Latest / The Front / Inside the showbiz machine with Netflix sensation Midnight Til Morning

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Inside the showbiz machine with Netflix sensation Midnight Til Morning · The Front

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: From The Australian. This is the weekend edition of The Front.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Today I'm talking to a boy band.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Go with me.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: Connor on this one, Hello, Sean on this one.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Hello.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: This is Zach check check sob it's Mason.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Midnight Till Morning are different. They were created by Netflix
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: for a show called Building the Band and now two Australians,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: two Americans, they're in the fight of their lives. Netflix
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: handed them an incredible headstart, but turning it into a
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: career that's on them.
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  Speaker 4: I want to.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Vis is the most famous singer in the world today,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Benson Boone, who got his start on American idol, and
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: this song was written with the world's hottest songwriter, Amy Allen.
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  Speaker 2: She's written massive.
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  Speaker 1: Hits for artists like Sabrina Carpenter, Harry Styles and many more.
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  Speaker 1: The song she wrote with Benson Boone by didn't make
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: it onto his album, but Boone and Allen offered their
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: song that's standard practice in the pop songwriting market to
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  Speaker 1: an up and coming band, Midnight Till Morning, which includes
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  Speaker 1: two Australians Mason Watson, Connor Smith and two Americans Zach
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  Speaker 1: Newbold and SHANEA.
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  Speaker 2: Pel here's Mason.
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  Speaker 5: We didn't get told that it was Benson on the demo,
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  Speaker 5: but we all recognized his voice pretty much straight away.
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  Speaker 5: They let us kind of put our spin on her
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  Speaker 5: and just changed it up, made it our own. I
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: think it was just really validating for us to get
• 2:02
  Speaker 5: the blessing from such iconic artists.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: You know, Midnight Till Morning added a bridge and gave
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: the song the boy band treatment, digging up the lead
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: vocal among its four members. Bye is one of the
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: first two singles released by Midnight Till Morning, and while
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: it's only been out for six weeks, Bye is closing
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: in on three point five million streams on Spotify.
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  Speaker 3: Driven.
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  Speaker 6: But I just can't see attention singers.
• 2:36
  Speaker 7: I got big news for y'all.
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  Speaker 2: Another In mid twenty four.
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  Speaker 1: Before they got their name, Midnight Till Morning were known
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: as Band four, one of six bands created on the
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Netflix hit Building the.
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  Speaker 3: Band Mason, Zach Sheen, and Connor.
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  Speaker 5: That's a solid boy group.
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  Speaker 1: We think Lover's Blind meets X Factor contestants, listening in
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: on blind auditions before forming bands and going through the
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: riggers of showbiz training. Building the band feels like another
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: guilty pleasure watch until these bands start to perform, they're amazing.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: Here we go spoiler.
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  Speaker 1: Midnightetel Morning didn't go on to win the contest, but
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  Speaker 1: they haven't missed the opportunity to capitalize on the hype
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: of the show.
• 3:33
  Speaker 6: Here's Connor well, as soon as as soon as the
• 3:36
  Speaker 6: show finished, well even on the show, we were very
• 3:37
  Speaker 6: adamant that we want to record music and have it
• 3:39
  Speaker 6: ready for when the show releases and you get an
• 3:41
  Speaker 6: album ready to get it too already and Shane.
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: We did not want to be a one head wonder like.
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: We want longevity, and we made sure you know that
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  Speaker 4: we had ten songs that were bangers like and we
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: knew every single song could be number one, you know
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: what I mean?
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  Speaker 3: And I think having yeah, I mean.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: They've now got a record deal, singles climbing Spotify's viral charts,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: and international tours about to.
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  Speaker 3: Launch pretty much like six seven months straight.
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  Speaker 6: We're just in the studio they studio recording stuff, doing pressing,
• 4:12
  Speaker 6: promo and media shots and just really trying to strike
• 4:16
  Speaker 6: while the irons height when the show adds. So I
• 4:17
  Speaker 6: just so many songwriting sessions and just getting to know
• 4:20
  Speaker 6: each other more as well.
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  Speaker 3: They're becoming closer.
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  Speaker 1: They're too nice to say it themselves, but Midnight Till
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  Speaker 1: Morning is thrashing. The actual winners of building the band
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  Speaker 1: frequency on Spotify. They're a boy band, handsome, wholesome, marketable,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: and actually talented. One thing sits them apart. They don't dance.
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  Speaker 5: And I guess as far as the you know, not
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: wanting to be the traditional boy band, we were initially
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: for solo artists, and I think we still wanted to
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: kind of hang on to that individual identity rather than
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: just all wearing matching clothes and doing the same moves,
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: you know. And I don't think the world needs that them.
• 4:57
  Speaker 5: I think they need people that are honest and you know,
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  Speaker 5: and tell it how it is and how they feel.
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  Speaker 5: And that's what we are.
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  Speaker 3: I'm so let you.
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  Speaker 2: Mason.
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  Speaker 1: There was a beautiful moment in building the band when
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  Speaker 1: you said, after meeting these guys for the first time,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: that you felt like you'd met your best friends and
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: you just had to get to know them.
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  Speaker 2: Is that still how it feels?
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  Speaker 5: It feels like brothers now. We spent a lot of
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: time together, both on the show and off the show.
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: I mean we finished feeling about a year ago now,
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  Speaker 5: and I'd say for the most part, we've been in
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: close proximity.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Midnight till morning and going on tour starting with US
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: shows in October. But if they're steering clear of choreo
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: and matching outfits, what is the plan for the show.
• 5:41
  Speaker 6: We're all guitarists, but you know, Shane's a drummer, and
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  Speaker 6: we're going to a little play keys, and we just
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  Speaker 6: want to you know, we want we want to keep
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  Speaker 6: the crowd entertained as much as we can, and we
• 5:50
  Speaker 6: obviously want to show off abilities musicians. And yeah, that's
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  Speaker 6: like playing guitar and really getting with the crowd in
• 5:55
  Speaker 6: the audience, And.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: So does that add a whole other level of stress,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: you know, learning instrumentation as well as vocals.
• 6:02
  Speaker 7: Honestly, look, that's something like initially it made us more
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  Speaker 7: uncomfortable knocked out the instrument with us because we're also
• 6:08
  Speaker 7: used to like playing in bars or doing these like
• 6:11
  Speaker 7: small performances back home, and then all of a sudden
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  Speaker 7: that was just stripped from us and it's like, hey,
• 6:15
  Speaker 7: stand here, yeah, like oceanize on the show. It's like okay,
• 6:19
  Speaker 7: everybody just stand here and sing. We're like, all right,
• 6:22
  Speaker 7: what do we do, so we're sitting there like shoulders
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  Speaker 7: up and it.
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  Speaker 3: Just definitely takes time.
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  Speaker 6: And we write a lot of these songs on guitar
• 6:29
  Speaker 6: when we first create them, so it's just natural to
• 6:31
  Speaker 6: play them on guitar. Yeah, we want to bring instruments
• 6:34
  Speaker 6: into the show and obviously have songs with that instruments
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  Speaker 6: and just really create an environment that's exciting for people.
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  Speaker 3: It's a big party.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: This is Midnight Till Morning's latest song, Navy.
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  Speaker 2: Eyes the.
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  Speaker 3: Simon when the Navy.
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  Speaker 1: It's a great song, but cutting through the noise in
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five is harder than ever. Algorithms, playlists, and
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: AI all play their role in stifling new artists. Most
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: musicians can't make any money on the road. That means
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: a lot of talented musos are now songwriters. It's an
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: overcrowded marketplace. In the sixties, there were on average two
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: songwriters credited on every song that reached number one on
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: the charts. You heard a snippet of a hit called
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: APT at the top of this episode. One of the
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: writers on that was Amy Allen, who also wrote by
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: the number of songwriters on APT was twelve. If you
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: judge Tom midnight till morning. By their Instagram page, it
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: looks like they're having a blast doing backflips and pranking
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: each other.
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: Mason said he'd get Matting tattooed.
• 7:46
  Speaker 7: And there's no way he's gonna though.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: But making it is incredibly hard and takes talent, luck,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: and a lot of work. With that in mind, I
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: wanted to know, are these guys putting in the work
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: or is it just pranks and backflips. There's a cliche
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: that great art can only come from struggle. You know
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: that you have to starve in your garrett for a
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: while before you can create anything real or meaningful. How
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: do you feel about music now? Like, do you guys,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: do you feel like I'm there, We're making music, we're
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: having fun, or do you feel like you're still in
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: the grind.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: Personally, I think the struggle was more before.
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  Speaker 6: Mason and I are from like pretty small towns, Like
• 8:34
  Speaker 6: we're not from anywhere but from Los Angeles or anything
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  Speaker 6: like that. We came from, as I said.
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  Speaker 5: I'm from to Warmba.
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, we came.
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  Speaker 3: From playing in front of five people.
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  Speaker 6: We've worked super hard for this, and I think our
• 8:45
  Speaker 6: fans see that as well when they go look back
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: at previous videos obviously like, oh no, these boys have
• 8:49
  Speaker 6: been at this for years.
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  Speaker 4: I would see, even like coming from a small town,
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: like like I've really had to like push myself hard.
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  Speaker 4: I didn't have a lot of support. I lost a
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: lot of friends from it too, where like a lot
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: of my friends thought I was crazy for doing what
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: I was doing. Like some of them felt embarrassed, like
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  Speaker 4: not many of my friends would like repost any of
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: my stuff or like like get or share it because
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: they didn't want to be judged. In small towns, people
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  Speaker 4: think like it's like go to college, you know, working
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: nine to five and for me to do something different. Ill,
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: everyone looked at it like it was a little crazy.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: So do you think you are?
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly like people like who does this guy think
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  Speaker 4: he is? And it was definitely hard.
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  Speaker 3: So I feel like these guys.
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  Speaker 4: All kind of being from small towns went through a
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: similar thing. That's why we all feel very connected.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, looking back at that guy who was playing in
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: the bar with the people eating their fish and chips, what.
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  Speaker 2: Would you say to him?
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: Now, tell me cut his hair? God, pretty long.
• 9:41
  Speaker 6: I just feel like I just keep at it, you know,
• 9:42
  Speaker 6: I keep writing. That's the one thing, like I'm really
• 9:45
  Speaker 6: outamat about it. Just keep writing because I was writing
• 9:47
  Speaker 6: terrible songs when I was young, and then I always
• 9:49
  Speaker 6: thought like, I'm never gonna get better at this. Then
• 9:50
  Speaker 6: over the years you just get better and better, I
• 9:52
  Speaker 6: think honestly, just appreciate that moment of singing in front
• 9:55
  Speaker 6: of like three four people and just like, dude, just
• 9:57
  Speaker 6: take it in because you're not gonna be able to
• 9:59
  Speaker 6: do it in a while.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: Coming up Midnight Till Morning's origin story building. The band
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: looks like it's come out of an La Fever dream,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: but in fact it was shot in a backlot in
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Manchester in the United Kingdom. So how did these four
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: talented guys come to be in Manchester in the UK
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: summer of twenty twenty four.
• 10:40
  Speaker 6: Yeah. I was asked to be on an American idol a
• 10:42
  Speaker 6: few years ago, and I kind of tried that last year.
• 10:45
  Speaker 6: Got contacted by a casting agent who was also an
• 10:48
  Speaker 6: American idol and he's like, yeah, that's this show. You
• 10:50
  Speaker 6: want to be part of it? And I'm like not really,
• 10:52
  Speaker 6: man Like I'm kind of chilling. I'm just skating and
• 10:54
  Speaker 6: having fue and then he goes, dude, it's Netflix, Like
• 10:57
  Speaker 6: you're gonna want to do this. I'm like, all right,
• 10:58
  Speaker 6: I'll give it a try. And next thing I know
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: in Manchester filming it.
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I heard about it through management. One of my managers, Daniel,
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: hit me up and said, hey, like, this opportunity has
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: come across my desk. Would you be interested? And I
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: was like, nah, not at all, sorry, and then he said, look,
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: I think this show might be a bit different because
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: it is reality TV, like you can be yourself and
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: your personality will come through. And then I was still skeptical,
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: but I started the audition process and just kind of
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: got further and further down the line, and then yeah,
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: I got the call saying do you want to do
• 11:30
  Speaker 5: the show? And at that point I was like, well
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: why not. But I'm really glad that I did because
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: obviously I met these three guys and now we're going
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: to take over the world.
• 11:38
  Speaker 7: Oh yeah.
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: I think we all bring something different, so we all
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: have our own fans. Like some people might be a
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: Connor girl, some people might be a Zach guy, you know, wherever.
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: It is, like, but.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: I'm a Zach.
• 11:54
  Speaker 5: Way, I was saying before, I think we're just authentic
• 11:58
  Speaker 5: guys who love making music and I'm just grateful to
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: be doing it together and if people can connect with
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: what we're saying, then that's amazing.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Midnight Till Morning will be touring everywhere from New York
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: to Woolengabba starting in October, with Australian shows planned for November.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: A feature on Midnight Till Morning, written by the Front's
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: own Jasper League, is available in this weekend's edition of Review,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: available in The Australian or online at the Australian dot com.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: Dot a u slash Review.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: You can also check out our video of the band
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: in our studio here in Sydney. This episode of the
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Front was hosted by me Claire Harvey and produced by
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Jasper League, who edited the episode and also wrote our theme.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us on the Front this week.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: Our team also includes Kristin amiot Leat, Tammaglue, Tiffany Dimak,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Joshua Burton and Stephanie Coombs.