The Dirty Shirts spend the night with a Midnight Casanova in their darkly provocative new single — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Starring a fierce female character who always gets what she wants, the Texas alt-rockers’ latest track is a mesmerizing dance-rocker that dives into the mysterious aspects of love and death. Its spirited guitar riffs, energetic rhythms, and smoky backroom vocals send its listeners to a realm of lust and crazed nightlife. The band’s ability to blend musical influences and real-life experiences into an edgy yet harmonic adventure shines through in this anthemic single.
“I love telling a story from the perspective of a character and creating a vivid picture of whoever that is,” explains Dirty Shirts founder and frontman Nick Santa Maria. “I’ve written a few songs about female characters now, mostly because I find it really easy to convey strong feelings through them. It’s probably because I’ve been surrounded by remarkable, badass women in my life. Based on the way we’ve seen how a bunch of dudes think, it’s probably best to look at things through a woman’s point of view anyway.”
Thinking back to some of his favorite books and movies, Santa Maria notes how many of the characters have simple archetypal themes like death. With that in mind, the song was born, but for Santa Maria, the best way to process a heavy theme is to create something sparkly and danceable around it. “I wanted us to go hard into all the disco elements, like the big airy female vocals, the dance grooves, melodic bass lines, and a bunch of jangly guitars.”
The Dirty Shirts recorded Midnight Casanova at Modern Electric Sound Recorders in Dallas, with Joel Raif engineering and Jordan Richardson mastering. The song was produced by Jeff Saenz (Leon Bridges, Reverend Horton Heat, Old 97’s). The mesmerizing female background vocals were provided by DiDi McCaffrey and Taylor Nicks. Additional instrumentation came from Austin Lee Kroll (guitar), Patrick Smith (bass) and Joshua Sloan (drums/percussion).
Before forming Dirty Shirts, Santa Maria toured as a sideman for a variety of country artists. The pandemic allowed him to reinvent his career, forming a band that would combine influences that inspired him. Integrating David Bowie, Gorillaz, and Warped Tour-style alt-rock, The Dirty Shirts released their debut The Get Up From The Get Go and toured the U.S. in 2022.
Check out Midnight Casanova above, hear more from The Dirty Shirts below, and try them on for size at their website, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram.
