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Dom Alessio

Vale The Middle East (2005 - 2011)

1 August 2011 
Posted by Dom



In a melancholy end to an amazing Splendour In The Grass 2011, Townsville's The Middle East said that their set would be their last. This wasn't the first time the band had announced they were breaking up - the first time was 2008 - it's just that a lot more people heard and cared about it this time.

There'd be rumours and murmurings of disharmony within the ranks of The Middle East, and if you've heard or read any interviews with the band over the past couple of months, you might've picked up on the vibe that something wasn't right. Then there were Rohin Jones' maudlin introductions to the songs off the band's brilliant debut I Want That You Are Always Happy when we featured the album on triple j; they seemingly alluded that some members of the band didn't like their own songs. "I wouldn't say I'm a massive fan of the album, to be honest," Rohin told the music website Mess & Noise.

Whatever the reasons behind the break-up, The Middle East as a collective is no more. Undoubtedly their meteoric rise to prominence put pressure on the band. The group had been together five years (and broken up once) before 'Blood' was picked up by triple j and The Middle East were jettisoned into the spotlight. So whilst the group has spent seven years making music with each other, in the minds of a lot of people they've only been around since 2009. To them, it must seem crazy that a band which spent most of last year touring the world would end it so soon.

But what makes The Middle East's break-up most saddening is not what's come before, but the promise of what could have been. That's not to deny the short-lived legacy of what they're leaving behind (and we'll get into that soon) but the group's songwriters, Rohin Jones and Jordan Ireland, were writing some of the most superly-crafted songs in the Australian musical environment. They felt bigger than Townsville, bigger than Queensland, bigger than Australia: The Middle East felt like a band of the world. Their music held no geography - it could have come from Nashville or Liverpool or Stockholm - but instead it came from Townsville. If they possessed the capacity to write a modern day Australian classic in their formative years, what could have they produced after honing those songwriting skills over the next ten years?

But yes, we have the music. We have 'Blood', 'The Darkest Side' and their amazing debut I Want That You Are Always Happy. And ultimately, you have to give them credit for not sticking together just because they'd found popularity. To recycle an oft-used analogy, being in a band is like being in a marriage, and if the relationship isn't functioning properly anymore, then it's time to part ways.

The members will reappear though in one form or another, that's for sure. They mightn't ever play together as a unit, but you'll see their names grace tour posters and liner notes again soon. Until then, have a listen to the beauty of 'Blood', spin I Want That You Are Always Happy over and over again and be thankful for music that will always live on.

Vale The Middle East, 2005 - 2011.


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Killing this mornings sesh zan cheers for the tunes!