Help!

Midnight Mob like most unsigned bands are poor.  We all work day jobs to keep this band afloat and moving forward.  We do not have any secret financial backing. After the day job its practice, show, promo appearance, support other bands etc...  Then we take off from the day job to tour around the country to make more $ to pour into this mad creation of ours and to promote our band name.  There's is so much work involved. By no means is this a pity party thing, we love what we do and will do it to the very end. BUT we do need our fans to help promote us to get  Midnight Mob's name out there.  Anything you can do to help is much appreciated.  One of the easiest ways least time consuming ways is through Facebook!

We have done a tremendous amount of research on how Facebook works this year and we have found the following. We'll keep it as simple & painless as possible. Here it goes...  Facebook uses a secret algorithm to rank posts as which ones should be seen in the news feed of the people that liked your page.  For example Midnight Mob has close to 7K likes, which means we have the opportunity with any given post to reach 7K fans, but we all know maybe on a good day 700 are reached.  So the other 6,300 never see our facebook content!!!  Which means not everyone is being informed of updates, shows & events etc...

Facebook ranks your posts based on likes, comments and shares.  Some people like to interact on Facebook so they will see our posts and some people just want the news and updates, but because they don't interact they won't be informed.  Here's what you can do to help us! Visit our page from time to time like, comment and share something and that's it!

There are also 2 work arounds to make sure you see 100% of our posts or any pages posts as well, without having to interact on Facebook.  First like our page, that was obvious, then hover the mouse over the like button and click "Get Notifications".  In addition, subscribe to our interest list we created which includes 9 other local NYC bands we play with when we're home. Click here for the interest list: https://www.facebook.com/lists/3438456737477.  In order to find the interest after you subscribe click the "Home" tab when you sign on then scroll down the left side and click the interest list.

Try it out! Peace!

What's Going On! & Subscriber Exclusive

So here's the deal! We have been getting lots of questions regarding the band's current status.  People have been asking if everything is alright is the band breaking up, basically "What's Going On".  Lets put it this way losing a member sucks, it's taking a huge ass wrench and throwing it in the gears with a can of silly string. Once again paying homage to a previous blog, stuff happens.  There's no one way to deal with it other than put your head down and deal with it.  If you believe in it they will come.  We have to be patient young grasshoppers. Not going to lie at a given moment we have all felt that moment of doubt.  Sitting in purgatory is unsettling and frustrating.  These moments though, always find a way to dissipate. When your instruments ring out together it brings it all back to focus.

Current Status!
We are still currently trying drummers out and some look much more promising than others, but in the end we will have someone that fits the Midnight Mob mold and hopefully you will all be into having a new member.  We are being very picky with our selection on many different levels. It's all about quality and the cons being workable. Since we do not have a permanent drummer at the moment we have been filling our time with demoing lots of new material using drum machines and some of the drummers we're trying out. Lets face it you might play the previously material fine, but is there chemistry with the new material and do songwriting styles mesh.  We also bought a new HD camera to create more content you all can enjoy!

OPPORTUNITY:
In regards to the new material we want our fans to have the opportunity to be a part of the creative process. Email us a personal story of yours that you would like to have used as the lyrical influence for a new song. These stories can be serious or silly in nature.  If you would also like, give us creative direction as far as if you would like it to be heavy, bluesy, ballady etc.. Our intention is to give credit to the individuals whose story we used on the physical copies of the cd.  IMPORTANT: In order for your story to be considered you must subscribe to our email list www.MidnightMob.Fanbridge.com and use the subscriber secret email account (account will be in every newsletter).  Blackey will read all the stories and use the ones she connects with.  We are really excited to working with all of you!

Peace!





Don't worry we have plenty more gas in the tank. Keep you updated!

Black Moon Tribune

For those of you new to the "Black Moon Tribune", these are our newsletters and unfortunately we have not been able to be consistent with sending newsletters out.  We have so much on our shoulders since everything is basically DIY that these newsletters fall through the cracks sometimes. Going forward we are committing ourselves to sending a newsletter out once a month.  The only time an additional newsletter might be sent out is if something ultra important comes up.

What can you expect in our newsletter?!  Our newsletter is aimed to only our subscribers, which we have acquired from all over the country as well as outside of the US! We want our subscribers to be the first to have the opportunity to download new Mp3's, view new official video, read news, take advantage of merchandise discounts, reminded of upcoming events and be apart of subscriber exclusives.  Also feel free to share your exclusive newsletter with others and have others possibly sign up!  The more the merrier! Our goal is to hit 1000 subscribers by the new year and we are so close.

The most important function of all as a subscriber is to provide us feedback on anything you may see or hear. As a subscriber you are our extra eyes and ears regarding everything we do whether its a live show you saw us at or post on Facebook.  Maybe you stumbled across an event that would really help us and you want us to look into it, critique music, videos, photos, maybe you want us to play your B-day etc...  We value your opinions just as much as if not more than any professional and rightfully so because honestly fans allow us to do what we are passionate about. You are our 6th member and we are asking you for any help you can provide.

As the one the first relaunching exclusives we have set up a secret subscriber email account to field all of your feedback.  This account will not be placed publicly anywhere.  Possibly might set up an exclusive secret Facebook Group as well.  What do you think? Express yourself!

See emailed newsletter for secret exclusive subscriber email account!  More exclusives to come! Thank you so much for taking the time out to sign up!!! Peace, Love, Swag N Roll....

See blog

Catastrophe's Last Stand

Friday August 30th was probably one of the most fun shows we've had in a while. "Revolution" had a sick line up of bands, PACKED with new faces, many amazing friends and family members. The evening was a little bitter sweet being it was Catastrophe's last show with us. While on stage I couldn't stop thinking about how we started out and how far we came together. Three out of five of us were never in a band before. We have different personalities, likes/dislikes and played a show to an empty room with carpets soaked in toilet water and poop because of bathroom pipe malfunctions. I would never have even sang if Mike hadn't asked me to try to do back ups for a side project.

I was a total brat that kicked, screamed, dragged out, and needed cue cards to remember when to come in on different songs. I'm really amazed how we managed to stay together over the years and came to be a family. I know Mike grew as much as he could in the band. It was just his time to journey on and leave the nest. It's easy to be angry with these things. I know it was a wake up call in a BIG way to step it up in the band. Mike was my brother and it's hard thinking of doing this without him. This experience had made me into the person I am, challenging every thought I had about myself and the world around me in the best way. You never know what your made of unless you just go for it. Five years ago I stuck my fingers in my ears, shut my eyes, started wailing and prayed for the best. I hope when chances come that you go with it and realize you are braver than you think. Take a big old slice of humble pie, do whatever you can to not make excuses or wait for someone else to step up. It's an amazing experience to play for everyone, hang with friends, meet fans and other bands that have inspired us. Midnight Mob will continue to go forth on our journey to rock your socks. Even though a great chapter in our journey has finished, I cant wait to see where we'll be next.

The next chapter starts with writing, recording and rehearsing all of our new material, which we will make available audio/video to our fan list subscribers to be apart of along side of us.  We have so many new ideas that we are currently sifting through.  The new material sounds awesome in its beginning stages and we can't wait to share it and hear your feedback. If you are not subscribed click here www.MidnightMob.Fanbridge.com. More on subscribers participating in our new material next blog.

- Blackey DP

Show Cancellations

Dear friends,

I am deeply sorry about having to cancel our tour this weekend. The health of  my absolutely amazing Grandfather was rapidly declining and I felt the need to be with my family. I want to thank all the venues, promoters and friends that go out of their way for us, come out to our shows, believe in us, their support and understanding. Midnight Mob rarely cancels anything. I promise we will make it up to you by rocking some socks off when we come back soon! Along with some new Midnight tunes!

Love,
Blackey DP

CBGB Festival 2013 Discount Badges through Midnight Mob!!!

CBGB Festival - October 9-13, 2013

Everyone likes a little friendly competition, right? Today we are proud to announce the CBGB Festival Social Media Contest! It’s important to the CBGB Festival and to our Music Showcase that we both do as much social media promotion as possible and work as partners. We want you to help us promote the Festival and our Music Showcase online, 24/7, on every social media site you are connected with. At the end of the next 6 weeks,  the CBGB Festival will look at our online promotion and we may win some amazing prizes / rewards to offer!

Besides the great promotional prizes there's a way for every Band/Artist to share in the sales of our “Festival Badges/Tickets”. YOU can purchase “Festival Badges/Tickets” online at the www.CBGB.com

When purchasing the “Festival Badges/Tickets”, write MIDNIGHT MOB in the “Add special instructions for your order” section, you get 20% off of the Badges sales!!  All shows have single ticket purchases available at the venue as well.

HERE IS THE AMAZING PART: The 2 BANDS/ARTISTS who motivate their fan base to purchase the most “Festival Badges/Tickets” at CBGB.com will get a chance to perform a fifteen minute set in TIMES SQUARE on October 12 on one of the two Main Stages!! We cannot say who is performing right now (major announcement around September 12) but they all are great well known bands! 

Social Media Activity Prizes

Below are some of the prizes Midnight Mob can win:

1. An Advisory meeting with record company A&R person
2. An Advisory meeting with an agent about touring
3. Free Consultation - one on one with industry lawyer
4. Guaranteed Artist Showcase at the next CBGB Festival
5. An extra showcase this year in the event band drops out/cancels
6. VIP Access (limit 4) for Times Square event on October 12th
7. 4 tickets to the Premiere of CBGB: The Movie on Tuesday, October 8
8. Classic, Iconic CBGB T-Shirts
9. One CBGB Official Festival Banner
10. Autographed DVD copy of CBGB movie

Winners will be chosen at the discretion of the CBGB Festival no later than October 9th.

CBGB Festival 2013 Social Media:

Facebook: CBGB OMFUG

CBGB Festival Badge Link: cbgb.com/badges.php

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/cbgb

Instagram: CBGBandOMFUG

Tumblr: CBGBFest.tumblr.com

Twitter: @CBGBFEST #CBGBFEST

NEWS: Where Do We Go From Here...

As you may have noticed our social networks have been very quiet for the past 2 weeks due to the recent news of Catastrophe leaving.

Midnight Mob has been together for about 4.5 years now with pretty much the same line up. You can read more detail regarding our bio in an earlier post.  Many bands have various drastic lineup changes through this time period, but we have been fortunate enough to keep the same lineup for so long.  Eventually something has to change.  For some bands it's losing band members, for others it's a dramatic stylistic change, some bands might change locations etc...  For us it was Catastrophe, our drummer, a founding member, deciding another path.  If anyone is interested in his reasons and what adventure he has planned next feel free to contact him.  In the end there is absolutely no hard feelings and we wish him all the best.  He was extremely unselfish with his decision and we completely respect that.  Catastrophe will be playing all shows booked in August with his ultimate finale at Revolution, Amityville NY where our 3rd show ever was at.  At that time the venue was called Ollie's Point.

We have received many questions since the news went public.  So here's the official response.  Our mantra is 101 Deathproof and we still fly that flag more proudly than ever.  This year has been a year of amazing response and at the same time massive adversity.  In February we totaled our tour van, the Ironbear.  This summer we lost our trailer on our way to Chicago and not long after we lost a founding member.  S*** happens and the show must go on. We have a new van, Glenn Vanzig, and a new bunch of songs will be recorded towards the end of the year.

Before purchasing a new trailer we need a new drummer.  If anyone is interested in joining please contact us for more information.  You can contact us via email, facebook and/or phone.  Our practice location is Syosset, NY at Carly's Silly Moon Saloon.  As new a new member your first task will be recording new music, a quick trip to AL and/or our show scheduled at Frightfest in September.

Peace out Moblins!

Farewell...

Mobsters,

        It is with a heavy heart that I am announcing my exit from Midnight Mob. I have many fond memories and have been truly blessed to have been able to share my sweat, blood and tears with all of you for so long. I wanted to take this opportunity to sincerely thank everyone that has supported us since our inception. It is with this in mind that I would like to humbly invite all of you to what is currently scheduled to be my last show performing with with the group: August, 30th at Revolution in Amityville, NY. I hope to see you there.


Peace and Love,

Mikey C.

Squeeze Thoughts ... "What is IT"

So you want to be in a band… Awesome! I love it myself! Now decide what you would like out of this band. So many responses could have resulted from this first of many self-questions. The survey says... (in no particular order): I want chicks… to be popular… to be famous… to have a cool job …to sign boobs etc… Others may say to change my career… to pursue my passion… to welcome a new challenge…to make extra money on the weekends… to enjoy my hobby... to do what makes me happy etc… You’re probably thinking I’m about to take a side somewhere in all that, but that’s impossible because everyone is entitled to rock for any reason under the sun and it’s none of anyone’s business but your own. At the same time you may join a band for one reason and later pursue it or drop it for another.  Not a surprise there, we’re all human and shit happens in our life that will shape our current existence and lead you on new path to another unknown outcome.  Either path will be complete with all the fixings: adversity, good fortunes, mixed feelings, cloud 9 and the ultimate ending non existence (morbid, but the best way I can think of putting it).  What I will elaborate on is: If you join an original band to make “it”. The “it” seems to be what breaks bands up or leads to personnel changes, which may ultimately make the band stronger or weaker.  Each member might have a different "it", which will dictate how a band conducts themselves.

How to define “it” is the interesting yet ridiculously complicated part because whatever “it” is to you can possibly seep into other reasons to aid or poison maybe create a hybrid, which in turn creates a gray perspective. Ok so enough of the psych text book jargon onto the delicious meat we all love to put sauce and bread too.  I have decided to write this blog because Midnight Mob has had the opportunity to meet hundreds of bands all over the country and some international.  I have been able to see firsthand how bands like ours conduct themselves and you can see many personal rifts in certain band situations or just question other bands methods, some better some worse.  It seems that most of these original musicians who are in “it” to make it choose fame, money and the like as their “it”. 

Fame and money is a bonus bi product or maybe a curse pending the individual, but honestly it has been proven that the bands with massive staying power… that wrote classic songs that will never die… that create huge social movements … that created careers are bands who’s “it” is basically just an extreme love and passion for music whether listening, writing or finding ways to be around it.  Music is the reward.  This drive is a relentless horrible cel phone ring you can’t ignore. Eventually you can't help but to pick up and there's a lovely voice on the other side asking you to go on a suicide mission to Mordor for some reason you don't quite understand. Which in return you say, “Those odds are good enough for me, lets go!".  Knowing that even if a herd of magical unicorns found you and your band mates, and you rode them over a glistening rainbow to a land of milk, honey, gold, unending pans of lasagna, mermaids, tea time with Nessie and yes bigfoot there’s a massive possibility you will never be allowed to take your blindfold off to partake in all this mythological goodness (yes, unicorns are known for kidnapping- if only we were so lucky. What do you think Dio's "Rainbow in the Dark" was written about?).

Now to my eventual point, which was an adventure in itself to get here, so if you can't bring yourself to proceed you either don't get my sense of humour or you don't care.  I mean why else wouldn't you proceed.  If you’re current mindset is serious with your band then buckle down put on your knee pads, eat, breath, live and die by this band. You will not be discovered at a show and wake up a millionaire, you will not have a top 10 hit when you finish you’re recording and wake up a celebrity, you will not be famous from 20K Facebook likes.  Be prepared to grind this out face down in the mud for a long time, never stop believing in your band and accept the fact that it’s 101% completely in your hands.  It’s up to you and the band to hustle and figure it out as a unit.  Welcome to the world of being a record label, PR, marketing, advertising, clothing designer, photoshop expert, fully functional business with no money. Either accept the challenge with all your mind & soul fully charged up & hungry to the 9's or try something else. Whatever you choose is cool as long your 101% behind it.

There is absolutely no room for laziness if you want to make “it”. So hike up your dress put your hands in cow shi* and grow a f'n carrot.  Never forget that if you do reach big foot's cabin in the woods the only reason you found his ultra secretive abode is because individuals out there believed in your cause.  They could have put their hard earned money their attention into anything else, but they chose you. And they chose you because they can see you are genuinely putting everything you have into it (Where the f*** do you think great music comes from?).  Hardwork = great product = awesome!  Without a worthwhile product you might as well show everyone you can tight rope walk between two buildings blind folded without a safety net juggling seals that are twirling plates on sticks holding unpinned hand grenades. Be creative, educate yourself, don’t be a di*k and listen.  Be humble be inquisitive be open.  You should be honored someone put down their beer and discarded their spouse to take interest in your band. If you’re not going to work to grab "it" someone else will, it’s the nature of the beast.

All of our pots of “gold” could be right around the corner.  Maybe it's a thousand times bigger now than finding a much smaller one banking on shortcuts.  “All we need is a little patience and we'll eventually get into Abe Lincoln's head (Ren & Stimpy reference). 

Your Favorite BS Artist
-Squeeze

The Moblins! Are Calling...

Big thank you to Gretchen for the new group name suggestion! From reading our previous post in regards to beginning an official Midnight Mob group you probably know what the group is about, but if you don't here's a quick synopsis!  The open group is called "The Moblins! Are Calling...  It is an open group which means anyone can find it and check it out before joining.

Purpose:
We wanted to create an open social forum for all the people we have met along the way to interact freely with each other, common bond being Midnight Mob but also individual interests.  We have had great experiences and conversations with everyone, but not everyone can fit in Glenn Danzig and partake in the festivities.  Basically come to our bif ass meet and greet party and lets talk about stuff. It's a way to introduce people from all over the country and outside the country to meet and share common interests. We encourage everyone to post links, pictures, advertise bands, videos, let us know what you're thinking in addition to anything Mob related.

We will be posting all of our fan intereaction page goodies here going forward as well.  So if you want to see all sorts of pictures video etc... you're going to want to join the group.  Our page will become more of our store front advertising shows and merchandise as well as our contact with promoters, opportunities etc...  It would be great to have everything in one spot, but unfortunately your posts are constantly hidden on our page and we want everyone to see them plus we don't want to miss anything.  In our group all posts will be immediately visible to all other members. It's kind of a more interactive chat room.

We will also be uploading all sorts of promotional material which you can use however you see fit. This will include all sorts of posters, logos, html code, videos etc...  How about this to get you started! Your first post in the group can be about how you found Midnight Mob. Everyone has one of those stories.  Even Spydyr has one of those.  He found us in a gay/lesbian bar, which he wasn't allowed in, funny story.

Thank you for all your support and lets have this fire burn out of control!!! Click the link for the official Midnight Mob group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheMoblins/


Afterparty at Donna's Place!!!

AWESOME WEEKEND!

Oh man, this weekend's tour was great! First night we played  in Leesburg VA for our good friend Toby with the "Balls Bluff" crowd. The actual Balls Bluff got bought over by yuppies :( so the show got moved to this seafood restaurant. I actually dined there a few months back and we rocked out right where I ate. I think they should consider making that place for metal fine dining. Big thank you to Carly and Toby for taking care of us and putting us with some awesome bands. TOBY YOUR AWESOME!

Friday we played in Chapel Hill, NC at a place called "The Cave". We ate some RIDICULOUS Mexican then Rocked out. The place was tiny but man, OH MAN were those people lively. Awesome first experience! We had the pleasure of getting put up that night by our friend Crystal and her family. Thank you Sooo much. Your all incredible people and we are very grateful :)

Saturday night was AMAZING! We returned to melt the faces of our good friends at "The Chop Shop" in NC. Seriously, to all bands reading this, you MUST message these guys and try to get a show. The staff is fantastic, the sound is incredible, has a great rock lovin crowd, and they can truly put a great bill together. We had the pleasure of sharing the stage with "Shot Silk", killer female fronted band that really leaves a pint of blood on stage, and "21st Century Goliath", those boys really nailed the whole " we don't mess again, about messing around" party sunset strip sound. KILLER performance. Big thank you to everyone that returned to see us from our last show and Kyle Monstrosity for making that trip. Adam Bailey also popped in from GA to add some finishing touches on a little live video he started making us. If any bands need a great music video contact him at "I Believe in Adam Bailey". Big thank you to the venue, once again, for all their generous kindness and hospitality. Any band is lucky to play your club<3
Four hours till we get back to Strong Island to scrub the blood, sweat, and rock stench off our behinds!
Xoxo
Blackey D.P.

Midnight Mob Group Name Needed!!!

Midnight Mob would like to start a Midnight Mob Open Group for everyone interested to participate in. 

The purpose of the group would be to bring our friends/fans together to meet & interact. Our buddies from IN might find a lot in common with a fan GA, Mexico and or the UK! We encourage everyone to share their experiences meeting us, hanging out, the show itself, pics, videos, talk about the other bands on our shows and maybe suggest their friend's bands to check out. Talk about anything really, it would be like attending our BBQ. Feel free to organize an event with members of the group as well, get in touch with us prior to coming to your city and we can do lunch or something prior to the show, recommend places to eat and hangout in certain cities. SO MANY POSSIBILITIES!

We would also like to hear opinions of what members of the group would like to see more or less of. Give us opinions with merchandise, music, tour requests. If you are an artist and would like to do up a design for us to possibly use or you want other members of the group to check it out, show it. Overall a FB party for fans of Midnight Mob.

We will also be uploading promotional material to the group so that members interested can download & use. This will be anything from html code, QR codes, show posters, music/video, links etc...

The issue at the moment is that we need a name for the group to ultimately create logo for and merchandise for.

HELP! Any suggestions for a name? POST ALL SUGGESTIONS ON OUR FB PAGE. MANY HAVE ALREADY BEEN POSTED. In addition, "Midnight" and "Mob" do not have to be involved. You can use a song title and/or lyric as well.

(PS: If we choose your name you will have your choice of free merchandise or free admittance to a show. We can figure something out.)

Chicago or Bear!

Recently we made our first trip to IN and IL.  It was also our first time hitching our trailer to our 15 passenger, Glenn Vanzig.  Two days prior the hitch was installed, trailer fit perfectly and all of the electric worked.  Did I say two days ahead of time?! This is unheard of in Midnight Mob time. Normally it's all last minute and something goes wrong delaying everything for hours.  This time we're actually ahead of schedule. Wednesday rolls around and the band gets together to do a final rehearsal before we leave.  The rehearsal was necessary because we just threw in two additional transitions to screw around with and we needed to test it out.  SO at 11:30PM we're packed up and we head west.  It's always exciting going to a new venue a new part of the country a new adventure.  There's always a new something or other.  This time for us it was ultra serious.

The drive was extremely scenic heading to Muncie, IN to play the venue Be Here Now.  There's all sorts of roads going through mountains, rolling green hills and lightening so close I had static in my pants. Close to 9 hours in our buddy Anthony has to take a dump.  We take the closest exit with a gas station sign and park.  As we're parked to locals separate of each other pointed out that we are missing the bearing of one of the trailer tires.  The funny thing is that every time we stopped I walked to the trailer and checked everything out to make sure there weren't any issues. I have never done that before and for whatever reason I felt compelled to look every time, which in the end didn't do anything because I never observed the missing bearing.  The bearing doesn't look like a big deal, but it is.  Basically what could have happened was the bottom of the trailer, wheels/axel, could have fallen off and we would have been in deep shit.  Either stranded in the middle of nowhere and/or worse in another accident.  Neither happened luckily and we can thank St. Anthony for his blessed poop.  The other crazy thing was that I parked the trailer the opposite way at the gas station, the trailer technically should have been parked the other way with the missing bearing facing no mans land instead of the gas pumps where everyone was at. Everything happens for a reason I guess and hopefully there's a damn good reason.  Lesson learned: maintain the trailer as well as your vehicle, don't take it for granted.

O no the story doesn't stop there that would be too easy, we just scratched the surface.  The two locals said we were damn lucky we pulled over where we did because there happens to be a Napa Auto Parts store, a trailer lot and a mechanic seconds down the road.

Stop 1 "Napa".  Napa was located between a drive in liquor and a taxidermy shop.  We walk into Napa, point to our van and ask for a bearing.  The salesman tells us that 99% chance he has the part, but he wouldn't know what to give us.  He pointed us to the mechanic across the street.

Stop 2 "The Mechanics".  We find the mechanics and tell them our story.  Between spitting tobacco they agree to look at our trailer.  After a while we get the diagnosis, which is our trailer is shot and a danger to all.  A menace of the road! One of the mechanics said he would buy it off us for $100 to rebuild it so he can flip it.  We said we would think about it and asked for other options. The mechanics said there's a uhaul if we wanted to rent a trailer. They said it was next to Napa.  None of us remember seeing a uhaul, but we gave them a call anyway and to our luck they had the perfect sized trailer for us.  We drive over and we couldn't locate the uhaul until we noticed some trailers behind the taxidermy shop.

Stop 3 "The Uhaul Taxidermist". Catastrophe and I walk into the taxidermy shop and we are greeted by a zebra, bear, birds and other assorted animals, full bodies, heads etc... We follow a voice of someone that works there and find ourselves in the uhaul office which is the taxidermist's workstation.  While he smoked his cigarette and began the paperwork I petted a giant bear, what else could I really do. It was so damn soft. I mean I understand now the whole hibernation thing.  A fur to a bear is your most comfortable blanket at home on the couch accomplishing nothing but reveling in your own slackery laziness of nap food and lay.  At this time we're relieved because there's actually a trailer available in the middle of scratch my ass OH.  Relief was short lived because we were mislead and the trailer was already to be picked up the following morning by someone.  Back to square one, but there's always a way out! We can just buy a new trailer at the lot next the mechanic!

Stop 4 "The Trailer Lot:". The lot was open, but no salesman could be found. It didn't matter because the only one trailer our size available was in bad condition.

Stop 5 "The Mechanics".  Finally the inevitable solution, sell the trailer, dump a bench, dump the dolly and pack the rest of the equipment in the back of the van along with all of our personal luggage.  No more leg room or any personal space.  We were now confined to knees to the back of the bench and sleeping straight up with our heads cocked to one side.  We've done this plenty of times and it is what it is.

Shit goes wrong on the road. It's as much a part of the adventure as meeting lots of strangers, sleeping in weird places and making good friends. If a new band is reading this the one thing you should take from it is: This can happen to you very easily and you have to keep an even head and optimistic attitude.  You'll get through it somehow someway. Look on the bright side it makes for a good story.

(PS: We made it to Muncie in time, played a great show and Catastrophe realized his catastrophe. He didn't pack any underwear. That saga continued the following day which included a walk through Ball State campus)

Peace!

-Squeeze

Wello Corporation & Pepsi Corporation

This is a little story that any unsigned band should find interesting. It's a real example why you never should under estimate any show and that no matter what the situation always play like its the last.

Last year we were booked at the Bitter End in NYC.  We were immediately greeted by very unfriendly staff and bands playing were avg age of 15 super pop fun for the whole family type stuff.  So instantly our impression was o shit this sucks, but our attitude changed to fuck it lets open up with Overdrive and send people running.  We didn't open up with Overdrive but we played much louder, Blackey screamed her throat and tables people were sitting at were rocked upon.  After a song or two literally three quarters of the venue left, which was entertaining. One of the people that stayed and throughly enjoyed our set was Dondeena Bradley VP of Pepsi Co Nutrition.

We hung out with Ms. Bradley for the night and she asked if we were interested in working with her.  We said sure, but more often than not we figured we would never hear from her again. Low and behold she was in touch with us that week and shortly afterwards commissioned to do music for Wello Women. The end product was Rise Up.  When Wello heard Rise Up there were mixed reviews.  People liked it, but it was too intense for the campaign and as a result Rise Up acoustic was recorded, which is total left field sounding stuff from us.

If you're on the mailing list then you have received a free download of the acoustic version.  Let us know what you think!

Facebook Page: "I'll show you mine if you show me yours"

What we want to do on our page is find out about more of your likes, dislikes and/or turn each other on to new music.  The schedule we want to try out is the following:

Monday - Metal Mondays
Post your favorite metal videos. When we say metal it's any genre of metal: old/modern/nu/rap metal etc... It's whatever you define metal as. Lets leave it general so we get a variety of bands.

Tuesday -

Wednesday - Worst music videos? Where are they now? Who are they? Wednesday's
Post what you think are the worst music videos, some forgotten videos, your favorite local bands and/or obscure bands

Thursday - "The" Bands Thursdays
Post videos by bands whose band names start with "The". The Ramones, The Damned, The Rolling Stones etc...

Friday - Fan Question Fridays
Expect any questions to be answered and random Q&A to be shared

All videos posted will be shared by us on our page for all to be seen. We're so curious what you're all rockin in your headphones or just find entertaining.  All comments welcome!

Dewey Beach Music Fest

Last year we had the awesome experience of playing the Dewey Beach Music Fest located at Dewey Beach, DE. The best way to describe this 3 day festival is that it's a mini south by southwest on the beach. Vikki Walls is responsible for putting this event together and she does it to the 9's!

In a nutshell its a gathering of unsigned talent from all over the country to play roughly 3 venues which in total have about 8 to 10 stages between them. In addition, to all the bands playing many industry professionals are also in attendance to give seminars and answer questions.  Such professionals include the masterminds of Reverbnation, various photographers, A&R representatives, cinematographers, radio etc...  Bands have a weekend to network and get to know each of these individuals.

This event is also a great way to meet other bands to network with bands that are from different parts of the country. We became good friends with The Ragers (Cleveland,OH) last summer through this event and you may have seen The Ragers with us at Trash Bar earlier this year.  Each band that plays this event also receives a free sign for their band sponsored by bud light, tons of free swag, vodka snow cones and a free 2-3 hour all you can eat and drink on the beach.  It was absolutely amazing how well the festival took care of the bands.  Then at the end of the night a majority of the bands stayed in the hotel across the street and it became animal house. Spydyr threw some furniture into the pool from the 3rd floor, Squeeze attacked people in a giant white swan in his underwear and then the owner of the hotel had enough.  Unfortunately we were only there for one day, but this year we are staying the weekend crashing with all our friends.  Anyone can attend for small cover.  So come down this year and hang with all the bands for the weekend. Peace!

Here's a view from the event!

 

New Website

If your reading this then you have stumbled across our new website or gained a sneek peek through our mailing list. Welcome to the new official Midnight Mob website. We hope you find it easy to navigate and entertaining as well. There have been a number of upgrades in comparison to the original website.  Press play on the Silly Moon Saloon player and browse the sight while listening to music clips and our off topic nonsense. All in all our goal was to create a true, simple, clean one stop shop for all that is Midnight Mob.

The first addition is our blog, which we actually began last July, but did not make public until now. Our blog doubles as our news feed as well. So check in periodically for updates, stories and personal insight.

Some other fun media additions are Blackey's welcome video and Carly's Silly Moon Saloon radio show which is found in the bottom right hand corner. We are entertaining the idea of making this a biweekly or monthly episode with us interviewing other bands. Let us know what you think.
We also included our Fan Questions page so everyone can read all Q&A and submit questions of their own in a nice large prominent display.  Currently there are around 100 questions answered.

You may also notice the "Radio" button.  This connects you to our Midnight Mob radio station through Jango.  Its a free service similar to Pandora. You can customize the station yourself as well.  The "MP3's" button will bring you to our download store located at cdbaby.com.

For those who are interested in how our songs, videos, pix, booking etc... gets done click the credits/affiliations button. We also supplied contact info if you're interested in certain things.
Let us know what you think! Peace!

Hip Rock Magazine Q&A

Hip Rock Magazine, www.hiprockmagazine.com (click on the magazine cover to get to the issue and then click on Midnight Mob), recently did a little Q&A with us. Here's the direct link to just the Midnight Mob portion, http://www.hiprockmagazine.com/#%21midnight-mob/chl.

Enjoy!

Midnight Mob UK

Hey there Rock N Rollers! We have some exciting news. STP Records in the UK, http://www.stprecords.co.uk/,  have taken notice of Midnight Mob and will be releasing a limited edition UK CD titled "These Days".  These release will have full packaging and bar code.  If this limited edition CD goes over well we could be booking some shows over in England in 2014 maybe even winter 2013.  All artwork has been approved and recently placed into production. Checkout the artwork and tracklisting:

 

 

New Music?!

Yes, finally we will debuting some new material in 2013 as early as May. The goal is to do preproduction in the summer and possibly begin recording in the summer latest fall. Then hopefully closing out recording late fall early winter. You don't have to wait until fall to hear the material though because working versions will be mixed into our live shows. We have a bunch of shows already confirmed so check the calendar.

We have done some demoing recently and if the new material keeps going the way it started this will blow our other material away. All we can describe it for now is "groovy as f***".

Glenn Vanzig!!!

So you all know by now that our previous van the Iron Bear has been retired, but of course never forgotten. The Iron Bear was a bad ass van filled with our first touring memories, but we must press on, Never Say Die. A few weeks ago our new van was purchased, Glenn Vanzig! We have already done a run to DE, MA and VA with Glenn.

Mr. Vanzig comes with a few small but awesome upgrades, which will make travel a little bit more comfortable. We also have brought over the spirit of the Iron Bear in the form of a little sack and a dream catcher, which once dangled from the Iron Bear's rearview mirror. The only thing missing at the moment is Paul Stanley and Dougie. If you have seen either contact US.

Be on the lookout for Glenn Vanzig in your area soon. Glenn loves to take pictures with everyone.

Iron Bear Met His Match

Our mode of transportation for the last 3.5 years has been the silver beast we have dubbed the Iron Bear.  It's a 2007 Ford 15 Passenger E350 XLT and has been a saint all this time.  Unfortunately on 2/23/13 between 3 and 3:30AM the Iron Bear suffered irreversible damage just south of Albany in the town of Selkirk. 

On Friday 2/22/13 we  played a show in Albany with our new buddies Mordwolf.  At this show we made new buddies with the opening band, Slaughterhouse Choir. Mordwolf is like a high energy  Misfits/Motorhead cocktail while Slaughterhouse is a shot of metal Trail of the Dead meets Supersuckers.  Anyways Chris from Slaughterhouse offered his place to crash at for the night before heading down to Philly, which was awesome.  All in all an extremely normal night. Less than a minute from Chris's house I, Squeeze, fell asleep at the wheel just enough where we side swiped a tree and went off into a small ditch of this one lane road surrounded by houses.  Upon impact I immediately awoke with glass shattering everywhere and utter confusion.  Two seconds before me and Carly were in conversation.  It was such an unbelievable situation. How can this happen? Why? Is everyone ok? A million questions rush into your head.

So this is how the remaining hours played out.  The impact was on the front passenger side where Spydyr likes to sleep.  His door was jammed shut and the emergency help had to pry the door off to get him out.  Catastrophe wanted to get his leg checked out so him and Spydyr jumped into the ambulence and Blackey stayed with them and rode to the hospital.  Me and Carly stayed behind emptying the equipment out of the van onto the side of the road.  In addition, it was freezing out so me and Carly threw blankets over ourselves to stay warm while loading Chris's car to bring the equipment to his house. Chris had to make multiple trips. In the middle of all this the Iron Bear was dragged away. 

The police officer that oversaw this situation was so nice and extremely helpful.  What ended up happening was that the last speaker cabinet was put in the back seat of the police car.  Carly sat on my lap on the other half of the police car and that's when I learned we were literally around the block from Chris's house.  After all the equipment was loaded into Chris's house we headed to the hospital to check up on Catastrophe and Spydyr and as expected Spydyr was sleeping. We then began organizing multiple rides to move the equipment from Albany to Long Island.  We were all home with the equipment by 7.

There are so many lessons to be learned from this experience.  I can't help but think everything happens for a reason. If we were destined to total our vehicle this would have been the most ideal situation.  No one was injured, no property damage, no arrests and we actually made $2K on the total loss. I can't impress on people enough that being in a touring band is dangerous.  You are constantly putting yourself in not the best situations.  You do this because you have to because you want to succeed bad enough because the rewards are worth it because you're up for the challenge because you love your band/music and everything that comes with it.  But don't think it can't end in one not so good decision.  But you can do things to help yourself out.

1. Be street smart: Drugs are never free on the street and don't loan a stranger money
2. Don't chill with strangers in their car in the middle of nowhere especially after you see a trunk of guns and beer
3. Don't take a room/ride from a stranger after they open the door and fast food and empty beer cans fall out of it
4. Keep an eye on the local weirdos in the bar, don't feel weird telling them not to touch your equipment
5. Stay together. Bandmates shouldn't be dissapearing  by themselves in bumblefuck NC
6. GET SLEEP! Choose someone to be first driver when leaving the venue if you really have to make time on the road, otherwise, bring blankets and just sleep in the car.  It might be uncomfortable but would you rather wake up dead
7. Listen to suggestions of the locals. If they tell you not to travel certain roads or stay out of certain areas then stay out. Zombie apocalypse gas stations in the woods not cool!
8. Stay low key. If you have to stop in a weird area to gas up or get some food. Make it quick and don't be obnoxious. You're outnumbered.
9. If people ask you to makeout with their significant other in front of them. Just don't.
10. Introduce yourself and be cool with everyone in the venue and you will have respect and a personal bodyguard
11. Drinking and rocking is great, BUT: drinking, drinking, drinking, drinking, strip club, drinking, strip club, rocking = f'ed up ankle for the rest of the tour
12. If a homeless person harrases you for handouts when you're trying to sleep in the van give candy. Snacks are just as important as money

BAND CODE!!! (In all seriousness take these points and understand them because all sorts of shit comes up when touring. Touring is fun until hospitals and police get involved.)

Mikey Catastrophe: Sick Again Contest!

A fun fact that some of you may not know is that I, Mikey Catastrophe in my other life work with "At Risk/In Need Youth". This is a second passion of mine, and it can be very rewarding. Not only do I get to help "yuts" (as Vinny would say), but I often get to re-live my past. Just this week I got to play Basketball and Soccer, look at picture books and watch "Finding Nemo". Now I ask you what could be more rock n' roll then an afternoon of "Finding Nemo"? Well maybe the "Lion King". However one thing that can be taken for granted when working with children K-12, is one's own health. I currently am going stir crazy and missing practice at home with Strep Throat. Yes that right you silly rabbit, Strep isn't just for kids. Now here is Catastrophe's trivia question for you. If you look very closely at some of our recent tour photos you will see that I am stricken with DOUBLE PINK EYE! Here is your hint, the pictures are from New Jersey, they are not included on our new Album cover, and we are returning the venue soon for a very special occasion for the man who took the photos. If you are the first one to post one of these pictures and tag it with #SickAgainContest, I believe I have a tour used cymbal I convince the gang to sign and ship to you!

Yours Truly in Rock,

Mikey C.

Midnight Mob's photostream

Midnight Mob's photostream on Flickr.

So many pictures!!! So many more!!!

Thank You!!!

Thank You!!!

Whether you are new to Midnight Mob or you’ve been slumming it with us since 2009 at D.J. Riders. Where we drank cheap beer, watched “Howard the Duck” and blasted Type O/Pantera till 4am on Wednesday nights. We would like to thank our friends, families, merch peeps, road crew, people that let us crash on their property somewhere, food, “the greatest guitar player in the world”, friends from NYC, NJ, and Philly, toothless bartenders, first time strippers, photographers, promoters & venue owners that have believed in us. To all the bands, you guys have been our greatest, friends, teachers, and inspirations through the years. We love you and what you’re about. It means the world to have you play with us and offer help.

The past 4 yrs have been life changing, between getting to know all of you,myself and my bandmates. We have managed to write, record, promote, tour despite many obstacles and total lack of experience (3/5 of the mob).  And of course thank you Ironbear for being the sturdiest most dependable form of transportation and hotel room as well as keeping Dougie under control! We apologize for the grime, but you are more than good under the hood.  We have so much planned for this upcoming year and can't wait to share it with all of you.