Midnight Strangers Emerge On Streets Of Westville

In the heart of Westville, a young musician walks past the ghost rubble of a former hot spot and imagines traveling at the ​“speed of light.”

He’s too young to have hung out at the former hot spot, the long-gone Delaney’s restaurant and bar. He’s too young to have played there.

But even though he and his band mates are still in 9th grade, they were scheduled to play on that block this spring. Until Covid-19 hit.

The young musician, Jack Marchand, is the drummer and lead vocalist of Westville’s newest emerging pop-rock band, the Midnight Strangers.The Strangers were scheduled to become better known to the neighborhood next month at a gig at the annual Westville Art Walk. The pandemic canceled that festival, including the gig.

It didn’t cancel out the Strangers. The band’s three ninth-graders from the neighborhood — Marchand, bassist Nolan Wazni, and pianist/cellist/guitarist Ben Card — are still writing songs, 13 new ones, on top of the 100-plus they’ve composed over the past four years since first jamming and performing as fifth graders at the Edgewood School talent show. They’ve stayed together even after spreading out to different schools: Ben attends Hopkins; Nolan, Coop; Jack, Hillhouse. They plan to record the new songs once they can meet in one physical space again.

Meanwhile, they have released an album, and a video, called ​“Speed of Light.” In the video, Marchand walks past the old Delaney’s, past Strange Ways and Neville Wisdom’s studio, as the camera pans to West Rock and other neighborhood landmarks, and the band rocks out.

Click above to watch and hear that video, which was recorded before Jack’s voice changed. (Note: The first minute or so is intentionally silent.)

Click here to learn more about the band.

And click on the video below to watch the band members — whose influences range from the Beatles to the Beach Boys to Green Day— discuss their songs as well as school life amid the pandemic, on an episode of WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline New Haven.”