Devil in a Midnight Mass
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “Devil in a Midnight Mass” | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||
| Single by Billy Talent from the album Billy Talent II |
|||||
| B-side | "Devil in a Midnight Mass" (demo version) "Ever Fallen in Love (with Someone You Shouldn't've)" (UK) "Red Flag (demo)" (UK) |
||||
| Released | June 15, 2006 | ||||
| Format | CD | ||||
| Genre | Post-Hardcore, Punk Rock | ||||
| Length | 2:54 | ||||
| Label | Wea/Atlantic | ||||
| Writer(s) | Billy Talent | ||||
| Producer | Gavin Brown | ||||
| Billy Talent singles chronology | |||||
|
|||||
| Alternate Cover | |||||
Cover of UK version
|
|||||
"Devil in a Midnight Mass" is the first single released from Billy Talent's second album, Billy Talent II.
Contents |
[edit] Song information
There are two differing versions of the song: the album version, and an unpolished demo version released in December 2005 via their myspace.com account. In the album version Ben Kowalewicz shouts "Yeah!!!" at the beginning of the track; in the other, this is omitted, and the pre-chorus and second verse sound significantly different. Both versions of the song were released on the "Devil in a Midnight Mass" single.
MuchMusic aired a "Behind the Scenes" look at the video for this song, hosted by Sarah Taylor, and filmed in an Ontario church, featuring the members of the band as well as children who took part in the recording of the video. In the feature, drummer Aaron Solowoniuk mentions that an elderly woman walked by and said to him, "A rock band in a church, don't see that everyday".
Ben told Sarah Taylor that the song was created when guitarist Ian D'sa started playing something that he described as an evil guitar riff, and Ben wondered what sort of evil could fit with that riff, questioning what the worst thing a human could do to another human. He read an article of a Catholic priest who molested about 150 kids and was murdered by an inmate, and decided to make the song about that certain topic.
There is also a longer version of the song.
[edit] Meaning of the song
Lead singer Ben Kowalewicz told MuchMusic's Sarah Taylor,
| “ | It's from a story I read about Boston priest John Geoghan who had been arrested for child abuse and the church kept moving him from parish to parish. The Supreme Court tried and convicted him of molesting 150 kids over a 30 year span and while he was serving his sentence another inmate broke into his cell and murdered him. I stumble upon these stories, they don't necessarily have to be directly personal but it's things like this that move me. I'm a big advocate for children's rights and this song looks at sexual abuse. It's not against the church or anything, it's more about that individual betrayal between adult and child. I don't have the answers but hopefully if I sing about a certain issue it will get people talking about it. | ” |
Billy Talent says that their aim is not to attack Christianity through the song, but point out that the events which led to the molestation of a child by a priest did happen.
[edit] Music video
The music video opens with Billy Talent playing in a darkened church. The video also follows the path of an altar boy. The boy is asleep in his room when a dark fog enters his room. The fog represents the priest and enters the room when the line "Footsteps down the hallway floor/Getting closer to my door" are sung. The boy runs from the fog and into the church's basement, where he finds an apparently insane man bound in ropes. The boy runs from the room and is followed by the fog. He then grabs an axe and attacks the fog,"killing" it. The boy runs to the main room of the church where Billy Talent were playing. Instead of the band, mouthless altar boys are standing in the room. The boys are the priests' victims and are mouthless to represent the fact that they have been silenced by the priest, hence the line "Silent night for the rest of my life", and in the demo, "I was told that the world wouldn't believe me".
Parallels have been drawn between this music video and the movie The Shining due to its overwhelming darkness. Imagery of blood flowing from paintings is also shared between both. The music video was directed by Sean Michael Turrell.
The music video for "Devil in a Midnight Mass" was released via myspace.com on May 1, 2006.
The video premiered on Fuse on the show Oven Fresh, which highlights new videos.
The music video is #74 on MuchMusic's 100 Best Videos.
The music video is #47 on MuchMusic's 50 Most Controversial Videos.
Devil in a Midnight Mass peaked 4 on the Canadian Singles Chart 1.
[edit] Controversy
The band was worried that the controversial nature of the song may cause some Christian groups to take issue with it. The members of Billy Talent are hoping that the song will not cause any religious grievances and they claim that they are simply telling a story and are not directly attacking Christianity. They have relentlessly told others in interviews that they aren't trying to target anyone. They just intended to make people aware of this event.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
