MS MR aka Max and Lizzy are from New York and played one of the best shows I have ever been to at The Faversham as part of Live at Leeds 2013. It was great not just to see them play live after falling in love with their music last summer, when I heard their track ‘Hurricane’, but to also see them willing to stick around after the show to meet their fans. Although they were pushed for time to pack up and move on, Max and Lizzy talked with fans about their music, tour and memories from previous gigs as well as taking photos and signing autographs. Even better I got to interview the band.
Firstly, you guys have such a strong stage presence and connect really well with the crowd, how did it feel to get out in front of the Live at Leeds crowd?
Thank you! The transition to the stage from the studio has been a long road so means a lot to us to hear you say so. It was great playing Live at Leeds! We had just come off a promo tour and hadn’t played a show in a few weeks so it was AWESOME to get back to the stage and play some music.
How does the music scene back in New York compare to the UK?
There are a lot of parallels between the two and we often find that they each sort of feed of the other but in general the UK is really fast at adopting new music which is great.
Can you describe your music to anyone who is new to it?
We like to think we make alternative pop music.
Your EP was called Candy Bar Creep Show, what inspired the name? And what inspired the name of your up-coming album, Secondhand Rapture?
We like marrying extremes to one another so for us Candy Bar Creep Show combined a seemingly sweet pastel candy coloured world with a seedy dark underbelly, sort of like the music – dark and brooding but with wrapped in pop euphoria.
Secondhand Rapture is a nod to our relationship to media and the time period in which we wrote the album (2011/2012).
Speaking of the new album, it’s out very soon! What can we expect after this is released? Will there be more touring? Any festivals?
We’re so excited to finally release the album into the world! We’ll spend the rest of the year touring and playing Festivals, with as much time in the UK as possible! You can catch us at Glastonbury, Lovebox, T in the Park and Reading and Leeds.
How are you finding your current tour in Europe so far?
It’s been important to us from the start to spend as much time as we could in Europe and have been lucky that we’ve been able to do so. We feel like the music definitely has a European sensibility but we also live in a time where music is consumed and shared globally so we want to be everywhere we can. Like we said above, this tour has been a promo tour so it’s not quite as fun as performing, but it’s great to get out and meet fans after doing interviews all week!
Your track Bones featured on the trailer for Game of Thrones, how did it feel when you found that out? And what does it mean for you as a band?
We were SO excited! It’s our favourite TV show so that alone made it incredible, but the fact that the music worked so well and we were exposed to 20 million new listeners which was huge for us – it’s pretty much the ideal sync.
Finally, tell us something interesting about you guys that no one would expect/ already knows about you.
Max used to be a modern dancer and Lizzy runs a record label called Neon Gold.
So, if you haven’t already added the album to your Amazon wish list or at least given the band a listen then you’re definitely missing out because MS MR are one of the coolest bands around right now and I can’t think of anyone better to end the night at Live at Leeds!
Image source:
Rosanna Pound-Woods