As cliché as it is for a band to say they hit rock bottom before making a record, metalcore outfit Miss May I can stake a claim that the phrase accurately summarizes their situation prior to the recording of Deathless. Though the problems—all of which were due to external factors—emanated during the tour cycle for their breakout Rise of the Lion, things came to a head in the months prior to writing the music for this album. But the band’s fifth effort is a return to the heavy, melodic sound they’ve become known for. Working once again with producer Joey Sturgis, Miss May I’s thunderous sound is a welcome return to that which built the Troy, Ohio natives a rabid fanbase.

Ahead of the album’s August 7 release, Miss May I made their third appearance on the Warped Tour. In between shows, we caught up with singer Levi Benton, who discussed what it’s like to be the old band on the tour; the chaos that ensued prior to making Deathless and how the album was a therapeutic way for the band to rebound from a tenuous situation.

How’s the Warped Tour been? What’s it like being the veterans this time?

I feel old! It’s funny, because I feel like when you first go on Warped Tour there’s a lot of partying. But we’ve done it so many times that we have a routine and I’m usually in bed by 11. It’s nice to know how the tour works.

It sounds like there was some stuff that went down while recording Deathless. What were some of the testing moments that went into making this album?

It was weird because this was the first time we were going through stuff personally and with the band. For the personal stuff, I lost my house because one of the business managers who worked with the band messed up some stuff and that was a nightmare. Then there was a divorce, and that was all happening during our last album cycle. The bigger our band got, the more people’s hands were into the band and more people were working on the project. There were a lot of contracts and stuff where we didn’t see the small print, and when it came up, we really weren’t prepared for it. That was a lot of the struggles. When we had a few months off, we were questioning whether we wanted to do this anymore since we didn’t have as much control as we used to have. But we stuck through it and during the rough time off, we finished this record and you can really hear how upset we were.

How close were you guys to calling it quits? 

We had some calls. There were a couple of times where a few of us were thinking about getting a real job and not touring. It was the first time we were personally calling each other and trying to figure out how to get through something. We were sort of cornered because there were all these contracts and stuff, and we felt like it wasn’t worth it. But we all helped each other, and there wasn’t one person that wasn’t feeling that way. I felt that way and the other guys felt that way. We helped each other through it and we made it back to where we are now. A lot of those problems were resolved behind the scenes and we’re back on track.

Did that strife—in a strange way—help you creatively since the music served as an outlet to vent about the situation?

Oh yeah; this was the easiest record for us to write. It wasn’t just me writing about personal stuff with the lyrics. Everyone was on the same page with how upset they were and everyone could relate to the same things. I think this was the first time the entire band was going through the same stress together, and it made the songs really easy to write. 

What was it like working with Joey Sturgis again?

A lot of our core fans wanted us to go back and have that Joey sound. We didn’t work with him because of that solely, and it took us years and years to go back to him. Another thing was to throw a curveball. I feel that a lot of people thought we were going to write a certain kind of record, and it looked like there was a trend happening. So we went polar-opposite with a really aggressive record. I don’t think people are ready for it, but they’ll be happy with the outcome.