# Windmill scene
The Windmill scene is a wave of experimental British rock bands that emerged from the Windmill, a pub and live music venue in Brixton, South London, in the late 2010s. Its best-known acts include black midi, [Black Country, New Road](https://www.edgepedia.org/black-country-new-road), Squid, Shame, Goat Girl, Dry Cleaning, and [Fat White Family](https://www.edgepedia.org/fat-white-family).[1](https://riffiter.com/guides/the-windmill-scene-britain-s-strangest-rock-boom) The name refers to the venue rather than a genre: the bands share an audience, a booker, and an experimental ethos rather than a unified sound.[1](https://riffiter.com/guides/the-windmill-scene-britain-s-strangest-rock-boom) • [2](https://localdogruinseverything.substack.com/p/dry-cleanings-secret-love-has-me)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Venue | The Windmill, a 150-capacity pub in Brixton, South London, described as looking from outside "more like a faded Jersey Shore dancehall than a cultural hub"[1](https://riffiter.com/guides/the-windmill-scene-britain-s-strangest-rock-boom) • [3](https://kkmc.substack.com/p/no-17-post-post-punk-edition) |
| Peak period | Roughly 2017 to 2022, during which the pub became, in one account, "the most important stage in British guitar music"[1](https://riffiter.com/guides/the-windmill-scene-britain-s-strangest-rock-boom) |
| Central bands | black midi, Black Country, New Road, Squid, Shame, Goat Girl, Dry Cleaning, Fat White Family, Jockstrap, caroline[1](https://riffiter.com/guides/the-windmill-scene-britain-s-strangest-rock-boom) |
| First breakout | Shame's *Songs of Praise* (2018), described as the proof of concept that the pub could launch careers[1](https://riffiter.com/guides/the-windmill-scene-britain-s-strangest-rock-boom) |
| Critical breakthrough | black midi's *Schlagenheim* (2019), nominated for the Mercury Prize within months of the band having a single press photo[1](https://riffiter.com/guides/the-windmill-scene-britain-s-strangest-rock-boom) |
| Alternative names | "Crank wave" and "post-Brexit new wave", labels the bands dislike[1](https://riffiter.com/guides/the-windmill-scene-britain-s-strangest-rock-boom) |
| Industry hub | Producer Dan Carey and his Speedy Wunderground label and studio, affiliated with many South London acts in the scene's orbit[4](https://calliepetch.com/2023/06/09/squid-o-monolith/) • [3](https://kkmc.substack.com/p/no-17-post-post-punk-edition) |
## The venue
The Windmill sits halfway up Brixton Hill and holds about 150 people.[5](https://www.loudandquiet.com/interview/the-black-midi-story-the-industry-scramble-over-an-unlikely-hype-band-just-pleasing-themselves/) • [1](https://riffiter.com/guides/the-windmill-scene-britain-s-strangest-rock-boom) It had been a fixture of London's independent gig circuit before the scene formed: reviews from 2008 and 2009 describe it as one of London's kookier venues.[6](https://www.gigwise.com/reviews/39937/) • [7](https://www.gigwise.com/reviews/49377/friday-130209-crystal-stilts-a-classic-education-%40-windmill-brixton/) By the mid-2010s it had become the focal point for a cluster of [South London](https://www.edgepedia.org/south-london) acts, synonymous with the early shows of Fat White Family, Shame, and Goat Girl.[5](https://www.loudandquiet.com/interview/the-black-midi-story-the-industry-scramble-over-an-unlikely-hype-band-just-pleasing-themselves/)
The venue's small stage and dense crowds shaped how its bands developed. Acts such as HMLTD, who played a decorated Independent Venue Week show there in January 2017, used the room for theatrical, genre-blending performances combining industrial post-punk, drum and bass, dub, and glam rock.[8](https://www.gigwise.com/photos/109077/hmltds-extraordinary-gig-at-windmill-brixton/) The venue also continued to debut new acts: the American band Geese played their first UK show there in 2021.[9](https://louderthanwar.com/english-garden-the-windmill-brixton-live-review/)
## Bands and records
**Shame** provided the scene's first commercial and critical breakout. The five South London musicians, who formed as teenagers around the Queen's Head pub in Brixton, released *Songs of Praise* in 2018, playing post-punk with what one guide calls "a grin and a snarl".[1](https://riffiter.com/guides/the-windmill-scene-britain-s-strangest-rock-boom) • [16](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jan/12/the-idea-of-a-rock-star-is-offensive-meet-shame-britains-most-exciting-new-band) Goat Girl, signed to Rough Trade and Windmill regulars, released a 19-track sardonic debut the same year.[1](https://riffiter.com/guides/the-windmill-scene-britain-s-strangest-rock-boom)
**black midi** raised the scene's profile sharply. Formed in 2017 by [Geordie Greep](https://www.edgepedia.org/geordie-greep), Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin, and Morgan Simpson, who attended the [BRIT School](https://www.edgepedia.org/brit-school) together along with later bassist [Cameron Picton](https://www.edgepedia.org/cameron-picton), the band played their first Windmill show in June 2017 and quickly became a staple of the venue.[10](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) Their debut *Schlagenheim* (2019), math-rock played "at the edge of collapse", was nominated for the Mercury Prize.[1](https://riffiter.com/guides/the-windmill-scene-britain-s-strangest-rock-boom)
**Black Country, New Road** formed part of the same circle, sharing members and Christmas shows with black midi under the joint billing "Black Midi, New Road".[11](https://www.cinra.net/article/202304-BlackCountryNewRoad_ymmtscl) Their debut *For the First Time* (2021), a seven-piece lineup with klezmer horns, was already legendary on the live circuit before release; the follow-up *Ants From Up There* arrived in February 2022, four days after singer Isaac Wood announced his departure.[1](https://riffiter.com/guides/the-windmill-scene-britain-s-strangest-rock-boom)
**Squid**, a Brighton five-piece, released *Bright Green Field* in 2021, running motorik grooves through what one reviewer calls "krautrock with a UK passport"; critics consistently compared them to their Windmill peers black midi and Black Country, New Road.[1](https://riffiter.com/guides/the-windmill-scene-britain-s-strangest-rock-boom) • [12](https://theboar.org/2021/05/squid-bright-green-field-review/) Later records extended the scene's range: Jockstrap's *I Love You Jennifer B* (2022), by Georgia Ellery of Black Country, New Road and Taylor Skye, was described as the scene's pop record, and caroline's self-titled 2022 debut, built on fiddle drones and long silences, as the moment "the wave ran past post-punk entirely".[1](https://riffiter.com/guides/the-windmill-scene-britain-s-strangest-rock-boom)
## Sound and labels
The scene has no single sound. One guide lists sprechgesang post-punk, klezmer-inflected chamber rock, and motorik funk among the styles its bands play, united by an audience and a booker rather than a genre.[1](https://riffiter.com/guides/the-windmill-scene-britain-s-strangest-rock-boom) A survey of fan criticism reaches the same conclusion: the scene is "less of a genre and more of a scene", with most acts working in post-punk, post-rock, and art rock but not bound to them.[13](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/user/nikoltiny/list/424783/a-complete-history-on-the-windmill-scene/) What recurs, one critic writes, is album-focused guitar music and an ethos of experimentalism, with bands refusing to be defined by one sound.[2](https://localdogruinseverything.substack.com/p/dry-cleanings-secret-love-has-me)
A parallel hub was the producer Dan Carey and his label and studio Speedy Wunderground, with which many South London acts in the scene's orbit were affiliated; the clique around the label has been credited with some of the scene's most internationally successful music.[4](https://calliepetch.com/2023/06/09/squid-o-monolith/) • [3](https://kkmc.substack.com/p/no-17-post-post-punk-edition) From a North American perspective, Idles, Shame, and Ireland's Fontaines D.C. were the first acts to break out of the scene, with Dry Cleaning, Goat Girl, and Fat White Family following.[3](https://kkmc.substack.com/p/no-17-post-post-punk-edition)
## Names and reception
The scene attracted several labels, none of which stuck cleanly. "[Crank wave](https://www.edgepedia.org/crank-wave)" and "post-Brexit new wave" circulated in the press; the bands reportedly dislike both.[1](https://riffiter.com/guides/the-windmill-scene-britain-s-strangest-rock-boom)
Reception has been mixed as well as enthusiastic. Critics have praised the scene's ambition and musicianship, while detractors describe its worst tendencies as noodling instrumentals, spoken-word vocal gimmicks, and under-edited albums.[2](https://localdogruinseverything.substack.com/p/dry-cleanings-secret-love-has-me) One academic account of Brixton notes that the windmill itself, the 1816 Grade II* listed tower mill in nearby Windmill Gardens, has been eclipsed by the pub and music venue, which for many people is what the words "Brixton windmill" now refer to.[14](https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10028038/1/FinalPhDSamBarton.pdf)
The venue's prominence has also brought practical pressures. In written evidence to the [London Assembly](https://www.edgepedia.org/london-assembly), the Music Venue Trust described a planning case in which developers of a site opposite the Windmill used online mapping that marked the venue as a performing arts space but never mentioned it in their plans; the venue had not been informed, and the council had to be notified retrospectively, causing delays.[15](https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2025-02/London%27s%20high%20streets%20-%20written%20evidence%2C%20November%202024.pdf)
## References
1. [The Windmill scene: Britain's strangest rock boom, Riffiter](https://riffiter.com/guides/the-windmill-scene-britain-s-strangest-rock-boom)
2. [Dry Cleaning's Secret Love Has Me Tilting at Windmills, Local Dog Ruins Everything](https://localdogruinseverything.substack.com/p/dry-cleanings-secret-love-has-me)
3. [No. 17 – Post-post-punk edition, Ian Gormely](https://kkmc.substack.com/p/no-17-post-post-punk-edition)
4. [Squid – O Monolith, Callie Petch](https://calliepetch.com/2023/06/09/squid-o-monolith/)
5. [Black Midi – crusade against the unnecessary, Loud And Quiet](https://www.loudandquiet.com/interview/the-black-midi-story-the-industry-scramble-over-an-unlikely-hype-band-just-pleasing-themselves/)
6. [Thursday 10/01/08 The Indelicates @ The Windmill, Brixton, Gigwise](https://www.gigwise.com/reviews/39937/)
7. [Friday 13/02/09 Crystal Stilts, A Classic Education @ Windmill, Brixton, Gigwise](https://www.gigwise.com/reviews/49377/friday-130209-crystal-stilts-a-classic-education-%40-windmill-brixton/)
8. [20 amazing photos of HMLTD at The Windmill, Brixton, 27/1/17, Gigwise](https://www.gigwise.com/photos/109077/hmltds-extraordinary-gig-at-windmill-brixton/)
9. [English Garden: The Windmill, Brixton – Live Review, Louder Than War](https://louderthanwar.com/english-garden-the-windmill-brixton-live-review/)
10. [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)
11. [Black Country, New Roadという友情の物語, CINRA](https://www.cinra.net/article/202304-BlackCountryNewRoad_ymmtscl)
12. [Bright Green Field: Squid's unpredictable and monolithic debut record, The Boar](https://theboar.org/2021/05/squid-bright-green-field-review/)
13. [A COMPLETE History on THE WINDMILL SCENE, Album of the Year](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/user/nikoltiny/list/424783/a-complete-history-on-the-windmill-scene/)
14. [Sam Barton, PhD thesis on Brixton, UCL Discovery](https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10028038/1/FinalPhDSamBarton.pdf)
15. [London's high streets – written evidence, November 2024, London Assembly](https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2025-02/London%27s%20high%20streets%20-%20written%20evidence%2C%20November%202024.pdf)
16. [The Idea of a Rock Star Is Offensive Meet Shame Britains Most Exciting New Band, theguardian.com](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jan/12/the-idea-of-a-rock-star-is-offensive-meet-shame-britains-most-exciting-new-band)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical practice and theory › Popular music genres › Rock music by country and region*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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