Exclusive Interview and Music Review with Midnight Gold

Midnight Gold are a four-piece alternative rock band, hailing from Royal Oak, MI. They formed in 2013, and after a few initial personnel changes, landed upon their current name, having previously called themselves The Thrown. Musically, they combine elements of classic rock with more modern, alternative rock in a similar manner to Kings Of Leon and The White Stripes, whom they cite as influences.

This track, Penny, is featured on their five-track E.P. Late Night Out, which was released in March this year.. It is a good indicator of their sound, the song starting with a slinky low-end guitar riff before switching to a more strident Led Zep-style riff on the verse. Alex DeFrenza’s authentic lead vocals immediately captivate, with a voice that sounds accustomed to the rock ‘n roll lifestyle, gravelly and raw.

The success of a rock band hinges a lot on whether the singer can cut it, and DeFrenza can hold his own against the likes of Jack White and Caleb Followill. The other thing you need, of course, is great songs, and this track’s simple but catchy ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah!’ chorus soon latches in the mind. Lyrically, it’s classic rock ‘n roll fare about a femme fatale, with some sassy lines: “Penny’s got a vampire side…looking for a man she can take for a ride…”, and the pay-off: “Give me the money and drugs, none of that kissin’ and love….”.

Overall, this is a highly promising first release from a band who understand that, above all else, rock should be entertaining and enjoyable. They are all good musicians, and the build-up in the middle section hints at a band with musical ambitions beyond the three-minute song, but this is a good place to start out. From here they need to get an album’s worth of material, hit the road hard, and build up the big fanbase that they deserve. Definitely a band to watch.

By Alex Faulkner

I’m 34 and a freelance music journalist, as well as a composer and producer. I’ve written reviews for UK newspapers and music websites. I run my own blog, reviewing the best new bands and artists . I’m very passionate and knowledgeable about music and that shows in my writing.

Radio Play via Exposed Vocals Broadcast Partners. 

Listen to “Penny” being played all month on U.K’s Phoenix 98.0 FM in Essex

Listen to “Penny” being played on KISS 104.7 FM in the U.S 

Exclusive Interview: 

Exposed Vocals: How did you hear about Exposed Vocals? What made you decide to sign up?

We were searching for ways to get out songs heard by a large audience, and came across your promotional deals and thought it would be great exposure.

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

We all grew up in the Metro Detroit area.  Alex and Jeff played in various bands throughout high school and college, but in those bands they were primarily playing different instruments!  Alex started off playing exclusively bass in bands in a range of genres from jazz to funk to rock.  Jeff was playing exclusively keys in the emo/punk genre.  After their respective bands broke up they both ended up picking up guitar and began writing their own music.  Everyone in this band has always been very into music, in a wide range of genres, with aspirations to one day perform our own music!

Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?

Our band was a continuation of a previous band “The Thrown” that Alex, Jeff, and Blake were all a part of.  We always hated when telling people that name we had to spell it out “R-O-W-N, not O-N-E”, so when we were continuing on from the ashes of “The Thrown” we decided to create an original name with totally unambiguous spelling!  After much debate, and late night drinking sessions “Midnight Gold” felt right, and most importantly there is only one way to spell it.

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

Our goal is to have as many people as possible hear our music.  We are incredibly proud of how our EP “Late Night Out” came out, and want people to hear it anyway possible.  We truly believe that if people hear our music they will enjoy it, so we try to spread our music through as many avenues as possible.  We have our music on Itunes, Amazon, CD baby, and pressed copy for purchase, but also have free streaming (and download if you’re really committed!) on Soundcloud and Youtube, but if our music found its way to ThePirateBay we wouldn’t mind, that just means people are downloading it!

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

No, we are hoping someone will give us those tips!  But in all seriousness we are still early on, but have played a lot of different gigs in a variety of places.  My biggest advice is to push your music as much as possible.  We contacted every bar with a stage and sent our music in hopes that we are the right fit.  The biggest tip I can give is that if a bar takes a chance on you for you to play at their venue you gotta give a hell of a show and ensure that bar is asking you to play again in the future.

Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

Laugh it off and keep going, there is a pretty good chance the audience didn’t notice!

Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?

We have not yet toured.  We are trying to build a broad fanbase before hitting the road, that way when we hit the road we have fans waiting and excited to hear our music!

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

 Alex and Jeff are the two song writers for the band.  At first Alex’s songs were relatable stories, but since has developed songwriting based on life experience, usually based on the ups and downs of his lovelife.  Jeff writes from a similiar view point with most of his songs revolving around the women in his life.  Both Alex and Jeff start with the guitar part first, then a vocal melody comes to mind, then once the song structure and melody is built the words are written to fit.  For some songs (such as Penny) Alex and Jeff collaborate on the writing process, but they usually take turns on who’s written song to work on next as a band.

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?

We do!  Shameless plug: Midnightgoldband.com  We have our music on Soundcloud, Youtube, ReverbNation, iTunes, Spotify, CD Baby, and Amazon.  The links to every way to find our music is on our website.

Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?

Each of us are weirdly proud of the music we keep on our MP3 players, but some of the ones we find embarrasing on one anothers MP3 players are: Savage Garden, Limp Bizkit, Cascada, Nickelback, Creed, Aaron Carter, and Avril Levine

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

Make a epic $500,000 music video and spend the other 364 days living in a box

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

We just got done recording our EP “Late Night Out” at Sound Scape Studios in Royal Oak.  We are also recording four more songs with a friend who is a student at Michigan Institute of Art for music production!

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

We promote our music at every live show, we make sure mention our website and all of the ways to find our music.  We also promote through Twitter and Facebook.  We have also had some success promoting through some of the music subreddits on Reddit.

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

First ever concert held on the moon with the ghosts of Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, and Jimi Hendrix, and the living non-ghost Red Hot Chili Peppers.  Because we are all huge fans of their music, and are very influenced by them.  And who wouldn’t want to play a concert on the moon?

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

We are currently in the studio making four songs for free, as the final project for our friend who is a music production student.  We are planning on creating our first full length album in the fall!

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

For the time being all of us each have day jobs. So I guess if we were’nt making music we’d still have those jobs, but just have nothing awesome to look forward to after work.

Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?

Alex’s first CD was Green Day Dookie, but he doesn’t remember buying it.  But he did have to sing the tune of “Flagpole Sitta” to the Sam Goody employee to get their album when he couldn’t remember their name or song title.

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

We have a lot of late night practices, and tired mornings…

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2015?

 If everything goes right they can look forward to our first full length album in 2015, and hopefully see us playing live at one of many venues!