Sing Like You Mean It; an interview with Luke Sheafer of Me Like Bees

American indie rock band Me Like Beeshails from the heart of Joplin, Missouri. Formed in 2009 the band has traveled thousands of miles and played hundreds of shows across the nation. By 2013, they released their first full length record The Ides (LoveWay Records) produced by Jeff Smith (Never Shout Never, Trust Company, Carter Hulsey). The album received rave reviews by many internet media outlets. 
By June of 2013, Me Like Bees won a spot to compete in the Ernie Ball Music Man Battle of the Bands (17th Consecutive Year). After passing many rounds and surpassing many opponents, Me Like Bees won the final showcase at the House Of Blues in Hollywood California on January 17, 2014, outlasting over 20,000 other bands. 
In 2015 after completing a leg in Van’s Warped Tour, Me Like Bees has just finished a new EP There will be time with award-winning producer, John Feldmann (Five Seconds of Summer, The Used, Panic! at the Disco, Goldfinger, Good Charlotte, Plain White T’s). They also completed a nationwide tour with Never Shout Never (Warner Bros) spanning from the world famous Troubadour in Hollywood, California to Brighton Music Hall in Boston, Massachusetts. 
Ghettoblaster caught up with vocalist Luke Sheafer to discuss the band’s journey, writing and recording the EP and seeing Snoop Dogg.
Are you guys all originally from Joplin?  What has the scene in that community done to nurture and support the band?
Pete and I are from the Kansas City area and Tim is from Lancaster, California. Nick is the lone native of Joplin, though we all call Joplin home now. We have unbelievable support in our home town. We even have a dish at a diner named after us (Me Like B’s and G’s, biscuits and gravy at The Bruncheonette).
What is it about the dynamic of the band and the way your personalities play together that make Me Like Bees such a rewarding endeavor?
We are all very dedicated and very hard working people. Anyone who is in a band can tell you that it’s a grind, but we try to keep it light when we’re on the road or at practice.
When did you begin writing the There Will Be Time EP and what were you hoping to accomplish with it? 
We were hoping to make music that is both meaningful and fun to listen to. Also, we wanted to let John Feldmann sprinkle his magic pixie dust on it, and that was also accomplished.
How does the EP differ from your previous LP?

It’s a lot cleaner, but it is also a lot richer in sound. Everything is altogether more refined and polished in this EP than it was in The Ides. I think a lot of that is the types of songs we’ve been writing has changed, but also working with a producer has changed our recorded sound quite a bit as well.
How did you come to work with John Feldmann?  What did he contribute to the process?  
We won the 2013 Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands, and we had the privilege of working with Feldy because of that. We co-wrote “Changes” with him, and he had a heavy hand in restructuring the other songs, as well as refining some of the lyrical themes. It was the coolest and most stressful experience I’ve had recording.

Who came up with the concept for the “Changes” video?  How did that come together? 
Sam Chenowith who shot and directed the “Changes” video also came up with the idea for it. “Hymns and Blues” (which was recorded separately from the other three songs) was being recorded and each of us individually left the studio the same day to film our parts for that video. It came together nicely I think!
What plans do you have to support the EP?
We have two release shows close to home on the day and day after the release and then we have several festivals we are playing this summer. We just started working with a new booking agent so stay tuned for dates near you!
You guys are releasing the EP independently, correct?  How did you come to the decision to go that direction.  
We shopped the EP to a few record labels, but we didn’t really get any offers that made sense for us. We’ve been a DIY band since the beginning, so we feel right at home releasing it ourselves.
Have you begun working on the follow up to the record?
We have lots of material and have even begun putting together the concept and themes for the songs for a new full-length. Should start recording later this year or early next year.
You are actually a renaissance man and owns a bakery, right?  Did you go to school to be a baker?  What is your favorite thing to prepare and sell there?
This is giving me way too much credit. My wife makes fat stacks pimping goodies all day and I just reap the rewards of her hard work. I went to school and got a marketing degree. I’ve never even seen it. It’s seriously sitting in a filing cabinet at my dad’s house somewhere.
I heard you guys snuck Chris Ingle from Never Shout Never into a Snoop Dogg concert once.  Can you tell me about that?
Two years ago at SXSW, Tim, Nick, Chris, and I were gallivanting around the city to see what clubs/venues we could sneak into. We would go to the back door of a club and I would tell the security person that Chris (who the security guard wouldn’t recognize) was the lead singer of Sum 41. All of these places were sponsored by Smirnoff or Yaeger etc. We got into two or three places like this, we’d drink our fill and then we’d move on.
Later in the evening, we happened upon a venue with a line that was three blocks long. I asked the security guard in front what was going on and he said that Snoop Dogg was playing a “secret” show there. So I told everyone to follow me to the back. I walked up to the security guard stretched out my hand and shook his firmly, looked him straight in the eye and said “I’m (so and so) from Capitol Records,” and ten of us walked straight into the back of the venue to see the show.
(Visit Me Like Bees here: http://www.melikebees.com/#newpage.)