Malcolm Bruce Middleton is a Scottish musician and member of indie band Arab Strap. He has also released six solo studio albums. Performing under the pseudonym Human Don't Be Angry, Middleton released a self-titled album in 2012. Whilst promoting his 2009 solo album Waxing Gibbous, Middleton noted that he would be refraining from performing and recording under his own name in the future, stating "I'm starting to feel like I've done as much as I can with this creative voice.". Since then, however, he has performed occasionally under his own name.
Early life
Middleton was born in Dumfries but raised in Falkirk, Scotland. He attended Graeme High School. He played bass, guitar and sometimes sang in several bands in the 1990s, including Purple Bass Plectrum, Rabid Lettuce, Pigtube and The Laughing Stock.
Career
Arab Strap
In 1995, Middleton and Aidan Moffat, after bonding over their love of musical artists such as Smog and Will Oldham, began making music under the name "Arab Strap". The band released six studio albums before splitting up in 2006. After they briefly reunited for a show at Nice n Sleazy in Glasgow in 2011, Middleton has said that he would be open to another Arab Strap gig at some point, but ruled out another record. The band did indeed reunite for a string of dates in 2016, marking their 20th anniversary.
Solo career
Middleton released his first solo album ' in 2002, followed by Into the Woods in 2005. After Arab Strap split in 2006, the albumA Brighter Beat was released in 2007. The first song on the album "We're All Going To Die" was released as a single on 17 December and started off with odds of 1,000–1 against becoming the Christmas number one – reportedly the highest odds ever quoted. After support from social networking websites and from BBC Radio 1 DJ Colin Murray, the odds dropped to 9–1, and Middleton was 4th favourite for Christmas Number One behind Leona Lewis, Katie Melua ft Eva Cassidy and The X Factor winner Leon Jackson. Murray started supporting the song as a response to repeated Christmas chart domination by manufactured pop acts churned out by the likes of The X Factor. Middleton has said that, despite the song's negative-sounding title, he feels the song perfectly sums up the spirit of Christmas – the need tomake the most of life while we have it. On the UK singles chart dated 23 December 2007 the song reached number 31, with the Christmas Number One being a cover of Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston's When You Believe performed by Leon Jackson. The publicity around the single gave Middleton significant mainstream exposure for the first time in his career. Middleton's next solo album Sleight of Heart was released in 2008. Middleton's fifth solo album, entitled Waxing Gibbous, was released on 8 June 2009. The single "Red Travellin' Socks", released on 18 May 2009, preceded the album's release. Despite previously saying that his fifth album could be his last, in 2013 Middleton embarked on a new solo tour in support of a vinyl reissue of ' by Chemikal Underground. In April 2015, Middleton announced new material expected under his moniker of Human Don't Be Angry - a vinyl trilogy, the first of which will be released in June 2015. Middleton released a new album, Summer of '13, in May 2016, followed by 'Bananas' in 2018.
