Interspersing heavy-metalesque vocals, drums, and guitar riffs with lovely harmonies and haunting melodies, Midgar (based in Guildford, UK) is a refreshing entry into the Alternative Music scene.

The 5-member group has been touring avidly throughout the UK and snagged 2nd Place in the UK National final of the Sony/RCA judged GBOB (Global Battle Of The Bands) Competition in 2008. Midgar is also doing the title song for the ground-breaking independent film Michael’s Resignation.

Lead singer Andy Wilson-Talyor’s voice is intriguingly edgy and sweet at the same time, shifting pitch at unexpected moments, managing to be both plaintive and seductive. The group is rounded out by Rob Fisher (guitar and backing vocals), Oli Wiseman (drums), Mike Wiles (guitar), Matt Jarman (bass)--Erlin McAlpine was their bass player until August of 2009.

The lead and backing vocals weave in and out of each other; the drums recede to let the vocals and guitars come to the foreground, and then spring forward to gleefully assault you. Okay, frankly, the music’s like great sex: it moves from moments of exquisitely-layered sweetness to body-shocking, brain-jarring intensity.

You can hear studio versions of some songs from Of The Ancients (their first EP) on their MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/midgaruk). But here is a video with Rob Fisher and Andy Wilson-Taylor playing the acoustic version of “Vincent’s Masquerade” (one of the most compelling songs from that EP). And yeah, they get a bit silly at the end--it’s part of their charm, honest!

 [opening lyrics]

Turn off all the lights/ Join my mistress, sleep

We'll fight this feeling/ I feel you by my side

Are you really here?/ Or am I dreaming?

They were never meant to see tonight

Just take my hand/ You and I will dance tonight

Your soul is mine/ We'll join this masquerade

Of The Ancients was produced by Jason Wilcock (who has also worked with Fightstar and Reuben); you can order it here. Midgar also offers Free Acoustic MP3s of selected songs: just email your request to rob@midgarmusic.com. 

They played the Guilfest music festival in Guildford, Surrey, UK in July 2009. The headliners were Motorhead, Brian Wilson, and Happy Mondays.

I recently had the opportunity to ask Rob and Andy some questions about the band, their music, and what it’s like trying to break into the music business.

What does “Midgar” mean and how did you all meet?

Andy: "Midgar" was chosen almost as a tribute to a favourite composer of mine, Nobuo Oematsu. He writes the music for the computer game series Final Fantasy, and when I was younger I was really keen on FF7, particularly for the musical score. I brought the band members together; I knew each of them from various musical endeavours of my own and thought they would be the best men for the job when it came to putting a band together. Fortunately everyone hit it off straight away and we've ended up being a little musical family!

How do you describe (or categorize) your music to others?

Rob: We tend to say ‘Rock music’ or ‘We’re a rock band’ and leave it broad! People will always pigeon-hole music, and we’re not really bothered by that. If people ask who we sound like we tend to say a mix of Silverchair, Fightstar, and Incubus.

What are the “day jobs” of various members and how do you manage to balance (or not) both vocations?

Andy: Some of us work in other musical projects for a living, some of us will always be students and the others are responsible and fully functional human beings in the real world! It's not always easy to juggle the band with 'normal' life but somehow we manage. The dream is to earn a living from Midgar so we can dedicate ourselves to it exclusively, but for now that's just not possible!

Your first EP, Of The Ancients--where does the title come from?

Andy: "Of The Ancients" was chosen to support the idea that everything we create is the product of those who have influenced us, and as a result really belongs to them.

What bands/musicians have had the most influence on the sound of your music as a whole or on any of you as individuals?

Rob: We’ve all come from pretty different musical backgrounds. Erlin’s musical mind sweeps through the Hendrix rock era, through to the 90s grunge of Nirvana and Soundgarden and onward to bands such as Biffy Clyro.

Mike is into his technical metal such as Sikth, and more traditional late nineties metal like Deftones.

Oli has a broad taste taking in more dance-orientated acts such as Prodigy and Pendulum as well as metal and rock tastes with Killswitch Engage and Slipknot.

Andy has sweeping influences from his acoustic days, with artists such as Jamie Woon and Jono McCleary, then bands like Fightstar, and Silverchair for the heavy stuff.

My influences come mainly from college days listening to Deftones, Silverchair, Reuben, Million Dead and Biffy Clyro.

How did you get involved in the independent film Michael’s Resignation? What are you doing for the film and what are your thoughts on the project so far?

Rob: Michael’s Resignation is the brain child of London-based entrepreneur Alex Cameron. He saw me play a solo set at a bar once and really liked what I was doing and we have remained in touch ever since. We were talking randomly about the credit crunch on Facebook and I actually came up with the idea that is the main story for Michael’s Resignation. He went away and built a production company, and secured massive funding through full nationwide marketing.

We were offered the title track to the movie and have just finished production and are awaiting a music video shoot to accompany the song in London next month. We love being involved with other creative forms, and this production is our first encounter with the film industry.

Do you have a general process for writing lyrics and creating the music or is each song different?

Andy: Generally it's quite an open process; one of us will approach the group with a musical idea and we'll throw it back and forth until it ends up being something we really like. Normally the music comes first and then I'll go away for a while and write melodies and lyrics. There's not really a formula, it's just something we do quite naturally. We're very lucky in that each of us will bring something individual to the table, and it's that combination of influences that really defines our sound.

Have you approached or been approached by any music labels? What are your thoughts on the music industry in its current state?

Rob: We haven’t formally approached any labels, but a few have come to see us play. We had some real interest from one of the majors after a few big London shows, but things went quiet as the global credit crunch set in.

I think the music industry is in a bit of a mess, but this is only as the labels serve as artist ‘banks’ (lending and collecting with profit) – and look what’s happened to banks around the world recently! A label is a company at the end of the day; when money gets short, corners are cut and outgoings are reduced. I guess I could sit here and bitch about creativity and artists’ rights but at the end of the day, if you sign a contract without fully understanding or reading the offer, more fool you.

Labels don’t sign you because they love your music and want you to have a good time on their wallet, they want to make money off of your product. If you don’t like that, you should stay an independent artist.

I get the impression you don’t have a formal manager. How do you allocate various responsibilities among the band members?

Andy: As I originally put the band together, for the first 9-12 months I pretty much took up the position of manager; but now we've all taken up different responsibilities within the management of the band; it's a pretty communal process and quite exciting when we all have news to tell each other.

How did you end up writing a song about the Final Fantasy game character Vincent Valentine? What was it about the character that intrigued or inspired you?

Andy: I wrote the song on Valentine's Day, feeling pretty disillusioned with the process of the whole thing. I felt like all the sincerity had been sapped out of the world of love and romance, and everyone seemed to be pretending to be something they're not - hence the masquerade... I was looking for a way to talk about Cupid in the song, as if it were his will that things should be this way, but people's perception of Cupid is too cute and cuddly. I was after a more dark and mysterious figure who still had a certain romantic allure about him. So it occurred to me, Vincent Valentine was exactly the character I was looking for to personify the 'ringleader of romance' in this track.

The MidgarTV episodes and various vlogs you’ve done are rather bizarre and hilarious. What led you to make and post them for your fans?

Andy: The original premise for making video diaries was simply to include the fans in the day-to-day activities we as a band get up to. We wanted to document the creation of our EP so the fans could get an idea of how we work, and more importantly, how they might go about doing something similar themselves. Steadily the tone of the videos got a little more ridiculous and now we just throw them together whenever we feel like embarrassing ourselves on the internet! It's something we'll always strive to do and we feel like the fans really appreciate being invited into our world, even if it is a bit silly.

Rob, I first “met” you and heard your music on the Thirty Seconds to Mars official message board. What prompted you to start a thread there and have you visited other bands’ forums for promotion purposes? What were the results?

Rob: I first visited the Thirty Seconds To Mars forums after people approached us at our shows with TSTM shirts, saying that they’re loving our stuff. I thought I’d head over and see if anyone else on the boards would be interested in Midgar. Was a good move, as many of the forumers also like what we’re doing!

I maintain threads on a fair few band sites now, keeping people informed as to our news and progress. It’s been invaluable and has helped us form developing international fan bases in over 12 countries.

You recently toured various cities in the UK the last couple months, what were the biggest surprises and challenges you encountered?

Rob: We love playing new towns and venues, probably our favourite so far and biggest surprise being Leicester, UK. We turned up with no friends or fans and played a really solid set. By the end people were jumping around and singing along. We made loads of fans that night and sold loads of merchandise!

The biggest challenges with touring are nearly always financial. We want to visit every city where people want to see us, but the pay is always very little which makes it harder to maintain our tour van and equipment. We most certainly pay out of our own pockets to tour. Hopefully one day we’ll see some financial income from the shows!

With the current upheaval in the recording industry and increasingly accessible recording technology, more bands are producing their own music. What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in this respect?

Rob: We haven’t faced many challenges in respect to home recording as both Andy and I have a background in production anyway. Our EP was still produced in a proper recording facility by a respected UK producer as we believe no matter how good the home recording technology gets, you still need a professional who knows how to produce music, otherwise you’re going to end up with a sub-standard end product.

In respect of the home recordings we have been doing, I have worked in professional recording establishments on and off since 2001 and on top of my production training and qualifications, I have learned how to record/produce by observing first hand some of the best producers in the business – such as Chris Sheldon (Foo Fighters, Biffy Clyro), Jason Wilcock (Reuben, Fightstar) and Adrian Bushby (Cherry Falls, Feeder).

The techniques involved in big studio recordings translate directly into the home recording setup which put me in a great position to begin recording our home productions without having to try and learn how to record from scratch, as a lot of other bands have to when attempting home productions.

What are the hardest lessons you’ve learned in the last year and what advice would you give to new bands trying to establish and promote themselves?

Andy: Don't be disheartened, no matter how hard things get. It's a lot of work putting your own band together, and hitting the road, but there's nothing more rewarding than knowing someone enjoys what you do. We get some amazing messages sometimes on our MySpace and it's really those people that keep us going. So really, look after your fanbase and they'll look after you. Don't be afraid to give things away and get to know as many people as you can on a personal level. It costs nothing to be polite and friendly and in this industry it really does go a long way. Most of all, play live as often as you can and get to know promoters, venue owners, sound engineers - those are the people that will rave about you if you make an impression and it will be incredibly valuable to you to have a lot of these people on your side. Work your ass off and make the most of the opportunities the internet has provided to reach people all over the world!

What’s up next for Midgar?

Rob: Next up for Midgar? Lots of touring – especially festivals, we’re playing Beach Break 2009 festival headlined by Dizzee Rascal and Ladyhawke, then Guilfest 2009 which is headlined by Motorhead! We then have shows being planned in Leeds, Liverpool, Tunbridge Wells and Southampton. We also have the Michael’s Resignation music video shoot, and our second EP to finish. Things are looking pretty rosy for us at the moment!