The Midnight Devils are the latest in a long line of bands that have gravitated to the glam rock side of metal, embracing the music and image of a time gone by and bringing it into the modern age.
Playing what has been dubbed high energy slam boogie woogie rock and roll, The Midnight Devils are brash, confident, and talented enough to possibly spearhead the revival of a genre that appeared to be in its death throes with the departure of Motley Crue.
With the bands latest album under wraps, vocalist and bass player Sam Spade sat down for a casual one on one with HEAVY earlier this week.
"The Midnight Devils are a...,” he measured, “I wanna say the new generation; the new wave of glam rock. We are a three-piece boogie woogie rock and roll band that has been touring constantly for 2.5 years now. We put out our first record in 2018 and everything is DIY, very punk rock but it’s also very glam and very over the top. It’s a party and we dabble in a lot of bands that people grew up on. My favourite band is KISS and we draw a lot of influences from them, Van Halen, The Ramones but still done with heart and soul and power. The way rock and roll should be. Dangerous. Unexpected. Anything can happen. And that's the cool thing, it's exciting `still and it's new and fresh."
While dominating periods of the late 1980’s, glam rock has been a genre of music that has ridden varying waves of popularity. It is not so much a form of music than an encapsulating way of life and Spade says The Midnight Devils are confident of being the band to usher in the new wave of glam rock/metal.
"We're young guys,” he offered. “We're hungry. We're on the road in a bus driving across the country to play one or two shows. We're the guys that will be there no matter what, just for the love of what we do and what we put to the table is this intensity, this fire, this energy and it takes you back and you realise these guys grew up on these bands that influenced us all. Whether it be Motley Crue, Poison, Faster Pussycat, we've taken it and made it our own and made it interesting and something that anybody in 2021, 2022 can latch on to and be like, I get what these guys are doing. It's what we grew up on but it's new still. Over the quarantine we signed our first record deal with Pavement Entertainment out of Chicago and we just completed a tour with Pretty Boy Floyd. We're heading out with Enuff Z Nuff and I feel like... there's coming a time when all these bands are gonna be maybe hanging it up or calling it quits. Who are the guys that are gonna be coming up after that? It's us."
In the full interview Sam talks more about the upcoming album, working with the legendary Chip ZNuff, their intense live show, touring with Pretty Boy Floyd and some road stories, future touring plans and more.