Crash Midnight – Dead Aces

By starrymag | September 1, 2023

By: Paige Zinaman

 

Q) How would you describe your sound?

A) Our sound isn’t anything complicated.  It’s pretty straight ahead blues-based hard rock n’ roll.  We have some elements of classic 70’s and early 80’s punk in there and probably whatever the fuck we’ve been listening to lately, but that’s what we do.  Living in Las Vegas now has impacted the sound and some of the writing too.  We play whatever we experience so there are some western elements that have crept in maybe more now than they would have if we’d stayed back east as well as some of the different experiences we’ve had in this city.  We’ll pull influence from anything.

Q) Who are some of the band’s musical influences?

A) Everyone probably hears the usual stuff in our sound, the Stones, Aerosmith, Guns N’ Roses, etc.  Lyrically we pull from everywhere though.  I might hear a line or idea I like from Dire Straits or Bob Seger or Leonard Cohen or anywhere really.  The Dead Boys out of Cleveland were a huge influence on us and me in particular.  We actually got to play with Cheetah Chrome here in Vegas.  We did “Sonic Reducer” and “What Love Is,” I think?

Q) Tell us a little bit about how your new single “Dead Aces” originated.  

A) “Dead Aces” was an idea I’d thought up back before we left Boston.  There was this little spot by one of my old apartments that I’d drive by late at night when it was closed and I always thought the sign said “Dead Aces,” but it wasn’t lit up and tough to read.  One time a year or so later I went by during the day and saw it said “Dead Art,” but I really liked the name “Dead Aces,” so I tucked it away.  Once we were out here in Vegas, I kept reading articles from back home about a venue we used to play closing down or some bar we used to hang at all the time shutting its doors.  Then, when guys like Tom Petty and David Bowie passed away, I started thinking of doing a song in homage to all those influential artists and places that had an impact on us.

Q) What kind of response have you already been receiving to the single from fans?

A) This one became a fan favorite really quickly.  We’re really fortunate out here to have a lot of people who keep coming back every show and when those guys kept posting videos of us playing the song and singing it back to us live, we knew we had a good one.

Q) How much of a hand do you have in the production of your music?

A) We have a hand in everything really.  We have an amazing co-producer, Tristan “Rock” Hardin, who has helped us establish a process and comfort working together where we’re able to just churn out song after song that sounds the way we’ve always wanted our records to be.  He’s a big fan of a lot of the bands we’re influenced by so he’s like having a sixth guy in the band that actually knows how to get stuff to translate in the studio.  He even beefs up some backing harmonies himself on a few of our tracks.  It’s cool to be able to work with a good friend like that.  The fact that we record out of one of the best studios in all of North America, The Hideout Recording Studio here in Las Vegas, is something we definitely don’t take for granted.  It’s located about seven minutes down the street from our house, so we don’t even need to get on the highway to get there.  We used to have to take a bus three and a half hours from Boston to New York City to record back in the day so It’s amazing to have this right down the street.

Q) I love that Shaun once described “Dead Aces” as, “something dedicated to where we come from through the lens of where we are now.” Is it always in the back of your minds with any song that you write that you honor your roots?

A) I think it depends on the song, really.  “Dead Aces” happens to be about a lot of stuff that influenced us back in Boston so that’s a big element of that song.  Songs like “Another Day in Hell” or the new one we’re working on “Strung Out On Sunset” are both about experiences we had in LA so it just depends.

Q) What is the message you hope listeners take away from “Dead Aces” or just your music in general?

A) I don’t think there’s a specific message in “Dead Aces” like, “Hey there, stay in school kids” or something like that.  We write about shit that happens to us or our perspective on something so hopefully people can get an understanding of where we’re coming from and who we are from that.  “Dead Aces” is a big sendoff to a lot of things that impacted us, especially in the early days, looking back on those times.  Maybe people have some of those things in their own lives and they take something from that.

Q) Will there be a full album or EP coming in the near future by chance?

A) Our plan has always been to release eight singles and then wrap them all together into an LP and then release another eight and do the same thing.  “Dead Aces” is the eighth of those singles so we’re going to be working on remixing all those tracks, so they sound cohesive on an album and then putting that out at some point, hopefully soon.  The damn artwork is already done at least.

 

Q) What I love about music and your band is that it’s unique, universal and brings people together. Because of that what has been a favorite memory you can recall from your musical career?

A) We’ve gotten to do a lot of cool things over the years.  Since moving to Vegas we’ve played with some great bands – Tesla, LA Guns, Buckcherry, Quiet Riot and a bunch of others – that’s been something we’ve loved about living out here.   For me, right now though, it’s been getting this band to a place where we don’t have to answer to anyone anymore.  We were always reliant on some manager or label or something to fund the next thing or create the next opportunity.  We do it all ourselves now and the stuff we’re putting out and shows we’re doing are bigger and better than anything we did back then when we had other people dictating our success.  I don’t know if that really counts as any specific memory, but I do remember looking around a few years ago and us realizing we’d gotten ourselves to this point and that anything we did from here on out was completely on our terms from the music we put out to the opportunities we take. Fuck, at one point they were trying to convince us to do some shitty song with Lil’ Wayne. I’m really glad we’re in a position where we don’t ever have to consider that kind of thing again.

Q) You have a show coming up on September 2nd with Puddle of Mudd. What can audiences expect from this show? What songs are still your favorites to perform?

A) We’re going to play a similar set to the one we just did with Gilby Clarke.  It was a lot of fun, some really cool covers mixed in there and just straight ahead, no breaks.  We’d been working on booking this show right before the world shut down there a few years ago and now it’s finally happening so we’ve had a bit of time to prepare, you could say.  Brooklyn Bowl is awesome.  They always take such great care of us and our good friend Max McAndrew books the place.  He’s gotten us on a ton of killer shows there, like the one we did a few months back with Buckcherry.  We’re going to come at this night like we’ve been waiting years for it, since we pretty much have been.

Q) Who would you love to collaborate with on a song in the future?

A) I’ve done some writing with some very cool artists, a few bigger guys from the late-70’s and 80’s that I can’t really talk about until the stuff comes out, but it’s been a lot of fun.  As cool as that is, I just love writing with the other four guys in this band.  They all bring something special to the process and the longer we’ve been together, the faster these songs gel.  They’re all really impressive in their own right, so getting all of them together into one room makes some very cool stuff happen.

 

Q) What would you like to say to the fans and supporters of your music?

A) First off, thanks for sticking with us through all the eras and shit of this band.  We have people still keeping in touch with us that were there when we were kids in the mid 2000’s – some of them still have our first t-shirt.  All the people back home in Boston who helped us launch there, our huge support in Las Vegas and especially everyone that travels from all over the world to come see us here in Sin City.  We have a ton more coming for all you guys here as we roll into 2024.  There are so many songs we’ve already started recording and a lot more we’re finishing writing right now.  You can stay on top of everything going on with the band and where you can catch us next on our socials and crashmidnight.com…and buy a damn t-shirt!

 

 

 

All Questions Answered By Lead Vocalist Shaun Soho