all photos: Shauna Alexander
Talking about pedigree in DC music is often a double edged sword but with collective decades of music and taste making experience Midnight Kids have under their belt, there is really no other way to frame their story.
From 1999 to 2008, Amanda Kleinman, Erick Jackson and Jeff Schmid played synths, bass and drums respectively in what was widely considered DC's most amazing band live, ever: APES.
Their particular primal kind of ear crushing but somehow accessible rock had them touring with everyone from Liars to Mars Volta to Les Savy Fav, resulting in a fan base which, while not gargantuan, was certainly hopelessly devoted.
APES' last album "Ghost Games" was released in 2008, on Gypsy Eyes Records, a DC label that is (sadly) no more but which had great selection taste oozing out of it's every pore: the original Child Ballads, Vandaveer...
Gypsy eyes was run by Kalani Tifford who also played bass (an instrument Erick played in APES, since he was switching to guitar in this new venture), surfed and tour managed Thievery Corporation and other ESL Music bands, and who was ready to step onto the stage for the first time in a while.
All they needed was a vocalist, and the solution came in the form of LouLou Ghelichkhani, one of Thievery's slinkiest vocalists.
They locked themselves in Jeff's basement and many late nights after, out emerged a record (named predictably but adequately "Basement Dreams") that somehow manages to be representative of all the musical tastes involved in it's making: the extreme volume and rock of Apes (who always, always knew how to have a great beat behind even the most aggressively ear crushing songs), laced with the dubby, dancey bass and with a sprinkling of purrish, kittenish soul vocals on top. It is a dance record for people who were not sure they liked dance records. It's nothing you haven't hear before, but put together, it feels fresher and newer than almost any other sound you'll get coming out of DC.
We met up with them this past Sunday at the ESL compound on Calvert street (the band is not on the label, and is sticking to its DIY approach till further notice, but they sometimes use the space, as friends of friends) for some photos and some stories about the record, which they're officially releasing this Saturday, at the Black Cat.
ONE SIDE:
Some songs take forever to put together and sometimes they just fall into place. One side was one of those nice band moments where everything came together effortlessly- the sounds, melody, and beat. For best listening results, swallow some cough syrup, walk down into your basement, lay down on the old mattress by the water heater, put on headphones, and let dream waves take over.
THE STATION:
Loulou speaks three languages- French, English, and Farsi. When we first started jamming, vocals were only French. The music is based more on the interpretation of the sounds and vocal expression than the actual French translation. Like all six of the EP songs, each one is the soundtrack to a dream where there is not a defined beginning, middle and end. The scenes and settings are always changing. The Station is an embodiment of that idea- it’s a dream stop along the way. What smells will you smell at this stop?
NIGHT WALK:
Everyone has at one time hung out with the older kids down the block, or with a sibling’s ‘sketchy’ friends. Once in a while you sneak out with them, get stuck in the back of the car while they blast music, crawl into the woods, and watch them get drunk in a drainage ditch. There is a feeling of being nervous yet excited at the same time. For them it is just hanging out, but for the newcomer it is a romantic right of passage. Secret locations, the unknown, the possibility of danger or punishment, friends or foe, that is what a night walk is about.
Want more?
Follow Midnight Kids on Myspace/Facebook etc, download "Basement Dreams" for free here, win tickets to their show here and be at the Black Cat on Saturday. K? K.
God loves a cheerful giver.
Love it.
Erick played guitar for BST Payback, then switched to bass for the Apes. The Apes had no guitar.
you know, you're 100% correct. i for some reason am holding a press release that said "erick jackson, who played guitar in apes" and in my mind i thought "oh, weren't they guitarless?" but then just scratched it since i was holding something official assuring me they had a guitar. anyway, fixing this as we speak
has anyone sent this to the kids at Fan Death yet?
this one might shut them up.
Doubtful, Martin...it's not hate-core or whatever genre gets them excited. (The stuff that clockcleaners play.)
(P.S. -- These guys remind me of a more rock and roll version of Brazilian Girls. Love LouLou's voice!)
if this did not affect their opinions of bands we cover, i am pretty sure midnight kids won't.
http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/music/the-art-of-sonic-destruction-screen-vinyl-image-a-byt-listening-party-interview/
Agreed.
Not to make things more complex, but Erick played a baritone guitar in Apes. The guitar is tuned lower than a normal guitar and uses thicker strings, making it really bottom heavy.
I don't know if he ever switched to bass, but when I saw the Apes he was playing a baritone Jaguar the whole time. (you can see it on the right in this pic I found of them)
<3,
Alfonso Bravo
Resident BYT Gearslut?
For the record, I know those guys, and I think their complaint w/ BYT's music coverage is that BYT doesn't hate anything. Yes, really. Sigh.
Just to clear it up: Erick used a regular bass for most of the Apes' history, most recently a Fender Precision. Around the time Breck joined the band, Erick switched to the baritone guitar, so it was really only the last record and last couple tours that had "guitar", and even then, the baritone plays in the bass octave.
um ACTUALLY Erick was never even in that band, he was in the Bapes, and he played the bassoon. Look it up.
NERD ALERT: If he played a Fender Jaguar Baritone Custom, which I'm 99% sure he did cause I have one too and I recognize it's sexy curves and sonic dreaminess from miles away, it's traditionally tuned down a fourth lower to B, so it's not fully in the bass octave but actually halfway between the bass and guitar's respective E tunings.
Sorry, this is useless knowledge I so seldom get to use. The point is this band sounds really good.
Cap'n Kangaroo,
Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I recall of the FanDeath interview on AON, they did not have any bone to pick with Brightest Young Things. (Or, if they did, it didn't come up in that interview.)
In that particular interview, no. Elsewhere, yes. See also: the comments above mine.
dude, stop taunting me...I'm not appreciating the honesty anymore