The Midnight Nuns: Fun In The Sun
Midnight Nuns are a young band, with an image propped up by the summer of ‘69 and poppy chords playfully strummed in the sun. Its current three members, Carson McKinnon, Parker Jaeckel and Aidan Loeser, look to pop giants like the Beatles and the Monkees in creating the core of their sound but don’t lose track of the influence of newer, more alternative groups like Neutral Milk Hotel. They’re a troupe playing fun, easy-going songs, yet have an edge that hints at something a little darker. Having been a band for roughly two years, they’ve been busy pumping out singles and music videos and cycling through several drummers. We were able to sit down with the group and dissect what’s gone on in the band’s couple trips around the sun.
How did you start playing music together?
Carson: Me and Aidan met in a guitar class. I think Aidan probably noticed me before I noticed Aidan because I was very loud and obnoxious, though I wouldn’t describe myself that way. The teacher did. I’d strum my guitar super loud and whatnot, and then Aidan and I just started getting along because we have the same sense of humor. From there we just started playing guitars together … We had a lot of drummers, a lot of people who we cycled through the band, and eventually, we got to the point where we were like, “we need someone consistent.” We had a drummer who introduced us to Parker. When we met Parker we finally had a solidified, dedicated band of people who were good at what they did. And then there was the Midnight Nuns.
How did you come up with your band’s name?
Carson: There was a random name generator online that asked me to put in a bunch of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and whatnot. [It] would take other bands' names and remix [them with] whatever you typed into a new band [name] … It took Dexy’s Midnight Runners [and created] Carson’s Midnight Nuns. I didn’t want my name in the thing so we just made it Midnight Nuns.
What inspired the band’s sound?
Aidan: I got a lot of my inspiration from the Beach Boys and the Beatles …. bands like that. We also liked a lot of 70s music like the Bay City Rollers.
Carson: For me, yeah-- my start was with the Beatles … I also like a lot of alternative music like Neutral Milk Hotel and Violent Femmes. Like a bunch of those bands. So whenever I write songs, I kind of think, ‘what could bring the aesthetic of the 60s and 70s and turn it into something that’s both modern... unique?’
Aidan: I mean, our goal isn’t to completely recreate the sounds of the 60s but to try to add a modern feel to older music. That’s what we try to accomplish. We try to give it an alternative feel if that makes sense
Parker: And of course have our original sound to it that’s different from everyone else. I like to look up to.... David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, all those people. I kind of jump around with my music taste [though]. I do a lot of stuff in jazz music and even like modern pop music.
What was the songwriting process for your track, “Telephone Operator”?
Carson: I wrote the entirety of “Telephone Operator” back when I was I think 14 or 15. A long time ago. I kinda put it away. But I remember when I was writing it, it was ‘cause I was really disappointed… there was this one friend I had who, every time I met someone that I liked, he would go ahead and date them within the week that I met them or liked them or something. So it kind of became-- no matter what, don’t introduce this person to this guy or else he will steal whoever I like. So “Telephone Operator” … I didn’t want to write, “[this guy] is stealing my girl. I am mad. I am mad!” I wanna express the fact that I don’t like how I feel. So I came up with the telephone operator as a representation of just being the guy who keeps connecting the girl that I like with the guy who is my friend and just always feeling like I’m on the outside. Now I finally have a girlfriend who I like a lot and she’s great...
Is that the usual songwriting process? [laughs]
Aidan: I’d say we write music a little bit differently. I mean, for me, I usually think of a melody in my head and maybe a chorus will pop up and then I’ll write it from there. But I know that we all have our different methods of writing.
Carson: Lots of times, Aidan comes up with a really, really cool idea and then I’ll listen to it and be like, “oh yeah, this is great” and then we’ll get together and tweak whatever we feel like would help to be tweaked. Lots of times, Aidan and I like to sit down together and bounce ideas off each other, [and] the same thing with Parker. We all like to ultimately put our hand into the songs when we make them but each song is ultimately whoever started [to get] the ball rolling, [and] then along the way we each help push that ball a little further until it reaches its final stage.
Aidan: Parker comes up with really cool bass lines that are catchy.
Carson: Oh yeah.
Aidan: And he knows how to play the drums and the guitar so he has all these cool melodies flowing in his brain.
Carson: Yeah, Parker is like a music aficionado.
How did you come up with the idea for the music video for “Telephone Operator”?
Aidan: That was all Carson, I guess.
Carson: I’ve got a lot of background in film. Last year the Utah Film Awards named me the best filmmaker under 18, and I do lots of film and things like that. And I figured, rather than hire someone to make a music video, why not do it myself? … The music video turned out well. We have a second music video [for] “The Night Goes On” which really looks like a well rounded production with a whole crew put behind it. That’s thanks to Steven Uribe … But for “Telephone Operator” I was thinking, what could I put together without a whole crew of people that’s really simple, that we could just run somewhere and make it up as we go along? That’s essentially what we did. We kind of knew what we wanted to do. We talked about it… I figured we could just get lots of footage and then make it feel like it was on an 8mm or something like that.
Aidan: It had the same plot that like a 60s video would have too.
Carson: Oh yeah, like the Monkees. The Monkees is probably the main inspiration for that music video, just us running around, goofing off and being weird.
What dictated the level of production for each of the music videos?
Carson: It probably came down to the amount of time we spent on it. I also handed [the production for “The Night Goes On”] off to a friend who I work with frequently on film things, [Steven Uribe]. He directed [it]. I basically went to him and said, “I need to focus on the music. Can you focus on music video and we’ll step in along the way and help you out?” He basically took reign and did three months of pre-production for that, while with the “Telephone Operator” we probably had like four days… and then ran out into a field and filmed it. [For “The Night Goes On”] we had a script written, we casted the thing, we found actors, we found location, we got fog machines, we got lights setup… There was just a lot more to it.
Aidan: And unfortunately I wasn’t in “The Night Goes On”. I broke my leg so I wasn’t able to do the music video.
Carson: Do you wanna tell them how you broke your leg? [laughs]
Aidan: No, I’m good. But I had to have surgery. I was too high on drugs...
Carson: Legal drugs.
Aidan: Obviously legal drugs. I was on painkillers. I wasn’t able to make it to the set … It’s unfortunate because it was such an awesome production that looked like a lot of fun.
Parker: It was pretty fun to record it and have everything planned out and have everything produced … It would honestly be really fun to do another music video like that, I think
Aidan: We definitely will..
On that note, what do you guys have coming up?
Aidan: I’m writing a song called, “Arizona Heat” and it’s gonna have a 70s feel to it and it’ll be very bright and happy, and I’m sure you guys will all like it.
Carson: There’s been two that I’ve just been working on. One of them is called, “Stay Tonight” and it’s kind of like a more 50s slow-dance sort of a thing … And I’ve got another one called, “You Are the One for Me”, and I don’t know how to describe that one. It’s like a big, Beatles all in the room, chanting like, “All You Need is Love” type of a song, but not quite...
[laughs]
Carson: I don’t know how to describe it! But people will hear it when they hear it. In terms of releasing, as well, we’re not going to do the normal album. What we’ve decided to do is break up each song that we record and release them individually so that each song gets individual attention that we feel each song deserves. It seems like anytime an album is released people quickly listen first 15 seconds of each song and then immediately pick their favorite two, whereas if we release it one by one people are forced to just take the time to sit through and listen to the individual single as opposed to trying to rush through an album and just pick out their favorite songs.
Parker: Yeah. I have a song coming up called, “Cosmos”. It’s more of a very psychedelic feel to it. Like psychedelic 60s.
With more songs, more shows and hopefully more music videos, Midnight Nuns should have a bright future worth keeping an eye on. Look out for the sequence of singles coming out from the band and catch them with Oh, Rose March 29th at the Loading Dock.
