Midlake reveal new album details...

Tim Smith is the singer and key songwriter with Texas quintet Midlake. Their second album, The Trials of Van Occupanther, featured highly in many end of year critics polls last December (including this blog). They’re currently back in Britain promoting a new single, Roscoe.

You’ve been touring The Trials of Van Occupanther for a year now. Did you envisage 12 months ago there’d be such a demand for this album?

“Yeah…I think always hoped so. In the beginning after we finished Occupanther, I thought we have to make a name for ourselves with this album; we have to get out there and get it heard. So…we kind of expected it, we wanted it and it happened. Nevertheless at times we can’t believe that people are listening to us and buying the album.”

When I interviewed Midlake exactly a year ago, the band already seemed quite homesick. Have you grown used to being away now?

“Actually I haven’t. I love being at home - all the time; but I understand it’s something that I have to do. Having said that it doesn’t feel that we’ve been playing that much anyway, though it helps there’s more people coming to see us. Also, we’re able to rent a proper tour bus now. Nothing posh, and quite basic, but still better than trying sleep upright in a white van. But…being away from home doesn’t get any easier for me, no.”

Your new single, Roscoe, has been the highlight of your live shows. On the single, what pushed you into having it remixed by different DJs, such as Justin Robertson?

“That actually wasn’t up to the band, though we did have the final say and we gave it the all clear. We didn’t sit round and think ‘this needs remixing’ or that it needs to be pushed in a certain way. It was a label decision so it’s purely about marketing. Don’t get me wrong, I trust our label and I can see why they’re doing it. They’re trying to get more people interested in Midlake. So long as they’re not destroying our music, that’s okay. From what I’ve heard, there’s no damage.”

Are you daunted about following up The Trials of Van Occupanther?
“Actually, I’m really excited by it and I’ve already been working on it. The album’s going to be called The Courage of Others. At the moment I’ve put together some very rough demos of songs on my iPod, so I’m constantly listening to them and working out what songs to pick. Once we’ve finished this tour we’re going to start on the next album straight away. We’re going to be working with some new equipment and so far the songs have a much darker and richer sound than previous. Unfortunately, it takes us such a long time to make albums, so don’t get expecting it just yet.”

Are you getting bored of playing the same songs so often now?

“I don’t know if we do. We usually play the same set every night, there’s a certain flow that we go with. Recently we’ve been playing Roscoe second or third song in, just to get it out of the way, so people can just relax and enjoy the rest of the show. So…we’re not tired of playing our songs because, after all, it’s really nice that so many people know your songs. We never had that before. So to turn up from town to town in the UK and Europe and realise that thousands of people know who we are is fantastic. I’m not bored of that yet”.

Can we expect anything different on this tour?

“There was a comment made by a journalist in UK who said that we show so many videos that’s it like watching the telly rather than paying attention to the music. It really hit me that, yeah, it was true. Videos on stage can be been difficult to get right. I think I have too many ideas going on. So this time we’re simplifying them for this tour. We’re going to use still images, such as the album cover, and then zoom those outwards, just to slow the pace a bit and allow the audience to concentrate on the music. I think we should have realised earlier that we don’t need such distractions. The music stands up for itself”.

Tim Smith was talking to Neil Davenport