Los Angeles-based Alt/Pop band Midnight Village are set to release ‘Catch A Flight’, the first single from their debut EP ‘Save Me A Seat In Your Mind’ on May 6th, 2022. Co-written by band members Sean Kolar, Tyler Lyons and Canadian singer-songwriter Lilianna Wilde, the upbeat guitar and synth-driven track focuses on the loneliness of long distance love. Since coming together in 2018, Midnight Village have found their stride with a live audience headlining venues like The Viper Room, The Mint & El Cid in Los Angeles, CA as well as Alley Taps and Cabana Taps in Nashville, TN.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
What strengths do you have that you believe make you a great musician?
Tyler: Music has been the central tenet of my life from an early age! I took drumset and percussion lessons and learned how to develop an intimate relationship with groove. This helped ground rhythm and coordination and immediately wanted to learn other instruments and then took formal guitar, piano and voice lessons afterwards to future express inward emotions. I believe the love and knowledge of multiple instruments is a strength that has carried through to the sound of Midnight Village because we produce, perform and mix all of the instruments ourselves.
Sean: I think playing professional tennis and teaching the sport for so many years has taught me to be a leader and gave me confidence to be on stage and express myself with my talents. I think I am also pretty emotionally intelligent and often hear so many stories from people which gives me a great set of experiences to draw upon when I dive into my writing and poetry. I find I am strong when I am writing. It is a form of therapy that i am so lucky to have.
Who inspired you to make music?
We think together, we inspire each other on the daily as cliche as it sounds. We create such a happy space when we are in the studio working on our music together. We definitely take our good days and our bad days together and leave it all with the music and I think you can seriously hear that in our sound. Our co-writer Lilianna Wilde is a huge inspiration for us as well. She sees us through the whole creation process and is a huge influence on our music. When she collaborates with us, we learn something every session and grow as a team.
Your latest track is 'Catch A Flight'. Can you share with us the background of its creation and did any unusual things happen during its creation?
Sean: Catch A Flight came about when my wife and I were navigating a long distance relationship from Toronto and Los Angeles. It was hard to see each other through FaceTime but not fully get that connection that started such a flare between the two of us. I remember I’d be driving to work and thinking “fuck, I just want to catch a flight to you, I can’t take this distance any longer.” That spark kind of started the beginning stages of our song and it is very dear to my heart for that reason. It was very fun to have Lilianna collaborate on the lyrics with us and give her take on that feeing as well through her lens of the story.
What is your creative process like?
It’s always so fun and difficult to answer this question! We start songs in a few different ways. It sometimes starts with a voice memo of a vocal hook idea or a guitar riff. Something that just gets the spark going. Sometimes we share past ideas and try to work them into a more modern approach. Usually Tyler is navigating through different sounds while I am singing, writing, obsessing over melodies and driving him insane with the fact that there’s so many in my head. I always want to explore those ideas. Sometimes the creative process is whittling down these ideas into a cohesive vision because, it’s so much fun when we get together and write. Having a studio with all of our gear in one room really enhances our workflow. We find creating music and being together in the studio is just as fulfilling as showcasing the songs in a live setting for our fans.
What is the most surprising fact you’ve learnt about yourself?
Sean: Over the years, I’ve come to realize how much music truly dictates my days. When I wake up I think about it and when I go to sleep it’s all I’m dreaming about for my next days. I love the fact that through our music I get to express myself in ways I can’t in other aspects of life. Another surprising fact about me is that I’m really good at tennis and Pickleball. I teach it to people of all ages and I play professional tournaments all over the states.
Tyler: I’m always on the hunt for something new and fresh. Over the years I’ve been surprised by my love of art house cinema and scoring, and how much it would feed into our sound! I believe you can hear some cinematic and deliberate sonic choices that echo what you may hear in a theater.
Do you think that education is important?
Tyler: I believe education is an inherent need for humans. We are all curious of this odd reality around us. Sean and I both studied at colleges and currently teach in Los Angeles in our fields in addition to MV. My mom was a public school teacher for my entire life, and always brought me to school with her. I’m currently enrolled in YouTube University whenever I run into an issue in the studio, trying to learn more about the music industry, enhancing mixing skills, and anything.
What is one message you would give to your fans?
Sean: Come on board with us because we are seriously the freshest up and coming band you haven’t heard about yet. We are always experimenting and trying to find the best ways to satisfy our audience and listeners and connect with them in ways that our favorite bands did with us. We are all in on this music and are going to give our fans one hell of a ride. MV for life.
How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?
Sean: In some ways, I feel like we would have seriously thrived in the 80s and 90s from the ways A&Rs would go peep out a show and find the next best thing. We are a solid live band and really try to bring it home for our audience when doing so. However, I think the internet has such a reach, that we are trying to finding the best ways to connect with people all around the world. We are hitting goals left and right by and are so stoked to be releasing more music for people to connect with.
Tyler: In the beginning, the internet kind of was a destructive force for the music industry to recon with. Our current music business model is born out of the reaction to Napster and Limewire. We are still learning how to penetrate and utilize it to share our music to genuine fans that we hope to connect with. It could be one of the best inventions in human history.
What do you think is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen or experienced?
Tyler: Sean, Lilianna, a bunch of friends and I once saw a UFO. That was pretty cool.
Sean: I think traveling through Austria and Prague was one of the most beautiful things I’ve experienced. I was engulfed in this new world I had never experienced before and the landscapes were so inspiring for my writing process. I feel like after visiting these places and connecting with my heritage was when I really dove into myself as an artist.
What are your plans for the future?
We are releasing our second single “All You Gotta Know” on June 3rd in support of our debut EP dropping on July 1st. There will be seven songs and videos for all of them! Catch us performing in the Southern California area summer 2022! Also working towards expanding our team and sharing our music :-)