The Middle East Officially Split
One of Australia's most beloved and talented bands, The Middle East, have announced that they are calling it a day.
The band have just posted the following statement on their facebook page:
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN :
writing to inform you that we're ceasing. i'm not sure if we'll make more music later on or not.
we don't feel like playing anymore for a whole lot of reasons that i won't list here and i'm afraid if we continued any longer it would just be a moneygrab. i'd rather go hungry. thank you to all those who came to shows.
we had fun.
t.s elliot wrote 'you are the music while the music lasts', but he also wrote that confusing little book about cats so don't put too much stock in his quotes.
i'm very tired. until next time.
sincerely yours,
the middle east.
At Splendour in the Grass The Middle East announced on stage "this is our last performance, so it's very special for us'. Just before saying so they band did a cover of Bob Dylan's 'I Shall Be Released', please enjoy this dodgy footage that I captured on my electronic camera device.
I met a few of these guys at a MySpace event I was working on a few years ago, and aside from being lovely, they told me the story of how they had come to be the buzz band they were fast developing into. They had been playing as a group in QLD back in the day years ago and had decided even back then to call it quits.
This was back around 2008. A few months later, an A&R rep who was working at Spunk Records was trawling MySpace looking for a good support band for the recently signed Leader Cheetah, and they found The Middle East. They actually had to 'get the band back together' and find new members to head out on the tour. I honestly think these guys are an exceptionally talented and thoughtful bunch of musicians who just never really dug the rock'n'roll lifestyle and burdens that came with 'playing the game' in the local music biz.
I wish them all the best in their future endeavours, which I hope for all of us, are in the music world.
This was the first Middle East song I ever heard, and I'm pretty sure it made me cry.