Purely Provocative: Crash Midnight Members Shaun Soho, Bo, Alex Donaldson Discuss Their Fans, James Dean-esque Deaths, Drugs and More

Boston, MA-based rock band, Crash Midnight, are hard at work prepping to release their debut album, Lost in the City, on October 20th, 2014. The band play lean and mean punk-infused rock and roll, and they’re no strangers to humour! Recently, we sat down with Shaun Soho (lead vocals), Bo (bass), and Alex Donaldson (lead/rhythm guitar) to get their take on some of our Purely Provocative interview questions. Here’s whet they had to say….

If you could choose, how would you die?
Soho: I’d go big, James Dean style. My uncle went that way, off a cliff, which knowing him was probably a pretty fitting way to go out. There’s something Romantic and bad-ass about gunning it off a cliff with your hair on fire.

Bo: I want to go the same way I was born. Naked and screaming.

What’s one of the most fucked up things that’s happened to you as a musician?
Soho: We pre-sold out a show in Boston at this place called Bill’s Bar on Lansdowne Street. We were really psyched because we’d also sold out a show 8 days later down the street at The Middle East which was a big accomplishment for us. So we had a blast playing the show at Bill’s, the crowd was great and we get off stage and all of a sudden I start hearing that there’s tons of people outside who bought pre-sale tickets and weren’t able to get in.

Bo: They literally had to listen to the entire show outside the club. The asshole door guys had the pre-sale count and their cut from those tickets and were just letting more people pay at the door to double dip on the profit.

Soho: We lost our minds on the promoter and the door guys and basically braced them until they coughed up all the profits they made from that shit. Then we went around tracking down and paying back every fan that couldn’t get in with a ticket they bought. I’m sure there’s plenty more fucked up things that have happened to us, but that one still gets me pissed off. We really value our fans and that these guys were screwing over the people spent their money to come out and support us.

Check out the song “Diamond Boulevard”

If someone stole all your band’s gear, then you caught the dickwad and no one would ever know what happened next, what would you do to him?
Soho: Since no one’s found out what happened yet, we should probably keep it that way.

What scares the absolute shit out of you?
Bo: I don’t know about anyone else, but I get freaked the fuck out by animatronic Bear Bands. Even if they’re covering Electric Feel. Google that kids. It’ll blow your wig back.

Soho: Yet we all love the Teddybears – “Cobrastyle”.

You find someone’s wallet in the street. It contains a ton of cash and/or a winning lottery ticket inside and their ID. What do you do?
Bo: Oh I wish it’s both cause I’d have tons and tons of questions. How does all of that shit wind up in one lost wallet? Where would I come across something like that? And who carries large amounts of cash these days? Anyway, I’d give it back. The type of places I visit are full of people who would hunt me down and kill me if I accidentally walked away with their pack of gum.

Have you ever been too wasted to play live? What happened?
Soho: Bo? Actually there was one time I fell off stage flat on my back and for some reason wasn’t hurt, but I had no functional ability to get up so just sort of did the rest of the show on my back.

Bo: Of course I have but it’s not really fair to ask me what happened since I don’t remember any of it. There’s a huge SCENE MISSING in my memory banks of that show.

Alex: As I recall, he played the entire intro of “Sweet Emotion” in the completely wrong key with a super confident, shit-eating grin on his face the whole time.

Soho: Accurate.

Your instrument/gear (drums, guitar, etc.) has a catastrophic failure on-stage and you have no back-up, what do you do?
Bo: I would break every piece of equipment I have on stage. It would look amazing and nobody in the audience would notice a difference sonically because I play the bass.

If there were zero repercussions to you, what one thing would you do that’s illegal or morally wrong?
Alex: We generally operate under that assumption anyway.

Name someone you’d like to punch in his or her stupid face, and why.
Soho: Alex… and he knows why.

Alex: Was it the immoral stuff, or the illegal stuff?

You kick everyone out of the band because you can replace them with any musician you want. Dead or alive, who do you recruit?
Soho: I’d replace myself with Lou Reed and let the rest of these assholes deal with it.

Check out the song “Welcome To Boston”

What is your stance on the legalization of marijuana?
Soho: Is it not legal yet? I guess we’ve sort of stopped caring.

Bo: Well they gotta pay for those for-profit prisons some way right?

What’s your opinion on groupie culture?
Soho: Well, we’re for it.

When was the last time you cried and why?
Alex: When Shaun punched me in the face?

Who is the biggest asshole you ever met and why?
Soho: Can I use Alex again?

Bo: Yeah, let’s say Alex.

Alex: Fuck!

Describe your wildest drug experience.
Bo: No can do. What if I plan on running for political office one day? Senator Bo has no recollection of those events.

Soho:: Those “alleged events.”