Oof! Bit of a long one. Our submitter writes: “Here’s a totally genuine press statement released in 2005 by Midasuno, a rock band from Merthyr Tydfil. Oh yes. You probably won’t have heard of them, but the singer was clearly expecting front page headlines after they decided to change their name. For some reason it warranted 1,500 words.
“Incidentally, they never did change their name. I believe they took a bit of time out, then issued their one and only album (‘Songs In The Key Of Fuck’ – oh God) before splitting up. I don’t know if there was another press release to accompany that seismic event.”
Midasuno Statement – 13.11.05
This is the score. On Friday 2nd December, the band known as ‘MIDASUNO’ will perform what will be their last show. Following over 5 years of fantastic highs and even better lows, the three remaining members from the original line-up (Gavin Jessop, Matt Riste and Myself) along with the additions to that line-up (Ryan Day, Lyndon Jones and Chris Morgan are to give ‘Midasuno’ a final kiss-off show, to help us close a chapter in our lives. As Midasuno we’ve had so many amazing experiences, seen some unbelievable sights and achieved so much that I personally never thought we could. Toured with and performed alongside amazing bands, getting records released and available as far as Asia and the US of motherfucking A. Most importantly, meeting the people who bought our records, came to the shows and supported the band – it is to YOU we will always be in debt to.
Since we parted ways with Guitarist Steven Hopkins, the dynamic of the band suffered massive change, some say for the better and some for the worse. We were lucky enough to then find a worthy replacement (suggested so by Steve himself) in Chris Morgan, whose energy helped keep the ship afloat. Months later, our good friend / web geek & artworkist Lyndon Jones, who had previously triggered our interludes and samples from the shadows joined us on stage and became the illusive ’5th’ member. By this point, we’d toured as a 3, 4 and 5 piece band. Then, following a drunken conversation, we decided to try out, (not just at a practise, but for an 8-date tour, with 5 hours prior rehearsal and a weeks notice) Pete’s Sake’s Ryan Day on guitar, leaving myself to solely handle vocal duties.
I realised that I had never felt so comfortable with this arrangement, not to wallow in some ego-fuelled dreams of being Axl Rose, but because by concentrating on one thing allowed me to perform better, therefore making the songs better. Add the fact that Ryan’s guitar playing further tightened the band beyond what we thought was possible. Writing new songs would now mean I wouldn’t have to limit the songs to what I could manage to perform live, now we could try anything without my performance holding my song writing back.
What followed this was a shocking realisation. We’d basically grown as a band in public – from being musical nappies, aural puberty blah blah, you can see where I’m going. We had never taken time off over the past five years to develop and grow and show a marked improvement as a band who have the ambition to reach as many people as possible – we’d always do this in front of people, always had our place in the deep end. Watching the band go from a band who thought they were good back in 2000 (hahaha I know! The cheek of it!) to a band who are now really fucking good. We’d perform new songs to crowds when we’d never been in the same room to learn them together, jump at every gig possibility and did most of our rehearsals live.
This sounds so exciting having read it down, really rock n fucking roll, ‘punk rock’ or whatever you want to call it. Fuck yeah! For any ‘local’ band (definition in this case: a band who do not properly ‘tour’ and have not managed to get something released so that people can get into the band from different areas of the country) this is fantastic, will get you your ‘cred’ and legendary circuit status, but beyond your faithful, it’s not really enough.
We’ve taken the belief of our following – claiming us to be a good / great / amazing / whatever band and decided that we want to turn the band into what WE consider a fucking frighteningly good band – a band who your band wouldn’t want to be on the same bill as, but at the same time couldn’t help humming along to every song and telling the world about. Real passion with fuck all to do with fashion. To do this, we believe we need change. This is personal.
Midasuno is not the same band – musically, mentally, physically, well ANY way it could be different from the band that released ‘When Bulls Play God’. With the current line-up, playing under the guise of ‘Midasuno’ to me seems sharing dirty bathwater with people who you’d rather not have to do this with. We have all progressed in all ways possible, to the point that we need to christen this change with a new moniker for the band to perform, promote and release records under. This may cost the band 5 years of promotion and hard work, may put us back at the bottom of bills, may mean we have to do it all again. But that is the beauty of having a focus. We want to do things again, but be ready for everything that would come at us, to have a fresh take on things. We will still rock, only harder, better, bigger more more more.
Now this is my way of trying to explain why we are doing this, a chance to try and let our supporters know why we are doing this, if you have a grasp of the history of this band you’ll have seen the change we have undergone.
We are not just a band changing our name because we haven’t achieved what have wanted to. Because we ARE a different band – example, if you take a can of coke, empty out the coke and replace it with bits of paper, the contents are not the same. Even though it says ‘Coke’ on the can, what’s inside hasbeen replaced by something different. I’m not saying bits of paper taste nicer than coke, but what this band is now, performing under the guise of ‘Midasuno’ is kinda false advertising, well from how much we have changed and will continue to evolve.
Change isn’t always a good thing, but in our case, is vital to the future of this band even carrying on. By renaming the band we are creating a bond between the six members, join us altogether before we get ready for the release of our recorded material. Our new name will bind us all with an equal bearing, a blank page to align our visions, direction and attitudes together and bond us as a band whose history is yet to be made. We will all be in a new band; all have ex-bands but be united as a new force.
We now hoping that you, the awesome people who have supported ‘Midasuno’ will continue to support us – ‘Songs in the key of Fuck’ – the record that ‘Midasuno’ were to release as their debut full-length record is very much safe, it will be the debut full length record under our new name. In fact, the reason why this record has taken so long is that following the initial recording sessions for the album, I have writing more tunes, better songs than what I had previously written. We now have 20 + songs ready to choose from. What I can tell you guys is that we now have TWO releases planned by summer ’06 allowing us to get even more music out to you.
Something that will either make you jump for joy / disgust you beyond words is that 3 of the songs we released as ‘Midasuno’ have been reworked, re-jigged and will see the light on day both on CD and on the live stage again, we’ll leave those songs a mystery for the moment. I personally don’t give a flying fuck if this grates anyone – the songs in question have transformed over the years and have still not received the justice they deserve.
The new name? We are going to make it official on December 3rd 2005 – we have a new website in the pipeline, until then the band’s Myspace page will suffice to keep you guys up-to-date. We’ve got artwork, merch, and release artwork almost ready. We will let you know following the last show as ‘Midasuno’. The new band will spend the rest of the winter rehearsing and recording and, well, you’ll know the full low-down on December 3rd. It’s a Sunday by the way.
We will not performing again until we have our new campaign up and fully running, which will be early 2006. Therefore all shows ‘Midasuno’ were due to perform at after December 2nd are now CANCELLED, we are gutted to announce, but we need to get straight to work on our new material, getting ready to assault your yugs with next year.
Scott Andrews (Midasuno)
