Misty Kingma of Clevver Music conducted an interview with vocalist Levi Benton of Ohio metallers MISS MAY I during this year's Vans Warped Tour. You can now watch the chat below.

MISS MAY I's new album, "At Heart", sold 12,000 copies in its first week of release to debut at position No. 32 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD was described by Revolver magazine as having "plenty of monster tracks, propulsive riffs, and searing breakdowns" (May/June 2012 issue). Released on June 12 via Rise Records, the effort was helmed by famed producer Machine (LAMB OF GOD, EVERY TIME I DIE, SUICIDE SILENCE).

In a recent interview with Technorati.com, Benton stated about working with Machine, "He's literally the best. I love him. His biggest thing was, especially on the new CD, 'At Heart', we wrote like really painful songs for us, that's why we called it 'At Heart'. Our biggest thing was, I was just recording and he was like, 'You're not just trying to put vocals on a CD so people can hear it. You need to think about what you just said. Do it again.' He just made me think about each and every single word I say on the whole CD — I had to think about it and what it was about and then record it that way. That was the biggest thing I've ever learned as a musician. Now, even when I play live I'm like, 'What is this song about?' and that's how I perform it. And he definitely changed my whole outlook on how to do that. Because I used to just... I'd be in the zone the day I was writing the lyrics then, when I was recording it, I'd just go and put data on the frickin' mic and go, 'This is how it's supposed to sound.' I wouldn't really feel how I was supposed to feel the song. And now it's like every song, if somebody listens to it, they can feel what it's about. So I'm really excited for that."

MISS MAY I is performing on the Kia main stage at this year's Vans Warped Tour.

Interview:



"Hey Mister" video: