MUSIC INTERVIEW- MIDNITE CITY

Uk Hair Metal act Midnite City are set to release their latest album Itch You Can't Scratch this Friday (June 11th). On top of that, the band have announced a six-date UK tour, which starts on August 6th in Stoke. 2021 is turning out to be a productive year for the band. Rambling Man spoke to lead singer Rob Wylde about the new album, touring, and their success in Japan.

Hello Midnite City, How are you?

I'm doing great. Thanks.

You have a new album out on June 11th called Itch You Can’t Scratch. I have had the pleasure to listen to it, and it has an 80’s hair metal vibe to it. What can you tell me about the release, and what fans can expect?

Well, if you loved the first two albums, you're going to go crazy for this one. Goes without saying that this is our best album to date and we are all extremely proud of it. It has all the elements of a classic late '80s/ early 90's Hair Metal album from all those million-selling bands from back in the day, but also has a few twists and turns not found on our previous two albums. Simply put, it's the ultimate Midnite City album!

It wouldn’t be an interview in 2021 if I didn’t ask how the pandemic affected the recordings? What was the recording process like?

We actually started recording the album at the start of 2020. We went out to play shows in Australia in March, then when we returned to the UK everything went crazy and we went into lockdown, which put us out of action for a few months. When it became apparent that the Covid situation wasn't going to get resolved any time soon, we forged ahead regardless. As we couldn't physically get together, the album was recorded in five separate studios around the UK and we didn't get together once, so it was a lot of Zoom calls and Face timing to get the album done.

I shall follow that question with one about your writing process?

The way I write literally hasn't changed since I started writing songs at the age of 11. I write everything on an acoustic guitar, as I feel that's always a good gauge as to whether the song is any good or not. You can write a really crappy song and make it sound great in the studio with a big production. But a crappy song will always be a crappy song. If a song works well with just one guy and an acoustic guitar, then that's the real measure that you have something great. From there you can make it sound huge but when stripped back, it has to be able to stand up on its own as a good song. Everything great is built on a good foundation.

Were there any musical influences on you when planning the album?

I don't think we ever think too much about that. We just do what comes naturally to us at the time. That's what we did on the first two albums and that's what we did on the new one. When you listen to our music it's obvious who our influences are really. As a band, I think all you ever want to do is better your previous album and we feel we've done that.

You have just released a Mini-Movie for your latest single “They Only Come Out At Night”, Could you tell me the reasons why you decided to do this, and how it reflects the album?

'They Only Come Out At Night' sounds like nothing we have ever done before and takes things in a totally new direction for us. The song was inspired by watching the classic 80's movie Lost Boys. I was sat there watching it with my girlfriend one night and was reminded of how amazing the soundtrack to that movie is. I'd had the song title for a while, so the next day I started to write the song, almost in the mindset that I was writing it for a movie soundtrack which is something I've never done before. That's why it sounds so different for us.

As soon as we recorded it, we knew it had to be one of the singles, and if we were ever to go to town on a video, this would be the one. Our keyboard player Shawn had the idea to make it more of a mini-movie rather than just another four-minute music video. He wrote the script for the video, hired the actors, directed it and put the whole thing together and he did an incredible job. We shot the video at Kelham Hall in Newark, a huge, haunted Victorian hall and had the run of the place from 1pm – 1am. It got pretty creepy there late at night! We are extremely proud of that video. It's by far our best video and I honestly don't know how we will ever top that one!

Another video I have seen is “Atomic”, It looks like a fun one with the band in the recording studio, whilst various people are bombarded with images of the band on TV and phones. What can you tell me about the track, and the video as a whole?

The song is about having a great time and enjoying life to the full. You only get one ride around the track, so make the most of it! For the video, we wanted to bring that good time, fun, type of vibe and I think we really nailed it. As with 'They Only Come Out At Night', Shawn scripted and directed the 'Atomic' video and he once again did a great job of putting it all together. It was loosely based on the 90's movie Airheads, where a band hijacks a radio station and takes people hostage in order to play their own songs on air.

We shot the video at Old Smithy Recording Studio in Worcester, a classic old school recording studio that's been around since the mid-'70s. Judas Priest recorded albums there. Also, the theme from the TV show Gladiators was recorded there and there was a gold disc of it hanging on the wall which we all thought was great. We got a few friends and girlfriends involved and just had a total blast!

This is your third album, and first with Roulette Media. How is Itch You Can’t Scratch different, and how has the new deal shaped your sound?

I think we took what we did on the first two albums and just took it up a hundred notches in every way. From the songwriting to the performances, to the production. Everything is OTT and cranked to 10! It's a slightly tougher sounding album than the previous two, and we certainly experimented a lot more and pushed the boundaries of what we do, but it still has all the elements of a classic Midnite City album.
Working with Roulette has also been great so far. It's nice to have a label and team of people behind you who believe in the band as much as we do. Like one big team!

Your sophomore album There Goes The Neighbourhood made the Best albums in the past 35 years in Japan’s Burrn! Magazine. That is an incredible achievement. How did Midnite City take this accomplishment, and what role has it played on the band’s mindset?

We were blown away when we heard about that. We have a big fan base in Japan but to achieve something like that was just remarkable, especially when you look at some of the albums we were up against over the past 35 years. It was also voted as one of the top albums between 2010 -2020 in BURRN magazine also, so both were huge achievements, of which we are incredibly proud. Moments like these just make us strive to become better and better.

I noticed you have headlined two consecutive tours in the UK, plus sold out a further two in Japan. Could you tell me about that, and how it has helped gain exposure and built a fanbase for Midnite City?

We've actually done three tours of the UK. Two as headliners and one as an opening band. We've also played all over Europe, Australia and Japan. For a band like us, it's really important to be out on the road as much as possible, as we bring a full-on 80's Hair Metal show to every city we play in and it seems like people have really missed seeing bands like us. Although there are a million bands out there nowadays, I don't think any sound like Midnite City or put on the type of show we do. We are the ultimate feel-good party rock band! As cool as the albums are, for us, it's all about the live show and the more we play, the more we get seen and the more fans get turned on to our music and buy our albums. You can't expect things to happen, you have the make them happen.

You have announced a UK tour starting on August 6th in Stoke, what can you tell me about the tour, and what new fans hoping to see you can expect from your shows?

It's going to be incredible to finally get on stage again after 18 months away due to Covid so we intend to bring the biggest party to every city we play in. I think now, more than ever, people need escapism and some fun, especially after been locked up in a miserable existence for so long. We will be playing lots of songs from the new album, plus favourites from the first two and it's just going to be the best time!

And Finally, what is the future aspirations for Midnite City?

The main thing for us right now is getting back out on the road and playing shows to promote the new album. That's really important. We play Call Of The Wild festival in Lincoln on July 11th which will be our first show back. Then we have the UK tour mentioned above. We also headline Gravity festival in Cannock on October 15th and have a headline show at the Robin 2 in Bilston on November 26th . Following on from that, we have another 6 date UK tour booked for February of next year which we will be announcing over the next few months, then we play further festival shows in the UK and Europe. There are also plans for us to return to Japan next year also.

Thank you for talking to Rambling Man's Reviews.

Words by Anselm Anderson

Midnite City's latest album Itch You Can't Scratch will out on June 11th via Roulette Media Records

Buy/stream the single here: https://smarturl.it/midnitecityatomic
Pre-order the album here: https://roulettemedia.co.uk
https://roulettemedia.co.uk/product-category/midnite-city/
https://smarturl.it/midnitecityitch

Midnite City is;

Rob Wylde – Lead Vocals
Miles Meakin – Lead Guitar
Josh ‘Tabbie’ Williams – Bass Guitar
Shawn Charvette – Keyboards
Pete Newdeck - Drums

Itch You Cant Scratch Tour:

Aug 6 - Eleven, Stoke
Aug 7 - Nigtrain, Bradford
Aug 14 - Arches, Coventry
Aug 28 - HRH Sleaze, Sheffield
Aug 29 - Rockwich, Cheshire

Nov 26 - Robin 2, Bilston

SOCIAL MEDIA

https://midnitecity.com
https://twitter.com/midnitecityuk
https://www.facebook.com/midnitecityuk
https://roulettemedia.co.uk

"Crawlin' In The Dirt"