SURGIN’ – When Midnight Comes ’85 [1st time on CD Remastered] *HQ*

320_1 /// 320_2 /// HQ 1 /// HQ 2

We featured the early SURGIN’ recording demos, now here’s the only album the band masterminded by Jack Ponti officially released: 1985’s ”When Midnight Comes”. Both in songwriting and sound production the album is pure mid-Eighties American Melodic Hard Rock, akin Bon Jovi first self-titled album. In fact, one song from Bon Jovi’s debut – a Jon Bon Jovi / Ponti co-writing – is also recorded by SURGIN’ here.
SURGIN’ not only had the talent of Ponti, but an ace vocalist in the superb Russell Arcara. According to Ponti, the group almost disbanded before the recording this album. In his own words; ”The band was actually discovered by Roy Thomas Baker, the legendary producer, right in the eleventh hour when I was about to give up the music business. Baker gave me hope and the want to continue, so you could say he is responsible for my career. Surgin’ was my beginning in this business.”
“The core of Surgin’ goes back to 1980 in a band I had called The Rest. You may remember the singer in The Rest: Jon Bongiovi. The Rest was a pop/rock band playin’ happy little songs, Surgin’ was the bastard stepchild. Surgin’ was born in a basement in NJ. My songwriting was changing towards the end of The Rest. I was finding you could mix pop melodies with power rock and make it work. The Rest broke up out of frustration, but there is a reason for everything if you look at my career and Jon’s…”

After The Rest, I just wrote these “new” songs until I was ready to play again. (drummer) Tommy Swift was a childhood friend who played drums with me off and on for years, in fact he was the drummer of The Rest. Tommy got ALL the girls! Michael King (bass) was in another band I had tried to start and was just an easygoing guy. Tommy and Mike took their music very seriously and forced us to become better musicians.
Keyboardist John Capra was a work of art, truly dancing on the line between genius and lunatic. We realized he really couldn’t play keyboards well but what he lacked in musicianship he made up for in personality, so rather than fire him we just hired Gary Shapiro as well. You can’t fire Capra!!!!

I think Gary spoke one sentence the entire time he was in the band. So between Gary and John we had one full keyboard player who could actually play and be funny!
Russell Arcara hmmm… Russell was always a pain in the ass. Russell could complain about breathing oxygen. Me? I was an egotistical child. But HEY, it was MY band, so they had no choice! Being young and hungry, we of course hired the wrong manager. He kept us hungry but we lost our youth…
“When Midnight Comes” was no easy record to make, in fact it was made twice. We had bad management, the wrong producers (I hated the producer and engineers, so did the band. It sucked), lots of fighting amongst us, and zero money.
The anger you hear on the record is real, the passion as well. It was during the making of that record I decided I wanted to be a producer.

There were some funny moments though. Like when John Capra opened up a fire extinguisher and sprayed the entire studio down, almost destroying it. Or the time our stupid road manager made us try to play sports together for band unity, so we kicked his ass. Typical rock band stuff.

It thrills me that people remember Surgin’ and see it for what it was. There were two acts on the East coast at that time who were making noise; Surgin’ and Bon Jovi. There is always the comparison.
However, people forget Jon and I came from the same band and while in that band we began to experiment with the songwriting style known today as NJ Melodic Rock. Bon Jovi and Surgin’ are both the children of The Rest. Bottom line.
In fact Jon came in the studio to sing on the Surgin’ record. What you hear about New Jersey is true, we all do care about each other and we all have a bond. We are family. Springsteen gets credit for starting that, but I think Frank Sinatra did!

The end of Surgin’ came quickly. Bad management gives you a bad career. Our last showed we played together was opening for Aerosmith. A fitting ending, and one that I remember as clear as yesterday. We didn’t know it was our last show at the time.
I lost my desire to play in a band and was quickly falling in love with son writing and record producing. Thanks to the success of Bon Jovi, I had a new career and the dreams of being a rock star were replaced with dreams of being Mutt Lange.

The heart and soul of Surgin’ lived on in all my work as a writer and producer. You may hear traces of it in every record I have been part of. In fact, I consider the Baton Rouge record “Shake Your Soul” the “missing” second Surgin’ album.
Surgin’ will always be a part of me. As I sit here blessed with success twice in a business most never even enter, I remember hunger, desire, passion and pain. I thank Surgin’ for being a piece of my puzzle and for the lessons it taught me, for being my start and for being my new beginning.

Enjoy the music of a bunch of New Jersey kids with rock stars dreams and poverty realities. It always amazes me people remember this band. Thanks for remembering.
Jack Ponti – Somewhere in New Jersey, 2001.
Be aware there’s a Krescendo Records release with a poor sound quality. This is the Zoom Records UK first time on CD, properly remastered.
Highly Recommended

1 – When Midnight Comes
2 – Shot Through The Heart
3 – Not Done Lovin’ You
4 – In The Heat Of It All
5 – Wait Until Morning
6 – Hands Of Time
7 – Turn The Radio On
8 – Heartbeat Away
9 – Hot Nights
10 – Desiree

Jack Ponti – all guitars, vocals
Russell Arcara – lead vocals
Tommy Swift – drums
Michael King – bass, vocals
John Capra – keyboards, vocals
Gary Shapiro – keyboards

Out of print