Midlake
Encyclopedia
Midlake is an American rock band
from Denton, Texas
. The band first gained popularity in Europe, signing to Bella Union Records and playing at festivals such as Les Inrockuptibles
, Wintercase
, End Of The Road Festival
and South by Southwest
.
students at the University of North Texas College of Music
. The original lineup consisted of Tim Smith
(vocals, guitars, keyboards
), McKenzie Smith (drums), Paul Alexander (bass), Eric Nichelson (guitar), and Evan Jacobs (keyboards). Their initial work – under the name "The Cornbread All-Stars" — consisted of funk
/jazz explorations heavily influenced by Herbie Hancock
.
Later the band began to lean more toward an indie-rock sound. Tim Smith quit playing saxophone and began writing songs that were heavily influenced by bands such as Jethro Tull
, Radiohead
, Björk
, and Grandaddy
, artists who experiment, while still remaining accessible.
Speaking about the band's influences, Smith commented:
In an interview with Reverb Magazines Nick Milligan, Smith said of the band's origins:
Jacobs left the band and Eric Nichelson took over on keyboard. Jason Upshaw joined the band as a guitarist. Live recordings from this period, recorded at Denton's Panhandle House studio, were never released as the band felt they had moved beyond the material.
Not long before the band recorded their début EP
, Milkmaid Grand Army, Upshaw was replaced on guitars by Eric Pulido, a longtime friend of drummer Smith, to form the current lineup. Their debut full-length album, 2004's Bamnan and Slivercork
, was recorded at home in Denton, Texas and mastered at Abbey Road Studios
. It showed a move in the direction of lo-fi psychedelic
electronica
, embracing influences such as Grandaddy and The Flaming Lips
. The album even caught the ear of skateboarder-turned-actor Jason Lee, who produced and directed the music video for the song "Balloon Maker", and who continues to support and promote the band.
In 2006, after nearly a year-and-a-half of recording and re-recording, they completed their second release for Bella Union
, The Trials of Van Occupanther
. The album was a venture into classic-rock revivalism, with a sound reminiscent of Bob Welch
-era Fleetwood Mac
. The album was met with generally positive reviews.
In January 2009, their song "Bandits" was featured in an episode of the FOX television drama Fringe
.
In February 2010 the band released The Courage of Others
, which has garnered generally good reviews, notably "album of the month" in Mojo
.
In a 2010 interview with Reverb Magazine, Tim Smith told editor Nick Milligan:
Smith also said in the Reverb Magazine interview that his favourite song from The Courage Of Others was 'Small Mountain':
Of The Courage Of Others, Tim Smith also said:
' 2007 album We Are the Night
, contributing vocals to the track "The Pills Won't Help You Now".
In 2007 Robert Gomez and Midlake guitarist Eric Pulido recorded a version of Feliz Navidad
for a Merry Christmas from Bella Union
CD.
Midlake also co-produced, engineered and played on an album for their friend John Grant
, former singer with label mates The Czars
. The album, Queen of Denmark
, was released in April 2010. In an interview with the UK music website The Line of Best Fit, Bella Union boss Simon Raymonde said
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
from Denton, Texas
Denton, Texas
The city of Denton is the county seat of Denton County, Texas in the United States. Its population was 119,454 according to the 2010 U.S. Census, making it the eleventh largest city in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex...
. The band first gained popularity in Europe, signing to Bella Union Records and playing at festivals such as Les Inrockuptibles
Les Inrockuptibles
Les Inrockuptibles is a French cultural magazine. Started as a monthly magazine in 1986, it became weekly in 1995. The name is a play on "Les Incorruptibles", the French title of the American television series The Untouchables...
, Wintercase
Wintercase
Wintercase is an international festival of electronic music which takes place in clubs in Palermo, Italy. It is designed and produced by Alcapone Records and Mira Communication.-Overview:...
, End Of The Road Festival
End Of The Road Festival
End of the Road Festival is an annual music festival in England which focuses on alternative music, mostly folk, alt.country and Americana. It is hosted at the Larmer Tree Gardens, on the border of north Dorset and Wiltshire, and usually takes place over the first or second full weekend in...
and South by Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
.
History
Midlake was formed in 1999 by a group of jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
students at the University of North Texas College of Music
University of North Texas College of Music
The University of North Texas College of Music, based in Denton, is a comprehensive music school with the largest enrollment of any music institution accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music, and the oldest in the world offering a degree in jazz studies...
. The original lineup consisted of Tim Smith
Tim Smith (Midlake)
Tim Smith is the lead vocalist and songwriter of American alternative rock group Midlake, in which he plays keyboard, guitar and flute.Smith is featured on the Chemical Brothers' 2007 album We Are the Night, contributing vocals to the track "The Pills Won't Help You Now".-References:...
(vocals, guitars, keyboards
Musical keyboard
A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument, particularly the piano. Keyboards typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, shorter keys that repeats at the...
), McKenzie Smith (drums), Paul Alexander (bass), Eric Nichelson (guitar), and Evan Jacobs (keyboards). Their initial work – under the name "The Cornbread All-Stars" — consisted of funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
/jazz explorations heavily influenced by Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
.
Later the band began to lean more toward an indie-rock sound. Tim Smith quit playing saxophone and began writing songs that were heavily influenced by bands such as Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull (band)
Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...
, Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
, Björk
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir , known as Björk , is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk...
, and Grandaddy
Grandaddy
Grandaddy was an American indie rock band, formed in 1992 in Modesto, California by singer, guitarist, and keyboardist Jason Lytle, bassist Kevin Garcia, and drummer Aaron Burtch. Guitarist Jim Fairchild and keyboardist Tim Dryden later joined the band in 1995...
, artists who experiment, while still remaining accessible.
Speaking about the band's influences, Smith commented:
In an interview with Reverb Magazines Nick Milligan, Smith said of the band's origins:
"We were jazz musicians, but right from the get go we'd never really play jazz music. We'd play some funk stuff and then jump right into playing Led Zeppelin. For jazz musicians, rock is sort of frowned upon for how easy it is. If we had friends that knew we were playing, the best thing we could play was Herbie Hancock or Stevie Wonder. A distortion pedal seemed like a no-no. It took us a while to get away from the jazz." -Tim Smith
Jacobs left the band and Eric Nichelson took over on keyboard. Jason Upshaw joined the band as a guitarist. Live recordings from this period, recorded at Denton's Panhandle House studio, were never released as the band felt they had moved beyond the material.
Not long before the band recorded their début EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, Milkmaid Grand Army, Upshaw was replaced on guitars by Eric Pulido, a longtime friend of drummer Smith, to form the current lineup. Their debut full-length album, 2004's Bamnan and Slivercork
Bamnan and Slivercork
Bamnan and Slivercork is the first studio album by the US rock band Midlake, released in 2004 to positive reviews. It mixes together warm acoustic sounds with electronica and lo-fi keyboard sounds...
, was recorded at home in Denton, Texas and mastered at Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
. It showed a move in the direction of lo-fi psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
, embracing influences such as Grandaddy and The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...
. The album even caught the ear of skateboarder-turned-actor Jason Lee, who produced and directed the music video for the song "Balloon Maker", and who continues to support and promote the band.
In 2006, after nearly a year-and-a-half of recording and re-recording, they completed their second release for Bella Union
Bella Union
Bella Union is an independent record label that was started up by Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie in 1997.After releasing records with 4AD for a large part of their career, Cocteau Twins decided to take a step towards independence and started up the Bella Union record label, through which they...
, The Trials of Van Occupanther
The Trials of Van Occupanther
The Trials of Van Occupanther is the second album by American rock band Midlake. It was released on July 25, 2006, on Bella Union Records. It is a suite of lush, heavily melodic songs laden with multi-part harmonies, given evocative lyrical imagery set in woodlands, boats and log cabins, telling...
. The album was a venture into classic-rock revivalism, with a sound reminiscent of Bob Welch
Bob Welch (musician)
Robert Lawrence "Bob" Welch, Jr. is a former member of Fleetwood Mac, who had a briefly successful solo career in the late 1970s. His singles included "Hot Love, Cold World", "Ebony Eyes", "Precious Love", and "Sentimental Lady"....
-era Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
. The album was met with generally positive reviews.
In January 2009, their song "Bandits" was featured in an episode of the FOX television drama Fringe
Fringe (TV series)
Fringe is an American science fiction television series created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The series follows a Federal Bureau of Investigation "Fringe Division" team based in Boston, Massachusetts under the supervision of Homeland Security...
.
In February 2010 the band released The Courage of Others
The Courage of Others
-Credits:Midlake*Tim Smith - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Flute, Recorder, Piano, Keyboards*Eric Pulido - Guitars, Dulcimer, Autoharp, Percussion, Backing Vocals*Paul Alexander - Bass, Electric Guitar, Bassoon*McKenzie Smith - Drums, Percussion...
, which has garnered generally good reviews, notably "album of the month" in Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
.
In a 2010 interview with Reverb Magazine, Tim Smith told editor Nick Milligan:
I'm never satisfied with what we do, so when Occupanther came out I had changes I wanted to make. But what I disliked about the album is probably totally different than what other people might see as a problem. I might be totally focused on my voice. But I think we get a little better as we get older. We're listening to more music and getting more confident with who we are as musicians and as a band. It's a natural progression to get to The Courage Of Others. Although it did take a long time and that's due to my influences and falling in love with a different style of music to what we came from. -Tim Smith
Smith also said in the Reverb Magazine interview that his favourite song from The Courage Of Others was 'Small Mountain':
I think my favourite is 'Small Mountain'. Though it seems that when we've played it live, it's the weakest one – people seem to not connect with it. They'd probably rather talk to their friend than listen to it, but people don't really have the album yet. Maybe in time people will start to like that song more. It was written about when I was in college and my parents lived on the top of this hill. I'd spend time up there and wait tables at my dad's restaurant. It was just a good time for me, so it was nice to have a song that I can relate to it. I like the melody also, so that's probably my favourite. -Tim Smith
Of The Courage Of Others, Tim Smith also said:
The title track was written as a B-side for Van Occupanther so that was really old, and we never used it. We wanted to hold on to it for the next album. 'Children Of The Grounds' we started playing towards the end of our touring for Van Occupanther, because I'd written that around that time and we thought we'd throw it in [the set] to see how it did. But the rest of the material was written while we were recording. There was also a lot of material that was thrown away, because I realised [the ideas] weren't good enough. -Tim Smith
Collaborations
Tim Smith is featured on the Chemical BrothersThe Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers are a British electronic music duo comprising Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons. Originating in Manchester in 1991, along with The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, The Crystal Method, and fellow acts, they were pioneers at bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture.- Background...
' 2007 album We Are the Night
We Are the Night
We Are the Night is the sixth studio album by English big beat duo The Chemical Brothers, released on 27 June 2007. The record entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1 and debuted at number 65 on the Billboard 200...
, contributing vocals to the track "The Pills Won't Help You Now".
In 2007 Robert Gomez and Midlake guitarist Eric Pulido recorded a version of Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad (song)
"Feliz Navidad" is a Christmas song written in 1970 by the Puerto Rican singer-songwriter José Feliciano. With its simple Spanish chorus "Feliz Navidad" is a Christmas song written in 1970 by the Puerto Rican singer-songwriter José Feliciano. With its simple Spanish chorus "Feliz Navidad" is a...
for a Merry Christmas from Bella Union
Bella Union
Bella Union is an independent record label that was started up by Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie in 1997.After releasing records with 4AD for a large part of their career, Cocteau Twins decided to take a step towards independence and started up the Bella Union record label, through which they...
CD.
Midlake also co-produced, engineered and played on an album for their friend John Grant
John Grant (musician)
John Grant is an American singer-songwriter. He recently launched his career as a solo artist, having previously been lead vocalist with The Czars, an alternative rock band he formed in 1994 in Denver with Chris Pearson....
, former singer with label mates The Czars
The Czars
The Czars was an alternative rock band, formed in 1994 in Denver by John Grant and Chris Pearson. They released six studio albums, one EP, and three singles in the duration of their career. After the release of Goodbye in 2004, five of the six members of The Czars left the band over the span of...
. The album, Queen of Denmark
Queen of Denmark (album)
Queen of Denmark is the debut solo album by former The Czars frontman John Grant, released on April 19, 2010 on the Bella Union label. Queen of Denmark is a collaboration between Grant and American folk rock band Midlake and produced by Grant himself in collaboration with Midlake members Paul...
, was released in April 2010. In an interview with the UK music website The Line of Best Fit, Bella Union boss Simon Raymonde said
"I still think the Czars’ singer John Grant has one of the greatest voices in music today which is why I am about to release his debut solo record, the Queen Of Denmark. In a weird coincidence, the Midlake guys all fell in love with John’s voice too and invited him down to Denton this year to let them work on his record. They play all the instruments and produce. It’s genius."
Albums
- Bamnan and SlivercorkBamnan and SlivercorkBamnan and Slivercork is the first studio album by the US rock band Midlake, released in 2004 to positive reviews. It mixes together warm acoustic sounds with electronica and lo-fi keyboard sounds...
(2004) - The Trials of Van OccupantherThe Trials of Van OccupantherThe Trials of Van Occupanther is the second album by American rock band Midlake. It was released on July 25, 2006, on Bella Union Records. It is a suite of lush, heavily melodic songs laden with multi-part harmonies, given evocative lyrical imagery set in woodlands, boats and log cabins, telling...
(2006) - The Courage of OthersThe Courage of Others-Credits:Midlake*Tim Smith - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Flute, Recorder, Piano, Keyboards*Eric Pulido - Guitars, Dulcimer, Autoharp, Percussion, Backing Vocals*Paul Alexander - Bass, Electric Guitar, Bassoon*McKenzie Smith - Drums, Percussion...
(February 2010) #18 UK, #61 AUS, #94 US, #96 GER
Singles and EPs
- Milkmaid Grand ArmyMilkmaid Grand ArmyMilkmaid Grand Army is the debut release by the US band Midlake. The EP was originally released in 2001 by the band in a limited edition of 1,000 before they signed to Bella Union.-Track listing:#"She Removes Her Spiral Hair" - 3:38#"Paper Gown" - 4:30...
(EPExtended playAn EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
) (2001) - Balloon MakerBalloon Maker-Track listing:# "Balloon Maker " – 4:24# "The Jungler " – 4:35# "Mornings Will Be Kind" – 2:46# "Balloon Maker " – 6:33- Personnel :* Tim Smith — vocals, piano, keyboard, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, flute...
(EP) (2005) - Oak & Julian (iTunes-only EP) (2007)
- Acts Of ManActs Of ManActs of Man is a single by Midlake, the first to be taken from the album The Courage of Others. It was released in December 2009 and was pressed on 12" 180g vinyl...
(12" single) (Dec 2009)