Interview by Kris Peters
In just six short years UK glam metal outfit Midnite City have forced themselves to the top rung of hair metal bands in the world.
They have released three critically acclaimed albums - with the fourth, In At The Deep End set for release on June 23 - with their second album There Goes The Neighbourhood being voted one of the best albums in the 35 year history of Burrn magazine in Japan.
Through relentless global touring and an infectiously buoyant approach to music, Midnite City are a band only now starting to realise their full potential.
Which is pretty scary considering the success they have already had.
Frontman Rob Wylde joined HEAVY to discuss the album and Midnite City's growing stature.
"We're so excited, mate," he enthused talking about the impending album release. "We put a lot of work into this album - we spent about three months recording it - and to us it's definitely our best album. It's almost like a throwback to our earlier stuff, a lot of people are picking up on the fact it has a similar feel to our second album There Goes The Neighbourhood. It's the ultimate feel good, happy, hair metal album, which is so exciting. For once we're absolutely 100% happy with it so that's a good feeling."
We ask Wylde to outline the musical aspect of the album in more detail.
"In terms of the musical direction, like I said I think it's a little bit back to our earlier sound," he measured. "I think on the last album Itch You Can't Scratch, which came out two years ago, there was still a lot of fun party rock songs on there but there was also some heavier songs. It was a little bit darker, a little bit heavier and edgier and I think that all had a lot to do with the fact that album was written and recorded during the whole COVID thing. Obviously now we're out of COVID everyone is in a much better mood, I think. People can go out and go to shows and hang out with friends and we also switched our drummer on this album. We parted company with our old drummer and the new one has brought a new musical life to the band. So he's one of those guys who is such a positive person to be around and he has given the band a new lease of life. It's almost like we're starting out again, really. There's just a good feeling in the band and we're really optimistic about the album and the future, and you can hear that on the album. Like I said, it's the ultimate feel good hair metal album."
In the full interview Rob talks us through the singles released and how they represent the album, developing their sound and finding their musical identity, adding an intro track to the album and why, the focus more on keyboards on this album, their upcoming UK tour, coming back to Australia and more.