Exclusive Interview: OK MAYDAY Chats “Colorful”, #ColorfulChange, and Their Upcoming EP

Now more than ever, we need the power of music to heal us through the difficult season we’re in. Lucky for us, Virginia-bred band OK MAYDAY is here to save the day with their inspiring anthem “Colorful”. Featuring brothers David and Kelly Bollman, Stephen Lee, and Matthew Osborn, OK MAYDAY is a rising indie pop-rock band that’s taken the industry by storm.

Collaborating with Clare Reynolds, Harmony Samuels, and J Warner, “Colorful” is a proclamation that change is coming and the best is yet to come!

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to catch up with Kelly and Stephen to chat about “Colorful”, creating a multimedia experience with their craft, and we learned more about their highly-anticipated EP.

PC: Since the last time we spoke, your single “Blossom” really took off on YouTube. What has that response meant to you? Does that bring any pressure to this upcoming project?
Kelly: It’s actually more invigorating than anything. It’s like, this resonated on a global level. It gave us the opportunity to think even a bit larger out of our normal demographic per se. We’ve infused all these multi-cultures into our two most recent videos because that’s who we are as humans, as bandmates, as friends, and as a family. It enlarged our vision. “Colorful” represents that as well.

PC: The band has been incredibly intentional about the music and the message that you’re putting out into this world. You’ve all made sure that every song has its own life. Where are you all drawing inspiration from? What is that process like building this multimedia experience?
Kelly: That’s a loaded question. You’re bringing the fire today. Stephen, do you want to take that one?

Stephen: My bandmates are legit partners, songwriters, lyricists, everything. We have this trust. I’ve known Kelly and David for over twenty-five years and Matt for close to twenty. We go way back, which allows us to do things that maybe other bands couldn’t do, like we can have legit arguments and confrontations and not worry about it jeopardizing the band. We’re trying to figure out our art, what our lyrics mean, what we want to sound like, and what our visuals will be. What you hear on songs like “Colorful” is that coming across. It’s not a one-person band. I love that.

Kelly: I’d have to co-sign that one. It’s that collaboration process among the band and with our producer, Harmony [Samuels], and our two co-writers J Warner (he’s based out in London) and our friend Clare Reynolds (who is from Australia but based in Nashville now). It’s that collaboration.

We learned from being songwriters for other artists that sometimes it’s a very isolated, secret, protective process, and other times, it’s like art is explored by the masses, so why not try creating it with more than just a singular unit. We trust each other. We really do. I can step away, and I know Steve is going to record something ridiculously insane when I come back. I know Matt is going to come up with some weird lyric and melodic progression as well as come up with an incredible drum beat. I can play tambourine really well, so they trust me with that. [laughs]

PC: You all have a new single out. Tell us about “Colorful”, the inspiration behind the song, and the visuals.
Stephen: The four of us were in Pasadena with Harmony. I remember we were in the studio. It was towards the beginning of the pandemic, so there were nerves and unsureness. We had just come out of a bad season. We were still skeptical about what was happening. I remember Harmony and Matt were singing something. They were like, “Life’s at our fingertips.” Everyone was like, “Whoa. What is that?” We started messing with it and shaped it. We got that done in a day or two. It’s one of the songs that wrote itself; it was pretty much done. We tied everything up and put a pretty bow on it.

Kelly: It helps when you’re surrounded by some of the best writers in the world. To have that cross-pollination with Clare, J Warner, Harmony, and us was one of the easiest writing sessions that we had. But the cool thing is Matt and Harmony were working on something. They were working on lyrics in another room. I was doing a guitar part in another room. We all blended forces and combined everything. We were like, “We’re onto something.”

Then, the visuals came in. When you listen to the song, we say, “We need a colorful change.” We wrote that because we were coming out of a really sh*tty season. We had been stomped on. Our dreams were just demolished. A lot of people can identify when their dreams are rocked a bit, and then they claim victory on a mountain top. We were in a low season, but we felt a change coming; we could sense it. We didn’t know what it was, but this is almost like a proclamation/reaffirmation. We need a colorful change. We were speaking it into existence.

When we sat with the record, we came up with the idea to get the people we loved involved, not only in the creation of the record but also in the creation of the visuals to support the record. Since we do come from multiethnic, biracial families, churches, friends, we called everybody. We were like, “Hey, we need help. We got some jackets to mess up with some paint. You guys want to have some fun?” We got some of our bandmates’ kids, nieces, nephews, friends, and had fun for two days creating art again. It’s a beautiful representation of what a collaboration process can look like with people all over the age spectrum, because we had really young people to grandparents. It was a really fun video to work on.

PC: How did you guys all come up with the concept behind the contest and getting your fans involved?
Kelly: That was actually because of our incredible publicists, Erica and Rayshaun. We decided to put this #ColorfulChange contest. We want people to record themselves doing something creative. It could be painting, writing, baking, anything that invigorates the right side of the brain. All they have to do is tag us, whether it’s an IG video, TikTok reel…whatever it is. We’ll be putting together this lyric video with all of this content. One lucky submitter will get a handmade jacket like we wore in the video. It’s going to be custom-tailored to their size and have all of our paintings on it. It’s a fun, collaborative effort.

PC: This single is leading into your long-awaited EP. What can fans expect from that release? What do you hope to say as artists?
Stephen: I want to say everything. “Colorful” is a really optimistic song, concept, and collaboration. Before “Colorful”, we were going through some bad stuff. But for our other songs, we have some that are…I won’t say dark, but more moody, contemplative songs. Our six-song EP comes out on January 7th. All of the songs will have a music video with it. We’ve never done that. We love that we get to do stuff that we’ve never done before. I don’t want to give too much away, but like with “Colorful”, each song has a concept that is getting visualized.

Kelly: To piggyback off of that, “Colorful” is definitely a more optimistic record. The next single is called “Human”, and it’s definitely more of a contemplative record in the visuals. We all have a beginning and an end date on this Earth. It makes you slow down. Maybe it’ll make you text a family member or friend. Life is short. It’s okay to be scared as a human.

2020 cemented that all in our prefrontal cortexes. We only have a finite time on this planet. It’s not always happy-go-lucky; sometimes if you’re in a sad season or day, you match that mood with the record you’re listening to. It’s okay to be human. “Human” has a complex range of emotions. It centers around mental health and knowing it’s okay not to be okay.

PC: Speaking of that wide range of emotions and themes, if you had to pick a song off the EP that best encompasses who you are as a band, which would it be and why?
Kelly: I’ll be selfish; the record that speaks to me is called “Just the Phantom”. That one has been mulling around in the shared hard drive for quite a while. It was the season to finish it. It’s about unreciprocated love and how you can love somebody, and it’s not given back. It’s one of the most real feelings humans can have because I feel like more people can resonate with unreciprocated love than genuine love. It’s a weird thing because it’s the most powerful force in the universe. It’s about this character who walks around as more of a phantom now because the love he gave wasn’t reciprocated. It smacks you in the face.

Stephen: I was going to choose that song. I can’t decide. I love the visuals for “Just a Phantom”. My song is probably going to be “Stepping Down”. Like I was saying earlier, all my bandmates are amazing songwriters. I didn’t touch the lyrics for “Stepping Down” at all. I remember hearing them for the first time and getting blown away by them. “Stepping Down” is a bit about when a partner or significant other or friend is stepping down that you’re going to be there to help them.

Kelly: That was also a collaborative effort with J Warner.

PC: You’ve all teased on social media that a tour might be on the tables for 2022. Is there anything else you can tease about that? Is there a different level of appreciation heading back onto the road given the past two years?
Kelly: I’ll answer at least the first part. There are no final details yet because there are still conversations happening and things could switch up again. We want the EP to be out and then we’re in talks with some fun opening acts. There should be more information at the top of the year.

I was on the road for a lot of 2019 playing for people all over the United States. It was one of the most incredible experiences because I got to see songs that we created together in bedrooms, in studios, now have people I’ve never met screaming it at the top of their lungs. It was incredible.

When that ability to come together as humans and experience art is removed…what is life without art? Take away magazines, streaming services, podcasts, interviews, what is life like? It’s pretty dull. Music is crucial to the human experience as a language. I think when you’re at a concert and everybody is on the same frequency enjoying it, it’s very special. A lot of people are going not going to take that for granted, especially me. I’m going to really, really relish all of those future shows.

Stephen: What Kelly said. I was looking back at some of our live footage, and it made me sad but excited about next year. There’s something special about live music. I wonder if I might cry. [laughs] I don’t know.

To keep up with OK MAYDAY, follow them on Twitter, Instagram, and Spotify. Pick up or stream “Colorful” today.

Photo Credit: Jose Cardoza