Midnight Kitchen live at the Manhattan Room, Philadelphia 6/5/2007
The Tale of Midnight Kitchen
In the summer of 2005, from the depths of what is now West Philadelphia, lived a brash man named Izzy, hero of rhythm guitar. Despite warnings from local religious men, he set forth to create the most hardcore death rock band ever. He quickly realized death metal was not the work of God and repented by creating a new genre, Life Metal. This failed as well. Retreating back to the desolation known as southern jersey he sat and thought for days on end, living only on golden eagle diner food. For years he toiled until the music took its toll on him. A traveling guitar wizard named Bart found Izzy nearly dead and revived him by shredding some magical scales. Somehow he survived…
Meanwhile in Philadelphia, Nino and James were dropping a class together when they started talking about music. Both being apathetic fellows, they required help to form a pop combo. They sought to find the legend they had heard of as children. A tale of a man named Izzy who drove the herds of elephant from America across the sea into the dark continent with his voice alone. Through some act of trickery they emancipated Izzy from his shackles whereupon he swore he would devote his life to music once more.
As the band reeled from the rapture of its one and only show, James decided to seek his fortune elsewhere. He put his handkerchief on the end of a stick and bundled up his wares. Waving goodbye to the town of Philadelphia he set out northward in hopes of studying with bluesman John Kennedy and synthsonic philosopher Will Kennedy.
The Philadelphia band fell upon hard times. Without James to glare at them they had no way of knowing when they were playing wrong notes. Just as he was about to help, Nino was tricked by a traveling kennel into buying a dog possessed by the arch demon Pazuzu. The wizard Bart was called to shred down some remnants of iron curtain in Europe and departed hastily.
One year older and wiser, James returned to Philadelphia where he found the fiendish grip of evil had once again taken hold. For months he struggled to exorsize Ninos' dog. When nino and the dog had been satisfactorily rid of the demon, they set fourth the break Izzy’s bonds once more. In the end Izzy shouted the joy of his freedom from the top of the tallest landfill in New Jersey.
In need a new musical magician, Nino sent a message to his old jam guitar sensai, Clayton. Coming from a several thousand year long retirement Clayton unsheathed his stratocastor and dusted the strings with a tattered page from the necronomicon.
Wah pedals plugged in, basses sufficiently fuzzed, rooms filled with off kilter harmonies…
midnight kitchen was born.
