Interview with Feed After Midnite
What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?
I have always been musical. I remember my parents listened to Micheal Jackson or The Police records on the stereo all the time. I played trumpet as a kid in school, then I switched to electric guitar when I discovered Nirvana. I discovered I was a drummer when I was 15, my friends and I wanted to start a band but we were all guitar players! I seemed to be able to drum better than everyone else, so that's where it started for me. I don’t make a living playing drums. I’m a licensed Electrician with the hopes of one day making music full time. We all are approaching music from the same sort of angle, there’s no such thing as rules when it comes to stuff like this. Marc, Denis and Yvon have been playing music together since 1998 and have played in different incarnations of the band until becoming Feed After Midnite. In 2018, we were given the opportunity to play in a local radio battle of the bands; we recruited former member Dylan to play Bass. The chance to get back on stage re-ignited our passion to be in a band.
What do you like to do when you are not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?
I have found that doing some physical labor or cleaning the house before I sit down to make music usually enhances my creativity. None of us are really full-time musicians, Although we all play our instruments at a professional level we don’t make a living off of music. The band project is mostly self-funded with the largest means to fund recordings is with ticket and merchandise sales. We all really enjoy doing this and wish for it to blossom someday into something full time but recognize you have to do the work to get there.
How long has your band been around?
Feed after Midnite was formed in March 2018. Longtime friends and band members Marc, Denis and Yvon decided to submit a demo they did for a local Battle of the Bands contest and were chosen to play one of the shows. Problem was the guys didn’t really have a band, the song they submitted was only the 3 of them doing all the instruments and vocals. They recruited the singer from their previous band, Gunfighter Pedestrian, to be the vocalist and recruited Dylan DeRepentigny to be on Bass. The show was supposed to be a one off but the guys had such a blast doing it that they just said “let’s start a band”. Yvon(vocals) at the time was the band’s drummer, became the new vocalist as the other vocalist didn’t really fit the style and direction the band wanted to go. The band recruited Dominic Chaumont to be the new drummer. They played their first show as Feed after Midnite in July 2018.
Where are you based and how did that influence your music?
We live in Canada near Ottawa. Ottawa/Gatineau has a fairly vibrant metal scene with local band-type shows happening weekly throughout the various venues. If a large touring band skips Ottawa we’re lucky to be a couple hours drive from Montreal, Qc. In my opinion the metal capital of Canada!!
How did you come up with the name of your band and what does it mean to you?
We had our first show booked but didn’t have a band name yet and the promoter needed a name by the next day. During a break from practice, the band was trying to come up with a name with no luck, looking for inspiration, we looked through books on Marc’s bookshelf, when we found a novel for the movie Gremlins, someone said “don’t feed them after midnight” and we all looked at each other, someone said what about the opposite, Feed after Midnight, we all agreed but decided to change it up a bit with the spelling of Midnite.
Tell me about your most memorable shows.
The biggest gigs so far happened before I joined the band. The boys opened for BUCKCHERRY and then another time opened for BEASTO BLANCO. I anticipate big things to come for us though we have just begun and lately everything has been turning up Milhouse! so to speak for us.
What is your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you have not already?
That’s a tough question! For me it’s probably a tie between The Brass Monkey and The Rainbow Bistro.
For sure we think it would be cool to play all over the US and Europe. Here in Ottawa, we think it would be cool to play at a place like The Bronson Centre or The National Arts Centre or some of the other big theater type places. We’ve played lots locally in Ottawa so we feel it’s time to branch out. We have our sights set on playing an out of town show possibly in Montreal,Kingston or maybe Toronto nothing solid yet we will see. We would love to play an outdoor festival type show like Heavy MTL or RBC Bluesfest or something like that.
If you could play any show with any lineup, who would be on the ticket?
Feed After Midnite opens for Deftones and SoulFly
What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into playing in a band and some advice that you would give to your younger self?
Experience is the best teacher. Record yourself when practicing and performing. You will learn more about what sounds/looks good quicker by watching/listening after the fact. Don’t wait until you think you’re good enough to put yourself out there. You should make music with as many other people as you can.
Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?
The song that means the most to me currently is “Book of the Fallen”. It's one of my favorites because the band had a shared vision of the whole concept and as it came to shape in reality it was even better than we had imagined.
Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?
False Awakening and Out of Time are really fun to play, we always get a good reaction from people because the songs are fairly upbeat and make you want to move. As far as most requested I would have to say it’s a toss-up between a couple cover songs we do live; “My Own Summer” by Deftones or we do a cover of Shadow’s Fall Cover of the Pink Floyd song “ Welcome to the Machine”
What is the creative process for the band, and what inspires you to write your music?
Yvon and really all of the band love all things that are horror or sci-fi related from the 80’s and 90’s, so that's certainly an influence on the themes Yvon writes about. Movie Directors like John Carpenter(They Live), James Cameron(Terminator), Sam Raimi(Evil Dead), George A Romero(Dawn of the Dead) to name a few as well as bands like Faith No more, Deftones, Alice in Chains, Metallica and Killswitch Engage influence our sound as a band. Our songwriting process starts with the music. The majority of our material comes from recordings we make of our improvisational jams. We listen to those recordings and pick out parts that we find inspiring and try to piece them together into a rough structure. Sometimes we are inspired by the recordings to try and take an idea in a certain direction, it’s always a collaborative effort for us. Yvon is responsible for writing the lyrics, he finds inspiration from the sounds and rhythms we create.
What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?
Art is the best when the listener can relate to it emotionally. We like to leave it open and not explain everything that we are thinking to encourage the listener to figure out for themselves. Underpinning all the songs on our new EP “The Hunger” are themes of thinking for yourself rather than just going along with the crowd and the consequences of your actions.
Do you ever have disagreements in your band, and how do you get past them?
Disagreements happen for sure, it’s to be expected when you put 5 guys together in a room and try to work on something you’re passionate about. Good communication and willingness to compromise is really key. I love working on writing songs with these guys so even when we disagree we all know that pushing through to the end is more important than getting hung up on something and not finishing.
What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that is coming up?
This year we have a few things that we would like to accomplish. We’ve played lots locally in Ottawa so we feel it’s time to branch out. We have our sights set on playing an out-of-town show possibly in Montreal, Kingston or maybe Toronto nothing solid yet we will see. We want to release some new music by the fall or winter. We would love to play an outdoor festival-type show, but nothing solid yet. Overall we just want to continue to work on growing our band and enjoy the process!
Check out our new music video for ur song “ False Awakening”
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Music Video - False Awakening -