# Geordie Greep
**Geordie Greep** (born 1999) is an English musician, guitarist and vocalist, best known as the frontman of the experimental rock band Black Midi and, since 2024, as a solo artist with the album *The New Sound*.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/geordie-greep-mn0003852713) Companies House records his full name as Geordie Wade Greep and lists his nationality as British.[2](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/dY4hU9P2_ms5YSVhLjwziNIUcGk/appointments)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name / birth year | Geordie Wade Greep, born 1999; British nationality[2](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/dY4hU9P2_ms5YSVhLjwziNIUcGk/appointments) |
| Band | Founding member, frontman and guitarist of black midi, formed 2017; the band entered an indefinite hiatus in 2024[3](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/please-take-a-moment-to-check-in-with-your-loved-ones-so-we-can-stop-this-happening-to-our-young-men-matt-kwasniewski-kelvin-black-midi-guitarist-dies-aged-26) • [4](https://www.lateworks.co.uk/collaborators/geordie-greep) |
| Breakthrough | Debut album *Schlagenheim* (2019), shortlisted for the Mercury Prize[3](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/please-take-a-moment-to-check-in-with-your-loved-ones-so-we-can-stop-this-happening-to-our-young-men-matt-kwasniewski-kelvin-black-midi-guitarist-dies-aged-26) |
| Solo debut | *The New Sound*, released October 2024 on Rough Trade; 11 tracks including the lead single "Holy, Holy" and the nearly 13-minute "The Magician"[5](https://apnews.com/article/b865040ea51efd0d3be0b896771ccb88) • [6](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/oct/07/ex-black-midi-star-geordie-greep-the-new-sound) |
| Recording method | Over thirty session musicians; half the songs were recorded in Brazil, with local musicians, followed by overdubs and production in London[5](https://apnews.com/article/b865040ea51efd0d3be0b896771ccb88) • [7](https://guitar.com/features/interviews/geordie-greep-interview-the-new-sound/) |
| October 2026 | Denied a rape allegation from the stage in Vancouver on October 8, 2026, and canceled five US tour dates; the accuser described the incident as sexual assault in a Paste Magazine interview[8](https://www.nme.com/news/music/geordie-greep-cancels-five-us-shows-sexual-misconduct-allegation-3972882) • [9](https://exclaim.ca/artists/geordie-greep) |
## Black Midi, 2017 to 2024
Greep co-founded Black Midi in 2017 with guitarist [Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin](https://www.edgepedia.org/matt-kwasniewski-kelvin) and drummer Morgan Simpson, all three attending the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon; bassist [Cameron Picton](https://www.edgepedia.org/cameron-picton) completed the line-up shortly after the group's founding. In June of that year the band played its first show at The Windmill in Brixton, becoming a staple of the venue and of the surrounding "Windmill scene" alongside bands such as Black Country New Road, Squid and [Fontaines D.C.](https://www.edgepedia.org/fontaines-d-c)[3](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/please-take-a-moment-to-check-in-with-your-loved-ones-so-we-can-stop-this-happening-to-our-young-men-matt-kwasniewski-kelvin-black-midi-guitarist-dies-aged-26)
The band signed to Rough Trade in January 2019 and released *Schlagenheim* that year to critical acclaim, with a [Mercury Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/mercury-prize) shortlisting and touring across the UK, Europe, North America, and Japan. Kwasniewski-Kelvin left in January 2021 and did not appear on the second album, *Cavalcade*; the band's third album, *Hellfire*, followed in 2023.[3](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/please-take-a-moment-to-check-in-with-your-loved-ones-so-we-can-stop-this-happening-to-our-young-men-matt-kwasniewski-kelvin-black-midi-guitarist-dies-aged-26) • [10](https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/geordie-greep-tickets/artist/5474384)
**The breakup.** In August 2024 Greep announced the band's end in a comment on an Instagram Live stream, writing that "Black midi was an interesting band that's indefinitely over". He later said in a Guardian interview that this was "the wrong thing to do, probably", while defending the informality of the announcement against what he called the press-release tone of most band communications. He described the band's later music as getting "less and less interesting" and noted that the members were never best friends.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/oct/07/ex-black-midi-star-geordie-greep-the-new-sound) The band's management told The Quietus that after a successful tour, including South American dates, the members had agreed to a break and solo work, with the understanding that the Black Midi door would be left open.[11](https://www.nme.com/news/music/geordie-greep-interview-black-midi-split-solo-album-new-sound-3790258)
## Solo career: The New Sound
Greep announced his debut solo album days after news of the breakup emerged, releasing the lead single "Holy, Holy" in August 2024.[11](https://www.nme.com/news/music/geordie-greep-interview-black-midi-split-solo-album-new-sound-3790258) *The New Sound* is a genre-blending record that moves between blues, jazz, funk, bossa nova and show-tune theatricality. The Associated Press review compared its approach to [Frank Zappa](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-zappa)'s genre-bending and noted the Latin and bossa nova influence on the instrumental title track and "Bongo Season"; the closer "If You Are But a Dream" casts Greep as a Sinatra-style crooner over a string quartet and horn ensemble.[5](https://apnews.com/article/b865040ea51efd0d3be0b896771ccb88)
**Method and subject matter.** Half of the album's songs were recorded in Brazil with local musicians over two days, with overdubs and production completed later in London; Greep recruited more than thirty session musicians in total. He described the approach as "do a Keith Jarrett thing", using a different group of session musicians in a different place and accepting that the result would not be reproducible.[7](https://guitar.com/features/interviews/geordie-greep-interview-the-new-sound/) • [12](https://groundcontroltouring.com/artists/geordie-greep) Lyrically, the album inhabits a recurring character type Greep described as the rich, empty-headed boozehound obsessed with virility, a figure he connected to what he saw as extreme online personas; the satire is delivered over music he insisted on playing straight, without ironic detachment.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/oct/07/ex-black-midi-star-geordie-greep-the-new-sound)
His solo live shows extend the album's material into long, improvised performances. A 2025 review in the Georgia Straight described a three-hour Vancouver set covering nearly all of *The New Sound* alongside Brazilian standards, blues showcases and prog jams, with rapid alternation between loose jamming and tightly rehearsed arrangements.[13](https://www.straight.com/music/geordie-greep-holds-chaotic-court-for-greepster-faithful)
## October 2026 allegations and cancellations
On October 8, 2026, ahead of Greep's show at [The Pearl](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-pearl) in Vancouver, an attendee distributed flyers reading "Geordie Greep A Rapist" and "You know what you did this morning Oct 8th", without further detail. Greep took the stage without his backing band and denied the allegation, saying that after a night out with members of his touring party, events "ended up in a situation really late at a house party". Five subsequent US shows, in Boise, Salt Lake City, Boulder, Denver, and Omaha, were canceled; he issued no public statement about the cancellations at the time.[8](https://www.nme.com/news/music/geordie-greep-cancels-five-us-shows-sexual-misconduct-allegation-3972882) Exclaim! reported the cancellations as covering the North American tour, and on October 14 published an interview in Paste Magazine in which the Vancouver woman involved stated, "I was not raped, I was sexually assaulted". The following day, touring guitarist Eden Ray March publicly criticized Greep.[9](https://exclaim.ca/artists/geordie-greep)
These are allegations; Greep denied them on stage, and no source in this record reports any legal finding. As of the sources' publication, a European tour beginning in Nijmegen on November 1, 2026 remained scheduled.[8](https://www.nme.com/news/music/geordie-greep-cancels-five-us-shows-sexual-misconduct-allegation-3972882)
## Other work
Greep has worked as a producer outside his own releases. He produced the debut album of a Mercury Prize-nominated jazz collective, and his advice led bassist Stan Woodward to buy a 1968 [Gibson SG](https://www.edgepedia.org/gibson-sg) bass that became Woodward's main instrument; during the final session Greep told Woodward to re-record a solo, a take that Woodward credits with transforming the band.[14](https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/bassists/how-a-vintage-gibson-became-stan-woodwards-go-to-instrument) [Companies House](https://www.edgepedia.org/companies-house) records him as director of Geordie Greep Ltd, appointed on February 26, 2024, and formerly a director of Black Midi Music Limited, now dissolved.[2](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/dY4hU9P2_ms5YSVhLjwziNIUcGk/appointments)
## References
1. [Geordie Greep – Biography, Discography & Expert Reviews, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/geordie-greep-mn0003852713)
2. [Geordie Wade GREEP personal appointments, Companies House](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/dY4hU9P2_ms5YSVhLjwziNIUcGk/appointments)
3. [Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin, Black Midi guitarist, dies aged 26, MusicRadar](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/please-take-a-moment-to-check-in-with-your-loved-ones-so-we-can-stop-this-happening-to-our-young-men-matt-kwasniewski-kelvin-black-midi-guitarist-dies-aged-26)
4. [Geordie Greep, Late Works](https://www.lateworks.co.uk/collaborators/geordie-greep)
5. [Music Review: black midi's Geordie Greep aims for 'The New Sound' on his solo debut, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/b865040ea51efd0d3be0b896771ccb88)
6. [Ex-Black Midi star Geordie Greep: 'Almost every band behaves like a corporation. Everything is a press release', The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/oct/07/ex-black-midi-star-geordie-greep-the-new-sound)
7. [How Geordie Greep went solo with The New Sound, Guitar.com](https://guitar.com/features/interviews/geordie-greep-interview-the-new-sound/)
8. [Geordie Greep cancels five US shows following sexual misconduct allegation, NME](https://www.nme.com/news/music/geordie-greep-cancels-five-us-shows-sexual-misconduct-allegation-3972882)
9. [Geordie Greep – Latest News & Upcoming Concert Dates, Exclaim!](https://exclaim.ca/artists/geordie-greep)
10. [Geordie Greep Tickets, Ticketmaster UK](https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/geordie-greep-tickets/artist/5474384)
11. [Geordie Greep talks 'The New Sound' and Black Midi split, NME](https://www.nme.com/news/music/geordie-greep-interview-black-midi-split-solo-album-new-sound-3790258)
12. [Geordie Greep, Ground Control Touring](https://groundcontroltouring.com/artists/geordie-greep)
13. [Geordie Greep holds chaotic court for the Greepster faithful, Georgia Straight](https://www.straight.com/music/geordie-greep-holds-chaotic-court-for-greepster-faithful)
14. [How a battle-scarred vintage Gibson survived three broken necks, Guitar World](https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/bassists/how-a-vintage-gibson-became-stan-woodwards-go-to-instrument)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Individual musical biographies › Rock, metal, and popular-band musicians › Progressive and art rock › Contemporary experimental rock musicians*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license