Midnight Mod is an awesome punk band exploding out of the New York punk scene. They have recently released an awesome EP. They have have a gret live set and have shared the stage with some big names. They also have some great touring experience on the East Coast. I got Blackey to tell their story...
Introduce yourself…
Hey! I’m Blackey DeathProof and lead singer for the band Midnight Mob.
How did the band start?
Kind of a long story, but I will keep it short. Basically Catastrophe and I were putting this project together with a different producer. I was one of many singers involved in this project and ultimately stuck but the rest of the band did not. Catastrophe was involved in bands with Squeeze for a while and started another original project on the side. What ended up happening was our producer bailed and Catastrophe and Squeeze decided to merge the two bands together. At that point we had two guitarists, drummer and me as a singer. The original bass player involved left. We began our hunt for a bass player and luck came through. A fan of Catastrophe’s former band, Visions through Sound, gave us Carly’s contact information. We gave her a call, she came down and ROCK! The original rhythm guitarist soon after departed and we picked up another. Then the replacement guitarist departed and we played around as a four piece. More luck came about when Catastrophe was hanging in a local bar and Spydyr introduced himself as “aren’t you in Midnight Mob?” Spydyr then said he played guitar and was down for jamming. We told him to come down, he did and Rock! Spydyr is the newest member and one of his
first shows was Webster Hall Grand Ballroom in front of 500+ screaming people. We’ve been this five
piece since.
How did you come up with the name?
The name came about from when Catastrophe and I were writing with the former producer. Midnight Mob was a lyric in one of the songs. We liked the sound and imagery of it so it stuck. When Squeeze & Carly came into the picture we kicked around other names just for other ideas, but it always came back to Midnight Mob. We wanted something dark, unique and cool. Also it had that gang/ band of brothers component which meant “world domination”. Let’s set the world afire.
Who would you say are your influences?
The band really draws from all different types of music. Iggy and the Stooges, Cheap Trick, Social Distortion, Danzig, GNR. There’s so many. We love metal, 70’s punk, 70’s hard rock and rockabilly.
What is the punk scene like in New York City?
It’s really changed a bunch in the last five years. A bunch of venues we used to see bands at have closed down and we lost our stomping grounds around the Lower East Side. It’s cleaned up and become more of a “hip college” area.
Describe the song writing process...
It can really happen a few different ways with us. A lot of the times someone will come up with a great riff and we just jam it out. Sometimes words will just kind of come to me, or I have some words written down that the melody inspired me to remember. Sometimes me and Squeeze get together and work a new idea out acoustically first before showing the rest of the band. The song can take on a life of its own depending on our mood. The creative process is an adventure.
You released a self-titled release, tell us about the EP…
It was probably one of the greatest feelings to hold our EP in my hands. Up to that point we were struggling so hard to put out a product with other producers at other studios and our morale was pretty low because we couldn’t get what we wanted. Eventually Dave Caggiano came to our rescue and recorded what eventually became the self-titled EP.
What have you released?
Since we released our EP we have released two new songs “All For Nothing” and “Walking Dead”. We also released a video for “All For Nothing”, which was so fulfilling. Also the band is about to start pre-
production on two more songs and will most likely put out another EP in January 2012. In addition, we are looking to get another video out there, possibly for a new song we’re working on tentatively
titled “Be Mine”.
Who are some of the bands you have done shows with?
We have played shows with a lot of awesome bands. Rick Dick of the Casualties played our EP release show fronting his side band Kickstarts. We randomly opened up for Berlin maybe two summers ago.
They were awesome by the way. There is a lot of fantastic homegrown talent that we play with on a regular basis such as: Face The King, Machine Elves, Craving Strange, Revel9, Those Hated Hearts, Jett Blackk Heart Attack. On tour we played with some great bands to look for such as: Bright Light Social Hour, The Hard Way and A Silent Protest.
Do you prefer to do shows at large venues or small clubs?
It really depends. Obviously playing big venues is a rush and totally fun to see a sea of people you don’t recognize singing your lyrics. The smaller venues are obviously more intimate, intense and in your face, which I like. I guess it comes down to I prefer the place where the energy is at.
Have you toured?
Yes and we really have had the time of our lives. We have done two tours since we started the band. We have gone as far up as Maine and as South as Savannah, Georgia. We have played to some huge crowds in packed clubs. We have also played crazy bars where there haven’t been as many people, but we end up hanging with them until sunrise and later pass out on someone’s armchair. We have met some of the greatest people. The next tour we are really looking to go nationwide and give it a real kick
in the pants.
Is there a favorite band you like to do shows with?
There are a bunch of bands we REALLY love playing with. I would have to say we love to play with this band “The Machine Elves”. Our crowds really get along and we’ve become a little family. Their performance is amazing, fun, and “smarmy” as the lead singer Joey Calveri. We also really love playing with The Hard Way, Revel 9, Face The King, The Say and Craving Strange. Revel 9 has some songs that are so awesome it hurts.
Is there a favorite place you like to do shows at?
It’s a toss up. We love playing Atlantic City, at venues that this awesome rocker chick promoter, Lauren Fearless, puts in place. The bands that play her shows are always LOUD AND ROCKIN and so are the people that show up. It’s always just a kick back time with non- stop good time with good tunes and entertainment. We also love playing Legendary Dobbs in Philly. It’s a really great club with killer sound. Philly has a cool music scene, great people, and some seriously good food. At home our former love before closing was DJ Riders. What ridiculous times we had there. Now our home base would be Jugs N Strokers on Long Island. We just had a spooky rock Halloween show there.
What do you see is the future of Midnight Mob?
Besides world domination, I see….well world domination.
How can people contact the band?
Website: www.MidnightMob.com - Link to our social networks are found here
Fan Questions & General Info: www.MidnightMob.fanbridge.com
Email: jointhemidnightmob@gmail.com
KICK IT DEATHPROOF!!!!
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