Ted Stevens is trying to keep positive. His band, Mayday, has been on tour for a month now and he's finding the experience of readjusting to life on the road to be nearly as taxing as performing.
"It's been a long time since we've been on the road, so it's challenging," Stevens said. "We're just trying to get to every city on time and keep everybody well fed and happy and all that, but as far as the music goes, we're playing really well."
Perhaps the biggest adjustment for Stevens, who also mans the guitar for Saddle Creek frontrunner Cursive, has been dealing with the mediocre attendance Mayday has received as openers for fellow Omaha roots-rockers Neva Dinova.
"As far as the attendance goes, it's been pretty modest," Stevens said. "In a lot of ways it's like we're starting over or just starting out as a band. For Cursive, playing a show in front of 15 people would be kind of hard to do. I don't think Cursive's ego could take that kind of blow, but we're kind of getting used to it."
Interestingly, Mayday is a band that seems perfectly suited for such disappointment as their music seems to invite sorrow. Over the course of three albums, the band has performed its distinctive brand of downtrodden and sullen music that sounds as weathered and experienced as Stevens (the band's principal songwriter).
However, make no bones about it; Mayday is far from another weepy, angst-fueled band. Take their latest album, Bushido Karaoke, which is a brilliant mixture of their varying sounds and influences from the doo-wop greaser ballads of the '50s to the folky-roots rock The Dead capitalized on in the '70s (yes, sadness can sound upbeat and often does on this album). Stevens enjoys using Mayday as a vehicle to express his various musical interests.
"The way I look at Mayday at this point is our records are kind of like mix tapes we're making for people where we're writing all the songs," Stevens said. "On this one [Bushido Karaoke] I wanted to keep that mixtape feel, but also use other people's songs-hence the two covers-and also bring in songwriters from within the band to sing lead and write the lyrics. Also that was to support the karaoke imagery."
Stevens also uses the new album as a way to work out his rather newfound appreciation for the Japanese samurai code of chivalry known as bushido.
"I met some people from Japan and they explained to me what they thought of the concept of bushido," Stevens said. "Also, I read a book on it and I've seen some movies-been kind of into the samurai pictures lately-so I'd say it's just an overall interest in the Far East that inspired [Bushido Karaoke]."
Luckily, the band is just hitting its stride as it corrals its varying sounds and numerous instruments into a cohesive live experience that is pleasing to Stevens despite the often-paltry attendance.
"We finally got it to where it's working," Stevens said. "There's definitely some gaps, we don't have a horn section, but Tiffany [Kowalski's] playing fiddle and we just started playing harmonica last night, which helps cover some of the high end on some of the songs."
For someone who plays in one of indie music's biggest bands (Cursive), Stevens seems rather content with Mayday's opening slot.
"I would feel uncomfortable if Mayday was headlining," Stevens said. "I would feel like it was a little too much pressure. Being the penultimate act takes off some of that pressure. I want to sound good every night, but then I want Neva Dinova to come out and sound louder and bigger."
It makes perfect sense that Stevens' pleasant humility comes off as somewhat old-fashioned (he even says "shoot") in that the influences upon him and his music call to mind a simpler, if romanticized, time in music.
"I just listened to The Byrd's Sweetheart of the Rodeo this morning," Stevens said. "I've been more into The Flying Burrito Brothers and Gram Parsons up to this point. We like Creedence a lot. We like The Band, Dylan, Johnny Cash, all that stuff. We do listen to everything, we're certainly not opposed to modern music, but, for me, classic rock and old-timey music is more interesting to the band."
When it comes to Mayday's future on the quite modern record label Saddle Creek, home to some of the country's better known indie bands (Bright Eyes, The Faint), Stevens is unsure.
"Yeah, you know with Cursive we'll pretty much do all our records with Saddle Creek," Stevens said. "I'm into maintaining a good relationship with Saddle Creek, but I'm also interested in exploring a few other labels around the country. Whether Saddle Creek will let that happen is up in the air, but we have a pretty good relationship up to this point, I would say."
Even with the current turbulence surrounding Mayday at home and on the road, their future looks bright. With a wonderfully dark new album of gritty imagery and grimy sounds and an enjoyable live show that only gets better with each passing town, the band seem poised to be Saddle Creek's next big thing (recently they were named Spin.com's Band of the Day). However, even on the cusp of potential success, the band still seems to embrace the everyday struggles.
"I think right now we're just trying to make it through it [the tour]," Stevens said. "As far as me, Pat [Oakes] and Dan [McCarthy], we live together and we moved out of the house just before the tour, so I think the first thing we need to do is find a new place to live and gather ourselves up and then we'll go from there."
Check out Mayday on Friday at Plush, 340 E. Sixth St. $6. 798-1298 at 9:30 p.m.