Black Midi (stylised as black midi) were an English

rock band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, formed in 2017. Their most recent line-up consisted of lead vocalists and

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments, often but not exclusively at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as woodwind doubler, doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and mor ...

Geordie Greep Geordie Wade Greep ( ; born 20 August 1999) is an English musician. From 2017 to 2024, he was the Lead vocalist, frontman and lead guitarist of the rock band Black Midi, often considered part of the emerging wave of British rock music#Early 202 ...

and Cameron Picton, along with drummer Morgan Simpson. Between 2017 and 2020, the band also included guitarist Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin. Following his departure, the trio were frequently joined by multi-instrumentalist Seth Evans and saxophonist Kaidi Akinnibi, both as session musicians and during live performances. Their name is derived from the Japanese

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

genre

black MIDI Black Midi (stylised as black midi) were an English Band (rock and pop), rock band from London, formed in 2017. Their most recent line-up consisted of lead vocalists and multi-instrumentalists Geordie Greep and Cameron Picton, along with drumme ...

, though their own music has no relation to it, instead incorporating styles such as

math rock Math rock is a style of Alternative rock, alternative and indie rock with roots in bands such as King Crimson and Rush (band), Rush. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (including irregular stopping and starting), cou ...

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

, and

avant-jazz Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz, experimental jazz, or "new thing") is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through the late 1 ...

. Part of the

Windmill scene The Windmill scene is a musical scene that originated around the Windmill pub in Brixton, London, during the late 2010s and early 2020s. The term is usually defined with a blend of experimental rock and post-punk, featuring erratic, spoken vocals ...

, the band began on producer Dan Carey's record label Speedy Wunderground, through which they released their debut single, "bmbmbm", in 2018. They released their debut studio album, ''

Schlagenheim ''Schlagenheim'' is the debut studio album by English rock band Black Midi, released on 21 June 2019 through Rough Trade Records. The band recorded the majority of the album over a five-day period with producer Dan Carey at his studio in South ...

'', produced by Carey, on 21 June 2019, through

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis, who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. It is currently run by co-managing directors Travis and Jeannette Lee and ...

. It received critical acclaim, entered the top 50 of the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, and was nominated for the 2019

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

. An anthology album including several recorded jams and spoken-word tracks, '' The Black Midi Anthology Vol. 1: Tales of Suspense and Revenge'', was released on 5 June 2020 exclusively to

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

. In January 2021, founding member Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin went on hiatus from the group for health reasons. The band's second studio album, ''

Cavalcade A cavalcade is a procession or parade on horseback, or a mass distance ride by a company of riders. Sometimes the focus of a cavalcade is participation rather than display and the participants do not wear costumes or ride in formation. ...

'', was released on 26 May 2021. Their third studio album, '' Hellfire'', was released on 15 July 2022. The band entered an indefinite hiatus in August 2024, as each member focused on other work; Greep released the highly acclaimed solo album, ''

The New Sound ''The New Sound'' is the debut solo studio album by English musician Geordie Greep, released on 4 October 2024 on Rough Trade Records. The album was produced by Black Midi touring and session member Seth Evans, with co-production from Greep. The ...

'', Picton formed a new group, My New Band Believe, and Simpson began working with jazz musician

Nala Sinephro Nala Sinephro (born 1996) is a Caribbean-Belgian experimental jazz musician based in London. She is best known for her ambient jazz compositions, where she predominantly plays the pedal harp, modular synthesiser, keyboards and piano. In 2021, s ...

and rapper

Little Simz Simbiatu "Simbi" Abisola Abiola Ajikawo (born 23 February 1994), better known by her stage name Little Simz, is a British Rapping, rapper and Acting, actress. She rose to prominence with the independent release of her first three albums: ''A Cur ...

History

Formation and first singles (2015–2019)

Prior to the formation of the band, Geordie Greep had separate jam sessions with Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin and Morgan Simpson, all of whom (alongside Cameron Picton) were attending

BRIT School BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology is a British performing and creative arts school located in Selhurst, Croydon, England, with a mandate to provide education and vocational training for the performing arts, music, music technology, ...

. Simpson was an accomplished drummer, coming from a

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

n musical family and winning the "Young Drummer of the Year" award in 2014. In 2016 Greep and Kwasniewski-Kelvin enlisted Simpson to form a band, with Greep and Kwasniewski-Kelvin on guitar and vocals, and with Simpson on drums. Picton joined later, on bass guitar, to complete the line-up. The band played their first gig at

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

's The Windmill on 12 June 2017, supporting the band Leg Puppy, and would go on to have a

residency Residency may refer to: * Artist-in-residence, a program to sponsor the residence and work of visual artists, writers, musicians, etc. * Concert residency, a series of concerts performed at one venue * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or m ...

at the venue, becoming one of the

's biggest exponents. In April 2018, the NTS channel released a video of an off session at Flesh and Bone studios, being the first video and original music release of the group, later that session would be formally released as "Talking Heads". On 8 June 2018, the group released their debut single, titled "bmbmbm", on producer Dan Carey's record label Speedy Wunderground. On 26 September 2018, a cassette was released featuring segments of a performance with

Damo Suzuki , known as Damo Suzuki (ダモ鈴木), was a Japanese musician best known as the vocalist for the German Krautrock group Can (band), Can between 1970 and 1973. Born in 1950 in Kobe, Japan, he moved to Europe in the late 1960s where he was spotte ...

which took place on 5 May 2018 at The Windmill. On 9 November 2018, Black Midi performed five songs from their then untitled upcoming album, live at Kex Hostel in Reykjavik, Iceland, during the music festival

Iceland Airwaves Iceland Airwaves is a music festival held annually in November in Reykjavík, Iceland, since 1999. Its main focus is showcasing new music, both Icelandic and international. Background The event is promoted and produced by Iceland Music Export ...

. The eccentric performance, which was recorded for the Seattle radio station

KEXP KEXP-FM (90.3 FM broadcasting, FM) is a non-commercial Radio broadcasting, radio station in Seattle, Seattle, Washington, United States, specializing in indie music programmed by its disc jockeys. KEXP's studios are located at the Seattle Cent ...

, was praised online and became popular on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, exposing the band to listeners internationally. The band contributed the song "Ice Cream" featuring

Jerskin Fendrix Joscelin Dent-Pooley (born ), professionally known as Jerskin Fendrix, is an English composer and musician. The composer of the score for the 2023 film '' Poor Things'', his debut solo album, ''Winterreise'', was released in 2020. Early life an ...

on vocals for a Brixton Hillbilly compilation album, released 7 December 2018. On 23 January 2019, the group released their second single, "Speedway". A 12" vinyl record was released featuring remixes by Proc Fiskal, Kwake Bass, and

Blanck Mass Blanck Mass is the electronic solo project of British composer Benjamin John Power. He is a founding member of Fuck Buttons. In 2022, Power announced he joined Editors as a full-time member. Career His track "Sundowner" was used at key point ...

''Schlagenheim'' and other projects (2019–2020)

In January 2019 the group announced that they had signed to

. The group released two singles on the label in March and April 2019, "Crows Perch" and "Talking Heads" respectively. On 14 May, the group announced their debut album titled ''

'', which was released 21 June 2019. The album was recorded in 2018 with producer Dan Carey, who became impressed by the band at an early live show. Instead of merely recreating their live show, they chose to augment their sound with piano, accordion, synthesisers, banjo, and drum machines. "The idea was to do stuff that's impossible to do live", frontman Greep explained. "If the album and the gig are just the same, it's a bit sad." The majority of the album was recorded in just five days. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, a website that assigns a

weighted mean The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, ''Schlagenheim'' received a score of 82, based on 20 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". The album was later nominated for the 2019

. On 7 March 2020, the band performed live at the

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It primarily plays a wide range of alternative music, from established and emerging artists and bands. In 2002 it was the first national music radio station t ...

festival in Camden. In June 2020, the band released a

jam Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits whose main preserving agent is sugar and sometimes acid, often stored in glass jars and used as a condiment or spread. There are many varieties of fruit preserves globally, distinguished by the meth ...

and

spoken word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...

album via

entitled '' The Black Midi Anthology Vol. 1: Tales of Suspense and Revenge'', consisting of four short stories read by the members of the band over jam instrumentals as well as three instrumental mixes mostly taken from the same recordings as the spoken word tracks. On 16 June 2020, the band began hosting a monthly radio show called ''The Black Midi Variety Hour'' on

NTS Radio NTS Radio (also known as NTS Live or simply NTS) is a music radio platform which was founded in 2011 in Hackney, East London by Femi Adeyemi "for an international community of music lovers". NTS was built as a platform to celebrate the eclec ...

. Six episodes have been produced so far. On 10 December 2020, the band performed a show with the group

Black Country, New Road Black Country, New Road (commonly abbreviated to BC,NR or BCNR) are an English rock band formed in Cambridge in 2018. The original founders of the band consisted of Tyler Hyde (vocals, bass), Lewis Evans (vocals, flute, saxophone), Georgia Eller ...

under the alias Black Midi, New Road as a charity gig for live venue

The Windmill, Brixton The Windmill is a pub and live music venue in Brixton, London, England, with a reputation for championing new music. It was voted the third best music venue in London, in a 2012 poll in '' Time Out'' magazine, and #7 by ''The Guardian'' in 200 ...

. The show was livestreamed from The Windmill's

page with an entry fee of £5. The group have performed under the Black Midi, New Road moniker at the venue before.

Kwasniewski-Kelvin's departure, ''Cavalcade'' and ''Hellfire'' (2021–2023)

On 15 January 2021, Black Midi announced through social media that their guitarist Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin had been taking time off from the band due to mental health issues and that he is not featured on forthcoming material from the band. The band announced their second studio album, ''

'', on 23 March 2021, which was released on 26 May 2021. On the day of the announcement, they also released the album's lead single, "

John L "John L" is a song by English rock band Black Midi, released in 2021 as the lead single from their second studio album, ''Cavalcade (Black Midi album), Cavalcade''. The song describes the story of a powerful leader, the titular John L, who is eve ...

", backed with the non-album track "Despair". Kwasniewski-Kelvin appears on the album only as composer on a couple of tracks; he was not part of the recording process. Touring members Akinnibi and Evans were a part of the album's recording sessions. A second single, " Slow", was released on 28 April and coincided with a second KEXP performance released the same day. This performance features Evans and Akinnibi as well as a small brass section. The band toured Europe and the US in throughout 2021 and 2022. The band has also opened for themselves at concerts as an alter ego group known as Orange Tree Boys, touted as a funk blues band from

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. On 22 March 2022, the band released the digital EP ''Cavalcovers'', a collection of

cover versions In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song released ...

of songs by

King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...

and

Captain Beefheart Don Van Vliet (; born 'Don Glen Vliet'; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as the M ...

originally released as

flexi-disc The flexi disc (also known as a phonosheet, Sonosheet or Soundsheet, a trademark) is a Gramophone record, phonograph record made of a thin, flexible Polyvinyl chloride, vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral Phonograph pickup, stylus groove, and is ...

bonus records with pre-ordered vinyl copies of ''Cavalcade''. On 9 May 2022, they released "

Welcome to Hell ''Welcome to Hell'' is the debut studio album by English heavy metal band Venom, released in December 1981 through Neat Records. After various line-up changes and recording several demo tapes in Impulse Studios, Venom gained success and atte ...

", the lead single from their third album, '' Hellfire''. They released "Eat Men Eat", the second single from the album, on 15 June 2022. On 12 July, the third single, " Sugar/Tzu", was released. ''Hellfire'' was released on 15 July 2022 and charted at No. 22 in the United Kingdom, their highest placement yet. It also became their first album to chart in the United States, reaching No. 139. In the autumn of 2022, Black Midi announced the "Back in Black Tour" supported by

in the United States. The band continued to debut unreleased material on this tour, including the songs "The Magician" and "Askance".

Indefinite hiatus and solo projects (2024)

On 10 August 2024, while on an

Instagram Live Instagram is an American photo and short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters, be organized by hashtags, and be associated with a location via ...

promoting a series of solo concerts, Geordie Greep responded to questions about new Black Midi material by typing "no more black midi" and "It’s iver" into the chat, also claiming that "Black Midi was an interesting band that’s now indefinitely over", prompting speculation about the band's status. Bassist Cameron Picton confirmed the split on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

, admitting that the band "agreed not to say anything about 'breaking up and that he was blindsided by Greep's comments. ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' confirmed via the band's management that the group "are on a hiatus for now while they are working on solo projects." ''

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quietu ...

'' received a further statement, clarifying that the band "agreed to have a break and do some solo work, with the understanding the Black Midi door be left open." Greep later admitted that the band "hadn’t really been on speaking terms as a band a while before that". Black Midi had internally split before the announcement, but opted not to say anything publicly because, according to Greep, "In a few months it’ll be obvious, and we won’t need to say anything about it. But then it became apparent that wasn’t really the case. People were all the time saying, ’What’s happening?’ I thought… who cares? Let’s just say it. It’s over – I don’t want to string anyone along." In a subsequent interview, Greep expressed hesitancy regarding management's statement about the door being left open. Greep quickly announced a solo album, ''

'', which was released on 4 October 2024 and produced by Black Midi session member Seth Evans. Simpson became the touring and recording drummer for experimental

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

musician

, appearing on her second studio album, ''Endlessness'', released on September 6, 2024. He also performed on ''The New Sound''. and rapper

' sixth studio album, '' Lotus'' (2025). Picton began to record under the pseudonym Camera Picture, self-releasing two

mixtapes In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...

of solo material on

, titled ''44m50s'' and ''36m33s'', respectively, and later formed the group "My New Band Believe", which also has Evans as a collaborator, but as keyboardist for the group.

Musical style

The band's sound has been variously labelled as

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, wit ...

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an ar ...

, and

avant-prog Avant-prog (short for avant-garde progressive rock) is a music genre that appeared in the late 1970s as the extension of two separate progressive rock subgenres: Rock in Opposition (RIO) and the Canterbury scene. History and characteristics ...

Personnel

Principal members *

– vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass (2017–2024) * Cameron Picton – bass, vocals, guitars, keyboards (2017–2024) * Morgan Simpson – drums, percussion (2017–2024) Early members * Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin – guitar, vocals (2017–2020) Touring and session musicians * Seth "Shank" Evans – keyboards, bass, synthesizers (2020–2024) * Kaidi Akinnibi – tenor saxophones (2020–2022)

Timeline

File:2019 Black Midi (48128750378).jpg, Cameron Picton File:2019 Black Midi (48128790742).jpg, Geordie Greep File:2019 Black Midi (48128806197).jpg, Morgan Simpson File:2019 Black Midi (48128717046).jpg, Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

Extended plays

Live albums/EPs

Singles

Other appearances

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

Notes

External links

*
Black Midi
discography at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{Authority control English noise rock groups English math rock groups Musical groups established in 2017 Musical groups disestablished in 2024 2017 establishments in England 2024 disestablishments in England English experimental rock groups Rough Trade Records artists People educated at the BRIT School