Midlake Singer Wishes He'd Heard Black Sabbath Earlier

Midlake, who release their third album 'The Courage of Others' on Feb. 1 have told of a transformative period when singer-songwriter Tim Smith first encountered music that was not solely jazz.

Smith explained -- in an interview with the Guardian -- how until he went to university in Texas to study saxophone, he had only ever listened to jazz music, being ensconced in the world that surrounds it.

Midlake's drummer McKenzie Smith, a fellow jazz student at the college, enlightened Smith by accident by putting on records by artists such as Radiohead or Bjork.

Smith says, "I was like 26 years old, and you have 13 years of playing saxophone, and jazz is your life, all your albums are jazz, and I never even thought of going in that direction. But I stopped listening to jazz, I just felt I'd rather put on Radiohead than Coltrane. And I picked up a little bit of guitar -- I could barely play it."

The singer also reflected, "Saxophone is cool but I wish I had picked up a guitar and checked out Black Sabbath in high school – and I wrote a song. And I knew I wanted to go in that direction. We knew we wanted a male vocalist, but he never came, so everyone said, 'Well why don't you just keep singing in the meantime until we find someone else?'"

Midlake's popularity has suddenly surged since releasing their second album 'The Trials of Van Occupanther' through Bella Union Records in 2007.

Two of Midlake's new tracks, 'Acts Of Man' and 'Rulers' were released as part of a 500 limited-edition 12-inch vinyl in December, and the band are about to embark on a growing UK tour next month; the five-piece are currently scheduled for 14 dates.