At the tail end of 2015, Midnight Reruns continued to show listeners they were a force to be reckoned with by releasing Force Of Nurture. Within months of putting out the outstanding sophomore record (which we dubbed the second best Milwaukee album of 2015), the band was up in Rhinelander tracking more material. Anyone who’s seen the Reruns recently has surely heard a steady diet of new tunes, and by this spring, recorded renditions of those songs will finally see the light of day in the form of Spectator Sports.
Before the album comes out both digitally and on cassette on March 24 (via Forged Artifacts) and on vinyl this April 28 (via Dusty Medical), Midnight Reruns wanted to whet listeners’ appetite with the release of Spectator Sports’ first single, “Scorpion.” Singer-guitarist Graham Hunt says “Scorpion” was one of the first songs written for the album, and it took just a few days to complete, opposed to the months it usually takes the band to finish songs. Lyrically, Hunt says “Scorpion” deals with being at an age where someone is first able to grasp morals, yet completely ignores them.
As immoral as the rambunctious, guitar-driven song’s theme is, Midnight Reruns want to be socially responsible by donating their cut of all digital sales of “Scorpion” and Spectator Sports as a whole to ACLU.
“We wanted to support the ACLU because of feelings of helplessness we’ve had since the actions of the new administration,” Hunt says. “What can we do? Using what we have to support an organization that can apply direct legal opposition seemed like an obvious first step.”
Prior to Spectator Sports’ release this spring, listen to “Scorpion” below, only at Milwaukee Record.