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Rock Singles

Darby Picnic channels 80s rock on “Midnight Train”

Release date: September 14th, 2018

Dan Ray October 17, 20182 Comments
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Darby Picnic channels 80s rock on “Midnight Train” October 17, 20182 Comments

Raised by a single mother in the suburbs of Detroit, Dan discovered an early passion for singing, songwriting, and the arts as a whole. She got her BA in English and music at the University of Michigan, where she reported for the school’s paper, The Michigan Daily. She worked as a Senior News Reporter on the government beat, transitioned to arts writing, and eventually became the managing editor of the social media department. She moved to Seattle in 2017. After losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and discouraged about the lack of press surrounding Seattle’s music scene, Dan made the decision to turn Dan’s Tunes, a fully fledged music journalism website focused on showcasing the Seattle area’s musicians, into its own startup. There’s so much music happening in the city that spawned Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix — among others — and Dan’s Tunes is determined to find and expose those outstanding acts. The goal is to have satellites in every major US city, uplifting diverse and compelling voices and helping music communities thrive. In 2020, Dan was featured in the Seattle Times’s year-end music critic poll. Other than her musical endeavors (singing, playing ukulele, and auditioning for American Idol four times before the age of 24) Ray is passionate about food and education around the American food system, and she’s also a large proponent of eliminating the stigma around mental health. Ray loves cats, especially her own, who is named Macaulay Culkin (but she’s a lady).

Photo courtesy of Darby Picnic

“Midnight Train,” the latest single from Tacoma-based five-piece Darby Picnic, listens like a Shinedown song made by a blues band in the 80s. Is that bad? No. Is it incredibly niche? Yes.

Troy Moss takes the lead on this track — he switches off with fellow guitarist and vocalist of the group Kent Beatty and keyboardist and vocalist Lee Gregory — and his voice adds a nice touch of gravel to the song as a whole, while the bluesy guitar riffs highlight each chorus. The over four-minute track features four verses, four choruses, and two breakdowns: one instrumental section that serves as a bridge, and one vocal section that serves as an outro. It’s the instrumentals that really bring this track to life; Moss’s vocals add a layer of gruffness to the otherwise bouncy track, but the guitar and bass riffs are the meat of this train sandwich.

The lyrics of “Midnight Train,” however, are incredibly important to the overall listening experience. The track doesn’t tell a specific story, but the themes of life and death are rampant: “when is that conductor gonna come for me / to ride that midnight train / can I live another day?” While the lyrics often edge into trite territory — “like my daddy and his before / we all have a time to go” — Darby Picnic gets props for finding a message and delivering it clearly. The message might best serve a biker montage a la the original “Mad Max,” but that’s what the band seems to be going for: comprised of five gray-haired gentlemen, Darby Picnic is making music for their generation, and they accomplish that beautifully. It’s not current, but “Midnight Train” could have easily been a Top 40 hit in the 80s.

The best aspect of “Midnight Train,” though, is its ability to make you cock your head in curiosity like a Golden Retriever waiting to see if that thing in your owner’s hand is edible. This is especially apparent in the music video, which features Moss wearing a black, button-up, velvet-paisley shirt and a top hat over his Kid Rock-esque mane. The rest of the band — Gregory, Beatty, bassist Terry Hickey, and drummer Rickie Ray Heinzman — dons similar garb. Interspersed with clips of the band performing on a grass lawn is a story about a mother and child who get separated in the woods. The daughter runs into two men fighting (it’s difficult to tell if they are related to her in any way) and picks up the gun one of them drops. Spoiler alert: then, the mom finds her, but the daughter accidentally shoots her mom. It’s jarring, to say the least.

Release your inner Golden, and take a look below:

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Raised by a single mother in the suburbs of Detroit, Dan discovered an early passion for singing, songwriting, and the arts as a whole. She got her BA in English and music at the University of Michigan, where she reported for the school’s paper, The Michigan Daily. She worked as a Senior News Reporter on the government beat, transitioned to arts writing, and eventually became the managing editor of the social media department. She moved to Seattle in 2017. After losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and discouraged about the lack of press surrounding Seattle’s music scene, Dan made the decision to turn Dan’s Tunes, a fully fledged music journalism website focused on showcasing the Seattle area’s musicians, into its own startup. There’s so much music happening in the city that spawned Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix — among others — and Dan’s Tunes is determined to find and expose those outstanding acts. The goal is to have satellites in every major US city, uplifting diverse and compelling voices and helping music communities thrive. In 2020, Dan was featured in the Seattle Times’s year-end music critic poll. Other than her musical endeavors (singing, playing ukulele, and auditioning for American Idol four times before the age of 24) Ray is passionate about food and education around the American food system, and she’s also a large proponent of eliminating the stigma around mental health. Ray loves cats, especially her own, who is named Macaulay Culkin (but she’s a lady).

2 comments

  1. Thank you for the review! I love to hear opinions on my songs, and I really like yours 🙂 Thanks again!

  2. Troy this touches the soul and the band does a wonderful job relaying the heart felt music.
    So proud of you.

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