the hum / By Bob Doran

Texan Brits

Midlake, plus Cham, Triple Junction and The Lowdown

(March 4, 2010)  We caught up with Midlake guitarist Eric Pulido at his home in Denton, Texas before he left on tour. Everyone in the band is from somewhere else in Texas; most came to Denton to study at Univ. of North Texas, a college known for its music program. In many ways Denton sounds like Arcata, although it’s much bigger — around 120,000 live there.

“I fell in love with the town,” said Pulido, “how cool it was artistically and with the music scene. There are two colleges, so Denton’s main industry is education. And there’s a really cool historic downtown square with the courthouse in the middle and a lot of mom and pop shops around the square. The old theater has become an arts center.”

Midlake. Photo by Jon Beck

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Midlake has evolved since Pulido joined nine years ago. At first lead singer TimSmith played saxophone. “But,” said Pulido, “he heard Radiohead’s OK Computer and all these other bands and started getting into rock. He said, ‘I want to do that,’ and switched to guitar.”

Journalists picked up on the Radiohead association. Then, when flute solos were added, Jethro Tull comparisons became de rigueur. Both are off-base to my ears. Sonically Midlake draws more from early ’70s British folk-rock bands like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, especially on their haunting new album, The Courage of Others.

This week Midlake begins a major tour; their first in some time. “We took two years after we finished our second record, The Trials Of Van Occupanther,” said Pulido. “We didn’t play one show during that time, which is quite odd. It was just we didn’t have anything to say live until we finished the record. We wanted to have something new to offer before we just went out playing shows for the sake of playing.” See what’s new when Midlake hits HSU’s Depot Friday night along with another Denton band, Matthew and the Arrogant Sea.

When queer activists and local club owners met last week at Aunty Mo’s to discuss “murder music” (see “Irie vs. Irate” elsewhere in this issue), the info packet included a list of 11 reggae artists “with hate issues” and another 14 “that have no hateful issues.” But, as one club owner noted, what about dancehall musicians who are on neither list? Nocturnum owner Gil Miracle figures he’ll have to vet them himself.

That’s what he did when he booked Damian Beckett, aka Cham (formerly known as Baby Cham). “I read the lyrics to his songs,” said Miracle, “and he’s not violent at all. He may not be as open-minded as I am [on gay issues] or the way the community might be, but a lot of people love his music — and that does not make them bigots either.”

While Cham is not on the Queer Humboldt hater list, he has been the target of prior protests. The Stop Murder Music (Canada) Campaign successfully canceled a 2007 show in Ontario where Cham was on a bill with Capleton and Beenie Man (both on the hate list). The Canadian activists’ problem with Cham seemed to stem from a track where Bounty Killer guested with a hateful spiel on (Baby) Cham’s debut album, Wow the Story. Cham followed that 2000 disc with Ghetto Story, a 2006 release on Atlantic with tales of life growing up on the mean streets of Kingston and no mention of gays. The record also shifted guest appearances to mainstream American R&B stars including Rihanna and Alicia Keys. Cham’s NorCal tour brings him to Nocturnum Saturday night with Ras SoulJah, Sacto hip hop singer Feyvva and local DJ Selecta Prime.

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