Midnight Sun: The Music
Whether the mood is happiness, excitement, anger, or even pain, there's a track on The Midnight Sun's debut album 'Without A Label' that can relate. Maintaining a club oriented sound, 'Without A Label' blends energized beats with meaningful lyrics that has literally pulled listeners from desperation. His words, full of raw emotion and unbridled honesty, touch the heart while inspiring the body to move to the beat.

With his debut album, 'Without A Label' The Midnight Sun introduces us to a new style of music that draws influences from house, techno, hip hop, reggae and rock. Infusing this groundbreaking sound with deep, meaningful lyrics is how The Midnight Sun rounds out his album, allowing you to enjoy the music on more then just the dance floor. Learn more about the album that bridges the gap between hip hop and house in the clubs, 'Without A Label' right here. Now.

Listen to the album now (opens a new window) while you read.

thwart any person's dream. With no money for a video camera, barely enough money for clothing, and the lack of parental stability, things looked very dark for The Midnight Sun's dreams. The Midnight Sun didn't listen to any of it, though, in his eyes, there was always a way. Maybe it's not a conventional way; maybe not a direct route, but there's a way. He'd tell himself again and again, "the sun is always shining, you just have to hold on to see it yourself." Unconventional was exactly the route he took to gain his current success.

Originally in a hardcore band, the plan was to make music videos and films featuring the bands songs. Almost as if fate had chosen it, the music became more than just a creative way into film. Kephra's ability to capture a crowd came on early. At the age of 16, his band mates smuggled him into bars all around upstate New York where they performed for every type of audience; from punk rockers to college professors. After taking his childhood fascination for techno, reggae, and rap, and infusing them into his band's sound, The Midnight Sun found that his music also allowed him the opportunity to deal with his innermost struggles. Writing songs that dealt with the horrors he faced in the flawed child protection system, and reaching out to his audience, he shared his feelings in a way that won over even the most skeptical of crowds.

Together, the band won many footholds in the music industry. Their level of success became more noticeable as they no longer had to knock down doors to book shows; they were being sought after. It was only then, that it was arranged for a relatively well known music producer to come hear them play. The night of the performance the only one ready to go was The Midnight Sun: the guitarist disappeared, as well as the bass player whilst the drummer left to become a studio musician. Things got dark. The band was gone, and his hopes for a better life through music and film had fallen from his grasp.

He was going through withdrawal, being away from his music. The Midnight Sun began to search for some possible way back into a band to perform once again. That was right around the time his regular barber had died, seemingly unrelated, The Midnight Sun found a new barber. Talkative, the new barber quickly uncovered The Midnight Sun's musical dilemma. The Barber, coincidentally also a musician, asked "Why don't you just do something solo?".

Blown away by the concept, the idea of no longer relying on other people to achieve his goals was quite alluring. However, he had no idea how to begin such a project. Lee, his new barber and now friend, was kind enough to lend not only his keyboard to The Midnight Sun, but also a half broken kareoke machine and a 1970's vintage compressor microphone. Working out of his bedroom he began to put tracks together. However, his mother's negativity and constant distractions were draining his creativity. Unfortunately, his music... was crap.

Determined to filter the drama, nonsense, and crap from his life as well as his music, The Midnight Sun took a stand. This marked the origin of his revolutionary "Kill The Crap" philosophy.

Escalating problems at home ended with his moving to live with his brother Heru, under the guise of working together on a movie. Instead, he got stuck working at a flea market, selling boxing gloves. Living with his brother yielded little more then a different source of negativity. Kephra persevered. He tried using his brother's computer during the days, but making no attempt to hide it, Heru made many attempts to sabotage The Midnight Sun's efforts to create his album. Everything from banging and knocking things over during a recording session, to blatantly deleting several 2 megabyte songs to "make more room on his hard drive". Therefore, late at night, while his brother slept, The Midnight Sun worked on his music.

The youngest of 3, it was often common for the older brother to win arguments physically. Life, however, had been much less forgiving to Kephra, than to any of his siblings, and he had become hardened by it. Heru couldn't beat him up anymore. So instead, he threw The Midnight Sun out on the street. Kephra was able to pack a bookbag of things to take with him though. In it, he had a burned CDR. While many have found themselves blown away by the raw emotion and honesty put into The Midnight Sun's debut album 'Without A Label', unfortunately, many songs that were meant to be on it are forever lost due to his brothers actions. He literally had to smuggle out the last barely surviving beat he was able to recover while staying there. This beat had been lost and found, damaged and then repaired, deleted and then recovered; it was muffled depending on what system it was played on. It was a beat that had been through as much hell as he had. It wasn't perfect, but it didn't need to be. He was determined to save it. This would later become the hit single "Tonight's The Night".

Even homelessness wasn't enough to stop The Midnight Sun. After faking an address and getting a job as a shoe salesman, he was finally given a break. One coworker, C.J. Knight, let him crash at his place whenever he could. Another truly decent human being, Emilio Giordano, took Kephra in to live with him and his family for a several weeks while he helped The Midnight Sun find a place his own. The tight knit family atmosphere, their willingness to help The Midnight Sun achieve his dream, and their loving support, allowed Kephra to create his album's second track entitled "Which Way Do I Go".

From there Emilio moved Kephra in with his friend Rick. Rick was a lot like Heru. At Rick's, The Midnight Sun had to extract and repair the file that held the beat to "Tonight's The Night" and he used it to finish the song. Unfortunately, he got kicked out again. Rick wanted to move a sugar mama in and she decided Kephra should leave. Homeless again, with a few tracks on a CD, The Midnight Sun eventually found his way into another bad situation. After moving into a house filled with four roommates and into a closet sized room, Kephra was able to finish the majority of his album. There, at yet another dark time in his life, he pondered how he was going to actually manufacture the album to distribute his music. In between daydreaming about what his music videos would be like, he ended up getting in contact with Carley Coma, the lead singer to a band called Candiria. Upon Carley's request, The Midnight Sun sent five copies of his demo CD, for review as a possible addition to Coma's new record label. A week later the entire band was in an accident as their tour van crashed and they were all hospitalized. They had never gotten a chance to listen to the album. Before Candiria could recover, Kephra was facing the risk of eviction yet again so an old friend of the landlord could move in. However, this time, The Midnight Sun was able to negotiate to stay for several more months. Afterwards, he found his own cramped, roommate-free, studio apartment. This tiny space allowed him enough room to breath. It was the first time in his life he had chosen his home.

With his newfound freedom, he finished the majority his album with a 30 dollar microphone covered in a sock, a computer built out of spare parts, and several free shareware programs. He even did all the artwork for the covers and pullout himself. All that was left to do was to get it mastered, and figure out how to have it manufactured.

Concerned that he may have been setting the bar too high, he pondered whether he should sell burned CDs from his computer or professional quality CDs from a manufacturer. He decided to risk it all, spending his entire savings on a manufactured CD. One thousand copies arrived in several large boxes at his door, along with a string of bills he couldn't afford. Luckily, he was able to generate enough cash flow with his music in only a few short months to overcome this obstacle, right around the time he was laid off from his job. Instead of finding a new job during his unemployment, The Midnight Sun invested himself further into his music; building his website and shopping for appropriate venues for his revolutionary new sound.

In spite of being told that he'd never be able to book a show, of course The Midnight Sun overcame, performing live in many locations in New York. The Midnight Sun has also been featured on the radio in interviews around the world as well as having his music played on independent radio stations.

Today, The Midnight Sun is currently in the process of putting together a team to more efficiently bring his music to to you. This time, however, he's finally meeting people that believe success is on the way, and they want to be a part of it.

The Midnight Sun brings a new style of music that bridges the gap between hip hop and house in the clubs. Balanced with meaningful lyrics based on his own life experiences, his debut album 'Without A Label' gives you a sound unique enough for the seasoned listeners, yet mainstream enough for the average crowd. Get The Midnight Sun's debut album 'Without A Label' online at killthecrap.com, amazon.com and cdbaby.com and soon bestbuy.com. Also available through select stores nationwide.

Click here to get your copy of 'Without A Label'

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