Coming from Southeast Michigan, the Hard Rock/Metal project Truenemy searched through their archives to find the 2000s created piece, "Midnight Train," and decided to release it today with modern-day edits and elements.
The man behind the madness Paul Vuocolo has been lurking on the outskirts of the music industry for over a decade. Captivating listeners with Truenemy's heavy guitar riffs, catchy melodies, and powerful vocals, Paul Vuocolo is truly demonstrating incredible talent during our stay-at-home era.
Regarding his recent single "Midnight Train," Truenemy fueled the song with an incredible lyrical message that resides in the heart of all story-lovers.
Surrounding a dream chaser on a journey to find true love, the protagonist later finds himself obsessed with dream-chasing and invites listeners onto the exhilarating "Midnight Train."
"Midnight Train" opens with a blistering instrumental through the scorching guitar bursts, layered rhythm guitar, and foot-stomping drum patterns. We can already feel the life and energy that Truenemy has infused into this track, as we're nothing but down for the ride. As Paul Vuocolo makes his vocal appearance, the train reaches full-speed ahead.
While he begins singing of an eager dreamer seeking a thrill amid the humid night, he blasts through with themes of desire and the need to release this aching void. Seeking the "Midnight Train" to liven his spirits once again, we highly appreciate such a rugged single that powers through with conceptual lyricism, which plays around in our minds.
We love the grit and power that Truenemy has delivered with their timeless single "Midnight Train," and we're incredibly eager to hear more reworked tunes from them in the future.
What inspired you to dig into your archives and rework your 2000s created single "Midnight Train"?
For several years, I have always wanted to revisit finishing the eight original songs (including Midnight Train) that were to comprise Truenemy’s debut album, but the timing was never right. When COVID-19 hit and State of Michigan residents were faced with stay-at-home orders along with work-hour reductions, I seized the opportunity to reach out to Chuck Alkazian at Pearl Sound Studios. Our conversation became the catalyst for me to start digging into my archives to unearth and prepare my original Truenemy recordings for remixing.
Could you take us back to the creation of your lyrical content within "Midnight Train"? How did the film "Somewhere in Time" inspire the song's concept?
The inception of Midnight Train dates back to the late 1990’s/early 2000s. My nephew and songwriter, Nick Slayton, proposed the idea of a song entitled, “Midnight Train”. I ran with the idea of it being about a dream chaser who seeks out true love via his dreams. For a while, I think there were only a first verse and a chorus but that changed after I happened to re-watch the 1980 film “Somewhere in Time.” I was able to find some inspiration and draw some parallels to what I was trying to accomplish with the Midnight Train dream chaser and the film’s lead character – which ultimately helped me to flesh out the lyrics and finish the song. Fans of the film will definitely hear some nods in the lyrics. Great movie!
What sort of changes or updates did you make to the entirety of your single "Midnight Train"? What was the reworking process like with Producer Chuck Alkazian?
Chuck is great to work with! He and I agreed from the start that one of the ground rules for this project was to re-record as little as possible. This was important to me as I wanted to preserve the vibe and sonic nostalgia of the original performances – and limit the budget as well. Even with this parameter in place, Chuck was able to breathe new life into the song by thickening the guitars, beefing up the drums and bass, and smoothing out my vocal performance. He also helped to identify moments where we could inject new twists like guitar and vocal harmonies, alternate drum fills, tightening up the outro, and more. I’m especially pleased with how the bridge section turned out. Chuck took a very simplistic piano and synth idea from one of my very first Midnight Train demos and turned it into a very atmospheric and cinematic passage. Listening to the bridge never gets old for me.
Seeing as you're garnering incredible attention from your reworked single "Midnight Train," might you rework more past archives in the future?
That’s the plan. At some point, Chuck and I will regroup and finish the seven remaining Truenemy songs for an eventual LP release in 2021. After that, I have plenty more where those came from – including songs that I would only consider releasing as a solo artist or for licensing purposes.
What can listeners anticipate to hear next from you going into the new year?
Probably one or two more singles from the remaining seven Truenemy songs. There are a couple of songs like “Fight!” and “Lightning Ball” that are good candidates for a single. They were fun to play live back in the day too! Maybe a cover song and/or EP at some point? I’ve also had discussions with past members of the live incarnation of Truenemy about a possible ZOOM jam. We’ll see where things go – I’m trying to take it one song at a time as I still have a day job and a family to take care of – which includes virtual kindergarten!
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