The Midnight Calls is a denim and leather Rock & Roll outfit from Chicago. The band is fronted by Spain-born singer, Taran de Pablos and features guitarists Adam Arling (The Last Vegas, Urge Overkill, Warrior Soul) and Tony McQuaid (Loudmouth, Frank Bang & the Secret Stash), bassist Sean Barnes and drummer Chuck Harling. Their music is heavily influenced by the blues-infused sounds of classic bands like Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones or AC/DC. With a recipe based on grooves, hooks, and loud guitars as the main ingredients, The Midnight Calls are not reinventing the Rock & Roll wheel, but rather rolling it down the road with the swagger and style that you would expect from road-tested musicians that have toured the US and Europe a few times over. Since their inception in late 2022, The Midnight Calls have released three singles, “Whaddya”, “Coming Up Roses”, and their latest song, “So Cold” which features Chris Grove (Survivor, Joel Hoekstra, Eddie Money) on keyboards. While developing their music in the studio, the band has stayed active, sharing the stage with national acts like Supersuckers, The Steepwater Band, Faster Pussycat, Blacktop Mojo, or Jason Kane and the Jive amongst others. The Midnight Calls are working on material for their debut album (expected early 2025 release), with USA / Europe touring planned following.

Led by drummer Brad Elvis (Screams, The Elvis Brothers, Big Hello, The Romantics) and vocalist/guitarist/saxophonist Chloe F. Orwell (Big Hello), Chicago’s The Handcuffs will be releasing their fourth studio album Burn The Rails. The 13-song album was tracked at Kingsize Sound Labs, Chicago with producer/engineer Mike Hagler (Wilco, Neko Case, Billy Bragg, Mavis Staples, My Morning Jacket, The Mekons). Burn The Rails is being released by Pravda Records in June on CD, download and via streaming platforms and later on 12″ vinyl. For the the new album, The Handcuffs found inspiration from the heady, analog days of early 1970s rock & roll, weaving together elements of glam, indie, garage, art and blues rock. Inhabiting some of the same musical turf as T-Rex, Mott The Hoople, Roxy Music, The Raconteurs, P.J. Harvey, Led Zeppelin, and Patti Smith – all filtered through a modern lens – they deliver bold, sexy songs with memorable melodies and unexpected twists. Guest keyboardist Morgan Fisher (Mott The Hoople) demonstrates his synthesizer and piano prowess on a couple of tracks on the new LP. The relationship with Fisher, a musical hero of the band, began after singer Orwell’s rave review of Mott The Hoople’s 2018 reunion tour went viral on social media, attracting the attention of Fisher, who got in contact. From there a creative collaboration was sparked, in-spite of an ocean separating the now real-life friends. Finishing the record during the peak of the pandemic and lockdown, gave several of the songs an  inadvertent anthem-for-the-times feel – with themes of love and loss, heartache and hope, and even the great ideological divide that was as omnipresent as the virus. Elvis and Orwell formed The Handcuffs from the ashes of Big Hello, their first band together, which released three indie label records and toured from coast to coast. Elvis’ career also includes a few major label go-arounds, arena tours, and a backstory that will be documented in a new autobiography in the near future. The duo’s eagerness to explore new sonic territory and evolve into an entity that aligned more with their ever-expanding influences and broad range of musical tastes prompted a change. The Handcuffs began as primarily a studio project, in which Elvis and Orwell wrote and recorded an abundance of material. During the process, they realized that they missed the live band experience, and so The Handcuffs as recording artists and a dynamic live band was born. Completing the line-up are bassist Emily Togni, lead guitarist Jeffrey Kmieciak, and keyboardist Alison Hinderliter, all of whom originate from different parts of the country, but have made Chicago their home.