1988- 1989
Sometime in the fall of 1988 Steve found a classified ad in the paper about a guitarist named Buddy Morgan who wanted to form a band. Buddy, it turned out, had graduated from Cyprus two years earlier, and this made it all the easier to recruit Buddy and kick Chad out. Chad, of course, was a bit upset about it, but there was nothing he could do as the band's songwriting potential began to take off.
Later that fall, the band found an ad posted in a music store with Dan Muhlstein's name on it, and he came aboard as drummer. By now Die Rose had written "Little Runaway", "Jane", "Small Town Dreams" and "Midnight Rose". With the writing of these songs, the band had developed a mixed style, ranging from driving thrash/metal sound of "Little Runaway" to the energetic rock n' roll of "Small Town Dreams" and the keyboard- enhanced pop of "Midnight Rose". Rob had also written some softer ballads, "Finally Here By Me" and "Remember Me", which also expanded the artistic variety of the band. Die Rose was renamed Midnight Rose, and a bassist, Lanny Erickson, was finally recruited around January of 1989.
By now, Midnight Rose had begun playing at a lot of parties at Buddy's house, and word had been getting around between Cyprus and Granger high schools about the band. Chris Burrows, a friend of Rob's, referred them to Dave Jolley, a recording engineer in his neighborhood who had worked with (this being Utah) the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and had built his own studio as a hobby in his basement. Jolley was nonetheless excited by the prospect of recording a rock group, and they began working on a demo tape. "Small Town Dreams", several takes of "Midnight Rose", "Little Runaway", and a cover of the White Lion song "When the children cry" were laid down on reel-to-reel. The recordings were never completely finished, and though the mixes sound great, they weren't quite radio quality by today's standards.
Once, during the spring of 1989, round about March or April, while at a music store in the Valley Fair Mall, the group spotted a man playing guitar and singing. Encouraged by this, they asked the clerk if they could try out some instruments. The band then proceeded to do an acoustic version of "Midnight Rose", "Little Runaway", "Jane", and "Small town dreams". The man who was playing guitar said that there was no way he could beat that, so Rob asked the store owner if they could come back that Saturday and perform with their own instruments. The owner agreed, and that Saturday, Midnight Rose performed a mini- concert that drew a huge crowd of a couple hundred people- big enough that mall security came in and dispersed the crowd, telling the band to turn it down. The performance was the band's largest public exposure to date. Yet, even as they moved toward finishing the demo recordings and seriously promoting the band, Midnight Rose started to split up.
A falling-out began between the young musicians. The band had begun working on a new song called "Get Out". Artistic tension had increased in the band, with Steve leaning further toward heavy thrash a la Metallica/Megadeth, while Rob leaned toward pop-rock in the vein of Journey and Bon Jovi. Needless to say, Rob became increasingly frustrated and began to argue with Steve. In response to this growing tension, Steve convinced the band to kick Rob out. Midnight Rose broke up before they had a chance to recruit a new singer.
In the fall of 1989, the band regrouped briefly , with Dan, Rob, and Buddy. Lanny had gone to college somewhere in Arizona or New Mexico, and a new bassist, Maia Huppie, was brought in for a short time. Midnight Rose began to move toward a more adult-contemporary, less metal sound and finally dissolved after making a quick demo recording of a new song, "A place to run" on some equipment in Dan's basement.
1990-Present
In the time since, Rob, Steve, Dan, and Buddy have kept in touch to some degree. Rob lived in Mexico for two years, and continued to write songs on his own after his return to the United states, and has spent the past ten years honing his guitar playing abilities.Rob however has not seriously pursued a musical career as of yet, which was actually a good thing during the Alternative music takover in the early 1990s. As we all know, in the year 1993 the careers of hundreds of "melodic rock" bands were destroyed when MTV unilaterally stopped supporting that style of music in favor of grunge-style "alternative" bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and the Cranberries. Perhaps it was better that Midnight Rose broke up, instead of gaining success only to be wiped out by the grunge revolution.
Rob did play a couple of notable solo gigs with his sister, Bonnie Egbert, who also played in the local bands "Off the Record" and "Pure Element" in the mid '90s.
Steve Shurts moved to Oregon and got married. He reportedly played in a band called "Mindscape".
Buddy plays in and sings lead vocals for a band called Osiris .
Dan has played in various bands around the Salt Lake area. Here's a recent youtube video of Dan playing drums on a cover version of the song Monkey Business
In the years that have gone by, other unrelated bands from jazz to country to latin pop and even a classical trio have been using the name "Midnight Rose" in other parts of the U.S. and places as far away as Germany, but we will remember ours as the first and the best. In short, the band didn't made it to the big time, but listening to the music at times can make you wonder what could have been. To listen, go to the youtube videos I've posted on the main page.
(p.s. if any band members read this, please email the webmaster for help in contacting Rob)
Back to the Midnight Rose tribute page.