The band’s frontman, Eric Pulido, described these circumstances. “Noble was born with a rare brain disease. When he was born, they were told the life expectancy of most children with his disease was between six months to two years …. the new reality for my friend and bandmate McKenzie (and his wife and daughter) wasn’t something we took lightly. We were really excited to create this song for him and for Noble to not only acknowledge the struggle but also celebrate this amazing and beautiful boy.” If you wish to place a donation for Noble, you can follow this link here.

As for the new music video, it’s the third in an ongoing series of live performance videos for songs from the band’s upcoming album, For the Sake of Bethel Woods. It’s out this Friday and will be preceded by a special listening party on Thursday night from 9 pm, which can be found here. Pre-ordering can be done from this link. So far reviews have been good, with The Guardian describing it as “A deeply dynamic record and one that has the broadest scope of influences of any Midlake album to date.“

Some of the other tracks which have had live videos made recently include their songs “Bethel Woods“ and “Meanwhile …“. The latest video was directed by Rett Rogers and was filmed in Dallas, Texas at the Modern Electric Sound Recorders. And they’ve been getting some good people for their latest ventures. The official music video for “Bethel Woods“ was directed by Brantley Gutierrez, known for working with the likes of Paul McCartney and Tom Petty, and starred Ant-Man’s Michael Peña.

And yes, they will be coming to England. A whole host of touring dates around Europe and the US will be getting the better of them soon enough, giving them plenty of opportunities to show off the new album. The UK dates will be taking place in April and can be seen below. If you’re interested in getting tickets, you can see here.

Midlake UK and Ireland Tour Dates

05/04/2022 – Brighton – Chalk
06/04 – London – Roundhouse
08/04 – Newcastle – University Student’s Union
09/04 – Edinburgh – Assembly Rooms
10/04 – Manchester – Albert Hall
11/04 – Dublin – Button Factory

The supergroup consists of Midlake’s Eric Pulido, McKenzie Smith, Joey McClellan, and Jesse Chandler, plus Band of Horses’ Ben Bridwell, Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle, and Travis’ Fran Healy. The band are currently working on a debut album entitled Volume I, as The Dallas Observer reports, with the aim to release the album in late 2016.

The formation of Banquet is down to the Midlake boys, with Eric Paulido leading the efforts. Talking to The Dallas Observer Paulido said he fired off emails to various musicians asking if they were interested in joining, saying “I was surprised people said yes.” He added that “It’s a humbling and cool experience to share something like this with some of your musical idols who are also nice people.”

The Observer interview article also had Paulido liken the group to “a poor man’s Traveling Wilbury’s”, the late 80s supergroup comprised of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. The Wilbury’s brought out two albums between 1988-1990 called Vol. 1 and Vol. 3, with Vol. 2 being bootlegged by George Harrison’s estate in 2007 in his George by George boxset. No suprise then that the title of Banquet’s Vol. I is an effort to reflect the Wilbury’s.

Paulido also talked of a Vol. 2, with the idea to get some of his other favourite musicians involved; his wishlist included Rufus Wainwright, Norah Jones, and John Grant.