Unveiling the Conspiracy

Stic catches up with Mikul and Louis from Midnight Conspiracy on the upcoming Spring Awakening festival, exciting summer plans, and the meaning behind their stage presence.

Photo Credit: Christopher Free

SOTW: This summer Soldier Field will house the first Spring Awakening music festival. What are your thoughts on the festival’s potential and playing a large venue like the stadium?

 

MC: I remember watching the Depeche Mode 101 documentary as a kid and seeing their massive shows on the Music for the Masses tour in other stadiums like the Rose Bowl, and thinking "now that's majorly epic." Hopefully in Spring Awakening we'll have the return of arena rock but instead of bands like The Cure and Depeche Mode, you'll have DJs and electronic acts. Boy, things have changed.

SOTW: What are your opinions on the overall artist selection at Spring Awakening?

MC: It’s a pretty solid, awesome lineup. As opposed to other festivals it will be all EDM (electronic dance music), which is exciting. Lollapalooza has a lot more mainstream bands. This will be the first fest in Chicago that is pretty much all electronic.

SOTW: In your opinion, what is the best thing a fan can do during a live Midnight Conspiracy performance? What do you like to see when looking at the crowd?

MC: Go HAM, as the kids like to say these days. We like seeing crowd surfing; mosh pits are also great. At Lolla there was a pretty big mosh pit when we performed so hopefully we can repeat that at Spring Awakening.

SOTW: Can you explain your stage presence and props used such as the illuminated pyramid that contains the outline of an eye?

MC: We have a 16-foot eye in the shape of our triangle logo that we perform out of, for our "Eye Live" shows. It has LEDs and a full on laser light show. The Midnight Conspiracy logo (a pyramid with an eye) is far from the Illuminati stereotype that people associate with it. If you listen to our intro from our shows, it suggests there's an elite few, a new world order, that overly influences our lives, and our eye represents the truth and inner vision to expose these oppressors. The "all seeing eye" has been used long before its association with the Illuminati.

SOTW: What is your favorite festival attire when performing and/or attending?

MC: We get a lot of clothes from All Saints like leather jackets, jeans and shirts. So, we’re usually rocking that, but black leather isn't always the best in the heat of the summer. At North Coast Music Festival we were coordinating black outfits, but it was so hot, I had to rip off my shirt and leave a bare chest and stomach under my leather. It was my trashiest moment. Hopefully there won't be a repeat of that.

SOTW: Summer is right around the corner; what are your goals and excitements for summer 2012?

MC: Spring Awakening will kick off the summer. We’ll also be releasing a new single called "Eyes in the Sky", a new EP as well as all the remixes for our last single, "The Eye."