Interview: Middleman

The music industry can be a cruel and unforgiving business – something Leeds band Middleman discovered the hard way.

In 2007 they were courted by major record labels and championed by Radio 1, but a disastrous fall-out from a management deal left them disconsolate, in debt and on the brink of walking away from it all.

It may be a cliché that creativity is fuelled by adversity, but that was the case for Middleman. Imbued with a sense of purpose by the fury they felt at their situation, they drew on their experiences at the knife-end of the music business as inspiration for their debut album Spinning Plates.

“It’s got gritty themes, but it’s also got a massive amount of optimism,” explains vocalist Andy Craven-Griffiths. “It’s about being angry at the way things are, but deciding to do something about it. It’s a better album than we could have made a few years ago. We’ve got a lot more to say.”

It appears that the world has sat up and taken notice. When we meet, Middleman are mid-way through a hefty 35-date tour – the biggest they have tackled – and they have signed a major distribution deal with Universal Records to bring Spinning Plates to the masses. Self-financed, self-produced and independently created, the album has been garnering praise due to its compelling blend of hip-hop, rock and dance – with the band drawing on a melting pot of influences. Certain songs have really struck a chord. On the furious title track, Craven-Griffiths perfectly conveys the frustrations of a young daydreamer brought cruelly down to earth.

“Spinning Plates is a real ‘quarter-life crisis’ song,” says the rapper and lyricist. “It’s about trying to make a living out of music but not being able to. I wrote it when I had the realisation that we were still young enough to do anything, but too old to do everything.”

Originally from various parts of the Midlands, Middleman formed in Leeds in 2005 when bassist Lee Smith and guitarist Krishna Thiruchelvam – both students in the city – left the dance band they’d been in with drummer Matthew Simpson and joined up with Craven-Griffiths, a spoken-word performer who had never been in a band.

Starting out as an amalgam of hip-hop and rock, the quartet were an atypical proposition in a city more used to indie bands.

However, hard work and raw talent saw them build up a sizable fanbase. Radio 1 and the NME began to sing their praises. It seemed they had the world at their feet.

They eventually signed a management deal, but during the summer of 2007 things went rapidly downhill. Major disagreements on the direction of the band flared up. When Middleman finally decided to part ways with the firm, they were told they owed £7,000. “We had to do loads of gigs just to pay off the debt,” sighs Thiruchelvam. “That’s when we lost all our inspiration and spark.”

When the band realised they could go back to being fully independent and start afresh, the fighting spirit kicked in. “It was quite liberating in a way,” says Simpson. “We could just let go and do what we wanted. Because of what we’d been through there was more attitude, more purpose.”

With that new-found drive they began writing the material that would become Spinning Plates, threw themselves back into the live scene and in 2009 they won the Futuresound competition, which led to high-profile sets at Leeds and Reading Festivals.

Middleman’s music has been appearing on everything from TV shows to video games, and it seems second-time around they’re attaining the success they deserve.

The hard work is still there though. Halfway through their tour, they’ve all been working part-time – Simpson as a cleaner at Leeds General Infirmary, Craven-Griffiths as a teaching assistant, Thiruchelvam running music workshops and Smith working in a recording studio.

Now in their late twenties and early thirties, they are wiser and their rollercoaster story has given them a sense of perspective.

“We don’t want to be rich. We don’t want to be famous. We just want to do what we love doing.”

Middleman play Long Division Festival, Wakefield on June 11, The Lamp in Hull on June 17 and Limetree Festival in North Yorkshire in August. Spinning Plates is out now.