After the making their their album, Synthia, The Jezabels were ready to hit the road and play their new music for the fans. However, about a month before they were set to come to the US, the Australian rock outfit decided to cancel the tour so keyboardist Heather Shannon can undergo cancer treatments that require her to stay home. And the band must be complete for them to tour. While they're on break, we spoke with lead singer Hayley May about the new album, gender equality and the future of The Jezabels.

How have you been feeling with the positive response to the new album, especially since there was talk that there may have not been another record?

It wasn’t that we weren’t going to make a third record. It was more about when. We felt we needed a bit of a break. Actually I think we may have needed a break before the second record. We pushed through, and we needed a break after that due to health reasons and mental health reasons. So we had a break, but I think it could be a lot longer. Then we had this one-off show and started writing. Four or five ideas came up within a few days. Then we started writing even though we had no plans to do anything. I don’t think anyone was expecting a record that soon. We didn’t consider breaking up or anything, but we were going to have a break. And the push for the second was out in a rush, but this [third] album just happened.

How is Synthia different from your past work?

Someone asked me the other day about how I would describe the journey of the band, and this corresponds well with the three albums. There’s naivety, and then there’s going with the flow. Then you get some clarity. So the first record is naivety, the second record goes with the flow and then with [Synthia], you get this clarity. We went back to basics about what made us want to be musicians in the first place, and we also learned more about ourselves. We’re not just making [music] for the sake of it, but we’re not as naive about it. We feel better as musicians and got along the best than we have musically.

You’ve mentioned in past interviews that you really got to open yourself up as a woman and that this record has a sense of female empowerment. Can you talk about that?

I think it’s more of an idea of self-empowerment. And in the past, you’re in a role of your own oppression and not having confidence and allowing your own barriers to stop you. This record is about taking the opportunity to empower yourself and pushing through your own boundaries. That’s not to say that we’re not concerned with external problems like real oppression, but that’s just always been something I’ve battled with on a mental level. It’s not just about female empowerment though I’m very interested in the topic. I think women do internalize problems a lot, but I think everyone does. And this album delves into fighting through the barriers that you keep in your head.

There are also [themes of] mental illness because it’s been in my family, I’ve been through it myself. This record is [also] about getting through a bad touch there. So I’m trying to overcome depression and things like that, which is internal but very real.

The songs’ themes are clearly very personal to you. Do you ever worry about being so vulnerable in your music and how people will react to it?

There is a vulnerability to it. I was talking to my mom about it. She sometimes read into it very literally, and I have to explain that the issues that are close to my heart still are [close to me]. And there’s a great Bob Dylan quote where he [talks about] everything belonging to everyone when it comes to stories and art. The wonderful thing about a song or a painting is that there’s so much you can put into it, and it’s not you. You’re protected by the fact that there are a whole lot of other things going in there. You can really tell which parts are you, it tells you. Art mimics life. So there are parts that are about mental illness, which I can say is close to my heart. [The songs are] not necessarily my mental illness or how I felt. So there’s a level of protection there. It’s a song and a piece of art, and no one can really know the nature of the lyric writing or music making. You can never really know what a person is 100 percent like just by listening to a song. I do feel that I’ve been more vulnerable on this record than ever before, but there’s a level of protection in the contradictions [in the lyrics].

Since empowerment and feminism are discussed on the album, where do you think we are, as a society, when it comes to gender equality?

I can only talk about Western culture because there’s a whole lot of other stuff, and I’m not very knowledgeable about certain parts of the world where it feels like we’re still in the dark ages when it comes to gender equality. But we’re actually in a really interesting stage where we’re acknowledging it’s a conversation that’s happening in my lifetime. A lot of people in my group of friends would roll their eyes at the discussion of feminism but now take it seriously. I think it happened in the last couple of years, and [people are] saying this is a real thing. We’re not going to let it drop. We have to recognize that this is a real discussion and not something that will go away. I’m glad you said gender equality because some men think it’s just getting rid of years of patriarchy. But I don’t think it’s about building a matriarchy. It’s just freedom for everyone, and that’s something we’re battling toward slowly in a lot of different movements.

Originally you wanted to tour right away to promote this album. However with Heather’s treatments, you all decided to postpone it. So first of all how is Heather doing?

It’s like any treatment. [The doctors] can’t guarantee how long it’s going to take or how it’s going to work. She’s in really good spirits and dealing with it very well. She’s feeling really good. We’re just playing it by ear, but she’s feeling good in every other way. And she’s a healthy person; so we have all the faith in the world that she’ll be fine. It’s just a terrible to have to go through. She was very frustrated. We all were, but mainly her because it affects her whole life. She really wanted to tour because she put so much into this album. Hopefully, it’s just a short time. But you know, we cannot make any promises until we know she’s healthy enough. It’s a way of playing it by ear. We’ll let everyone know once we know we can get on the road again. We will because we’re all really, really looking forward to it. I mean the way she talks, she says, “I’m going on tour again. It’s just a question of when.”

Well, that’s a good mindset to be in, especially when you’re pushing to get better.

It’s difficult because it’s something you don’t want to face, and she’s having to face. That’s what’s difficult. It’s getting in the way of life. Until recently, she’s been able to deal with it where it doesn’t affect things or tell the public about it. But then again, there might be something good in facing it. She’s fighting it head-on, and there’s so much support. For her and everyone in the band, we appreciate the outpouring of support. Everyone is in as good spirits as we could possibly be at this time, and so is she. She’s optimistic.

So the tour right now is more pending than cancelled. But what is next for The Jezabels? Are you on hold right now until…

Yeah, I’m doing to the press right now. And there was a time where we were wondering if we should hold off on the [new] record, but no, this album exists in a time and place. And it reflects who we are now. So we put the album out. We couldn’t just sit on this record because it means so much to us all, and let’s give it 100 percent. I learned a bit of guitar so I can sing a little acoustically and do what we can. But the thing is a tour is what promotes the record, and a record promotes a tour. Basically, we are a live band. And we all just want to tour, and you know, we will. It’ll be all the more satisfying when we do.