Midlake - Roscoe

Midlake is an American rock band from Denton, Texas. The band first gained popularity in Europe, signing to Bella Union Records and later playing at festivals such as Les Inrockuptibles, Wintercase, End of the Road and South by Southwest.



Midlake was formed in 1999 by a group of jazz students at the University of North Texas College of Music. The original lineup consisted of Tim Smith (vocals, guitars, keyboards), McKenzie Smith (drums), Paul Alexander (bass), Eric Nichelson (guitar), and Evan Jacobs (keyboards). Their initial work -- under the name "The Cornbread All-Stars" — consisted of funk/jazz explorations heavily influenced by Herbie Hancock.

Later the band began to lean more toward an indie-rock sound. Tim Smith quit playing saxophone and began writing songs that were heavily influenced by bands such as Jethro Tull, Radiohead, Björk, and Grandaddy, artists who experiment, while still remaining accessible.[1]

Speaking about the band's influences, Smith commented:

"We don't want to get called a Radiohead rip-off band. I think Radiohead is a lot closer to my natural tendencies as a songwriter than a band like, um, Jethro Tull. I listen to way more Jethro Tull than I do Radiohead these days, but I could write 10 Radiohead songs before I could write one Jethro Tull song. I want to sound more like Jethro Tull, but I just can't. That's a big struggle."
—Tim Smith of Midlake[2]