ore than 50 albums, a tireless worker in the music world, but I don't think I'm wrong that Atkins May Project is his most exciting and long-lasting project. The day after this exchange of conversations, I put the batteries to document myself a little about his career, making the interview to know May a little more in depth.
-Hi Paul, may you remember the last name of a most famous musician in London is Brian May from Queen! (Laughs) You will not be direct relative of Brian !!!
Hi David, no unfortunately I’m not related to Brian May! However I do think he is an amazing guitarist who plays with skill and has a unique style and feel.
AL ATKINS AND PAUL MAY
- Surely I will not be wrong much if I say that you have known Al for more than 30 years. I would like to know when you know do you know him?
That’s right, I’ve known Allan for the best part of 30 years. I first met Al at a gig in the ‘Black Country’ in West Bromwich in the UK. I was playing a concert with my band and Al was in the audience, he asked me to help out with recording some demo’s. This was back in 1989, a long time ago. Then those demo’s evolved into what would become his first solo album called “Judgement Day”, I wrote a few songs on the album and the Subsequent three following albums and we’ve continued to work with each other up until the present day in one form or another.
-What impression did it give you?
We worked well together
PAUL MAY
You were collaborating with him on most of his albums ...
Yes thats right, and it was good stuff. I have collaborated on almost all of them .. playing guitar, co producing and writing some of the material.
-I imagine that "Reloaded" is a full stop in your career as a producer, I mean the number of guests that appear on that renowned album, ... do you understand what I mean?
Well, as a session guitarist and producer, I had the privilege of working with well-known people for quite some time, so when I was making the album "Reloaded" it was really cool, as I worked on things with Ian Hill (Judas Priest) Ralph. Scheepers, Gillan's John McCoy, Roy Z, and many others, including, of course, Al and myself.
-It is possible that after the recording "Reloaded" the idea for the Atkins May Project arose, whose first step was it?
Actually no it wasn’t. The Atkins May Project was formed in 2010. I had been writing and recording some material for an new album and I asked Al to sing on a couple of tracks. It sounded really good so Al ended up singing on all of the album, that became the first AMP album titled ‘Serpents Kiss’ released in 2010 which is where it all began. We then released “Valley of Shadows” in 2011 followed by “Empire of Destruction” in 2014, “Anthology” a compilation in 2015 and more recently in 2020 we released “The Final Cut”
-You record 3 albums, a compilation in a continuous evolution ...
Yes, definitely
- "The Best" is your fourth and recent album, how does the team work?, Composition, arrangements, production ...
For the Atkins May Project albums I write the material,play the instruments and produce the songs
and Al takes care of all the vocal duties etc .....
The influence of the Judas Priest style is palpable ...
The Atkins May Project is un-ashamedly Classic ‘old school’ British Rock and Metal that’s what it’s meant to be. And we proudly fly that flag. All the albums are recorded at my studio in West Midlands called ‘Rock Solid Studios.’
-I know that this year 2020 is a difficult year, but how the critics, the fans are welcoming the new album ..
I released our latest album on my own record label called ‘Dog Ruff Records’ and it has done exceptionally well. In fact I think we were one of the only bands to release an album during lock down and manage get them sent out and distributed! I don’t know of anyone else! This was purely because the album was printed just before lockdown and our release date was the 10th of April at the height of the lockdown so the logistics were difficult but I did it on Dog Ruff! Now that’s rock ‘n’ roll! And 99% of the reviews have been absolutely Fantastic so I am very Grateful and feel very Blessed by that.
-What future plans do you have for tours, presentations ...?
With regards to AMP I’m just finishing off writing the next album which will probably be the last in the series. All our albums are available to stream and download as iTunes and all major online outlets and the new CD is available at www.atkinsmayproject.com or at www.dogruffrecords.com just in case you don’t know!!! I’m also considering releasing a new A.N.D album and a TEMPLE DOGS album that was recorded some years back so theres a lot going on.
-I have also listened to Janus, a project that you were quite involved in, tell me things ...
Yes , Janus where are 70’s psychedelic type band that formed in UK & Holland and they had a resurgence in the 1990s and I joined in the Reformation and played on several albums and wrote quite a lot of material and also sang on some along side a vocalist called Paul Phoenix who went on to be quite famous with the Kings Singers!!
-As a musician you also have idols, I have seen pictures of you with Maiden, Lynyrd, Magnum .. But really if your dream as a fan of being able to meet only one, what would it be? Who would that leave you speechless? (laughs) ..
I don’t have any idols, but with regards to being a rock fan myself I would love to have met Jimmy Hendrix, obviously, but to be fair I met up with Lemmy from Motorhead when I was in California, Motorheads material as a ‘bare knuckle’ rock band from the UK had a big influence on me when I was younger so that was quite cool and yes Lemmy liked his alcohol LOL.
-I would like Paul to say goodbye to the readers of Bathoryzine ...
Thank you David for taking time out to ask me the questions, cool stuff. So, God Bless You and All Your Readers, stay safe and Big Love to you all !
Interview by David Kiss
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