“If I’m going mad, fist pumping and dancing then it doesn’t matter to me what category it falls into”

If you are a fan of tech trance and harder trance, then you love music that will make you fist pump and dance like no one is watching. It is in the DNA of the music to do so. If you are listening to a club or festival set, or even a radio show that makes you do that, there is a high chance a track from Laura May is in that mix. Hailing from the United Kingdom, Laura has been pounding the floor both behind the decks and behind the production desk for almost 20 years. Even in the crazy times that we find ourselves, Laura is planning to continue producing so that when we are reunited on the dance floor in the near future, we can lose our minds again to her incredible music.

Thank you so much for taking the time to conduct this interview, especially during this strange [coronavirus] times. How are you keeping yourself occupied currently? How has this affected you and your career?

Thanks for having me! Its craaaazy stuff going on right now. I’m hoping to self-isolate soon in my studio and want to spend as much time as I can making more music. I have 2 boys who are off school now, so I will have to try and coordinate homeschooling with studio time.

Your latest track Feelin’ High is currently out on HQ Records. The track is strong, tell us about the inspiration for this track? You also released a hard mix for Feelin’ High and that is just throwing hammers. Which mix do you prefer? Do you often release multiple mixes of tracks?

I’m super happy to have released this track with HQ. I started DJing hard house back in 2001, but have never produced a hard house track (I mainly produce trance/tech-trance and techno). This track is a little salute to the genre that got me into clubbing and DJing. The hard mix was my original mix which fuses hard house with trance, but I decided to make a more uplifting version as well to carry on the uplifting melody in the drop. I prefer the hard mix.

You are definitely known for Hard, tech, and acid trance. At the end of the day, do you care about the subgenres?  Why or why not?

There are so many sub genres now it can get confusing. I don’t really want to feel like there are boundaries to music. Every track I make will take influence from different musical genres, but I definitely like a track to have energy and emotion. I always do a dance test in my studio to see how I would dance to the track if I were on the dance floor. If I’m going mad, fist pumping and dancing then it doesn’t matter to me what category it falls into.

You have a Techno alias by May-I, and you have an amazing track called Ren Tarn out now on Techburst. How does the alias help you with your creativity? You also have your monthly May-i vlog. Can you tell us more about the vlog?

Yeah so I started May-i to try my hand at producing techno. As a drummer myself, techno is groove and percussion based, so I really love producing it. At first I found it really hard not to make uplifting melodies, but I’m getting to grips with it more and more and love producing it as much as trance. So my vlog is literally a month of Instagram stories that I put together onto my YouTube channel. It’s mainly cats and music ha-ha.

In the past you have donated to help the animals of the Austrian Bushfire Crisis, thank you, are you passionate about animals? Do you feel with your platform, your voice can make a difference?

Well my boys call me crazy cat-lady. I do love animals. I’ve been vegetarian for 20 years (trying to be more vegan but not 100% vegan yet). I also think with this [coronavirus] pandemic happening now, maybe we should rethink what we are eating. This isn’t the first virus to come from an animal food source, so maybe we should all stop eating them.

Just a thought!

On St. Patty’s day, you were playing around on an Irish drum bodhran, it was really cool to see. Do you play any instruments, and if so how many? Does this help with your productions?

I play the drums (5 piece kit) and have a few other drums. The bodhran, bongos and Djembe. I love rhythm and percussion and think this definitely compliments my productions. I can read drum music (not piano), so when I write melodies it’s all by ear. I’ll just mess about with the notes until I find the melodies and patterns that work for me.

If you could only live by one motto, what would it be?

Be kind to each other.