On March 9th, 2025– I got to do a zoom interview with Maisie who is currently the vocalist for the UK band “Air Drawn Dagger” and since it’s also Women’s History Month, we discussed hardships she has faced in this industry being a woman and how she overcame those obstacles! As well as spoke about their newest single “Sanctifound” and their debut album being released April 4th; “A Guide For Apparitions” via Long Branch Records!
We started the interview laughing because we both live in different time zones and I thought the interview was a hour earlier, so I got up super early for the interview and to find out; it was a hour LATER! So when we finally got onto the zoom call; we both just giggled because we both knew the struggle with trying to figure out what time is what. And Maisie stated she is told a time and she follows that time because she didn’t even know the proper time zone!
To start the interview; I asked the most simple question: “Tell me about yourself and the band!“
Maisie: “I’m Maisie I’m the lead singer in Air Drawn Dagger. We’re a band from Sheffield that started out life in a cake shop after I met Lewis and we were writing for a while. We eventually met Ross who is now our drummer and we’ve been doing this for the past few years!“
Interviewer: “How did you guys come up with Air Drawn Dagger? Is it like metaphor for something?“
Maisie: “It’s actually from Macbeth from Shakespeare and it means kind of a sudden outburst of emotion. Air Drawn Dagger is like an apparition that’s like a metaphor for an emotional outburst and we were kind of trying to think of a band name for ages. We really wanted something that would kind of sound cool and make sense with what we were trying to do“
Interviewer: “You guys released your newest single “Sanctifound” about 10 days ago; can you go into depth with the meaning and how you guys decided on what type of video you wanted to do for it?“
Maisie: ” The whole album is a concept album, So all of the videos and songs are all interlinked like lyrically. “Sanctifound” was always going to be kind of the the opening track like the setup of the concept so we wanted something that was very much just kind of to the point. It’s like a welcome to the album kind of thing, so “Sanctifound” was always going to be that and then for the video it was going to be kind of like the opening track. That kind of underground vibe, so we have like our martyrs which are some of the characters and they they kind of hang out in this kind of underground bunker kind of thing; which is called “Sanctifound” so that’s how how the video was shot. So you kind of get to see in like the castle and my character like running into this building and then I just come out a few seconds later and you get to see kind of what goes on inside that building“
Interviewer: “Yeah I really liked the video. I miss when bands did videos like that like not so like cinematic but like straight to the point like underground bunch of people dancing and moshing. That’s why I like this so much. I was like you know what, I like this band!“
Interviewer: “Since it’s Women’s History Month as a woman vocalist have you experienced like any hardships being in this industry?“
Maisie: “Yeah I think, I mean we’ve been very lucky. We’ve worked with a lot of really really good people. We’ve worked with a lot of women as well so that kind of negates that kind of being pushed out, but I think definitely in the early days, we well I had a lot of that. You go into a venue and they shake the guy’s hand and then I’ll have people who if I’m with my partner was there at the time, they would shake my partner’s hand and be like “oh I can’t wait for your set”, and I just stood there and just be like “hi I’m like the lead singer” and you would just be ignored. You do find that you kind of get talked down to a little bit unfortunately. Like these days like I’ve been in the industry long enough to not like allow it to go down anymore and I think a lot of you see a lot more now as well even girls who are starting out I see them just not taking that anymore. Which is really amazing because it is intimidating, you know you’re going into a place where you’re gonna go play a show you’re already nervous you’re already out of your element if you haven’t done it a bunch of times before. So to see like girls now who are starting out and they’re already just like absolutely not like I’m not taking that kind of disrespect I’m like yeah there’s a change“
To watch the full interview; here is the Youtube video below! Maisie was such a pleasure to speak to because as women in this industry, we need to stand up for one another and protect each other especially women because this industry is not easy. We all deserve respect and recognition. And I believe this interview also expresses that. Make sure you check out Air Drawn Dagger and prepare yourselves for their album release because this band won’t disappoint. We hope to see them in the states eventually!
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