The Midnight Beast, sometimes abbreviated as TMB, is a British comedy/parody music group from London. They are most famous for their

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

cover-parody of the 2009 single "

TiK ToK TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

" by American pop artist

Ke$ha Kesha Rose Sebert (; born March 1, 1987), formerly stylized as Ke$ha, is an American singer and songwriter. In 2005, at age 18, Kesha was signed to Kemosabe Records. Her first major success came in early 2009 after she was featured on America ...

. The group currently has three members: Stefan Abingdon, Dru Wakely and Ashley Horne.

Reception

The Midnight Beast had over 422,000 subscribers and 87,022,136 views combined on their YouTube channel (as of May 2021), as well as 405,650 Facebook fans as of March 2014. The group's songs often appear on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

music charts with their recent album reaching Number Two in the iTunes Music charts, and their accompanying music videos routinely reaching over 1 million views on YouTube. On Christmas Day 2009, the "TiK ToK" parody was featured on the front page of

MTV.com MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. The group has also made videos in collaboration with BBC Comedy, MTV Rocks, Sky Arts, Vimeo Originals and Universal Pictures. The group has garnered praise from many of the artists that they have parodied as both

and

Jay Sean Kamaljit Singh Jhooti (born 26 March 1981), better known by the stage name Jay Sean, is a British singer and songwriter. He debuted in the UK's Asian Underground scene as a member of the Rishi Rich Project with "Dance with You", which reached ...

have tweeted positive reactions to the parody of their respective songs,

and Down, with Ke$ha stating "holy. shit. this is better than my version", and Jay Sean posting "Hahaha brilliant. Someone should mix this with 'pants on the ground.'" The Midnight Beast has also attracted minor controversy with its music. In an online post from February 2011,

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

, a British newspaper, raised issue with the lyrics of "Use Ya Head", a sexual education-themed skit made for the

Marie Stopes International MSI Reproductive Choices, named Marie Stopes International until November 2020, is an international non-governmental organisation providing contraception and safe abortion services in 37 countries around the world. MSI Reproductive Choices as an ...

charities Have A Larc organisation, which promotes safe sex. The paper cited the lines "One up the bum and it’s no harm done" and "One up the bum and you won’t be a mum'" stating that it appeared that the group was suggesting

anal sex Anal sex or anal intercourse is generally the insertion and thrusting of the erect penis into a person's anus, or anus and rectum, for sexual pleasure.Sepages 270–271for anal sex information, anpage 118for information about the clitoris. ...

as a birth control method. It also quoted unnamed critics who mentioned that the video failed to point out that anal sex could still lead to the transmission of STDs. Following the finale of season two of their series, the band released their second album

Shtick Heads ''Shtick Heads'' is the second album released by British comedy band The Midnight Beast. The album and its artwork were announced in January 2014 on the band's website, followed by the track listing the next day.

Members

* Stefan James Donald John "Stef" Abingdon: Born 19 January 1989. He was born and grew up in Fulham, London with his parents (both of whom are musicians) and his two brothers, Kyle and Tcha. Abingdon learned piano from age six until he was asked to leave by his teacher because he did not practice enough. By age 12, Stefan was playing the guitar, and a week later he started his first band named ''Ink''. His next band, called Icarus Burning, started when he was 12 with another boy, Simon Childs, and fellow founder Dru Wakely on drums. Years after, Stefan had started another band asking Maya Yianni (vocals) and Henry Bauckham (bass) to join. They went under the name,

The Clik Clik The Clik Clik were a British band known for releasing a series of songs that became critically acclaimed for being a 'contagious blend of ‘wonky pop’, indie, hip-hop and electro'. The band, originally a duo of Abingdon and Yianni, toured with ...

; Dru joined at a later date after finishing college. After a few years the band called it a day and so Stefan and Dru started a new project which turned out to be called Perfect People. This was Stefan's final band before The Midnight Beast. As well as a songwriter he is now also the lead singer of the band Cast of Lions. * Andrew Francis "Dru" Wakely: Born 10 January 1987. He grew up in Wandsworth, South-West London. It's unclear whether the story of his father running off with the family's Spanish cleaner on Christmas Eve (as told in the song "Daddy") is true. The story goes that the loss of his father led to a

Calpol The medication paracetamol ( INN) ( or ), also known as acetaminophen (USAN) , is sold around the world under a number of different brand names. Common brand names include Tylenol, Excedrin, Calpol, and Panadol. Tylenol Tylenol is a brand of ...

addiction and he described his teenage years as "a fine blend of drunken brawls, unsuccessful robbery attempts, and casual sex". He met Stefan Abingdon at a local drama group. Dru said he was interested in playing drums in Stefan's band (even though he had no experience). He auditioned to Abingdon on a wooden box they found in the street. His first band was known as Icarus Burning and was also a member of ''Perfect People'' and ''The Clik Clik''. He was the second member of The Midnight Beast, as Ashley was not fully convinced to join until the last minute.Pg 28. Book at us Now. Midnight Beast, The. Coronet As well as being in the Beast, Dru is a self-confessed 'HipHop head' and does his own songwriting and music production. * Ashley Neil "Ash" Horne: Born 4 January 1989. He grew up in Reading with his mother and father. In his childhood, he enjoyed running around his garden and pretending to be

Rambo Rambo is a surname with Norwegian (Vestfold) and Swedish origins. It possibly originated with '' ramn'' + '' bo'', meaning "raven's nest". It has variants in French (''Rambeau'', ''Rambaut'', and ''Rimbaud'') and German (''Rambow''). It is now best ...

. After a few years, his sister, Sarah Louise Horne, was born into the family. He has supported

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

from childhood. At the age of 12, he started attending the

Sylvia Young Theatre School Sylvia Young Theatre School is an independent school in Marble Arch, London, England. It is a specialist performing arts school named after its founder and principal, Sylvia Young OBE. Outline The Sylvia Young Theatre School was founded in 19 ...

. He was in ''

Maths Mansion Maths Mansion is a British educational television series for school Years 4 to 6 (nine to eleven year olds) that ran from 19 September 2001 to 26 March 2003. Produced by Channel 4 by Open Mind, It follows the adventures of "Bad Man" taking kids ...

''. After attending three years at the Italia Conti school, Ash got his first small acting part. He was part of a fake

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...

in the

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show ''

Genie in the House ''Genie in the House'' is a British sitcom broadcast on Nickelodeon about a widowed father (Philip) with two teenage daughters (Emma and Sophie) who find a golden lamp while exploring the loft of their new home. A rub of the lamp releases Adil ...

''. He was also "Ziggy" in ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

'', and also got a part as "Lad" in the 2008 Christmas Special of ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' with one line being "Who the hell is that?" Stef was telling Dru and Ash about a new song by

Kesha Kesha Rose Sebert (; born March 1, 1987), formerly stylized as Ke$ha, is an American singer and songwriter. In 2005, at age 18, Kesha was signed to Kemosabe Records. Her first major success came in early 2009 after she was featured on America ...

called

Tik Tok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

. He was going to parody it and needed a band. Ash was asked to be in the video because of his "retroyet modernstyle of dance." In the Tik Tok Parody, he did not have a singing part but was still part of the band. Recently Ash has appeared in ''All Stars'' the film and ''Skins Redux'' as the part of Stephen. He also claims that he is the "ladies man" of the band, although he has also been jokingly referred to as gay in songs by the band, such as Just Another Boyband, only to then deny it in their later single The Dance Routine.

Book

The group released a semi-autobiographical book, titled ''Book at Us Now,'' on 27 October 2011. The book included interviews with the band members, the history of The Midnight Beast, as well as an explanation of the group's videos and songs. The group held book signings around the country in a promotion titled The Book at Us Now Tour.

Sitcom

The band featured as itself in the self-titled sitcom ''

The Midnight Beast The Midnight Beast, sometimes abbreviated as TMB, is a British comedy/parody music group from London. They are most famous for their YouTube cover-parody of the 2009 single " TiK ToK" by American pop artist Ke$ha. The group currently has three ...

'', which aired on channel E4 in 2012. The series consists of 6 episodes, and details a fictionalised version of the band's members as they attempt to become successful musicians. The situation comedy also includes the actors and actress

Simon Farnaby Simon Farnaby (born 2 April 1973) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He is a member of the British Horrible Histories troupe in which he starred in the television series ''Horrible Histories'', ''Yonderland'' and ''Ghosts''. He has writte ...

, Ryan Pope, and

Sophie Wu Sophie Wu (born 23 December 1983) is a British actress, known for her roles in films such as '' Kick-Ass'' and TV series such as ''The Fades'' as Jay, ''The Midnight Beast'' as Zoe, plus the second and third series of '' Fresh Meat'' as Heather. ...

. The show aired in Australia on 22 April 2013 on

SBS2 SBS Viceland (stylised as SBS VICELAND) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It began as SBS TWO on 1 June 2009, and was branded as SBS 2 between 2013 and 2016. On 8 April 2017, SBS ...

. They created series 2 which was broadcast on 23 January 2014 on E4. Following the finale of their second series, the band released ''The Unholy Trinity'' on iTunes featuring three songs from the series not released on the accompanying album.The Midnight Beast - The Unholy Trinity
- iTunes

Discography

;Studio albums * ''

'' (2012) * ''

References

External links

*
"PBJ Management CV"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Midnight Beast British comedy musical groups Musical groups from London British video bloggers English video bloggers