Black Midi announce split
After seven years as a band, Black Midi have announced that they’ve split. Lead vocalist Geordie Greep shared the news on an Instagram livestream on August 10th, typing “no more black midi” and “it’s over” in the chat section.
It comes as no surprise that the eccentric bandleader would announce such big news via a late-night livestream, and as a result, fans were left wondering if he was just joking. Yet, when he typed “Black Midi was an interesting band that’s now indefinitely over,” fans realised that Greep was being serious.
His claims were backed up by bassist and occasional vocalist Cameron Picton, who took to Twitter/X following Greep’s livestream to confirm the news. “We’d agreed not to say anything about ‘breaking up’ so I was as blindsided as everyone else last night but maybe in a different way. I guess sometimes all you can say is lol,” he wrote on the platform in a now-deleted Tweet.
The musician has recently been working on his own music under the name Camera Picture, even touring with close friends Black Country, New Road as their opening act in the United States. Picton posted, “Anyway! Starting sessions for my own record soon, looking forward — should be good, hopefully great!”
Meanwhile, Greep has also been working on solo music, and he is currently in the middle of a residency at North London’s Map Studio Cafe.
Black Midi rose to prominence in 2018 with their debut single, ‘bmbmbm’, released on Dan Carey’s Speedy Wunderground label. The unique track contained repetitious vocals and sparse instrumentals, only to explode into a chaotic explosion of noise in its final third. It quickly piqued the interest of many listeners and they soon garnered a cult following.
Becoming known as one of the key bands to frequently play in South London’s notorious live venue The Windmill, many of Black Midi’s early shows were filmed by one of the scene’s resident photographers, Lou Smith, helping to spread their buzz even further.
It didn’t take long for the band to receive critical acclaim after releasing their debut album, Schlagenheim, in 2019, which was nominated for a Mercury Prize.
The experimental art-rockers released two more albums since, Cavalcade and Hellfire, as well as various covers EPs, live records, and even a spoken word anthology. For now, it seems as though each member will pursue solo endeavours.
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