Wednesday 22 February 2012

Midlake

Midlake, the pride of Denton, Texas have gone from strength to strength and are a personal favourite of mine. My love for Midlake didn't happen straight away. First hearing them back in 2006, I really didn't think much to them. Maybe because my maturity level wasn't quiet at the stage where I could truly appreciate their lyrics and style or maybe because I would have rather have consumed my days with mainstream nonsense that really didn't effect me emotionally one bit... However over the past two years Midlake have become a real escape for me. Listening to them in times of happiness and incredible sadness, the band have been an inspiration to me.

With their album 'The Trials of Van Occupanther' they pay homage to the harmonies of Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac and Elton John, but added layered narratives about the harsh lives of pioneers in an unforgiving landscape. A true work of art in my eyes, so when receiving an email back from their management regarding my interview request I was truly over the moon. A long 4 months past and I finally received the go ahead to send over the interview and within in two, what seemed like forever weeks, I received an email back with the completed interview inside.

Enjoy.

Interview

Q. Happy New Year to you. How was your Christmas and New Years? Anything fun happen?
Thank you and same to you. Christmas was an enjoyable time with family, and New Years was an enjoyable time with friends...that's the definition of fun!

Q. For some of my readers who are not clued up on who Midlake are could you give us an insight into the band?
 
We are a group of bearded bums that love music and the opportunity to share it with others everywhere.

Q. So you’re recording the follow up to The Courage of Others at the moment? How is that going? When can we hope to see its release?

Yes we are and its coming along quite nicely. We dont know when it will release, but we promise it will be asap.

Q. Compared to your Bamnan and Slivercork (2004) album your sound has taken on more of a folk quality to it. Are you going to move away from that folky sound in the next album of course without giving too much away?

I think we'll always have a 'folky' element to our records, but this one is definitely more dynamic. We always desire to grow taking something from where we've been and making it better. More than anything, we just want to create music that moves us.

Q. I understand you collaborated with John Grant at SXSW. Is that kind of collaboration something that you want to do a lot more of in the future or is it just particular to John Grant?


We're open to it, but that was a unique situation. We just love John and his music and he needed a band and place to record...so we were happy to fill that void.

Q. Between the new record and collaborations and LateNightTales and festivals, it sounds like you have been pretty busy . What are some of the hi-lights?


Our focus has been recording, but breaking to take part in those things was nice. We got the chance to try out some new music and poke our heads out of our cave.

Q. Not really a question but my favourite line to one of your songs is ‘Bring me a day full of honest work and a roof that never leaks and I’ll be satisfied’ – Head Home. A really inspiring lyric.

Thank you, i'll tell Tim. i like it to...simple.

Q. What is something you’re particularly proud of since you started out as a band?
That we're still together.

Q. What’s your ultimate goal for Midlake? Or do you just take every day as comes?
We want to create something great that moves us and others.

Q. Thank you so much for your time. See you soon and look after yourselves please.
Thank you and we look forward to it.

Please check out the bands webpage for news and tour dates: http://midlake.net/



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