Alternative/Rock
Las Vegas Rockers Crash Midnight Dish About Their Sexy Single “Suicide Tattoo”
To learn about their ripping new single, “Suicide Tattoo,” we spoke with Las Vegas rockers Crash Midnight about the recording process, lyrical approach, artwork, and something very special the band has brewing.
Any time a song a decade in the making is released, it would be a big event, but it’s even more significant when it’s Crash Midnight we’re talking about. Our good LA friends are back with a new single titled “Suicide Tattoo,” which has excitedly dropped just today! As we’ve gotten to know the quintet better over the years, we’ve become used to their mastery of fiery, aggressive rock n’ roll, and they are continuing to do what they do best with this new single. Believe it or not, “Suicide Tattoo” stands as one of the first songs the band ever wrote, which is why it has been lingering around in one shape or another for about ten years. It has been reworked and rewritten more times than anyone can keep track, originally set to appear on the group’s debut record.
Until earlier this year, “Suicide Tattoo” was mostly collecting dust on the shelf until lead singer Shaun Soho came upon it. He reworked the lyrics and developed a new guitar riff to carry the song with. It’s essentially a newly written song at this point, given all of the revisions the members undertook, but the effort was worth it, as it’s sure to become a staple of their live set.
To find out a little more about “Suicide Tattoo,” we spoke with the entire band and discussed the recording process, the lyrical approach, the single artwork, and something very special they have brewing.
You’re set to drop your latest single, “Suicide Tattoo,” which is over a decade in the making. Why now? What took so long, and how different is the track from its initial iteration?
Shaun Soho: “Well, this was one of the first two songs we wrote when we formed the band. It was originally called ‘Yesterday,’ then got scrapped until I rewrote the lyrics of the song into ‘Suicide Tattoo’ about a girl we used to party with. We were getting ready to release it as a single, had the artwork done and everything, and then some shit happened, and we ended up holding off until we eventually signed a deal with a label under UMG.”
Alex Donaldson: “We were recording it with the intent of making it a part of our debut album, Lost In The City, but we were just never satisfied with the way the song was coming out and eventually ended up just tabling it for the time.”
Soho: “It wasn’t until recently, when the new riff for the song came together, that we finally found the vibe we’d been looking for and ended up rewriting the rest of the song around that. It’s pretty much an entirely new song at this point.”
You note that you “just weren’t satisfied with the song yet” when it was first written. What makes you cool with it now?
Soho: “The original riff felt a little antsy to me, especially after I rewrote the lyrics into ‘Suicide Tattoo.’ It didn’t have the weaving feel it has now that, to me, encapsulates that feeling of winding down our old hallway on the way back to our apartment door after a long night.”
You also note that you essentially “replaced the lyrics” and now have “replaced nearly the entire instrumentation.” So, what of the original song remains?
Soho: “Not much. But we did want to keep a little nod to the original in there as an homage to where the song came from. The guitar run down after the first chorus and at the very end of the song are from the original version.”
Alex Drake: “The bass guitar, especially in the intro, was definitely inspired by the original version, right down to the sound I went for with the bass tone. We wanted to revamp the song while still maintaining that gritty and dangerous rock n’ roll vibe that we loved in the original. I think we nailed it there on that intro.”
The single’s lyrics seem to lay out the band’s older, debaucherous nights out. Is that accurate? Care to share a fun “night out” story for us?
Soho: “As opposed to our current ones, I guess? Yeah, it’s sort of a distillation of some of the stuff we got into during those parties in the early days. At one point, we had five guys living in this two-bedroom apartment, so space was limited, and we got inventive. There were two bathrooms, and one was dubbed the ‘honeymoon suite’ that was like the only place you could sneak away to get some privacy.”
Donaldson: “We had some questionable parties at that place. Some girl left her pants there one night; no one knows how the hell she made it home without them. It was the middle of a Boston winter. But we hung them on the wall in honour of her apparently epic walk home and in case she ever came back to claim them. I don’t think whoever it was ever wanted to own up to leaving them.”
Drake: “The downtown Vegas area has become our new stomping grounds. Anyone that’s been following our Instagram reels during the last year has gotten a little taste of our shenanigans. We’ve had a lot of blurry nights down there. So we’re still finding ways to get ourselves into trouble; this city just offers more options.”
Talk to us about the title, “Suicide Tattoo.” What does it mean? Is it symbolic for the band?
Soho: “The title came from this party girl, we used to hang with her and her friends, and she had a tattoo of Kurt Cobain’s name on her lower back. It was an interesting take on the typical tramp stamp. I’m sure there’s a fair amount to unpack with that one, but I wonder what Cobain’s thoughts would have been on tramp stamps or being immortalized on one?
I wasn’t much of a Nirvana fan, so I always used to be an ass and give her shit about it. At the time, I remember thinking that intentionally leaving your kid with Courtney Love was probably one of the worst things you could do. But maybe I was just young and being a jerk about it; maybe he actually didn’t. I don’t know; there are a lot of theories out there now, right?”
Mitchell Terranova: “I actually thought it was about Drake’s obsession with 10 dollar tattoos.”
I hear you guys have something big cooking with a pretty legendary guitar company.
Donaldson: “Yeah, we’re real proud to announce the band is doing a social media content partnership with Gibson Guitars. They’re sending us new guitars every few weeks to play and showcase in the social media reels we’ve been doing. The reach has already been crazy. One month alone, we reached over 1.5 million views, and now with Gibson on board, it’s going to be big.”
Donovan Tryon: “I’ve had my eye on one of their semi-hollow bodies here. Looking forward to taking that for a spin. I’ve also been trying to get my hands on a firebird as well. Scott Holiday from Rival Sons uses one, and it sounds incredible.”
Talk to us about the single’s artwork… I feel like there’s a story.
Soho: “So we were all set to release the first version of ‘Suicide Tattoo’ before things all went to hell with that venture. We’d scraped together a couple hundred bucks for a tattoo artist to draw up the lettering and there was a really cool night shot of this sort of bodega-type shop that had the Boston skyline in the background, and we were going to put the logo on top of that photo for the cover. I still have a version of it up on my wall in Vegas.”
Donaldson: “When we realized we were actually ready to finish this song, we wanted to keep the artwork similar to the original idea, but update it to reflect where the band is now.”
Drake: “There’s a great spot in downtown Vegas called Downtown Tattoo. We spoke to the owner, Buddy Holiday, and he thought the idea of using his storefront was cool so that’s what you see in the artwork now.”
Speaking of singles, what does the band have planned for new music? Can fans expect albums, EPs, and singles…?
Soho: “We’re going with singles from here on out for the foreseeable future. That way we can keep new material constantly coming instead of taking big breaks between full album releases. It also lets us take the time, like we did with this song, although hopefully not quite as long, to really get a song right before we put it out. If one track isn’t ready, we can release a different one instead of rushing to get everything onto an album.”
Tryon: “It’s cool because we can be working on several songs at a time and just release whichever one is ready. It’s less pressure if we run into a roadblock on one song, we can move to something else and come back to it later.”
What’s happening in Vegas right now? Where do you guys play and what local venues/bands should be people be checking out?
Drake: “We’ve been playing at the new Sand Dollar Downtown in the Plaza Hotel & Casino. It’s a great new venue down there. It’s got the same blues and rock n’ roll spirit the original Sand Dollar is known for, but it also mixes in that classic Vegas showroom vibe. It’s been a blast playing on that stage.”
Terranova: “They’re doing so much downtown. We practice right around the corner from Main St in the Arts District and there are tons of great new spots going up there. The town is definitely creating a lot of space for new artists to emerge and grow.”
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