Long Read - Hot Milk head into the void on their deepest feelings
Finding their feet in the rock’n’roll city of Manchester, power-pop group Hot Milk have been a staple within the scene since their breakout in 2019. Four years on, they finally achieved one of their long-time goals and brought out their debut full-length A Call To The Void; a record that sums up their truest and deepest feelings of loneliness and fear, and the self-destructive urge to party all night and sleep away the day. Described as “the spectrum of pressure and depression and feeling lost and vulnerable; all the way through to just fuck it and have fun, live life to the full, mess around”, there is no stone left unturned and no feeling left untouched by this four-piece.
Labeling the record as a “raw snapshot” of everyone’s emotional states during its production, co-vocalist Jim Shaw gives an insight on how hiding away in a Los Angeles accommodation helped everyone come to grips with such a task. “We went over for a change of scenery and hopefully a bit of inspiration. On the first day, we were broken and tired, we didn’t have a fucking clue what we’re going to write about.”
After panics and breakdowns, including Shaw’s counterpart Han Mee crying out of homesickness, they were given the advice from a co-writer in the form of the question, “Why don’t you just write a song about how you feel?” It was from this that ‘Breathing Underwater’ was brought to life.
“We’re such a dramatic and emotive band, why don’t we just write like that?” Shaw remembered asking himself in the early days of A Call To The Void’s creation. Hot Milk have never been a band to shy away or be secretive or unnecessarily metaphorical; there is always a sense of reality within their music. This can be seen in the unveiling of the most accurate self-doubt thoughts in ‘I Think I Hate Myself’, or the unsure balance within the conflict between despair and anger in ‘I Fell In Love With Someone I Shouldn’t Have’. As Shaw continues, he touches upon the band’s best way of writing music.
“I don’t know the art of writing songs, it’s a bit of a mystery,” he begins. “Of course there’s music theory, there is a way of writing a song. But to be creative, there’s no fixed way of doing it. It just comes to you.”
Creativity has always been in the heart of Hot Milk’s discography, since their debut EP Are You Feeling Alive? which brought them to everyone’s attention in the alternative scene. However, they saw a challenge in A Call To The Void and decided to take a tweaked approach to breathing life into these songs. They wanted their full-length to come with “a feeling throughout and a story”, contrasting the mix-and-match nature of an EP full of singles of a scattered release schedule. Citing legendary albums in the industry such as Green Day’s American Idiot and My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade as examples of the structure they were aiming for, they wanted to make a recognisable difference between LPs and EPs respectively. Outside of storylines and melodies, there are core values that everyone must hold dear to their hearts: “Keeping it simple, making sure we like the music, making sure we're having a good time whilst doing it.” And that’s the Hot Milk way.
With a new album comes a new touring cycle, and Hot Milk are on the move around the UK and beyond. Album release shows bringing their newer tunes to an acoustic setting; a full UK and European tour at the end of 2023; and even a support slot warming up the crowds for American rock royalty Foo Fighters next summer. Live performance has always been what pumps the blood around the body that is Hot Milk, and this is one of the most exciting cycles that they have ever embarked upon.
Shaw has been working his magic to put together their top-secret setlist for their headline tour, making changes and altering “bits and bobs” based off his bandmates’ feedback. Along with practicing the new tracks to assure themselves they are on-the-road ready, there has also been extra work on breathing new life into their older material. “The old ones, we're changing them up live to give a bit of a fresh perspective on what we're playing. I literally can’t wait, we thrive playing live.”
The upcoming live dates will see something new and exciting with the band, especially as they finish the tour in the iconic Manchester Academy. After achieving shows in smaller venues around the northwest city including a sold-out night at O2 Ritz, it looks like anything is possible for the Manchester-based musicians but it seems there is still disbelief within Shaw himself that their appearance at the O2 venue was as successful as it was.
Shaw, once a lighting engineer at the venue, found it surreal that his own band had graced the stage themselves and those feelings have multiplied upon being booked for the Academy. Joining a number of big names such as Foo Fighters and Radiohead, it’s a feat that amazes him. “To be playing such an iconic venue, and for the first album as well. It’s kind of insane.”
He thanks the Mancunian crowds for their success in the area - crowds that he claims are “always fucking up for it and rally” for the right performers - and for helping them ascend to heights he can only call “silly”. If Hot Milk reaching the Manchester Academy is silly, then silly just might be the new punk rock.
“The bigger venues we play, the more we can do,” is an element of live performance that Shaw finds the most thrilling. It’s no surprise that he and the Hot Milk gang are dreaming of someday reaching that peak of Manchester musical brilliance: a headline show at the AO Arena. The city-centre-located arena has seen a number of bands over the years, tracing back to its days as Manchester Arena, MEN Arena, and beyond. With no arena tour in sight just yet, there is only yearning and manifesting from the band’s side through working hard and doing what they do best. “We love putting on a show. We love bringing people together, we love the whole production side, the playing side, the crowd interaction.”
If Shaw was given the chance to perform at the major Manchester venue, with thousands upon thousands of fans, he would “fucking lose [his] mind” at the opportunities to take and the productions that would be near unlimited. Only time will tell if these working-class rockers are up for it - watch the space.
The future is something that many artists think about, when planning tour dates or when scheduling music drops. However, this isn’t the healthiest thinking for everyone. The mind of Jim Shaw lives in the moment in more recent times, as opposed to his previous overthinking patterns about the future and what it will or won’t lead to. “I went through a time where I wasn't very present in the here and now; I would always be looking ahead and not concentrating on what I have right in front of me and enjoying the moment.”
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, he has made an active decision to change his mindset and live more in the present than the future; a way of thinking that used to strike him “so stressed and nervous and anxious” to the point he didn’t enjoy playing live or writing music. Especially in the case of releasing and promoting A Call To The Void, he wants to give the time and space for the record to “breathe” before he even begins to think about picking up a pencil and notepad again.
“A lot of bands have the ability to plan years ahead,” he explains. “We’re still at a stage where things change on the daily, so having that ability to keep on your toes and move in a different direction I think is healthy and advisable.”
Keeping in the here-and-now has never been so important for the band, and it’s allowing them to show some love and attention to their latest compositions in a better and healthier way than ever before. It also leaves so much to their collective imagination. The sky’s the limit, and there is no rush to reach for it just yet. When asked about what could be the next step for Hot Milk, Shaw makes it clear there are no concrete plans just yet. “Maybe another album. I'd [also] like to go and explore writing some new songs with Han. Write some collaborative songs. Try something new, keeping it fresh. Who knows?”
There is no certainty in life, in death, or in anything within those realms. There is no one anyone needs to report to or listen to besides their own hearts and heads; and this is the lesson Hot Milk have taken with them from their baby steps into their big-kid strides.
The void is calling, but there is no answer. Maybe it can leave a message and Hot Milk will get back to it, after they’ve finished what they’ve started.
Feature by Jo Cosgrove
