Black Midi, the London group whose brand of noise-rock and prog-punk weirdness earned them the title of “the most exciting new band in Britain” early in their career, has apparently called it quits.
Fans of the band learned the band’s fate Saturday on social media, where singer/guitarist Geordie Greep was hosting an Instagram Live. When asked about the status of Black Midi’s new album — the follow-up to 2022’s acclaimed Hellfire — Greep alerted them, “No more black midi” and “It’s over.”
Greep continued, “Black Midi was an interesting band that’s now indefinitely over.”
Bassist/singer Cameron Picton confirmed his now-former bandmate’s comments Sunday in a since-deleted tweet (via NME), “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. Anyway!”
Picton added that he’s already working on his own music, “Starting sessions for my own record soon, looking forward – should be good, hopefully great!”
Formed in 2017, Black Midi quickly ascended in the London music scene, “playing packed clubs and drawing rapturous festival crowds purely on word-of-mouth enthusiasm,” as Rolling Stone wrote in our 2020 profile of the band.
Black Midi’s 2019 debut Schlagenheim was nominated for the Mercury Prize, and they followed it with a mostly sold out 21-date American tour. “We intended our first show to be our last, so the whole band has been a surprise,” Greep told Rolling Stone. “You’ve got to keep it relative. In relation to Drake or someone, it’s still grassroots.”
The group released two more LPs to similar acclaim, 2021’s Cavalcade and 2022’s Hellfire, after which they hit the road with fellow experimental rockers Black Country, New Road, another celebrated British band that has endured its share of significant lineup changes amid its rise in popularity.