My New Band Believe’s ‘Lecture 25’ is also accompanied by its music video – a phantasmagorical adventure through South London that captivates viewers with its dynamic, homespun film style, directed by Jack Shep. 

Reminiscent of Black Midi’s theatricality, Picton appears to be driving My New Band Believe’s sound into a lighter, stripped-back space, maintaining the melodic and fast-paced energy that his artistry has demonstrated thus far.  The new single ‘Lecture 25’ pays homage to Dennis Hopper’s ‘Lecture 70’, with its swift, relentless flow of words echoing the expansive style of Jack Kerouac. As of yet, Picton has revealed that the single will not be on streaming services, as it’s “not time yet”, but will be “available pretty much everywhere else.” In other words, ‘Lecture 25’ can be digitally purchased. 

Taking to Instagram to announce the news, the former Black Midi bassist shared the current lineup of My New Band Believe, posting: “Cameron Picton (Guitar, Vocals), Josh Finerty (Bass), King David Ike-Elechi (Drums), Seth Evan’s (Piano).” 

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Picton’s new artistic embarkment follows the ‘indefinite breakup’ of Black Midi in 2024. Frontman Geordie Greep was the first former member to make solo efforts, releasing his debut album last year ‘The New Sound’ to critical acclaim. Creating contemporary cult hits such as ‘Welcome to Hell’ and ‘Sugar/Tzu’ since 2017, Greep confessed a sour end to Black Midi, revealing that in their last active months, “[the members] hadn’t really been on speaking terms.”

In discussion of My New Band Believe’s formation, Picton explained: “Recently, I had a couple of days off from the main thing I’ve been working on and spent them doing various writing exercises. I hadn’t written a proper song since before Christmas so thought it’d be a good way to get the ball rolling again. Of quite a large batch I ended up with three songs that had something about them. At first I thought about putting them out as is, recorded with my laptop mic and Zoom H6, unmixed, unmastered – exactly as bounced on when I first finished them, flaws and all. I later sent them to Seth and when he offered to mix, I thought: why not just record one properly?”

“We tracked it at RAK on the 11th of Feb with mixing taking place the next day. I also asked Jack (Shep) to make a video for it, which he then filmed concurrently, in time for a Valentine’s Day release. The idea for ‘Lecture 25’ was to set someone else’s words to my own music, I used Dennis Cooper’s ‘Lecture 1970’, which I adapted into about half the song’s lyrics.’ 

‘Lecture 25’ is available for download via Bandcamp. 

This time around, the song was written by the band’s bassist, Cameron Picton. In a press release, Picton commented on the song’s purpose and background – “The story starts in the desert with two men engaged in a desperate search for missing friends,” adding, “Their quest leads them to a strange mining facility which, despite a dearth of natural resources in the area, opens its doors for even stranger hosts to welcome them.”

“That evening, with zero sign of their friends, a massive feast is laid on by the mine’s cantankerous Captain, who performs a long speech encouraging all to indulge as this is to be the workers’ last night before returning to their families. With good reason for suspicion, the protagonists feign gluttony and consume as little as humanly possible.”

“Unfortunately, as they later find, even that’s not quite enough. Night falls, they hide and as the workers fall comatose, the wardens, overseen by the Captain, make preparations to pump their poisoned stomachs. It turns out the purpose of the mine is to procure an excess of human stomach acid used in the production of a bastardised blood-red wine, sold and loved in the region.”

“After the wider conspiracy is revealed and upon realising their friends must be long gone, the partners decide they must destroy the facility. A spanner plugs the works however, as one of the men experiences mild effects of the poison and the production of acid in his stomach goes into overdrive. As his chest literally bubbles he says what may be his final goodbyes to his partner and the other man is left to do the heavy lifting alone.”

“He succeeds and as they flee, arm in arm, the demon Captain erupts from the burning embers and curses the two men to the hell of crippling acid reflux for the rest of their days. They see no reason to worry though, as they’re sure to return home hailed as heroes.”

Surprisingly enough, the totally obtuse aesthetic of the song, its inspiration, and its story… is very much in character. Just as the band’s tendency to keep expanding their currently in progress UK and EU tour. The band were set to have an appearance at London’s Somerset House to be their last in the UK for the tour. But now additional dates in October and November mean that you may still have a chance to catch the group before they presumably embark on the tour for their net album… It’s going to be a busy year. This is also ignoring all of their appearances alongside Black Country, New Road in the states. You can find full ticket information here.

Also very pleased to announce new UK+EU tour dates later in the year pic.twitter.com/m6e72vQBzv

— black midi (@bmblackmidi) June 15, 2022

See below, the full list of black midi’s UK tour dates:

13/7/22 – Somerset House – London
28/10 – Invisible Wind Factory – Liverpool
29/10 – NX – Newcastle
14/11 – Old Fruitmarket – Glasgow
16/11 – SWX – Bristol