SIX weeks into an American tour, when most young bands are losing their minds, Black Midi are in a Chicago apartment playing chess.
“You have to move the king, bro, you’re in check,” singer and guitarist Geordie Greep calls to the band’s live keyboardist Seth Evans, aka Shank, before turning back to the phone. “Neither of us are good at it, but we’re just passing time, having a laugh. There are sections in Nabokov novels where he talks about chess problems, and I don’t have a clue what he’s talking about. H6, B4, all this… I’m like, ‘Get back to the incest, please…’”
Aside from the trauma of terrible pizza the night before – “Where to begin?” says a broken Shank – things are going pretty well out here in the New World, where this London trio – Greep, drummer Morgan Simpson and bassist and co-frontman Cameron Picton, all still in their early twenties – are busy breaking America. The fans here are younger than in the UK, and scarily enthusiastic, even moshing to the band’s quiet songs.
“It’s been great,” enthuses Greep, chess pieces clattering in the background. “No complaints. The crowds have been so energetic, they’re really excited, it’s pretty brilliant.”
“It’s just crazy,” agrees Simpson. “It feels like we’re a bit more understood] – and even if they don’t get it, whatever you bring to the table, they’ll receive it.”
