Midnight Riders (band)

Midnight Riders
Left to right: COx, Smitty, Jake, Dusty
Background information
Origin	Harvest, Texas
Genres	Heavy metal, hard rock
Years active	1983-present
Associated acts	Love Supply
Website	Midnight-Riders.com
Members
Ox Smitty Jake Thorne Dusty
Past members
Riggs Donner Johnny Perez

The Midnight Riders are a virtual band featured in the video game Left 4 Dead 2.

Fictional Biography

In 1983, four young men from Galveston, Texas became the most popular band in America. That band was Love Supply. One fateful day in 1983, their opening act, the Midnight Riders, beat them so bad onstage that they became instantly famous.

The Riders spent the next two years working on their first album, enjoying a little time away from the spotlight while serving eight to ten years for aggravated assault in the federal correctional facility at Fort Worth. Luckily for Riders fans the world over, they accidentally had not killed any of Love Supply and, due to an over-crowding problem in the joint, all non-murderers were released in January, 1985. Upon release of their debut album We’re Coming For You, Love Supply three months later, the band Love Supply retired, passing the mantle of Greatest Southern Rock Supergroup of All Time to The Midnight Riders. That same year, bass player Riggs Donner was killed in a motorcycle accident and was replaced by provisional temporary band member Jake Thorne.

Since then, the Riders have released over 23 albums.

In 1989, the Riders’ first ever love ballad, ‘This Man Loves You’, written and performed on piano by provisional temporary band member Jake Thorne and released as a B-side to the single ‘Midnight Ride’ from the album Born Yesterday, became the band’s first ever #1 hit song. To this day, the band refuses to play the song live.

In 1993 the Midnight Riders finally got their long-overdue recognition from the music industry, winning the Grammy for Most Pyrotechnics in a Single Concert.

The Midnight Riders are currently on the road for their No Salvation Fairgrounds Tour, as part of their promotion of the just-released Greatest Hits album, High Heels and Brushed Steel.

Band Members

• Ox
• Smitty
• Jake Thorne (Bass, Keyboards)
• Dusty

It's currently unknown whether the group is okay or even alive, although their tour bus can be seen as it was driving down the road in "The Passing" (which could just be survivors using the bus as a rescue vehicle). Wall writings on "Dark Carnival" (taking place after The Passing) say they're dead while other wall writings say they got rescued. Both could be rumors created by survivors.

Former Members

• Riggs Donner (Bass)(deceased)
• Johnny Perez

Biography

In reality, the band's music was written and performed by Valve's composer, Mike Morasky, a former member of rock band Steel Pole Bath Tub. Morasky himself played guitar, keyboard and bass for the tracks, singer Greg Dale provided vocals, and percussionist Jason Roeder acted as drummer. The tracks 'Midnight Ride' and 'One Bad Man' were later made available for purchase for the Rock Band series, through the Rock Band Network.

The Midnight Riders made their first appearance in the 2009 video game Left 4 Dead 2, with their music appearing in various jukeboxes throughout the game. The campaign Dark Carnival features the game's player characters ultimately arriving at an abandoned stage which was to be used by the band (there, it is revealed that the Midnight Riders actually lip sync their concert music) -though, this could be due to them catching the Green Flu, and being unable to perform as expected.

Only 4 songs have been released/recorded so far: Midnight Ride, One Bad Man, All I Want For Christmas (Is To Kick Your Ass), and Save Me Some Sugar (This Won't Take Long). The Christmas song is randomly played on a jukebox in the finale of the new "The Sacrifice" campaign.

External links

• Midnight Riders official homepage
• Midnight Riders Youtube channel
• Composer Mike Morasky reveals the "band's" lineup.