MIDNIGHT DANGER - 'The Man behind the mask' | An Interview
Few are the Synthwave Artists that have a character arc, fewer still are the Artists that offer a feast for the senses, simply put there's no one like 'Midnight Danger'.
The dark theatrics and opaque intoxication that thrive in each of his releases are not lost on to someone who has followed his career with great interest since 'Darkness Approaches' released in 2016.
His performances to date have been somewhat legendary, and with the varied stages he's played dressed like his own visual hell-scape the crowd know as the lights go down and the opening note abides they are in for something they daren't forget!
With the recent release of his eagerly awaited new album 'Chapter 2: Endless Nightmare' I was super excited that Midnight Danger agreed to chat about all things from his personal netherworld. Take a look....
So, tell us a little more about how ‘Midnight Danger’ came to be?
I started Midnight Danger in 2015 after I moved to Sweden. Back then I was already into
Synthwave for a couple of years but didn’t have any plans of making Midnight Danger a big
project in my life. I was just so in love with the nostalgia Synthwave gives me and wanted to
learn and try to produce one song. That was my goal at the time, finishing one song and
hopefully seeing it in one of those classic mashup videos people create with footage from
80's movies.
The first single turned out great and got a very good response. I sent it to the
New RetroWave channel just to see what would happen and I was very surprised when I got
an almost immediate answer and the song was posted on the channel the following week. I
became more excited with Midnight Danger, produced a second single which got an even
better feedback and after that I was invited to join a few album compilations, a couple of
video game soundtracks and then little by little MD was becoming more important in my life.
It was when I played my first live gig, supporting Dance with the Dead in Stockholm (2017)
that it became clear that MD was not only a serious project but also the main project in my life.
What is your creative process like? Which comes first lyric or melody?
Well, Midnight Danger is 100% instrumental except for some remixes and covers. It’s on the
plans to have some guest singers on an E.P or so and then I’ll obviously have to come up
with lyrics etc. So my creative process usually starts with melodies, but sometimes I start
with the beat and a standard bass line. Something simple just to get the tempo and then I
start with everything else, maybe the pads, maybe the arpeggiator. Most importantly my
creative process starts with the mood I’m in, and that can come from movies I’m watching,
songs I’m listening to, or seeing live gigs, going out for a walk or something. Problem is
when I’m out of home and come up with a cool idea lol
Of your entire discography which track are you most proud of to date?
It’s very hard to answer that, specially because when I release an album I see it as a whole
thing, I can’t choose one. I could say that my first track Evil Night could be the one, because
it was the very first song I produced and I started with practically zero knowledge. But then it
sounds like I’m not as proud of anything that came after it lol
For other reasons I’m equally proud of “The Eyes of Darkness” from the new album, which
was a very hard song to produce due to the amount of elements going on simultaneously.
It’s one of the most explosive songs of Midnight Danger.
But really, I believe I’m very proud of everything I released so far, I make sure to release
only tracks I’m 100% happy with.
If you could change anything about the music industry what would it be? Why?
I believe that many (if not most) people in the industry are still failing to understand that there
are more and more artists building a career as independent artists or at least they take care
of some parts of their career independently - like bookings, or press for example. And sadly
it is still very usual that many people in the business, from agents, to promoters, to media
and so on, simply ignore the artists when they are reached by the artists themselves. I’ve
been going through this since my first bands, from over a decade ago. In my opinion this is a
big flaw in the industry today. I understand this could have been used as a filter for quality in
the past, but things evolved. Today there’s enough accessible tools for artists to release their
works themselves and manage their own careers, so today you find the same quality and
professionalism in independent artists. I feel lucky to have been working with a good label
and a good booking agent with Midnight Danger, but I would still change that aspect of the
industry if I could.
Who were your musical inspirations growing up?
Michael Jackson was the first! I’ve always been blown away by his music and his
performances since I can remember. I was highly influenced by my dad’s taste in music, so I