A Midnight Slam
An Interview with Al Baca of Midnight To Twelve
Interview Date: May, 2008
Midnight to Twelve is about to burst onto the music scene with their self-titled debut release due out on July 22nd. They've already spent the last few years fighting it out in the trenches and incredibly sold 13,000 records without the support of a label. The new album, produced by Sylvia Massy Shivy, sounds amazing, and will be a real treat for fans.
Type 3 Media: The past few months have been an exciting time for you. How does it feel?
Al Baca: It's a whole new feeling. When we first started touring several years ago there were moments when you'd play in front of 3 people, or 5 people, or 10 people. The amalgamation of everything that we've been working for comes out on July 22nd. There's this sense of urgency in the air to get in front of 3 people, 5 people, 100 people, 1000 people, and let them all know that everything we've worked on to this point, July 22nd you can have. Every city, we're just getting on stage and doing it. So there is this real sense of urgency about what we're doing. We couldn't want to be anywhere else than where we're at right now.
T3M: You seem to be very appreciative of your fan base. Before signing with Koch Records you sold 13,000 records independently. That's quite an accomplishment. How were you able to do that?
AB: You nailed it. We're very close with our fans. They're really more like friends. Everywhere across the country my phone will ring. At our shows, we always include them. It's not just them looking at us. We're very grateful to them. Over a very short few years we were able to move that many units just out of the trailer by being personal with our friends and fans. Not to mention that we would stay on the road for ten months out of the year, on the complete hustle. It's a huge accomplishment for us, and friends and fan alike are part of this accomplishment, because without them we wouldn't be in the position we're in today. So they've made it possible along with us. We feel like it's a huge team effort.
T3M: Many people may be familiar with your song "Slam" which was featured on the television show "One Tree Hill." Since then you've gone back into the studio to record an entire new album. What's the new music like?
AB: We're definitely taking it to the next level. We were in the studio with Sylvia Massy Shivy. Her resume is enormous from Johnny Cash to Tool to System of a Down... the list goes on. She really is able to bring out and capture our sound. The challenge we always have is that everyone always loves the live show better. We could never get anybody to capture our sound that was representative of what people experience live. So when we got her, we just said "here's our challenge", everyone likes us better live than anything we've ever demoed or put out, and we want our record to be reflective of that. She said "play." We played a whole show for her right there in her studio. She heard it and said "I get it." We said "that's what we want to capture." We feel like she captured it. She's phenomenal and it really comes through on the CD.
T3M: Being familiar with the producer must have been comforting when you went back into the studio. what did you find different about the recording process this time around.
AB: I think you really hit it there that we're familiar with her. I do some producing on the side along with Sylvia. So we've had a relationship for a couple of years that we've really built. Getting to the studio is like getting to home. it's a familiar place for us. the band and she have such a great chemistry. So it doesn't feel like work. To be there with someone of her caliber is exciting. It's like being in a dream with your best friend. That's probably the best way I can describe it. You get there and you're joking around, and then you're serious, but it's all with the person you want to do it with. For us, it's just the greatest experience to work with her. And I think that it shows, when you have that genuine joy, that passion and excitement, and all these emotions in the moment of the thing that is going to be the tangible item of everything we've worked for. It really comes across. Other time we've worked on demos and stuff like that, and you get there but there's not a relationship with the person. They're just trying to get that product out. She genuinely believes in who we are and what we do. So we're all working on this great team effort to deliver the best product that we can, and I think that is what people will hear when they hear the CD.
| 05.21.2008 | Interview by J. Pierson |