d Nuts || February 23, 2007

There's a great piece about Midlake out in newspapers this week, but it's not the one in Dallas. I met Jude Rogers a few weeks back at the weekend of the Baptist Generals' house party, a writer from the UK who was concocting a profile about the city of Denton for the UK's Guardian. That article went live early this morning, and it's intriguing as much for the things it gets right as the things it doesn't.


Just, uh, imagine some British soldiers hanging around this photo of Denton Square.

British press romanticizing a small Texas town--I saw that coming. But the piece doesn't take into account the shifting demographic of Denton itself, the gradual frat-conversion that has seen shows drop off in average attendance...and it also places Midlake at a higher local level than I think the band actually sits at, using their national sales figures to somehow turn them into local stars. Sure, they fill Hailey's and they have friends in the scene, but they've always been somewhat the odd birds (yes, even for Denton), which has certainly been part of their overall appeal. (And as a non sequitor, someone should probably clear Rogers up about Tre Orsi's "European tour," considering they've only played two gigs--both in Denton, no less.)

Interesting about those sales figures, though. 1,000 a week, huh? And it's always nice to see international attention on a music scene that truly deserves it, so gear up for Midlake's Granada Theater gig on Saturday by giving this foreign perspective a look. -SM