The Midnight Callers rock, and roll. Their nicely adult relationship songs are women friendly, and, on “Maggie,” feminist, making this an exciting new find for me.
The band -- Chris Paine (vocals/rhythm guitar), Martin Stubbs (vocals/lead guitar), Julien Budrino (vocals/drums) and Marley Myrianthopoulos (vocals/bass) – were kind enough to answer a few questions for me.
Andrea Weiss: How did the band form?
Julien Budrino: Chris and I were in another band together and Chris had some original music he wanted to try out that didn’t really fit with their vibe. The two of us went looking for a lead guitarist and bassist to try out some of those tunes, that project became Red Letter Glow, and the rest is history!
AW: Who are your influences?
Marley Myrianthopoulos: We all love all of the classic 60s and 70s power pop acts, like Big Star, The Raspberries, The Knack, The Who, The Beatles, and so on. Everyone kind of brings their own personal tastes into the mix as well -- Chris was raised on early rock 'n' roll, Martin is a huge glam fan, Julien loves 80s rock, and I can’t get enough Motown.
AW: I like that your music is aimed at adults. Is that one of your aims?
Chris Paine: It’s not a particular goal of ours, but I think our musical style is heavily influenced by our musical experiences growing up. We’re all from the iPod generation, where all the best classic rock songs spanning 50 years were on shuffle every morning on the school bus, so it’s not surprising that our sound reflects that particular experience and speaks to people in our age group.
AW: “Girl on the Run” sounds like early Tom Petty. Is he one of your influences?
Marley: Yes, we’re all big fans of Tom Petty. I think with that song, rather than trying to sound like Tom Petty, we were trying to sound like The Byrds or The Beatles…which of course meant we wound up sounding like early Tom Petty, who was trying to do the same thing!
AW: “Maggie” sounds feminist, which is great. Was that your intention?
Martin Stubbs: Maggie is a proxy for a close friend of mine who passed away a few years ago. Creating a character was an easier way to express the emotions I was feeling in lyrics.
AW: “Without Ya” mourns some who isn’t there. Is it a breakup song or something more?
Martin: I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “rock 'n' roll saved my soul.” “Without Ya” is written about a character who owes his everything to the godfathers of glam, specifically Marc Bolan and David Bowie. He laments that they’re gone and he’ll never get to tell them how much they mean to him. So in a way, a feeling of mourning is part of it.
AW: I like that you rock so hard and are so positive. Is that your outlook in general?
Chris: People play music for a lot of reasons, but I think one reason the four of us gel so well together is that for all of us the act of creating music is a joyous experience. We’re all having a good time basically every minute that we’re on stage or in the studio together, and I’m glad that comes through.
AW: Are you planning to tour?
Chris: We’ll be at The C Note in Hull, MA on June 24th, then the Roscoe Beer Company in Roscoe, NY on July 22nd. We’re teaming up for a show in Ringwood, NJ with our good friends and label-mates the Anderson Council on July 29th, and then August 27th we’ll be at Cisco Brewery in New Bedford, MA. If you follow us on Instagram or check out our website you’ll be sure to keep up with any additional dates that we add in the next few weeks!
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