Date at Midnight aus Rom sind vielen von Euch mittlerweile mehr als nur bekannt. Die vier Italienischen Musiker haben sich seit ihrer Gründung 2007 mit ihrem eingängigen Sound und Realo-Texten im Alternative – Gothic – Post-Punk Bereich, fest in die Gehörgänge der schwarzen Szene eingenistet. Nun geben sich die Vollblutmusiker am 01.07.2017 auf dem ehrenwerten und über die Landesgrenzen hinaus bekannten und beliebten OWLs`n` Bats Festival in Detmold die Ehre. Wir baten die vier Künstler um ein kleines Interview. Viel Vergnügen bei diesem aussagekräftigen und amüsanten Statement.
Independent Sounds:
Who is behind Date at Midnight?
Date at Midnight:
Francesco Barone: There’s 4 people, 4 different musicians, who 10 years ago had an date at midnight in a rehearsal room, willing to start a common project.
Daniele De Angelis: There’s 10 years of life, so much effort and four hearts.
Pasquale Vico: a committed bass player, a passionate singer, a stylish guitar player and a banging drummer
INS:
How would you describe your music?
Date at Midnight:
Pasquale Vico: I would say our music is obscure and impacting, while keeping an overall dark and melancholic atmosphere
DDA: It’s a dark room cut from light beams. A room for violence and reflection. Over the years post-punk and deathrock impulses leave room for the surely smoother atmospheres, unique to the new wave.
FB: A blend born by our different musical influences, made of obscure and mysterious but also energetic and psychedelic atmospheres. The result is an original product, though within a traditional dark-wave-post-punk-rock musical layout.
INS:
What´s the special of the Band?
Date at Midnight:
DDA: Do not always be the same
FB: Surely our live attitude, the understanding between us and our different musical influences.
PV: I fully agree with Francesco. We’ve been around for a while right now, and I think that it’s something still very exciting for all of us; a mix of passion and a fair amount of madness.
INS:
What would you like to achieve with your songs?
Date at Midnight:
FB: We are not driven by a goal in particular, but by the desire to express our emotions and to give them life musically, trying, if possible, to convey our enthusiasm even to those who listen to our sound.
PV: every song brings a personal sense of accomplishment and true satisfaction. Pure creativity is the mean and the end.
DDA: We never set a target. There is no intention behind our songs except to free ourselves from our inner turmoil. Too bulky!
INS:
Why did you start making music?
Date at Midnight:
FM: I started because It was the perfect way to express myself, music has always been part of my life and I enjoy playing not only drums but also additional and much different instruments, such as pipe.
DDA: I decided when I was 7 years and saw for the first time Joey Tempest ON TV!
FB: I don’t think that a musician decides to make music. It is rather the music that calls who have a certain kind of sensitivity.
PV: It’s a matter of passion: there’s no life without music, start to play has been a natural consequence
INS:
Which bands had an effect on your creativity?
Date at Midnight:
DDA: All those bands that did not say „I do this“
FM: I like a lot classic darkwave/deathrock bands, metal bends and a fair amount of EBM
FB: According to me, certainly the English psychedelic line (Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, etc..), besides of course the most important dark, wave, post-punk, gothic-rock bands (Joy Division, Cure, etc …)
PV: A wide range, I think that The Cure, U2, Joy Divison and Type O Negative inspired a lot my bass-playing and general musical tastes.
INS:
What kind of music you listen to at home, on the road or by doing sports?
Date at Midnight:
PV: I can say that Nine Inch Nails really help while at the gym! In general, I listen to a lot of bands and I try to attend as much live concerts as I can as I always appreciate the performance behind the sound.
FB: At the moment, I’m basically listening to rock music, jazz-rock and cosmic rock bands.
DDA: new wave and alternative rock usually. But when I cook I like to listen to Italian pop/indie music. It relaxes me and does not poison anybody
FM: basically same as above: classic darkwave/deathrock bands, metal bends and a fair amount of EBM
INS:
Wishes for the future? Which goals you have? What´s the next? Tour? Studio? Something completely different?
Date at Midnight:
FB: We are surely going to continue playing and producing our music, through both live and recording studio activities, trying to get us acquainted with an ever-widening audience.
PV: In the last year we have been quite a lot on the road to present our last album “Songs to fall and forget”, we still have many great gigs both in Italy and abroad and we’re looking forward to them, while we’ve started to work on new materials which for sure will incorporate some new ideas that have been growing up inside of us during the last months.
DDA: To create new stuff adding new ingredients ON our sound. The goal is to be faster!!!!
INS:
A band has to pass many ups and downs. So, what was the absolute highlight in the past and what the bitter low-point?
Date at Midnight:
FB: Like every band, we also had to face ups and downs. I don’t remember a particolar bitter low-point a part from the time our first drummer left the band and we had to find a new drummer that was “the right one”.
Undoubtedly that moment represented a crisis for the band we overcome thanks to our commitment and our strong desire to bring the project forward.
As far as I am concerned, the best and most creative period for the band is the product of the overcoming of that crisis, which gave birth to our latest album, with the contribution of the new drummer Francesco Mignogna, who gave a new force to the band, both at a personal and musical level.
INS:
You makes station on 01.07.2016 in Detmold at the Owls’n’Bats Festival. Did you ever hear of the great location in the Teutoburg forests at the feet of the Hermann Monument?
Date at Midnight:
FB: Yes I have heard about it and I’m looking forward to falling into this magical atmosphere, honored for the great opportunity I had to be part of it.
PV: We are looking very forward to our gig in Detmold, when I saw the pics of Owls ‘n’ Bats Festival’s I felt simply speechless, and the festival renewed for its magic atmosphere; it will be just great to play there, absolutely.
DDA: I watched at some online videos and we look forward to it! I love to play outdoor. Even more if it’s done in an amazing location setting like Teutoburg forests. We love German people and their way to having fun!
INS:
Did you ever played before with one of the other bands of the Owls’n’Bats Festival?
Date at Midnight:
PV: Never, so we’re looking forward also to share the stage with them for the first time.
INS:
What´s the first thought by reading this words:
Date at Midnight:
FB
Music: Life
Childhood: Music
Blockade: Chords
Gig: Royal albert hall
Home: Shelter
PV
Music: Passion
Childhood: Innocence
Blockade: Black
Gig: Dream/drink
Home: Love
DDA
Music: Bowie
Childhood: My grandmother
Blockade: Shit!
Gig: Where is my drink?
Home: Is where the heart is
FM
Music: Noise
Childhood: Melody
Blockade: Food
Gig: Food
Home: Food
Thank you for the little interview.
Independent Sounds 