"THE BEST STUFF IS WHEN IT'S ON THE VERGE OF COLLAPSE!"

Creating magic out of chaos, Black Midi are at the cutting edge of modern rock music. So why is guitarist Geordie Greep hailing AC/DC as an influence?

-  Jenna Scaramanga

What can an experimental rock band learn from V AC/DC? "The biggest breakthrough was in terms of amplifiers," grins Black Midi guitarist/ vocalist Geordie Greep. While his post-punk peers wonder how to fit their vast pedalboards into the tour van, the Greep (as he is known to his friends) has rediscovered the joy of plugging straight into the amp. And it all started when Geordie decided to channel Angus Young in Black Midi's live set - playing the intro to Riff Raff, the frenetic opening track to AC/DC's legendary 70s live album If You Want Blood You've Got It.

"There's not many better guitar sounds than Angus's on If You Want Blood," Geordie says. "I was like, 'Forget the pedals, let's just start turning the amp up to 10 and using the volume control on the guitar!' After that we were like, 'Wow, this is way better. This is the way to do it!"

This discovery happened as Black Midi began recording their third album Hellfire. Geordie was using the rig he'd had since 2021 album Cavalcade: an Orange TH-30 run clean with pedals. That was until his fellow AC/DC fan Max 'Sizzle' Goulding, Black Midi's co-producer, spotted a Marshall JMP head in the studio. Geordie was uncertain. The studio's engineer said it wasn't the best amp.

"Sizzle was like, 'Look, we're definitely using it!" Geordie laughs. "So we got it set up with a 4x12 and just turned it up to 10 and went straight in. It sounded way better than any amp I've ever heard." And that is how Black Midi became unlikely 21st century champions of the cranked vintage Marshall.

The AC/DC influence is not immediately apparent on Hellfire. The new album continues where Cavalcade left off - a daring romp through every genre they can think of. It's as though they've just discovered all the music in the world, and they love it all too much to leave any unplayed. Perhaps surprisingly, it works, held together by their sense of humour and outstanding musicianship.