Kyle Swick didn’t exactly set out to write the soundtrack to tonight’s overlapping supermoon and lunar eclipse, but, then again, he didn’t think the dissolution of his former band, Places To Hide, would hit him quite as hard as it did. Indeed, when the slacker punk darlings called it quits earlier this year, it left the guitarist and vocalist feeling useless and despondent. Despite his depression, however, Swick felt an almost desperate need to keep writing and remain creative. His newly-formed trio, Nightklub, became his escape. “I got this band together as an outlet to channel that darkness that had been echoing in my head,” he explains via email, “and sort of force that out into the ether of the world, as opposed to keeping it all solely contained in this one human body.”

Formed in February of this year, the band, consisting of Swick on guitar and vocals, Rush Myers (Shampoo, The Hotels) on drums and John Rae (Kidbrat) on bass, first began playing shows under the moniker Blue Haven. But when Myers suggested they change their name Nightklub, something about the name’s many obvious connotations resonated with the group and everything seemed to click into place.

To be fair, the group’s debut EP, Blood Moon Skeleton Head, was written and recorded well before Swick had ever heard of an impending blood moon (“That lyric/song is a very vague reference to a very specific image in my life/dreams that has little to do with a lunar eclipse,” he confesses). But the more he read up about the lunar event, and in particular some of the apocalyptic symbolism associated with its manifestation, the more he felt it was a sign that this body of work needed to be unveiled on this particular day.

Although fans of Places to Hide will hear hints of Swick’s previous work, especially in the fuzzy, overdriven guitars, there’s no denying a kind of fatalistic darkness lurking at heart of these songs. Of the three tracks, only the second cut, “Masculinity Funeral,” features the sort of loose propulsion and semi-inebriated swing that marked Places To Hide’s most memorable moments. The remainder stumbles forward in a feverish lurch both heavy and downcast with any semblance of a slacker vibe replaced by an ominous, almost dirge-like atmosphere.

For most of us, tonight’s blood moon represents a rare astronomical occurrence to be enjoyed for its beauty and sense of mystery. But in certain religious fringe groups, it’s a cataclysmic event pointing to the end of times. For Swick, it’s precisely this portentous spirit of darkness and doom he hopes the EP will capture. “It would be rather romantic of me to think that these songs could be the last heard by someone before all the lights go out, but a boy can dream.”

Please note that Nightklub’s Bandcamp profile will not go live until midnight tonight.

More Info
Bandcamp: nightklub.bandcamp.com