‘Beneath the crushing guitars and the powerful vocals it’s about facing the bits of ourselves that we keep hidden when the world’s gone quiet’ is how ‘The Dead of Night’ is described.
Kings County bring a real punch of modern hard rock with ‘The Dead of Night’ which looks at the battle between light and dark through the lens of aggressive guitars, big vocals and a very intense performance. It’s an Orlando, FL band and the song is built around a theme that’s very much something we can all relate to, albeit one that’s rarely spoken about in the open: the inner battles that go on when you’re all alone and there’s no-one around to witness them.
At its heart it’s about the two sides of human nature. It’s about the difference between the person you are in the world and the person you are when you’re all by yourself. The dark imagery of the song gives it a real sense of tension and the message is much more than just about facing your fear. It’s about realising what you’re up against and having the strength to go through with it. The sound of the band absolutely gives this the weight it needs. Kings County are a band who blend in the most crushing of guitar work with some absolutely soaring melodic vocals. It’s the sound of 90s hard rock in its purest form, with the aggression of modern rock. The guitars are the driving force of the track and the vocal performance is absolutely dominant in terms of melody. Dexter wanted every word to be delivered with attitude and with real force, to be as big as possible. His inspiration for the vocal performance was Rob Zombie, which gives a good indication of the vocal character he was going for.
Interestingly the song went through a massive rewrite before it got to the version we have. The lyrics were all in place, but the band realised halfway through writing that the original musical direction wasn’t working at all. Rather than just go with what they had, they started again and completely reworked the melody and the whole approach until the music was in line with the message. That decision was absolutely right and the recording with producer Chuck Alkazian was key in getting the final version together. What makes ‘The Dead of Night’ more than just an aggressive rock song is the message that’s embedded in it. Kings County aren’t suggesting that darkness is purely destructive. They’re suggesting that by confronting the dark parts of ourselves we can actually learn something about who we are. It’s a song about facing up to the darkness, getting through it and coming out the other side with a certain kind of strength. The music video that goes with it continues to build that same atmosphere with a very pared down performance concept. It’s been directed by Jon Vulpine (long time collaborator) and was shot at an abandoned citrus mill in De Leon Springs, FL. Rather than have actors or a separate narrative, the band are the focus of the video. The decaying buildings, the industrial setting and the general run down nature of the place are all very appropriate. There’s a rather ambitious practical rain sequence too, with the band performing completely soaked. “The Dead of Night” is a very good Kings County song in terms of sheer hard rock energy and presence with the guitars and the vocals. The real strength of the song though is in the message it’s got. It’s a very good song in that it’s quite clearly saying that sometimes you’ve got to face the dark side of yourself before you can begin to understand who you are.
English