It may or may not have been too visible to the mainstream eye, but before the pandemic age paused life’s mighty pour, there was a a bit of a resurgence in throwback glam metal making its way across the land. Tracii Guns and Phil Lewis buried the hatchet somewhere other than their own backs to reform the true n’ proper L.A. Guns; BulletBoys reassembled their classic-era lineup for a full-scale tour smooth up in ya faces; and RATT got some national attention with ’80s hair nation staple “Round And Round” soundtracking a GEICO commercial. Meanwhile, Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe were set to tour stadiums, and Faster Pussycat were probably gonna play your town, no matter where you live in the Lower 48. But it wasn’t all nostalgia wrapped in leather jackets and bad decisions: Here in Boston, Cruel Miracle revved up their motorcycles for a sizzling throwback rock record, and out in Las Vegas, the bluesy bastards of Crash Midnight rode their own wave to both Sin City’s penthouse suites and back alley cathouses.
Today (March 5), Crash Midnight drop a new single called “Killing Time,” and it finds the former Boston band adding an inspired sunrise to their Sunset Strip sound. The new jam sounds like it should blast out of the tape reels of a black transparent cassette while you’re waiting for Headbangers Ball to come on; it’s a wave of riffs, adrenaline, and swagger that marks another new era for Shaun Soho and the boys, who got the rebirth they needed after relocating out to Vegas a few years ago.
Following last year’s razorsharp “Don’t Need Your Advice,” which hit Number 4 on Spotify’s Hard Rock Playlist, “”Killing Time” is the first of four singles on the way in 2021, with Crash Midnight finally acquiring the rights to their decade-long back catalog, culminating in this past December’s self-release of debut album Lost In The City. “Killing Time,” recorded at producer Kevin Churko’s Hideout Recording Studio in Vegas, is billed as a scathing retort to all the snakes out in the world trying to take advantage of others, and given all that Crash Midnight have endured over the years behind the scenes and in the boardrooms, it’s hard to not read into its sting.
“It’s a sentiment I think a lot of people can relate to and our message to some of the self-aggrandizing sycophants we’ve had try to dig their claws into us over the years,” says Soho. “When you’re in a relationship of any kind — business or romantic — with a parasite of that level, there’s a lot of resentment and emotion that builds up and ‘Killing Time’ really stabs to the heart of that.”
To celebrate “Killing Time,” Crash Midnight are doing anything but. Fresh off postponing a slate of gigs due to the pandemic, the band hits Fremont Country Club Saturday night (March 6) to play a full set of new and familiars, livestreamed via Backstage Bar & Billiards’ BBB TV series. It gets started around 8 p.m. on the East Coast. Crank up the tune and tune in this weekend.
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