Midnight Malice to reunite for concert on June 15th more than two years after disbanding
Midnight Malice to reunite for concert on June 15th more than two years after disbanding
Midnight Malice, the architects of the #10 album (Proving Grounds) on the Sleaze Roxx’s Top Ten Albums of 2014, are reuniting for a special show at the Bovine Sex Club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on June 15, 2018.
Sleaze Roxx interviewed Midnight Malice‘s frontman Caleb Beal back in February 2016 after the group played its (at the time) final gig on January 19, 2016. Beal opined as follows about what happened to the band: “Basically, over the years, we’ve had so many changes in the band — members and stuff. Focus just gets lost. We were constantly teaching the same songs to different people. I mean the setlist that we played for the final show was probably not that much different from the setlist that we played for our first show. There was not a lot of new material. We were kind of stuck playing the same stuff. It was kind of getting stale man! We came down after — [Diemonds’ guitarist Daniel] Dekay played with us for the Wacken battle stuff last year. We were back at being a three piece — me. [bassist] Tommy [Gervais] and [drummer] Hunter [Raymond] — and the jams were just not coming out. We were writing songs. We were trying to get stuff done. It was becoming tedious. I just have never been like that and that’s not what I am in it for when I am playing and I am not enjoying it. It’s like everybody was on the same level really. We just haven’t been able to get it back. When I kind of had my moment, we were just jamming and it wasn’t sounding good and that’s why I cancelled the Venom show originally.
I wanted to keep the last show that we were playing — the one from a few weeks ago — because just the opportunity to play with Alex and JJ of Final Trigger. They’re really good friends and we never really had that opportunity. And [long-time Midnight Malice supporter] Craig [Rose] was involved in the show so I agreed to do it. And Brian [Stephenson of Old James] of course who played in Japan with us came back for it and it sounded incredible. There was still something there but I mean, I talked a lot to Craig [Rose] about how I feel about what’s going on and keep him in the loop because he’s done so much for us, you know — like, laying it on the line. I told him how I felt — that I am not into the songs and not enjoying it. When I’m sitting at home writing and playing, I am enjoying writing and playing music. When I was doing something for Malice, it was just becoming this chore of playing these songs that are irrelevant now. I was bound and chained by my past visions. I kind of explained it to him and he just said, “Well. Just stop. Just don’t do anything that you don’t want to do.” He kind of leaned on me just to write and write. Write an album, let’s do it and let’s get things done, you know?”
Rose Management‘s press release on the Facebook page for the show states in part (with slight edits):
“Rose Management presents our Megalith Memoir Series at the legendary Bovine Sex Club in Toronto. Another huge 4 am lets all get wasted Fest!!
MIDNIGHT MALICE – Holy shit did I just read that right?!? How can it be? The long broken up Toronto face punching metal quartet is back? I thought they broke up and everyone went their separate ways??? I mean Caleb Beal started Villain, Hunter Raymond took up vocals behind the drumkit in Head and Christopher Nascimben moved to Mexico and joined Mutank …… Oh look all those bands are on this show.
Where all of this is somewhat true, once all these bands came together for this whooping summer bash it was inevitable that the Board of Directors at Rose Management sat down with the guys and discussed getting the band back together for little set of tasty classics from the Proving Grounds album.
HEAD, Hunter‘s band of earthly melodic fuzz and co-gender vocals … To the Cliff
https://www.facebook.com/
Villain, Caleb‘s power trio with bench pressing rhythms and I plead guilty your honour vocals
https://www.facebook.com/
MUTANK, Chris‘ band of banditos….. actually pretty sure Chris joined this already functioning thrashtastic 4 piece from our favourite french province east of Ontario.
Cellphone, a true inspiration of what a heavy band should, could and can be.”
Midnight Malice‘s “In The Dead Of The Night” song:
MIDNIGHT MALICE – IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT
MIDNIGHT MALICE IN THE DEAD OF THE NIGHT. From the Album PROVING GROUNDS.TORONTO’S OWN BAD BOYS OF METALcreditsreleased 24 January 2014CALEB BEAL – lead guit…