Inspired #292 - Supermilk
Fresh from releasing his second album ‘Four By Three’ via Specialist Subject, Supermilk took a moment to talk to us about the inspirations behind his music. Arriving just a year about his debut, this album showcases a more gentle and personal side to Popyura's songwriting whilst retaining the urgent fuzz-pop and post-punk of previous releases.
Who are your top three musical inspirations and why?
It changes all the time but three mainstays are:
Mary Timony - she is by far my favourite guitarist and her band Helium have been a huge influence on both Supermilk and Doe. Her solo albums are criminally underrated and full of angular gems that I have undoubtedly ripped off a bit in places.
Sleater-Kinney - it took me a long time to realise they didn’t have a bass! And they never needed one, it was perfect without. I love bass but having spent 6.5 years in a bassless band, it makes you get a bit more inventive with how to occupy the space that it would usually fill. S-K did this to perfection, plus there is no-one else that sounds like them, which you can’t say of everyone.
Bis - getting into them as a pre-teen introduced me to a world of stuff I might not have known about otherwise… riot grrrl, zines, DIY… the first 7” I bought was Secret Vampire Soundtrack when I was 10 or 11 and from then on I was obsessed with the idea of pressing vinyl and starting my own label. They really gave me a sense at that age that anything was possible and you didn’t need to be a super well known or even well liked band to put out music and find your audience.
Is there a certain film that inspires you and why?
Freaked (1993, Alex Winter and Tom Stern). I named an album after it and have already bored everyone to death about it, but I’m ok with sounding like a broken record. It’s sort of everything I would want in a movie - horror, scifi, insane rubber monster FX, goop, random stop-motion sequences, surreal quick-fire gags, a beyond saturated colour palette and an abrasive soundtrack. It’s truly relentless and it’s absolutely not for everyone, but it feels like the only movie in the world that was tailor-made for my brain.
What city do you find the most inspiring and why?
London. I’ve lived here for 18 years and it never ceases to amaze. Not always in a good way either, but that makes it interesting.
Who is the most inspiring person to you and why?
There’s too many people to count but I’m going to be boring and say my mum and dad. They’re both incredibly independent, self-motivated, passionate people. It’s all stuff that’s rubbed off on me. They also encouraged me to make music from a super early age and I wouldn’t have got to have most of the adventures I’ve had so far if it wasn’t for that encouragement.
What were your inspirations when writing your new album?
It was inspiring seeing how a lot of my friends and other musicians I follow adapted at the beginning of last year and carried on creating art despite the practical limitations. As depressing a time as it was and still is, it was exciting to see people just getting on with it even though they couldn’t tour or play shows, or even rehearse. My friend Em from Nervus is a good example… she just ploughed on writing and recording and even put together a couple of really cool zines to go along with the EPs they did last year. It was great to see her output during that time and definitely inspired me to do the same.
How would you like to inspire people?
By continuing to make music until I die regardless of how many people are listening. I’d like at least one person out there to witness my stubborn persistence and for them to realise “fuck it if that asshole can do it then there’s nothing stopping me.”