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After 8 years of pursuing a diverse career in the music industry, Andy Wilson-Taylor is once again at the helm of the cinematic rock band Midgar. A composer for TV and film by day, and session vocalist and songwriter by night, Wilson-Taylor has re-kindled his love with larger-than-life, symphonic rock music by creating a long-awaited new album, which pushes the boundaries of Midgar’s signature sound; classical piano and strings colliding head on with epic, modern rock. The new album – ‘Unity’ – was written, produced, mixed and mastered by Andy Wilson-Taylor at his own studio – Sector Seven Studios – during lockdown in 2020.
Midgar became the third band to join Year Of The Rat Records since the companies inception in July 2020, joining Lastelle and The Young Hearts on the labels roster. Midgar will release their upcoming album ‘Unity’ in 2021 and started the cycle with ‘We Don’t Make The Rules’ which was released on the 18th December 2020. The single picked up coverage with Kerrang Radio as ‘Featured Artist Of The Week’, Radio Plus, Alyx Plays Punk, Endeavour FM, BT TV, Moshville Times, Gig Radar and Total Rock Radio, as well as landing official playlisting with Deezer and Pandora. Second single ‘Nemesis’ shows the band at their most fierce with a powerful message.
Speaking about ‘Nemesis’, Andy Wilson-Taylor says – ‘Nemesis’ is a protest song. In 2020 we all watched with horror as the news unfolded about the murder of George Floyd in the USA. Then, the names of black victims of police brutality just kept coming, Breonna Taylor, Jacob Blake… And this isn’t new – it’s been happening for decades, not just in the USA but in the UK too – but now the world was finally hearing about it and could stand up and pay attention. I personally felt so sad, so devastated that this had been happening all over the world to communities of colour and most of us didn’t even realise. I also felt helpless, and frustrated; as a white male issues like this don’t really ever affect me personally but for that reason it’s also really hard to know where to begin to help. Well, step one was for me to raise my voice as an ally. ‘Nemesis’ is exactly this; I couldn’t be on the front lines at a protest given where I live and the ongoing Covid situation, but in the absence of that I still wanted to stand up and be counted. I wanted to raise my voice in anger and protest at the suffering caused by those who are meant to protect and to serve, and the anger at the institutions and organisations that have allowed or even encouraged this behaviour to be part of the status quo. Writing this song helped me process those feelings of bewilderment and helplessness. Writing songs is all I have to offer and although it’s not much, maybe someone reading the lyrics will take a moment to think, or perhaps someone who has felt marginalised or victimised because of the colour of their skin will know they’re not alone, and they have allies from all backgrounds. It’s becoming almost taboo for music to take too strong a political stance right now and that’s a really worrying trend for me. Music has so often been about protest through art, fighting oppression and taking a stand, rock music in particular. I think perhaps sometimes when confronting these issues we stop ourselves from saying anything because we don’t want to offend anyone, or to be judged for standing up against racism. How crazy is that? We stay silent because it’s easier, or because we don’t want to enter into a confrontation. By staying silent we take the side of the oppressor, and I’m not scared to raise my voice as an ally and say, “Black Lives Matter”.
Nemesis Pre-save here – https://show.co/NcQM2qr
Check out our interview with Andy here.
