11. MidlakeThe Trials Of Van Occupanther
I think I must have heard ‘Roscoe’ on the radio at the time when that came out, and just fell in love with it. And the harmonies reminded me of The Byrds, who I also love. I went to see Midlake in London at the Southbank on that tour. And they were great; they were absolutely phenomenal.
That record’s got so many good tunes on it. Lyrically, it’s really interesting as well, because it’s not like normal run of the mill lyrics, you know; they’re very involved, and quite different.
I met them in 2014. We did Primavera in Porto. And at this point, I was already a huge Midlake fan, so I was very, very excited to meet them. And I introduced myself afterwards and then met Jesse Chandler, who plays keyboards, and he’s the namesake of my son. And I was quite taken aback. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, you’re called Jesse! That’s my son’s name!’ And from that point on, we’ve become very good friends, and he’s still a friend today. And when the opportunity arises to meet up wherever we are in the world, then we do.
