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The Midnight Ghost Train Announce Six-Week US Tour

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 15th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

When The Midnight Ghost Train go on tour, they stay on tour. Still in support of last year’s raging blues rocker Buffalo, the unhinged Kansas-based trio will hit the road once again starting this week. The band played Roadburn this Spring as part of a European run, and in addition to currently working on new material, they’ll also have a live record out of that performance come September, which is pretty much also how long this US tour is set to last. Go figure.

Knowledge is power trio:

THE MIDNIGHT GHOST TRAIN Announces U.S. Headlining Tour in Support of New LP “Buffalo”

Powerful, High-Caliber Rock Band Set to Barnstorm the U.S. on Massive, Six Week Cross Country Tour

Utterly unique Topeka, Kansas based HEAVY rock band THE MIDNIGHT GHOST TRAIN will launch a U.S. headlining tour in support of its sophomore LP Buffalo on July 18 at the Downtown Music Hall in Little Rock, Arkansas. Boasting a gargantuan sound that has been described as “ZZ Top trampled by mammoths” and “like the great depression era blues shouter Blind Willie Johnson, if he had fronted the ’60s San Francisco band Blue Cheer at their sludgiest,” THE MIDNIGHT GHOST TRAIN’s epic live shows are “intense and real” and an uplifting cure-all for fans or critics that may feel rock music has lost its “edge”. The 34 city trek will run through September 7, showcasing a trio that has averaged over 300 live shows per year since its formation in 2007.

A phenomenal band who has the wind behind their backs and momentum on their side, THE MIDNIGHT GHOST TRAIN (aka TMGT) transcends geography, generation and genre. With a name inspired by an old Hank Williams lyric and a live show that hits with adamantine force, TMGT is led by guitarist Steve Moss, whose gruff-throated, Tom Waits-like vocals, gloriously fuzzy tone and unbridled, wailing guitar solos combine to deliver an entirely new form of musical power and intensity. With literally thousands of live shows under their collective belt — including 13 U.S. tours (both solo and alongside acts such as Jucifer and Truckfighters) and 3 full European jaunts — the band has developed a strong reputation for blowing the doors off every venue in which they perform, leaving a whole new contingent of music fans awestruck and hungry for more with each and every show. THE MIDNIGHT GHOST TRAIN isn’t just a band you hear, it’s something you feel deep down. Its pulse affects you.

Released in 2012 via Karate Body Records, Buffalo was recorded with producer / engineer David Barbe (Harvey Milk, Son Volt, Drive-By Truckers) and has met to shining critical acclaim in the time since its release; hailed for its soul, energy and thick Mississippi Delta-rooted Rock ‘N’ Roll. Dark, heavy blues is as much an influence on TMGT’s sound as rock/metal, but it’s also seriously head bang-able with loads of densely-packed furry riffage, heavy/quiet tradeoffs and memorable hooks. The record also contains a re-imagined cover of Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter’s 1940 classic “Cotton Fields”.

MIDNIGHT GHOST TRAIN tour dates:
July 18 Little Rock, AR Downtown Music Hall
July 19 Lafayette, LA The Wild Salmon Bar & Grill
July 20 Ocean Springs, MS The Squeaky Lizard
July 21 Pensacola, FL The Handlebar
July 22 Valdosta, GA Ashley Street Station
July 24 Charleston, SC The Mill
July 25 Fayetteville, NC Black Cat Lounge
July 26 Frederick, MD Guido’s Speakeasy
July 27 Indianapolis, IN Indy’s Jukebox
July 28 Cleveland, OH Now That’s Class
July 30 Akron, OH Annabell’s Bar and Lounge
July 31 Dayton, OH Therapy Cafe
August 1 Chicago, IL Reggie’s Music Joint
August 2 Green Bay, WI Crunchy Frog
August 3 La Crosse, WI JB’s Speakeasy
August 7 Billings, MT Shooters Bar
August 8 Great Falls, MT Machinery Row
August 10 Spokane, WA The Hop
August 11 Seattle, WA Victory Lounge
August 14 Red Bluff, CA The End Up Saloon
August 15 Fresno, CA Audie’s Olympic
August 18 Albuquerque, NM Launchpad
August 19 Fort Collins, CO Surfside 7
August 22 Denver, CO Tennyson’s Tap
August 23 McCook, NE Sports
August 24 Oklahoma City, OK The Conservatory-OKC
August 26 Midland, TX The Blue Max
August 27 Austin, TX The Legendary White Swan
August 29 Monroe, LA Oaks Bar & Grille
August 30 Jackson, MS Sam’s Lounge
August 31 Birmingham, AL The Nick
September 4 Lexington, KY Green Lantern
September 7 Warrensburg, MO Bottomfeeder Bay

As part of its European headlining tour last spring, THE MIDNIGHT GHOST TRAIN delivered a jaw-dropping live performance as part of the hallowed Roadburn international rock festival. This week, it was announced that the fest’s record label, Roadburn Records will release TMGT’s full live set from the festival on both LP and CD this September as part of its popular “Live From Roadburn” series.

The Midnight Ghost Train, Buffalo (2012)

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The Midnight Ghost Train, Buffalo: How Much Should I Make it Hurt?

Posted in Reviews on May 17th, 2012 by JJ Koczan

Named either for a town with which it would seem to have little to do musically but from which they hailed at one point or another, or an animal with which it shares many commonalities, Buffalo is the second full-length from The Midnight Ghost Train. Recorded just days after the Topeka, Kansas, trio got off the road from their 2011 tour with Truckfighters (see here and here) – and mostly recorded live, from the sound of it – Buffalo (released on Karate Body Records) is a half-hour set that commences almost immediately with zero-bullshit American-style stoner blues rock and offers little let-up for the duration. Their 2009 self-titled (review here) was a stylistic jaunt into such territories, and boasted several guest appearances from friends of the band, but Buffalo is more straightforward and outclasses its predecessor on every level in much the same way that album was a step up from earlier 2009’s The Johnny Boy EP (review here). Fronted by gruff-throated guitarist/vocalist Steve Moss, the mission behind Buffalo was clearly to bring the energy and flow of the band’s live set to a recording, and aided by the production of David Barbe (Bob Mould, Drive-by Truckers), they come about as close as one imagines being able to; tracks flow one into the next with ultra-natural smoothness, and there are moments in the album’s core midsection where it seems like Moss, bassist David Kimmell and drummer Brandon Burghart are going to lose control of the jams entirely and the whole record is going to come to a halt, but of course that never happens and The Midnight Ghost Train, however wild or tonally entrenched they might become, never actually lose control here when they don’t want to do so. Buffalo’s eight tracks are memorable individually, but work best taken as a whole – which of course is easy given the fact that the album is only a half-hour long – where the ebbs and flows and Moss’ bluesy growling can be carried across with the full complement of the next shifts about to come.

At their core, The Midnight Ghost Train are a stoner rock band. It’s Moss’ riffing leading the way with thick, rich, gloriously fuzzy tone for the heavy blues rhythms of Kimmell and Burghart, who hold their own behind him even at his most frantic. Vocally, Moss takes on a raving blues persona. Like he’s the one who most took Neil Fallon’s vocals on “I Have the Body of John Wilkes Booth” to heart. His delivery is likewise gruff as “Henry” takes hold following upbeat instrumental opener “A Passing Moment of Madness,” which introduces the band’s penchant for riff-fronted grooves and foreshadows instrumental focus to come. Maybe it’s a style derived from heavier roots, but Moss plays it all bluesy on “Henry,” and his solos are likewise unbridled. Most importantly, he’s well mixed, so as not to be completely dominant or out in front of the guitars, bass and drums when it’s so obviously supposed to be the whole song that’s the focus and not one individual or another. Still, he’s striking as he drives home the rolling groove of “Foxhole,” with Burghart adding tom flourishes behind, and is obviously going to be a central presence throughout Buffalo. The reason it’s not out of balance is because, as I said, he’s well mixed, and also because Kimmell’s bass gives a formidable showing of its own, not to mention Burghart’s deft and varied drumming. I know Moss has been through several lineups of the band at this point, but they sound better here than they ever have, and having seen some of these songs live, “Foxhole” among them, I think they came as close as they could have to honing in on that live feel without actually having Moss walk in the room and start yelling at you.

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