In conversation with Midnight Repost: “It’s just completely different energy for the better”

Midnight Repost are back. They played Real Ale last year, and they’re back for this year’s festival in a matter of days. I had the pleasure of talking with frontman Liam Priestnall last week and got all the information you need to both enjoy their performance on Thursday 19 February, and also to admire their fascinating journey. 

Priestnall began his musical journey at 12-years-old, creating a grunge band with his best friend, exploring the art which captivated him most at that time, letting rip on a drum kit, being his “first experience writing music”. From there, orchestral pieces began to captivate him as he emerged from high school, fascinated by how “no two bars are the same”. Priestnall told me how this variation truly expanded his musical horizons, it becoming apparent to him that the musical landscape is far broader than he first imagined, this “constant evolution” paving his path to Hatfield University where he studied film music.  

After studying in Los Angeles for a year, continuing to create his own more mainstream music, he decided to pursue film composition as a career. The plan was to attend a film school which only took eight students a year – Priestnall’s modesty shone through here as he remarked, “I guess it was really exclusive”. Despite underestimating himself, his decision to drop out of the “£20,000 in a month” enrolment process was a blessing in disguise, the COVID-19 pandemic infamously striking in early 2020, leaving him with plenty of time to “churn out the rock music”, giving him a form of escapism during lockdown.  

Midnight Repost was a name Priestnall came up with by himself, using it as the title for a solo project behind which he began to release tracks on SoundCloud, “pretty much out of boredom, at least in the early days”. The band quickly became something he wanted to pursue more full-time. From the first release in November 2021, it took less than a year to get other members into the project, beginning with Priestnall’s best friend, Darius Smith, the band’s bassist. Prior to joining Midnight Repost, Smith had “never really picked up a bass”, previously only playing the piano and acoustic guitars. Priestnall taught him how to play bass, and he’s stuck with it ever since!

It just clicked pretty quickly with the three of us and things started working

Liam Priestnall

While the band seem like brothers nowadays, Fredrick Lindal, Repost’s drummer, didn’t join following a deep history of friendship and nostalgia like Smith. Priestnall and Lindal got into contact in the comments of an Instagram post calling for artists to connect, and – from there – “it just clicked pretty quickly with the three of [ them ], and things started working”. However, at the 46th Real Ale Festival, Lindal won’t join the stage, being a touring drummer working alongside other bands too. Instead, they will be joined by Luca, one of Priestnall’s other friends, who played Real Ale last year too! 

Priestnall, Smith, and Lindal record live for the records, their first EP, Out By Ten, being the first record where every sound used came straight from the passion of the live band, “and then since we did it like that, I’ve done it the same way ever since”. The power of live instrumentation cannot be overstated, and the band’s frontman agreed, saying it has “completely different energy for the better”, supplying “life and imperfection” to the music, making the final records all the more authentic.  

This authenticity is the main thing that drew me to the band, the name Midnight Repost encapsulating everything they stand for. To me, it screams unfiltered, raw honesty – if I close my eyes, I can see myself tucked up in bed, doomscrolling late at night, reposting videos which are so brutally truthful I wouldn’t ever consider sharing in broad daylight. The same authenticity shines through in Priestnall’s songwriting: it’s confessional, with a satirical side dish of British tongue-in-cheek.  

Speaking on his songwriting, he told me that whenever he writes, he doesn’t think about what people want to hear, but just writes his personality onto the page: “I can be sincere, but not without slapping you around the back of the head”. That, to me, epitomises what Midnight Repost is about. They are going to write songs which hold your hand through hard times, but still remind you to keep everything in perspective. Life is a short, ephemeral adventure which we should endeavour to make the absolute most out of, or as Priestnall put it, “you can’t be really supportive and genuine with someone in a deep conversation without just having a touch on the end of like, ‘ah, but you’re still a cunt’”. 

The true artist that he is, Priestnall doesn’t just care for lyrics in the songwriting process, but the melodic shape his tracks take too, always pitching a “fully produced demo” to Smith and Lindal, and then watching their collaboration steer the development of the art – “it’s still so important to have that collaborative energy in there where somebody’s going to put that little bit of magic in there that you didn’t see”. The true camaraderie of the Midnight Repost boys is undeniably obvious in their work, and that’s one of the things which makes their music so addictive. Priestnall reminisced about the creation of his favourite track, ‘I Will Never Know’, where Lindal listened to the demo and then jumped on his drum kit, “put [ ting ] everything in there which makes the song groove”. 

Regarding influence, Repost’s frontman cited Blink-182, Paramore, and Foo Fighters for the originality they brought to the industry, changing the rock scene undeniably. Dave Grohl was a particular inspiration for Priestnall, who found himself fascinated by how Grohl “would be making up this shape that doesn’t really exist”, not being a guitar player himself, and so unequivocally just feeling the music, and letting his love of rock lead him to the success he has now ascertained. Nothing But Thieves were also mentioned as a major influence on the recent progression Midnight Repost has seen – “their music has changed massively since their first record, and their latest record has really pushed the limit on what they are capable of”. Dead Club City is definitely a career highlight for the original Essex boys.  

They sound very different, but you can tell they are a Midnight Repost song just from the way we’ve arranged all the sounds and lyrics

Liam Priestnall

A desire to improve hasn’t always served the band’s best interests, though, or at least so it would seem: “it’s one of the problems in the band – I can’t stick to one genre”. I wouldn’t necessarily describe it as a “problem”, though, as this impulsive, interest-driven passion is what has led to such complex, layered records for Midnight Repost. Their debut EP, Out By Ten, for example, takes fans on a sonic adventure through 80s pop in ‘Stay’ and fan-favourite ‘Blue Eyes’, to the “Jamiroquai-esque” ‘Fantasy’, to the atmospheric, world-building tracks ‘Come Down’ (“a dark cinematic pop thing”) and ‘The Whistler’ (“this really quiet, intimate piano song about accepting death”). Moreover, this diversity is teaching Priestnall the true art of being a successful artist: “I think the real skill of it is being able to do that but keep them in the same sound of the band… They sound very different, but you can tell they are a Midnight Repost song just from the way we’ve arranged all the sounds and lyrics.” 

Much like many modern-day acts, Midnight Repost is not just a band – they are the music, the twenty-five shows they have performed at thus far, the energy they create. As a brand, they are extremely active on their social media profiles, so I wanted to know how Priestnall has found it being an artist in the age of sensationalist, short-form content, where so many smaller acts rely on going viral to get their start. He told me that, for him, “social media is like learning another art form [ where ] you just never know what is going to do well”. Because of this unpredictability, the band are committed to consistent uploads, while still maintaining a balance as “sometimes it’s going to start getting detrimental to your songwriting, and also just your mental health”. 

Priestnall compared the relationship between the surge of TikTok and the music industry to when music videos began to be released, people initially rejecting the new media as “nothing to do with music; a waste of time and resources”. While “there’s always that change in the industry that people aren’t going to be very keen on accepting”, it’s clear his love of music comes before anything else as he urged younger musicians to “go for it – you could produce from your bedroom and still get a shit load of fans out of nowhere”. 

Our conversation wouldn’t have been a job well done if I hadn’t managed to find out a bit of behind-the-scenes news regarding upcoming releases, and Priestnall told me Midnight Repost are “in the midst of releasing a third EP”, the first two singles out already, another two on the way in a few weeks before the final track drops with the EP. Alongside this, he’s got another “three in the pipeline, and then a bunch of ideas”: trust me – you’re going to want to be at Real Ale so you can say you were a fan at the very start.  

If you post an album of fourteen songs as a smaller act, nobody is going to get all the way through

Liam Priestnall

EPs seem to be the trend the band is sticking to for future releases, as they offer everything an album does, just without the padded weight: “if you post an album of fourteen songs as a smaller act, nobody is going to get all the way through”. Priestnall isn’t entirely against an album but wouldn’t release one just so that Midnight Repost can say they have a debut album. Again, the music comes first for the band – “I’d only do it if I had a lot of ideas that I think would make sense in a cohesive way”. 

If you’ve never listened to Midnight Repost before, don’t worry, as Priestnall gave me the top three songs that best introduce the band to new fans. First up was ‘Blue Eyes’ – “the song that people know us for, if they do”; then, ‘I Will Never Know’, the song which he views above the rest, his most loved release to date. Finally, Priestnall suggested ‘Someone Who Loves You’ as “an introduction into where [ the band is ] going next” – it’s a “big, in-your-face, obtuse kind of vibe”, something Midnight Repost do best.  

We closed up the interview talking beer; we had to – it’s the Real Ale Festival, after all! Guinness is Priestnall’s “go-to”: if he wasn’t already admirable for his love of creation and the passion with which he talks of his band, this sells it. For a lager, he always goes for a Stella, which, despite being the ‘wife-beater’, “it’s more common in a pub to find a Stella that’s okay – Fosters is always shit.” 

Those last four words sum up Liam Priestnall, frontman of upcoming alt-pop group Midnight Repost, better than anything I could have written. It was an absolute pleasure talking to such a genuine, grounded artist – he’s one of the greats. With that, make sure to head to Real Ale in only a matter of days to catch the band playing on Thursday 19 February, headlining day one of what is guaranteed to be a brilliant festival!