UNQUIETNIGHTS.COM – Rock Band

PRESS RELEASE

Belfast Rockers Unquiet Nights Return With New Single “Last Days Of Rome”
Unquiet Nights are marking the next chapter of their story with “Last Days of Rome,” a standalone single out now, and one that carries the weight of six years the band spent living and working in Italy. Fronted by vocalist and guitarist Luke Mathers alongside drummer Rodger Firmin, the Belfast formed group built the song around a place, and a feeling, that shaped them as much as any studio ever could.

Mathers wrote “Last Days of Rome” out of long stretches spent sitting on walls and marble steps around Rome during his twenties, absorbing what he calls the city’s particular relationship with time. “You don’t have to be religious for Rome to have an effect on you,” he says. “You become aware of the vastness of time and how art lasts longer than cynicism.” That awareness pulled him toward the tension between the eternal and the ephemeral, a word he first learned while living there, and the song settled into a conversation between two characters weighing permanence against everything that fades.

The lyric draws directly from two of Rome’s most striking landmarks. In the Non-Catholic Cemetery, home to the graves of Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats, stands William Wetmore Story’s Angel of Grief, a sculpture Mathers considers among the most beautiful in the world, both physically and in what it represents. In the song, one character turns to the statue and asks the other, “Would you be so, with your head hanging low, if underneath instead it was me?” a line Mathers says unlocked the rest of the song almost immediately. The chorus carries a similarly universal charge, landing on words that Mathers believes anyone who has been in a long relationship will recognize: “This could be the start of an empire, or maybe these could be the last days of Rome.”

The song’s roots stretch back further than most listeners might expect. Mathers and Firmin first began working on the guitar riff in 2011, once hoping to have it ready in time to support Russell Lissack of Bloc Party at London’s Scala. It wasn’t finished then, and it wouldn’t be finished for another 15 years, until Mathers found himself sitting on a marble step near the Foro Italico in Rome and the pieces finally came together. The finished track was recorded at the band’s own Credential Sound studio in Northern Ireland, with Mathers handling vocals, guitar, mellotron, bass, and production, Firmin on drums and percussion, and mixing and mastering by Neal Calderwood at Manor Park Studio.

Unquiet Nights have spent more than 15 years building a career defined by persistence and steady evolution. Formed above Belfast’s Limelight club in 2010, the band earned early support from BBC Radio 1 and BBC 6 Music, with Phil Taggart calling their sound pure rock and roll and Tom Robinson praising their debut album, ‘Twenty First Century Redemption Songs,’ as a fine first outing. Years spent based in Italy brought the band nine countries of touring, national television appearances alongside Sky Italia’s use of their song “George Best City” as the soundtrack to a recurring documentary series, and a devoted Italian fanbase that has stayed with them since.

That momentum carried into 2024’s ‘Seasons in Exile,’ a deeper dive into progressive rock territory inspired by Mathers’ lifelong love of bands like Genesis. The album drew praise from The Belfast Telegraph, Hot Press, Pure M, Record World International, and The Sunday Life, and racked up more than 103,000 Spotify listeners in its first year, with the single “This Is My Oxygen” earning the band airplay on Kerrang! Radio and TotalRock.
With “Last Days of Rome,” Unquiet Nights open the next phase of that story, the first in a planned run of new singles, proof that some songs are worth waiting 15 years to finish.

Words by Eric Alper.

Previous praise for Unquiet Nights:

“…So catchy…pure rock ‘n’ roll….” – Phil Taggart, BBC Radio One.

“…..”Four Winds” is an anthemic offering from the three-piece.” – Edwin McFee, Hot Press.

“…Unquiet Nights are a great band with tons of energy and swagger that will excite fans of groups like The Strypes, The Vines, Nirvana, and Bloc Party. Have a listen!”
– Greg Richling, The Wallflowers.

“…”Diamond And The Missing Son” is a gem of a tune that sees the acclaimed act shine brighter than ever. A 24 carat banger…”  – Sunday Life

“…Third album “Seasons In Exile” we can confirm is brimming with belters…”
– The Belfast Telegraph.

“…From their humble beginnings above Belfast’s Limelight club to international acclaim, Unquiet Nights have remained true to their roots while pushing musical boundaries…”
– Tristan Moore, Pure M

“…Chugs and roars along at a fair old pace, with aequal amounts of attitude and swagger.”
 – Pete Donaldson, Absolute Radio.

“…A great rock track. Moody, but not one that revels in it – there’s a sense of urgency in there. Bit of a journey, all told.”
– Pete Donaldson, Absolute Radio.

“…What makes the track so quintessentially Unquiet Nights is that they’re a group everybody claims to get but nobody can seem to pin down.…”
– Record World International

“Unquiet Nights are from Belfast. I got their album “Seasons In Exile” and it’s quite smooth and reminded me of Ghost, Blue Öyster Cult, Feeder….all sorts of things.”
– Johnny Doom, Kerrang! Radio

“…”Someone’s Love on Drugs” comes from their fine debut album 21st Century Redemption Songs – for which recording started in their native Belfast and was completed in their adopted home in Italy…” – Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music

“…Music of the highest, cloud-reaching calibre. Actually quite beautiful.”
– Aaron Phillips, Amazing Radio.