May Day (Matt Pryor album)

Last updated
May Day
Matt Pryor - May Day.jpg
Studio album by
Matt Pryor
ReleasedJanuary 24, 2012
RecordedMay 2011
Genre Acoustic Rock
Length30:24
Label Self-Released
Producer Matt Pryor
Matt Pryor chronology
Confidence Man
(2008)		May Day
(2012)		 Still, There's a Light
(2012)

May Day is the second solo album released by The Get Up Kids lead singer Matt Pryor. Released in early 2012, the album was funded entirely through the crowdfunding website Kickstarter.

The Get Up Kids American Rock Band

The Get Up Kids are an American rock band from Kansas City, Missouri. Formed in 1995, the band was a major player in the mid-1990s emo scene, otherwise known as the "second wave" of emo music. As they gained prominence, they began touring with bands such as Green Day and Weezer before becoming headliners themselves, eventually embarking on international tours of Japan and Europe. They founded Heroes & Villains Records, an imprint of the successful indie rock label Vagrant Records. While the imprint was started to release albums by The Get Up Kids, it served as a launching pad for several side-projects such as The New Amsterdams and Reggie and the Full Effect.

Matt Pryor (musician) musician

Matt Pryor is an American musician who lives in Lawrence, Kansas.

Kickstarter crowdfunding platform

Kickstarter is an American public-benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity and merchandising. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of May 2019, Kickstarter has received more than $4 billion in pledges from 16.3 million backers to fund 445,000 projects, such as films, music, stage shows, comics, journalism, video games, technology, publishing, and food-related projects.

Contents

Recording

In early 2011, after a world tour with The Get Up Kids supporting their album There Are Rules, lead singer Matt Pryor decided to write and record a second solo album to follow up 2008's Confidence Man. Since the release of his first record, Pryor's longstanding relationship with Vagrant Records had come to an end, and he decided to release the album independently.

<i>There Are Rules</i> 2011 studio album by The Get Up Kids

There Are Rules is the fifth studio album by American rock band The Get Up Kids, the band's first studio album release since 2004's Guilt Show. After their initial reunion, the band decided to challenge themselves to write and record an album in only two weeks without using any digital technology. Ultimately, due to conflicting schedules, they dropped the two-week deadline and recorded over several months in 2009 and 2010. Much of the album was recorded in the same sessions as their first post-reunion release, Simple Science, the song "Keith Case" being featured on both.

<i>Confidence Man</i> (album) 2008 studio album by Matt Pryor

Confidence Man is the first solo album by The New Amsterdams and Get Up Kids frontman Matt Pryor.

Vagrant Records is an American record label based in California. It was founded in 1995 by Rich Egan and Jon Cohen. The label focuses on rock, but features artists in a variety of other genres including folk, soul, electronic, and pop. It is home to artists such as The 1975, Death Spells, Eels, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, CRUISR, Active Child, PJ Harvey, School of Seven Bells, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, James Vincent McMorrow, Black Joe Lewis, Wake Owl, Blitzen Trapper, and Bombay Bicycle Club. Originally, Vagrant Records was mostly focused on emo bands such as Dashboard Confessional, Saves the Day, The Get Up Kids, Senses Fail, and Alkaline Trio.

On May 2, 2011 Pryor launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the production and release of the album, entitled "May Day." Pryor wrote and recorded the album on his own in his home studio concurrently with the month-long campaign. Much like the last Get Up Kids album, May Day was recorded entirely on analog equipment. The funding campaign launched with a goal of raising $10,000 to fund the entire release of the album, but ended up raising more than double that by the end of the campaign.

Release

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Alter the Press Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Alternative Press Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Consequence of Sound Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]

May Day was released first to Kickstarter backers in late 2011, and released wide on January 24, 2012. The album was released on compact disc, 12-inch vinyl and digital download.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Matt Pryor.

May Day
No.TitleLength
1."Don't Let the Bastards Get You Down"1:57
2."The Lies Are Keeping Me Here"2:30
3."Where Do We Go From Here"2:05
4."Like a Professional"2:41
5."As If I Could Fall In Love With You Again"2:11
6."Polish the Broken Glass"2:54
7."Unhappy Is the Only Happy You'll Ever Be"2:46
8."As Lies Goes... This One is Beautiful"3:03
9."Your New Favorite"2:33
10."You Won't Get Any Blood From Me"1:54
11."I Was A Witness"3:08
12."What My Tired Eyes Would View"2:46

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References

  1. ↑ O'Brien, Connor (2011-12-20), Album Review: Matt Pryor - May Day, Alter the Press!, retrieved 2012-07-29
  2. ↑ Manley, Brendan, Matt Pryor - May Day, Alternative Press , retrieved 2012-07-29
  3. ↑ Ritt, MEgan (2012-01-27), Album Review: Matt Pryor – May Day, Consequence of Sound , retrieved 2012-07-29
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