Midnight Configuration

MIDNIGHT CONFIGURATION GENERAL INFO THE PAST Trev formed “Midnight Configuration” originally as a solo project back in mid 1993 with the purchase of his first sequencer. Shortly afterwards he put out his first solo CD maxi called “Gothtec”, a four track affair where Trevor did absolutely everything! Once the wheels were in motion Trevor started work on the second maxi “Spectral Dance” which was released on the 31st of October 1994 at the very first “Carnival Of Souls”, the famous Gothic/fetish festival then held at Rock City in Nottingham. This night also saw the debut performance of the “band”. As time went on now famous then label mates “Suspiria” wanted to tour the UK and wanted a band to tour with them. So Trev formed a proper “Midnight Configuration” which consisted of Trevor Bamford, Lisa Ross (backing vocals) and Nick Hopkinson on guitar to tour with them! Shortly after this time the “Kissing Skull”, their highly acclaimed debut CD album, was released. It was a homage to Goth, horror films and fetishism which included a 28 page booklet of fetish/Gothic photographic artwork! This CD cemented “Midnight Configuration” in the Gothic public’s mind eye. Before that time “Midnight” was a solo project, now it was a band with a very strong identity. A lot of the imagery associated with the band revolved around the mesmeric and photogenic Lisa. The tainted sweetness vocaled ice queen of Goth. The famous “Dark Desires” t-shirt has gone down in modern gothic history for its shocking nature! In August 1997 Midnight Configuration released their long awaited second album “Funeral Nation”. This CD was more explosive and dynamic than even the “Kissing Skull” album! As the dust settled after the hectic release and gig schedules, Midnight Configuration released in Early 1998 the groundbreaking remix album “Digital Interference”, which features a collection of remixes and outtake scratch-mixes recorded over the period from “The Kissing Skull” to “Funeral Nation”. This CD was received and raved about across the board! The “Sanctuary” organisation of Switzerland named it as their album of the month! The fame and underground credibility of Midnight Configuration finally reached the ears of US label giant, “Cleopatra”, who promptly commissioned Nightbreed to compile a Midnight Configuration “Best Of” called “Dark Desires”. The CD was released in the US in early 1999, and has brought the band a new underground US following as a result! THE TRAUMATIC PAST Early on in the year 2000, band figurehead Lisa left Midnight Configuration due to outside commitments. This change coincided with Richard C (MC’s studio engineer and occasional live keyboard player) and Trevor’s growing technical prowess in the Nightbreed studio. With Lisa gone, and technical skills improved, MC began to take on board new influences and to try out new ideas in a way unthinkable less than a year previously. Traditionally the vocal side of the band was always a “Heaven + Hell” sort of thing with Lisa providing the angelic female vocals and Trevor the Pitchshifted deep vocals. After Lisa’s departure Trev began to experiment with different vocal styles and moods creating startling results! The studio proficiency gave way to techno and industrial influences coming into the band alongside the desire to “crank up” the guitar. The end result of all this work is the album “Dark Hours Of The Southern Cross”. For the first time in the band’s history, MC were in total charge of every aspect of recording and production, making this album the most honest and true representation of Midnight’s music so far. The album was immensely well received throughout the Global underground, winning the band new fans alongside pleasing older fans of the MC sound. In many people’s eyes, this was the band’s finest release to date! It was certainly a best-seller for MC as the album had to go into second pressing less than a week after its release and is currently into its third pressing! As soon as “Dark Hours Of The Southern Cross” was finished, Trev ploughed on with writing and recording material for the follow-up album entitled “Redemption Of The Physical World”, which was released on the 22nd of October 2001. This CD continued where “Dark Hours” left off but is at once harder, stronger, faster and darker than ever before! Truly a milestone recording! Then after another turbulent year of working and reworking material, Midnight Configuration released “Sepulchre Rose”. This album is/was totally cutting edge with its blend of black industrial and electro Goth. Essentially an album that is VERY focused and in a lot of ways “back to the roots”, as well as cutting edge. The album is divided into two parts: “Disco At the End Of The Earth” and “Riders Of Darkness Upon The Sea”. Part one is a satanic blend of post-Gothic commercialism, electro Goth and darkwave dance floor. The second part is a satanic tour de force of banging electronic beats, cruel guitars, black industrial sensibilities and wicked, yet poignant samples. A truly original and heady mixture of pure, raw genius! THE RECENT PAST Entering “The Distortion Field”. Midnight Configuration in 2004-2005 then settled down to a three-piece and gone was the fetish stuff of past incarnations. The band were harder, nastier and more angry than ever. The guitars were louder in the mix and the programming more caustic and edgy than ever. The band were, as always, striking out against the world via their own brand of honed satanic, Gothic evolved industrial, using guitars and sequencers like scythes and fists against the confusion of reality. This album was without doubt the heaviest they had produced so far, and its release challenged and confounded the public in a way as yet to be seen for a band who was used to shocking its audience. Fans of the “traditional” side of the band were not disappointed as the usual elements of the band’s music was still in evidence, but so much more than ever before! This CD was the soundtrack of a nightmare, a realisation of truth for our times! THE NEW BREED Shortly before Xmas 2005 Mark K left the band, and was augmented immediately by Estelle van Goth on visual keys, thus returning the much missed feminine fetish element to the band. Currently The band have just released their most explosive album to date, namely “Parallel Worlds”. Check out what is being said all over the global gothic underground! “This is without doubt one of the most dynamic and powerful CDs the band have EVER produced. Rare is the CD where virtually every song is a class A product! Every track is a blaster, designed to reinforce the band’s standing within the music scene, as well as to push the frontiers of musical innovation even further than ever before! A sonic invocation of darkened energies that could wake the dead, as well as put some much needed fire in the living! This album has it all! The band have stayed true to their subcultural Gothic roots, but have whole-heartedly embraced the power of new technologies and guitar approaches. Imagine Ministry, but with a darker Darkwave approach, fuelled by the “Voice of the Unclean” that is Trev Bamford, the sheet metal slabs of guitar riffola courtesy of Nick Hopkinson, and the Dark Lady herself, Estelle van Goth on the seductive and sinister synth washes. An angry and groundbreaking CD. Every home should have a copy! MIDNIGHT CONFIGURATION DISCOGRAPHY. MAXI CD’S GOTHTEC – 1993 (DELETED) SPECTRAL DANCE – 1994 (DELETED) ALBUM CD’S THE KISSING SKULL – 1996 FUNERAL NATION – 1997 DARK HOURS OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS - 2000 REDEMPTION OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD – 2001 SEPULCHRE ROSE - 2003 THE DISTORTION FIELD - 2005 PARALLEL WORLDS-2007 REMIX ALBUMS AND COLLECTIONS DIGITAL INTERFERENCE - 1998 (Remix album) DARK DESIRES – 1999 (US market “best of”) SEPULCHRE ROSE - 2004 (Russian Version with bonus tracks) SIDE PROJECTS BROTHER ORCHID. WINTER SHADOW-1998 Band Members Trevor Bamford Nick Hopkinson Estelle van Goth Some quotes about Midnight Configuration “Linda Blair and her demons within should be scared shitless of the sonic exorcism performed by the most scary band in the universe, at least I am!” Ville Vallo (Lead vocalist, Him) “British Goff? Let’s fuckin’ av it!” Gian Pyres (Ex-Cradle Of Filth) “…An utterly relentless rhythm drives thudding basslines and jagged guitar into the craniums of the assembled throng. In terms of sheer bloody-minded viciousness” Damien (Terrorizer Magazine, Ex-Cradle Of Filth)