By Jim Rowland
Led by singer and guitarist Nick Hughes, who also plays in Terrorvision and was in bands such as The Role Models and Crane Brothers, and featuring current Status Quo drummer Leon Cave, The Middlenight Men follow up their 2021 debut album ‘Issue #1’ with the cunningly titled ‘Issue #2’. More huge pop-rock licks and infectious melodies are fully expected…
‘Issue #2’ features 11 well written tracks, sitting in and around the pop-rock or power-pop bracket with good production, largely down to renowned producer Jason Perry, formally of Brit-rockers A.
The likes of ‘The Middlenight Men Theme’, ‘Fighting Skyler’, ‘Nightlines’, the anthemic ‘Best Day Of Our Lives’ and the epic sounding ‘The Longest Goodbye’ are all fine slices of pop-rock in the finest tradition of legends of that style like Cheap Trick or Enuff z’Nuff. ‘Bruno’ and ‘The Fear’ have a tougher, more metallic edge to them, ‘Sirens’ is a quality bit of synth-tinged groove rock, whilst the acoustic-flavoured ‘The Kids We Want To Be’ has more than a hint of Oasis to it.
A real highlight is the slower, catchy pop-rock of ‘Living In The Heart Of Hell’ which illustrates the song writing skills Nick Hughes clearly possesses.
If you like your rock with a catchy pop twist, but still packing plenty of power, this is an album well worth checking out.
- ‘Issue #2’ is released on Friday (12 April).
- The Middlenight Men play an album launch gig on Friday 3 May at the Camden Underworld. They then undertake a five-date co-headline tour with Chris Catalyst, starting at KK’s Steel Mill in Wolverhampton on Friday 24 May and taking in Audio in Glasgow, Bannermans in Edinburgh and the Waterloo in Blackpool before finishing at The Parish in Huddersfield on Saturday 1 June.
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