Crash Midnight are the premier band in Las Vegas. Their song “Blackout” was played at the golden knights games, they’ve headlined their own shows to packed audiences, they even have their own signature cocktail served in sin city. We here at The Rockpit caught up with frontman Shaun Soho to talk about their latest single “Dead Aces” as well as upcoming plans.
Rob: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us here at The Rockpit, It’s great to catch back up with you.
Shaun: Great talking with you again man.
Rob: Thanks! You guys have a new single “Dead Aces” that just came out and I gotta say this song is absolutely killer! Our editor Mark loved it as well. For me this is easily one of the best rock songs I’ve heard this year and it’s really got everything you could want in a good rock n roll song. In our last interview you said this song is one of the ones you wrote after moving to Vegas, how long has this one been in the works?
Shaun: It’s got kind of a winding story behind it. I came up with the name way back in Boston by misreading a sign on what I thought was a bar near my old apartment. I thought for ages that it was called “Dead Aces” but when I finally got a good look at it, not only was it not a bar, it was a crafting store called Dead Art haha!
But I still loved the name so I carried it with me to Vegas and ended up using it for this song about all our influences (both artistic and liquid).
Rob: That’s awesome hahaha! it sounds like it could be a bar name in Vegas.
Shaun: Hey if I ever open a bar, that name is at the top of the list.
Rob: How do songs come together for you guys? Does everyone contribute ideas or are there primary songwriters in the band?
Shaun: Usually I get the initial idea or direction and bring something rough to the guys. Then they take that and mangle it all around until it ends up sounding completely different and that’s pretty much our sound. It’s cool cause everyone puts a little bit of their stamp on everything.
Rob: I think “Dead Aces” is a song that really showcases your sound extremely well, the vibe of it reminds me of a good live show at a cool rock n roll venue. There’s no pretense about it, it’s just straight up, Kick ass rock n roll. Where does this one rank for you in terms of favorites of your newer material?
Shaun: Aces has been steadily becoming a fan favorite since we started introducing it to the set. I really dig the heavy sort of outlaw western vibe it has. It’s a fun one live so it’s definitely up there with one of the best of our recent songs. It actually has a cool little example of one of the things each guy brings to the table.
Rob: How so?
Shaun: Our drummer, Mitchell, just came up with a quick galloping drum part right before the last revolution of the outro as a bit of a nod to an Aerosmith move and the western influence, Sort of the same thing Aerosmith does in Train Kept A Rollin, which we used to cover actually.
Rob: The Aerosmith influence shows, I get a little early Guns N’ Roses vibe as well.
Shaun: Yeah the lyrics are all very swaggery punk style, That’s one of my favorite parts about the song is that it’s got this western heavy sound with punky lyrics playing through it.
Rob: Punk, Blues, and Hard Rock historically go extremely well together but I don’t see as many bands combining those genres like you guys do. It’s always a cool mix, it feels more street level.
Shaun: It’s one of the reasons we started this band. There just didn’t seem to be anyone making this kind of music so we were like, fuck it, we’ll do it.
Rob: You’ve been releasing your new songs digitally on a track by track basis as opposed to the traditional way of releasing a couple of singles before a whole record, what for you is the benefit of releasing music this way?
Shaun: Streaming has really taken the incentive out of releasing an album. So few people are listening to albums fromp start to finish anymore that, for us, it negates the point. Especially when we can get an entire promotion cycle out of releasing each single.
We also found that fans like getting new tracks so often so putting out around 4 new singles a year keeps the pace steady and gives our fans something new to check out all the time.
It also lets us really concentrate on each single so there’s never any “filler” releases. If a song isn’t coming together yet, we don’t have to just release it like we might on an album deadline. We can table that song until it’s right and release a different single.
Rob: That definitely makes sense in todays market and definitely for the creative satisfaction of a band. Are there plans to eventually release it all as an album and if so, Do you have an official date in mind for a physical release of the album?
Shaun: That’s the plan – to take our last 8 singles, including “Dead Aces” and roll them into an album release. We have all the artwork and everything done. We just need to get with our co-producer, Tristan, and get them all remixed a bit to sound cohesive on the album.
Rob: Is there a chance it’ll get a vinyl release?
Shaun: Oh definitely. I have a record collection of over 1000 albums, most of which I got from my late uncle. We want to get our debut album “Lost In The City” and this 2nd album on vinyl eventually.
Rob: I was actually going to ask about that, I have the CD and it’s missing “Roxy” which is one of my favorite songs you guys have done.
Shaun: Oh that’s a whole other shitshow. So you have the original release of Lost In The City from our previous label, We were able to buy back the rights to that album and re-record all the songs to release ourselves.
When we released it, we dropped “Take It” off the album for a bunch of reasons. The lyrics were originally cobbled together to feature a guest artist on it and then that got scrapped.
So we had a cool riff, but lyrics that were meant to go with something else. I eventually re-wrote all they lyrics and melody into what became “Killing Time” – which actually is our number one streamed song on Spotify right now.
Rob: Who was going to be the guest on that song?
Shaun: Lil’ Wayne actually. Our old label had a lot of hip hop connections and wanted us to try to do a modern version of the Run DMC/Aerosmith collaboration, But Wayne just gave us this collection of like 5 or 6 lines to use as a random guest verse and to be honest I hated the idea all around.
I went back and spent a ton of time picking out words he used in that section he gave us and cobbling together verses where I could have those words or phrases he said dropped in, Basically making it so his stuff would jump in and out of the song all the way through. But then his label wanted an insane amount of money from what they originally proposed after he went to jail so the whole thing of using him was scrapped. For the better.
We released the song without any of his material, It just was kind of a compromised product all around so when we had the chance to replace it with “Roxy” for our release we took it.
Rob: I’m not a big hip hop fan so I’m glad it turned out the way it did, you guys are great as you are in my opinion.
Shaun: I’m with you. I’m really not into hip hop at all, especially nowadays.
Rob: Your new songs are next level stuff, The first record is great but these new songs are all a whole other level. The playing, the production, everything.
Shaun: Appreciate that. I think we’ve hit a groove now with our production process, Tristan knows exactly what we’re going for and how to get it. The way we’ve gotten our writing process together with this constant stream of singles has helped make the songs themselves some pretty solid material before we ever step into the studio.
Rob: Las Vegas really embodies the whole spectrum of the rock n roll lifestyle, People from all over the world come there to give in to their vices and the city doesn’t hide that it has everything you could want. How has your experience of it been in comparison to Boston and how has that environment impacted your music?
Shaun: Yeah everything is a different feel. Back in Boston, there’s a grit to that city and definitely more of a streetwise attitude. Vegas has the wild west thing going on and I mean that from cowboys to an anything goes mentality. I think it’s definitely opened up a lot of directions for us in our sound as well as inspiration from our experiences in Sin City and L.A. by extension.
The west coast has a totally different feel and it’s cool that we’ve been able to experience two fairly distinct and separate eras with this band now.
Rob: It’s really cool how the city has embraced you guys and your music, For a long time rock music was struggling down there with the city so focused on EDM shows. How was it as a band starting out there after moving from Boston and when did you see things really taking off for your band?
Shaun: So, similar to the situation we were in back in Boston, We were the only band doing this in both cities when we started out. Boston never really got a scene going for this sound while we were there, but Vegas actually has started to build with a bunch of bands getting into that harder blues rock and punk inspired sound over the last few years. But yeah when we first got here, we couldn’t find many decent fits to open for us. There just wasn’t much of anything. Now we have a bunch of friends in other bands. I wouldn’t say they’re doing the same thing, but they definitely are rock n roll.
Rob: That’s great to hear, having lived there I always found it strange that in a city that exemplifies the lifestyle the way Las Vegas does, There really wasn’t anyone from there outside of Slaughter who was playing rock n roll.
Shaun: We made friends with a handful of people in other bands, Actually a few that were in cover bands, and from us all hanging out they started their own things that eventually became solid opening acts for us.
Rob: Sounds like you guys are inspiring a scene, I like to think “Blackout” helped drive the golden knights to victory as well.
Shaun: We love the Knights. That was such a cool thing to see this year.
Rob: You guys have opened for some great bands, who was the most fun to share a stage with?
Shaun: Tesla was absolutely fantastic and we’ve played with LA Guns a few times now. I love their show too, They still go at it like they’re kids.
Rob: L.A. Guns are killing it since Phil and Tracii reunited, I missed your show with them by a day sadly. But for me they are the most musically consistent band of their era and the best one of their era I’ve seen live.
Shaun: I agree. They’ve put out some great stuff over their last few albums, That “Flood Is The Fault Of The Rain” is badass.
Rob: That’s one of my favorites, their new record has some really good playing on it and Phil has lost nothing vocally.
Shaun: Yeah Phil is great. It’s cool seeing him still giving everything each night after all these years.
Rob: What’s the most memorable show you’ve played in Las Vegas? And why?
Shaun: Man that’s a tough one. We sold out a string of shows right as we were coming out of the shutdown and that was really cool just to see how far we’d come in this city. We also got to play the official re-opening of House Of Blues along with Steel Panther right after that and that was a big honor too. The show we played with Tesla was epic too though, Over 2,300 people packed to the roof in House Of Blues. That was a huge ass audience.
Rob: I bet that was a lot of fun, any great stories about playing with Steel Panther?
Shaun: Michael’s a cool guy. He really dug what we were doing and came by our dressing room before the show to tell me that and just shoot the shit. We actually got a call from Brian Wheat from Tesla after we played together too. Not many of those acts from that era really go crazy and party anymore though so we end up doing enough for the both of us on our own.
Rob: That’s awesome! On the note of your show with Tesla, 2,300 people in that venue is insane! I saw Ville Valo there this year and I couldn’t move it was so packed, I don’t think it was as many as the show you did with Tesla but the floor and bar area were packed.
Shaun: Oh yeah, So they actually have this 3rd level in that place called the OBA Lounge that hardly ever opens and when they added us to the date we had so many of our people looking for tickets that they ended up opening OBA’s 300 capacity and then that sold out too, It was a crazy night.
Rob: What else is going on with Crash Midnight? Are there any music video plans or upcoming shows people can check out? Anything you’d like to announce?
Shaun: Hell yeah. We play Friday July 28th with Gilby Clarke at Vamp’d here in Vegas and we’re just announcing we’ll be back at Brooklyn Bowl September 2nd with Puddle Of Mudd, So those are gonna be great shows. We’re working on another steady string of appearances at our friend Nathan’s place, The Sand Dollar Downtown at the Plaza Hotel & Casino. We’re getting our buddy Gooch from KOMP 92.3 involved with those so that will be a great all around Vegas rock scene event.
We’re circling up on finishing a video for “Dead Aces” Hoping to have that ready to roll early next month. We’re getting pretty close to finishing up our next single “Strung Out On Sunset” too, That one’s gonna be solid track. It’s been a big one for us live too.
Rob: I was hoping that “Dead Aces” would get a video, that’s awesome! Do you have a timeframe for the next singles release?
Shaun: We’re doing our best to stay on that roughly every 3 months schedule, So we’re targeting late October or early November for it.
Rob: I look forward to hearing it and I plan on going to one of your shows eventually. Thanks for your time, It’s always a blast talking with you.
Shaun: We’d love to see you there man! Great talking with you too, I’m sure we’ll be back at it soon enough!
Rob: Hell yeah!
