Maylay - The Secret's Out: Released 2003

So a while back, I had again visited Criminal Records and picked up another little dollar-gem called The Secret's Out by a band I've never heard of named Maylay. Neat name, I guess, but again I can't find any information on these guys. I'm scouring the internet, and the only thing that comes up is Jason Sandlin, the then Guitarist and Vocalist for the band (currently in a band called Whiskey Blind as of 2012). In fact, quite a few things came up before I could actually find this band... so they're buried. Considering this band is no longer in circulation, it's not too surprising. But hell.. their music isn't too bad, so let's see what once was, shall we?

Left to Right: Bobby Hartridge (Bass/Vocals), Jason Sandlin(Guitar/Vocals), Mike Schultz(Drums).. and then there's some chick in watercolor. I dunno, man. I dunno.

The dates are fuzzy, but Maylay seems to have come out of Athens, GA and had a good run from around '02-'05. The album, The Secret's Out, is more of a 4-Song EP including "Worries", "Mad As I Can Be", "Pedal Down", and "Perfect Situation".

Oh, and that's all I know. Yeah, really. To the music, mother fuckers!

This shit sounds like College Rock through and through. Vocals are good, yet generic; Their hooks are catchy, but not too unique. However, considering where they come from, that's to be expected. It's fuckin' Athens. A point in their column? As a power-trio, they do stand out quite well when compared to another particular three-piece that made it huge out of Athens. Although these guys didn't quite share that success, it doesn't seem like they care. The lyrics, while not amazing, are just smart enough to actually mean something more than your everyday band. So these guys? They're pretty average. I could listen to them, and personally I enjoy it, but I can see why they didn't take off.

There are a couple things that I simply don't like about the album, however. The first of which being that there's only four fucking songs. C'mon guys, that's all you had? I didn't pick up a particular message, so it's not really a statement that most people could pick up on. So why not put more songs? I sorta liked what they had going, but with these four songs probably being the only four songs the public will ever see.. it's leaves me caring less about the band. They should have just left a bigger footprint in my opinion. Secondly, the songs don't differ too much from one another. Like I said.. it's basically college rock. Especially if you're only going to put four songs on, make them different; Encompass everything you guys can do. With what's on there, I'm under the impression that this band was nothing more than a phasing college conversation piece.

I fucking love the album cover, however. With nothing more than their name and album title on a white canvas, it seems as though the band is fully aware of who and what they are, and portray that to you in their album cover. "We are Maylay. This is what we are, take from it what you will."

Maylay doesn't give a fuck. Buy it or don't, just hurry the fuck up, you're holding up the line.

So that's Maylay, folks. Ok, so maybe I was a bit harsh on the music, but the fact remains that I actually enjoyed what I was listening to. It comes back to my original point made oh-so-long ago. Give music a shot.. especially cheap music. Worst case scenario is that you're down a few dollars. You mother fuckers don't buy real music anyway, so support local musicians.

Unless you want Justin Fucking Bieber to be the future of music. Which you fucking don't.