadium.
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: Hello, we are mayde Well so excited to bring our
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: twenty fifth anniversary concert to Australia. Tickets are up for
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: sale now.
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: Who can blame them?
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: With a band like this that starts as high school
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: friends or university friends and their first few gigs to
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: no one and nobody wants to hear them that learn
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: come to their shows to then gradually get to the
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: point where they're playing eighty thousand or one hundred thousand
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: strong stadiums every night throughout Asia. Why wouldn't they want
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: to be able to do the same thing in the
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: likes of Australia or the US or throughout Europe. Once
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: you've conquered Asia, don't you want the rest of the world?
• 6:20
  Speaker 6: Or you might just be happy with Asia, Especially if
• 6:24
  Speaker 6: it's maybe a bit of a hard ask, like do
• 6:26
  Speaker 6: you think English speaking audiences in places like Australia are
• 6:31
  Speaker 6: going to go to their gigs are going to become
• 6:33
  Speaker 6: massive may Day fans?
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: I was thinking about this, and I think it's a
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: hard ask, particularly in this economy. Where people want to
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: see shows by artists that they know and love. They're
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: happy to spend two hundred dollars on a ticket for
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Luke Combe's or Taylor Swift or The Weekend, these kind
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: of established names that are big in our culture.
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: I think it's.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Quite a tall ask for Australian listeners potential Australian fans
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: to plump down two hundred dollars to go along to
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: home Bush Stadium and spend three and a half hours. Claire,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: it's a really long show that they do. It's it's
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: serious investment of time and money and efforts. So bless
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: them for what they're trying to do here, But I
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: think they're up against it.
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so do you think they will get the crowds
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: they want? But they'll be Asian Australian people, people who
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: speak Mandarin.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: That is my supposition that the vast majority of the
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: crowd will be those who know one love them. And
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: while of course they're talking to people like me to
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: try to increase their awareness throughout our market, I think
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: it's pretty hard asked to get people to come along
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: just on a punt statisticy if they like this band,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: although their music is highly engaging and beautifully melodic. And
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: I know they've made at least one found on our
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: staff since I've been talking about this in recent weeks,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: and that's Biancare Video Edit has become a convert to them.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: Apparently will be seeing l Ove around the office soon
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: coming up. So how do Asian megastars win over the world?
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: World?
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: Any Australian under the age of twenty five will have
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: heard of Black Pink or Bts, both Korean pop acts
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: who are absolutely massive throughout both the Asian and English
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: speaking worlds. They have well and truly crossed over in
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: a way may Day is dreaming of. Is there a
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: generational aspect to this? Do you think, Andrew that there's
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: a younger generation now who are going to be much
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: more open to this than say the forty or fifty
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: year olds who are the age of may Day.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Yes, and I believe a big factor in that appeal
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: to younger audiences is through social media platforms, particularly TikTok.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: I know that Live Nation released a state last year
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: about the Asian pop market among Australian listeners and potential fans,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: and all of those people reported that they hear much
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: more non English speaking music than they did five years ago,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: and that's purely through the algorithms on things like TikTok,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: feeding them things that they might not have otherwise come across.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: So that willingness to take a punt, I suppose, is
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: a bit easier when it's your phone in your hand
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: and you're being served an algorithm that's showing you things
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: you might come across. That's a bit different to putting
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: down turndred dollars for a concert ticket, right.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: But it sounds like two hundred bucks for a Mayda
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: gig would be worth the investment. If Andrew's experience in
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: Singapore is any guide.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: That was one of the most extraordinary and spectacular gigs
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: I've ever seen for several reasons, one of which is
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: that this show by may Day has the longest stage.
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: I've ever seen in my life.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: It's about ninety meters long, and rather than playing a
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: one end of a stadium and facing the other three grandstands,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: they set up along the sideline as it were, and
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: play to the stands facing them, which is a weird setup,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: but it became apparent about halfway through the show. That's
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: the reason why there's a big space on the floor
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: is because these guys get on a full size bus
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: and play live music while being well being driven around
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: the stadium slowly, but they kind of make a real
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: spectacle of not just being on this massive stage. They
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: actually come out and get much closer to the crowd,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: including right in front of me at the background stand
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: after about ninety minutes into the show.
• 10:42
  Speaker 5: So quite an extraordinary experience.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: Claire, We'll give may Day's guitarist Stone the last word.
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: Give me to your chance. If you only speak English,
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: just come to our commerce and you will known in
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: a mins. There's no language bound Tree, we oh sing
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: the same language as Cole music.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: Andrew McMillan is the Australian's music writer. You can find
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: his work in our review section every Saturday and twenty
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: four seven at the Australian dot com dot au. Thanks
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: for joining us this week on the front. Our team
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: is Jasper Leek, who wrote our music and produced and
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: edited this episode, plus Kristin Amyot, Tiffany dimac Leat Sammaglu,
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: Joshua Burton, Stephanie Coombs and me Claire Harvey.