Geordie Greep

Geordie Wade Greep (born 20 August 1999) is an English musician. He is the frontman and lead guitarist of the rock band Black Midi. With him, they have become one of the eminent bands of the emerging wave of British rock music that has come to be known as the Windmill scene.

He met bandmates Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin, Cameron Picton, and Morgan Simpson at the BRIT School - from where they would then go on to form Black Midi. The group got their start performing gigs at Brixton pub The Windmill, which had been the only one to accept Greep's emails sent to various music venues. After being signed to Rough Trade Records in 2019, the band has since enjoyed critical acclaim with their three studio albums, ''Schlagenheim'', '' Cavalcade'', and '' Hellfire''.

Greep has been characterized by his unique singing voice, considered a result of his accent, which has been described as "geographically unclassifiable". He often writes dramatic narratives in his songs, with many centered around a specific character seen in Black Midi songs, such as "John L".

Early life

Geordie Wade Greep was born on 20 August 1999 and raised in Walthamstow. He has considered his upbringing in the town beneficial, citing its cultural diversity as "brilliant for a young person". He has credited his father with helping him developing a taste for music in his youth, teaching him that " good and bad music, and there are no boundaries between genres". His mother worked at a salsa club during his childhood, and it resulted in him growing a distaste for the music. However, when revisiting salsa music as an adult, he acquired a newfound appreciation for it. He listened to his father's record collection of progressive rock, classical music, and country and was also interested in the "whiz-bang impact" of cartoon scores.

Greep first took interest in the guitar when he was given the video game ''Guitar Hero'' for his seventh birthday. He grew fond of the music featured in the game, in particular "Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdinand, and later received an electric guitar for his eighth birthday. Around this time, his father would lend him CDs of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin from his own personal collection, as well as those of progressive rock bands such as Pink Floyd, Genesis, and King Crimson and jazz musicians such as Miles Davis.

His first experiences playing live music came around age 11 when he began playing gospel music in churches despite not being raised religious himself. The performances had a great effect on his musical development, bringing him experience in improvising while playing, an aspect he has stated to be lacking in the education of secular white musicians.

Career

2017–2018: BRIT School and formation of Black Midi

What would become Black Midi first began when Greep met fellow guitarist Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin at the BRIT School, where they both attended. During this time, he and Kwasniewski-Kelvin would begin regularly performing together, busking in Bromley. Through their MIDI lessons at the school, Greep would learn of the genre of black MIDI. He admittedly knew little about it, but pitched it to Kwasniewski-Kelvin thinking it would make a good band name anyway.

The two later met drummer Morgan Simpson and their sound began to take on more rock and funk influence. Their lineup would be completed when they enlisted bassist Cameron Picton a month before their first show at The Windmill, in Brixton. After a later show at The Windmill, the group would find themselves approached by record producer Dan Carey, with whom they would record their debut single, "bmbmbm".

2019: ''Schlagenheim''

Their experience with Carey was positive, and the band naturally decided to work with him again for their debut studio album ''Schlagenheim''. Greep said of the process: "it went really well and started such a good relationship, so when it came time and we had the means to make an album, he just seemed like the best choice. I could just tell from the way he was talking about the music that he got it completely." However, instead of being released under Carey's Speedy Wunderground label, ''Schlagenheim'' was released under Rough Trade Records, which the band had signed to earlier that year. ''Schlagenheim'' was released to critical acclaim, being nominated for the 2019 Mercury Prize.

2021: ''Cavalcade''

Following the release of their single "Sweater" in 2020, Black Midi looked to move in a different direction with their next album. Their songwriting process moved away from jamming and improvisation. According to Greep, they would start bringing in songs they had completed on their own and would then play together. In order to capture the new direction of their sound, they worked with producer John "Spud" Murphy for what would become their sophomore studio album, '' Cavalcade''. The lyricism of ''Cavalcades songwriting would put greater emphasis on narratives, consisting of stories centered around characters written from third-person perspectives.

''Cavalcade'' was similarly acclaimed to ''Schlagenheim'', with praise being directed at it being more ambitious and difficult.

2022: ''Hellfire''

That following year, Black Midi would release their third studio album, '' Hellfire''. The title ''Hellfire'' is one the band had history with, being one Greep originally suggested for ''Schlagenheim''. The role of producer was this time filled by Marta Salogni, whom the band previously worked with to record "John L" from ''Cavalcade''. In contrast to the third-person narratives of ''Cavalcade'', the songs of ''Hellfire'' are largely written in first person. Greep has said the album wasn't explicitly inspired by the idea of Hell, rather the concept served to tie the album's stories together under a cohesive theme.

''Hellfire'' was not only released to similar critical success as their first two efforts, but considerable commercial success as well, becoming their highest charting album in the UK to date, and their first album to chart in the US.

Artistry

Musical style

Sonically, Black Midi's sound has been variously labeled as experimental rock, art rock, progressive rock, math rock, post-punk, and avant-prog. He has denied that the band's experimental sound was an intentional part of their formation, instead saying it was simply the result of the band playing together as friends first and foremost. Greep's decision to play a baritone guitar came from his fondness for spaghetti Western music, learning from his father that baritone guitars played a part in its sound.

Stylistically, Black Midi's songs often start out as pastiches of other styles or genres, that change and evolve through improvisation and experimentation. For example, Greep has said that "27 Questions" from ''Hellfire'' was inspired by Argentine tango.

Vocally, Greep's signature style of singing was inspired by a desire to subvert typical rock vocals, in order to avoid coming off as "macho", instead desiring to do something more melodic. In combination with his accent, his singing has earned descriptions such as that of a "warped croon".

Lyrically, Greep prefers to write fictional stories into his songs rather than speak on real world issues, saying: "I can't speak too intelligently about any of that. I don't really have anything intelligent to say. Of course there are things going wrong all the time but when we write lyrics it's more about stories than real stuff." Speculation surrounds much of Greep’s lyrics, as he leaves much to obscurity. However, he has gone on record stating “27 Questions” is his most personal lyrical work yet.

Influences

Greep has taken a large amount of influence from classical music. Classical music had influence on him from his youth, and he has called John Eliot Gardiner's recording of Mass in B minor his "two favourite hours of recorded music ever". He has also named Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók and Alfred Schnittke as classical influences.

Greep has also taken great influence from Frank Zappa and Boredoms, whose albums ''We're Only in It for the Money'' and '' Vision Creation Newsun'' respectively he has both listed as two of his all-time favourites. His experience with Zappa goes back to playing "Willie the Pimp" with his electronics teacher at his school's winter concert.

Personal life

Greep is an avid fan of boxing, often expressing his admiration for the sport in interviews. He has named Sugar Ray Leonard as his favourite boxer. Boxing has also had an influence on Black Midi's music, serving as the inspiration for the band's song " Sugar/Tzu", with Greep stating: "In boxing, there's the intensity, just nonstop—everything is over the top. That's kind of with our stuff as well. If there is a more emotional song or whatever, it's pushed to the max, it's very brash and almost comedically intense."

Greep is an active user of Twitter. Jazz Monroe said of Greep's activity: "Given his propensity for charming anachronism, it is surprising that Greep is fantastic at Twitter." In 2023, several music publications reported on a short-lived Twitter feud between Greep and Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast over the Beatles album ''Revolver''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greep, Geordie
1999 births
21st-century English singers
English male guitarists
English rock singers
English rock guitarists
Living people
People educated at the BRIT School
People from Walthamstow