Midnight Passenger hails from Cleveland, It's formed by Vocalist Tony Zaro, Guitarists Jim Janek & Dan Metyk, Bassist Ricky Zaborowski and Drummer Shane Zigler. After a full year they will soon release their first full length album that has a secret release date and name, Recently the band via their facebook gave their fans the chance to listen to the album in full.
Their melodies go from upbeat catchy & fast paste to dark, emotional and moody.
The album has a great flow lyrically and musically and the growth is noted from their first released EP "Long Time Waiting".
Recently sign to Cleveland Record label Cellar Door, Midnight Passenger has been in the wave lengths appearing in multiple music festivals like Weapons of Masscreation and Rendezvous.
Songs like Bones, Radiating, Wolf's Den and Wading show the bands flexibility and evolution,
We had some time to talk to Tony Zaro about the new album and all it's challenges.
Their melodies go from upbeat catchy & fast paste to dark, emotional and moody.
The album has a great flow lyrically and musically and the growth is noted from their first released EP "Long Time Waiting".
Recently sign to Cleveland Record label Cellar Door, Midnight Passenger has been in the wave lengths appearing in multiple music festivals like Weapons of Masscreation and Rendezvous.
Songs like Bones, Radiating, Wolf's Den and Wading show the bands flexibility and evolution,
We had some time to talk to Tony Zaro about the new album and all it's challenges.
OBF: How do you define Midnight Passenger, musically?
Tony MP: Personally, I think we're a melting pot of several different genres. Mainly indie pop, but heavily influenced by 60's garage and psychedelic, also with an ambient edge.
OBF: What direction did the band take upon the start of this album?
Tony MP: We focused more on an overall album sound rather than just writing songs and pasting them together. Every song and every lyric on the album coincides with each other. Lyrically, throughout the record you'll hear a lot of similar lyrical lines, not because I'm a lazy writer,
but because I'm referencing the same ideas.
Tony MP: Personally, I think we're a melting pot of several different genres. Mainly indie pop, but heavily influenced by 60's garage and psychedelic, also with an ambient edge.
OBF: What direction did the band take upon the start of this album?
Tony MP: We focused more on an overall album sound rather than just writing songs and pasting them together. Every song and every lyric on the album coincides with each other. Lyrically, throughout the record you'll hear a lot of similar lyrical lines, not because I'm a lazy writer,
but because I'm referencing the same ideas.
Tony from MP All Right Reserve to Photographer Jim Stewart. OBF: The new album is moody with highs and lows. Can you tell us about the recording process?
Tony MP: Initially we were going to record an EP with the material we had. Since half of the songs were pop and the other half was darker and more dreary we decided to cater to the idea that the record has this sort of sun/moon feel, which are subjects I reference in the lyrics. We took our time with the recording, constantly going over things and making them better.
OBF: What is the album about?
Tony MP: That's definitely a hard question to answer, mainly because it’s a concept record. It's all about one subject, but from multiple directions. If you're familiar with the episode of The Twilight Zone where the girl has reconstructive face surgery and they take the bandages off and she's a beautiful woman but all the doctors react as if she's a monster; but when the camera pans out, they're, in fact, the monsters. A sort of beauty is in the eye of the beholder, sort of blind perspective. More or less, the record is about a man who goes through these outward changes and is shunned by everyone around him. Not because his inward personality changed, but because his outward appearance became appalling to what the antagonist considered the norm. Specifically the song "The Wolf's Den" there is a line "I'm foaming at the mouth but I feel okay, yeah my claws are coming out but I feel okay" really explains that transformation. Maybe in hindsight it's a personal explanation of myself, but that would only my subconscious talking. I never intended it to be about me, but maybe it is.
OBF: What do you love and hate about writing?
Tony MP: I love the outcome and some of the things I do to get into the mood. For instance, sitting in the woods while slightly afraid of what's in the night and literally things just spew out on paper. Maybe because I want to get the hell out of there, or maybe just from sheer inspiration. Things that usually frustrate me are either hitting a writer’s block or when I write the lyrics and they don't fit the music well.
OBF: When do you expect the album to be released?
Tony MP: We are initially trying to keep the release date a secret of sorts, mainly to help build anticipation, but to give a hint, it's a "new" record and it took us a "year" to complete. Hint hint.
Tony MP: Initially we were going to record an EP with the material we had. Since half of the songs were pop and the other half was darker and more dreary we decided to cater to the idea that the record has this sort of sun/moon feel, which are subjects I reference in the lyrics. We took our time with the recording, constantly going over things and making them better.
OBF: What is the album about?
Tony MP: That's definitely a hard question to answer, mainly because it’s a concept record. It's all about one subject, but from multiple directions. If you're familiar with the episode of The Twilight Zone where the girl has reconstructive face surgery and they take the bandages off and she's a beautiful woman but all the doctors react as if she's a monster; but when the camera pans out, they're, in fact, the monsters. A sort of beauty is in the eye of the beholder, sort of blind perspective. More or less, the record is about a man who goes through these outward changes and is shunned by everyone around him. Not because his inward personality changed, but because his outward appearance became appalling to what the antagonist considered the norm. Specifically the song "The Wolf's Den" there is a line "I'm foaming at the mouth but I feel okay, yeah my claws are coming out but I feel okay" really explains that transformation. Maybe in hindsight it's a personal explanation of myself, but that would only my subconscious talking. I never intended it to be about me, but maybe it is.
OBF: What do you love and hate about writing?
Tony MP: I love the outcome and some of the things I do to get into the mood. For instance, sitting in the woods while slightly afraid of what's in the night and literally things just spew out on paper. Maybe because I want to get the hell out of there, or maybe just from sheer inspiration. Things that usually frustrate me are either hitting a writer’s block or when I write the lyrics and they don't fit the music well.
OBF: When do you expect the album to be released?
Tony MP: We are initially trying to keep the release date a secret of sorts, mainly to help build anticipation, but to give a hint, it's a "new" record and it took us a "year" to complete. Hint hint.
 Studio Jim Stewart 2014 | "it’s a concept record. It's all about one subject, but from multiple directions." |
All Right to Cellar Door OBF: Tell us about your summer in the Cleveland Music Scene?
Tony MP: Our summer was awesome! We had a lot of new opportunities, like signing with the local label Cellardoor. Also, getting a chance to play a couple festivals really helped spread the word about our band. Definitely the Fashion meets Music festival. It was cool to drive down to Columbus and see the whole town celebrating great music. Not to mention we had the opportunity to play at The Brothers Drake which offered fantastic mead.
OBF: How do you think this album develops MP as an artist?
Tony MP: I really feel like it helped us expand our interests. We delved into things we weren't really used to, which helped us create some things we weren't actually sure we were capable of. But in order to understand that you'll have to listen to the record.
OBF: How have you grown as MP since your debut album?
Tony MP: We are definitely tighter as a band, and our live show has progressed greatly since our last record. I think we all collectively know our individual role better, too. Sometimes when writing we'd have that feel of "too many cooks in the kitchen" and learned to back off when either of us wasn't needed.
Catch Midnight Passenger at The Beachland Ballroom Dec 5th, 2014 for Ottawa EP Release Show
Show at 8:30pm tickets are $10.00 adv / $12.00 door All Ages.
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Find Midnight Passenger
Bandcamp
Faceboo.com/Midnightpassenger
Twitter.com/mpchirps
Youtube.com/midnightpassenger
Booking Contact
CellarDoor
Bandcamp
Faceboo.com/Midnightpassenger
Twitter.com/mpchirps
Youtube.com/midnightpassenger
Booking Contact
CellarDoor
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