Geordie Greep has shared his eclectic new single ‘Blues’ from his forthcoming debut solo album ‘The New Sound’.
The track opens with a false start, seeing Greep play a quick and intense guitar riff before a frenetic medley of various instruments with a Latin salsa flair take over, as he sings: “You scrounger of toilets and pillager of tombs / You don’t have to work because working is for schmucks.”
Speaking about the song in an interview with Rolling Stone, the former Black Midi frontman shared: “I wanted to do a song where it’s like, ‘Oh, look at this wanker — then again, we’re all kind of wankers. We’ve all been 18. I wanted to do a song about when you think you’re the shit, and you have this feeling when you’re walking down the street, and you can imagine it’s a movie. Like, what a wanker! It’s just a load of funny lines strung together, really, with the theme of like 18-year-old pretentiousness.”
The single marks the second offering from Greep’s upcoming solo album. It follows the previously released lead single ‘Holy Holy‘. His LP ‘The New Sound’ is set for release this Friday (October 4) and is available for pre-order / pre-save here.
Speaking about the creation of the album in a press release, Greep shared: “With recording ‘The New Sound’, it was the first time I have had no one to answer to. And with every impulse I had, I was able to completely follow it through to its conclusion. Being in a band (Black Midi), we often have this ‘we can do everything’ feeling, but you are also kind of limited in that approach, and sometimes it’s good to do something else, to let go of things.”
Over thirty session musicians were involved in the making of the album, on two continents, in São Paulo and London. “Some of the tracks we had recorded already, elsewhere, but it just wasn’t right, so we re-recorded them with new people,” Greep explained.
“Half of the tracks were done in Brazil, with local musicians pulled together at the last minute,” he continued. “They’d never heard anything I’d done before, they were just interested in the demos I’d made. The tracking was all done in one, maybe two days. Then we did the overdubs later, in London.”
Geordie Greep ‘The New Sound’ tracklist is:
1.’Blues’
2. ‘Terra’
3. ‘Holy, Holy’
4. ‘The New Sound’
5. ‘Walk Up’
6. ‘Through A War’
7. ‘Bongo Season’
8. ‘Motorbike’
9. ‘As If Waltz’
10. ‘The Magician’
11. ‘If You Are But A Dream’
The announcement of the musician’s solo work came days after Greep and his former bandmate Cameron Picton confirmed the “indefinite” end of Black Midi on social media.
In an Instagram Live broadcast, Greep responded to fans asking when the band would be releasing a new album by typing “no more black midi” and “it’s over” into the chat.
He continued: “Black Midi was an interesting band that’s now indefinitely over.”
Speaking to NME about working on ‘The New Sound’, the singer revealed that it was “the first time that I was very transparent about the kind of music I like listen to.”
“I loved being in Black Midi, but these are songs that lend themselves to playing with different people,” he told NME. “Also, I wanted to start doing something which was more under my own name and try something more versatile. I knew I wanted to it eventually.”
He also opened up about Black Midi’s split and admitted that “if I was to do it again, I probably would have done it differently. But in the moment, it felt very important to me that it should be said. We hadn’t really been on speaking terms as a band a while before that, it had broken down in communication.”
He continued: “When we first decided we’re not going to do [Black Midi] anymore, we had said, ’Let’s not say anything because everyone will just forget’. In a few months it’ll be obvious, and we won’t need to say anything about it. But then it became apparent that wasn’t really the case. People were all the time saying, ’What’s happening?’ I thought… who cares? Let’s just say it. It’s over – I don’t want to string anyone along.”
In other news, Greep is set to embark on a world tour kicking off later this week. The musician will be making stops in the UK, Europe and North America throughout the rest of 2024 into mid-2025. Check out a full list of tour dates below and visit here to purchase UK tickets and here for US tickets.
Geordie Greep 2024/2025 world tour dates are:
OCTOBER
4 – London, ICA – SOLD OUT
5 – London, ICA – SOLD OUT
6 – London, RT East, Instore – SOLD OUT
10 – Cardiff , Llais Festival @ WMC (w/ Squid)
19 – Budapest, Isolation Festival
22 – Bristol, Fleece
23 – Falmouth, The Cornish Bank
25 – Cambridge, Storey’s Field Centre Sat-Oct-26 – Liverpool, Arts Club
27 – Glasgow, Classic Grand
28 – Newcastle, The Cluny
29 – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club – SOLD OUT
30 – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
NOVEMBER
1 – Brussels, Les Nuits Botanique Weekender @ Orangerie
9 – London, Pitchfork Festival @ EartH
DECEMBER
3 – Paris, Point Ephemere
5 – Berlin, Lido
6 – Amsterdam, Bitterzoet – SOLD OUT
7 – Nijmegen, Doornroosje
9 – Milan, Magnolia
10 – Düdingen, Bad Bonn
JANUARY
16 – Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s
17 – Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s – SOLD OUT
18 – Baltimore, MD Ottobar
19 – Raleigh, NC Kings
21 – Asheville, NC Eulogy
22 – Atlanta, GA The Earl
24 – Nashville, TN The Blue Room @ Third Man Records
25 – St Louis, MO Off Broadway
27 – Minneapolis, MN 7th St. Entry
28 – Madison, WI High Noon Saloon
30 – Chicago, IL The Empty Bottle
31 – Chicago, IL The Empty Bottle – SOLD OUT
FEBRUARY
1 – Kalamazoo, MI Bell’s Eccentric Cafe
3 – Toronto, ON Axis Club Theatre – VENUE UPGRADE
5 – Montreal, QC Bar Le Ritz
6 – Brattleboro, VT The Stone Church
7 – Boston, MA Brighton Music Hall
8 – Brooklyn, NY Warsaw
APRIL
28 – Phoenix, AZ Crescent Ballroom
29 – Santa Ana, CA The Constellation Room
MAY
1 – Los Angeles, CA Regent Theatre
2 – San Diego, CA Soda Bar
3 – Pioneertown, CA Pappy and Harriet’s
5 – Santa Cruz, CA The Catalyst Atrium
6 – San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
7 – Sacramento, CA Harlow’s
9 – Portland, OR Aladdin Theatre
10 – Seattle, WA The Crocodile
11 – Vancouver, BC The Pearl
