During the darkest days of 2020 we could have done with a superhero or two swooping in to elevate spirits, thwart villains and perhaps – hey, we can dream! - put an end to the brass-necked political corruption we see exposed in the news on a daily basis. But no, for once those limelight-hogging f**kers have been nowhere to be seen. Blame lockdown, we guess.
Finally, though, it seems that our heroes are re-emerging, if the new video by London power-pop rockers The Middlenight Men is to be believed. We won’t spoil the storyline which unfolds in Heroine Heights, which is introduced by an entertaining disclaimer from Steel Panther guitarist Satchel, but let’s just say that it’s good to see Harley Quinn, Supergirl and more out on the streets of Camden, meting out a little attitude adjustment once again.
The Middlenight Men were formed by former Yo-Yos / Love Zombies / Duncan Reid And The Bigheads man Nick Hughes who brought long-time friend Leon Cave (Status Quo) along for the ride. Heroine Heights is the third single to be released from the band’s forthcoming Issue 1 album, following on from previous singles Rat Star and B.A. Baby.
“The core message of the song itself is something that's really important to me,” says Hughes. “I still find myself being constantly embarrassed, every single time, to be a guy when I walk down the street and see all the lecherous, cat calling, rude ass guys who think it's perfectly acceptable to shout out after girls. It's disgusting and I can only imagine what it feels like for girls. We wanted to address this but obviously we like mixing humour and seriousness in most of the things we produce so I decided to mix this with the superhero element and refer to some of the relationships between the heroes and villains and relate it back to the core message. That this simply is not okay.”
