"Electric Midnight" was finished before New Dawn Fades knew where it would go. Recorded during the Philadelphia heavy rock band's LORES sessions, the song missed the album because there was no room left. A place eventually opened on BE HERE, a compilation bringing together bands from Pennsylvania and New Jersey through Tektura Records.
For the band's George Chamberlin, that invitation connected a recording waiting to be heard with friendships reaching back to his first shows. The compilation's release event brought some of those musicians together again, giving the song a setting within the local community that had sustained them. The title has a less elaborate origin: it began as a name to use at rehearsals and stayed because the band liked it. Chamberlin explains how the song found its home, what its breakup lyrics mean to him, and why he would gladly return for another gathering of the same community.
Three questions
(1) Doomnation Radio: What made "Electric Midnight" the song you chose to contribute to BE HERE?
George Chamberlin: I had already been talking with Adam from Oh, Are They? online for a while, as I was already a fan of his band. When he approached us about contributing a song to the compilation, we actually had a couple of leftover tracks from the LORES recording sessions that didn't make the album for one reason or another. "Electric Midnight" was one of those songs. It was already fully recorded and finished with every intention of being included on the record, but we simply ran out of room. I'd been looking for an opportunity to get it out there, and the band had originally talked about releasing it as a standalone single somewhere down the road, just to keep our name out there between releases. So when Adam brought up the compilation, it really just made sense. I was already a fan of his band, and I loved what the BE HERE compilation represented and what everyone involved was trying to accomplish. It felt like the perfect home for the song. Luckily for us, I guess the universe answered the question of what we were going to do with "Electric Midnight".
(2) DR: What does "Electric Midnight" refer to in the song, and how did that image enter the writing?
Chamberlin: As funny as this may sound, sometimes during the writing process, we'll give a song a working title without having any idea what the lyrics are going to be about. It's really just a way for us to identify what song we're working on at rehearsal that week. In this particular case, "Electric Midnight" was something that popped into my head, and honestly, I couldn't tell you where it came from. Sometimes those temporary titles just stick because we think they sound cool, and this was one of those situations.
As far as the lyrics go, I had already been working on something about a relationship that ended many years ago. It was my first real long-term relationship, and we'd gone through several breakups before it finally ended for good. The song is really about that moment when you realize you're finally done. You've spent so much time trying to make something work, convincing yourself that things might change, and eventually you reach a point where you realize there's nothing left to fight for. There's sadness in that realization, obviously, but there's also a sense of relief and acceptance. You can look back, acknowledge your own mistakes, appreciate the good memories, and finally walk away without wanting to go back.
Now, I could probably come up with some clever explanation about how the title "Electric Midnight" ties into the lyrics, but that wouldn't really be honest. The truth is, we just liked the name and kept it.
That said, looking back on it now, I suppose there's something fitting about the title. Midnight represents the end of something, but also the beginning of something new. Maybe the title ended up fitting the song better than I ever intended.
(3) DR: What did your participation in making BE HERE involve beyond supplying the recording?
Chamberlin: Honestly, our involvement in putting the compilation together was pretty minimal. Adam really spearheaded the whole thing, and Matt Hanneman handled the artwork and layout. We basically supplied the song, lyrics, and whatever information they needed and let them run with it. Knowing Matt and Adam as I did, I trusted his vision for the project and didn't feel the need to have much input beyond that.
The other part of our involvement was getting to play the BE HERE release show at Broken Goblet in Bensalem, PA in October. It was an all-day event with eight bands playing across two stages, and it was just an amazing opportunity to catch up with so many friends from the local music scene.
I think what made this whole thing particularly special for me was the number of people involved who I've known for decades. Some of these friendships go all the way back to my punk rock and hardcore days when I was still in high school. Others knew me from Aim of Conrad, a post-punk band I played in during the early 2000s, while some know me through Ritual Earth or other projects I've been involved with over the years.
One of the coolest things for me was getting to share the bill with Applied Knowledge. One of my oldest friends, Sam Pinola, is in that band, and he actually booked the very first show I ever played when I was still in high school. So here we are, all these years later, getting to play together again. That's pretty amazing when you think about it.
And I think that's really what this compilation represented to me. It wasn't just about putting a bunch of songs on a record. It was about bringing people together, supporting one another, and celebrating this community that so many of us have been part of for most of our lives.
We actually joked around about making the release show an annual event, and I genuinely hope that happens. I'd absolutely love to be involved again and would be more than happy to help make something like that happen. It was such a great day, and honestly, I can't think of a better way to represent what BE HERE was supposed to be about.
Listen to New Dawn Fades's "Electric Midnight".
