Words by Art Jefferson
Images by Jack Stoddart and courtesy of Midnight Rodeo
Nottingham band Midnight Rodeo may be new to the scene as this current collective, but the members have been playing with other bands for years. As the now group, their coming together has created something special…extremely special. Their sound is a flawless mixture of psychedelic, shoegaze, desert rock, and even spaghetti western. Although the outfit may be British, their music could easily be the soundtrack to long drives through Southern California landscapes.
Midnight Rodeo made their debut in April of this year with the dreamy track ‘Now You’re Gone’. The hypnotic and atmospheric single was a stellar offering and could easily be placed in 2022’s Singles Of The Year list. The group followed up with ‘Shootout Sunday’, another incredible delivery that proved the band to be a well oiled machine for consistency. Aside from the lush vocals, the production of the tune was top tier. And to think, this is only the beginning.
Already setting the bar quite high out of the gate, Midnight Rodeo is definitely creating a lane for something that is truly musical greatness.
Can you talk about the origin of the band? How did you all meet and when did you decide to put the group together?
Midnight Rodeo – We were all in various bands over the years, Cherry Hex & the Dream Church, The Hijinks, Soft Girls & Boys Club & Brown Lion Zoo – a lot of us played together regularly, and have been good pals for a long time! When Maddy put the word out that she was thinking of a new project in 2020 we all jumped at the opportunity. It was in & out of lockdown really, we started playing together as & when we could so it went from there.
In terms of sounds, I would imagine that you all have a wide array of music that you grew up on. What were some of those genres and did the combinations help to create your own sound?
MR – There are a lot of different influences but a lot of crossover, especially soul, French pop, West Coast Surf/psych & garage. We just love big tunes, drives back from shows see us belting out everything from ‘The Man in Me’ to ‘Life is a Highway’. It’s a melting pot, sometimes it works, sometimes it’s ridiculous. Sometimes ridiculous is good.
Talk about your love of spaghetti western and how it plays a part in your music. Whilst the films hark back to the 60s, of course composers like the great Ennio Morricone, Piero Piccioni, Riz Ortolani and more helped to craft the sound.
MR – I think we all have memories of spending time with grandparents watching spaghetti westerns as kids, the music is the best part really. The density of arrangement on those soundtracks is probably the biggest influence on our early stuff and we love that gunslinger guitar sound.
Your track ‘Shoot Out Sunday’ was placed on the Eight Years Of Acid Box compilation last year. It’s a killer cut. Was that the first song that you recorded as a band or was it specifically for the comp release?
MR – We love Acid Box!! We love playing in Brighton for Acid Box and it was a huge honour to have the first demo we ever made amongst some bands we love like Juniore, King Khan & The Liminanas. Thanks to Acid Box we got to play with The Black Tambourines too! Acid Box forever.
We recorded that demo in our practice space, Will (guitar) did pretty much everything in terms of the recording & mixing. Sounds so great.
Your single ‘Now You’re Gone’ is absolutely brilliant. The instrumentation is a wonderful example of how to fuse various styles and make them gel in a perfectly cohesive way. Creatively how did you initially approach the track?
MR – Thanks! I think Maddy had the chords and melody, brought it to the room for us all to make noise on top of. It came together so easily, I don’t think we ever anticipated that it would be a single at the time. It just started to feel better and better at our early shows. We just try to have as much fun as possible. That’s the formula.
You’ll be releasing a few records through FatCat. How did that signing come about?
MR – Yeah! So grateful to be working with a label of FatCat’s stature. Genuinely fans of so many of their releases, so it was huge when we started speaking.
We sent the demo off and immediately hit it off, they’re super supportive of what we’re doing and we’re real lucky. We love going to the beach in Brighton!
What do you all have forthcoming this year? Can we expect an EP or LP?
MR – Firstly we’ve got a couple of shows in Bristol and Nottingham with the wonderful FEET, so you can catch us at those. We’ll be heading out on a UK Tour this November (TBA very soon), dates below. We’ve also got a tune coming out just beforehand, announced soon! We’re heading off to a converted mill in the Welsh countryside in September to write songs too.
With things in the UK finally somewhat back to normal, how was it for you getting through the pandemic?
MR – To be honest we were only really starting together when the pandemic hit, I don’t even think we had our current line-up at that point, so basically as soon as we were able to, we got in a room together and started writing! Maybe people were doing some writing when locked in so there were some ideas when we finally did all get together.
https://www.instagram.com/midnightrodeoband/
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https://twitter.com/MidnightRodeoo
Midnight Rodeo Bandcamp
Midnight Rodeo Spotify
Midnight Rodeo Tour Dates:
31/08 – Bristol, Thekla*
01/09 – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham*
21/10 – Karma Weekender, Nottingham
03/11 – Birmingham, The Night Owl
10/11 – Brighton, The Pipeline
11/11 – Bristol, TBC
12/11 – Nottingham, Bodega
22/11 – Hull, The Polar Bear
23/11 – Leeds, Hyde Park Book Club
24/11 – Manchester, The Peer Hat
25/11 – Liverpool, The Jacaranda
London also TBC
*Supporting FEET