In Conversation With #283 - Supermilk
North London indie-punk quartet Supermilk have just released their third album ‘High Precision Ghosts’. Hitting hard with a raw piece of work that mixes eighties post-punk and fuzzy nineties indie guitars. Despite being the third Supermilk album, it serves as the first LP from the project’s current full-band incarnation.
Supermilk have never been a band to sit on their hands. Instead, they have garnered a reputation within the UK’s thriving DIY music scene for their prolific output, tight live shows, and uncompromising mix of angular post-punk and fuzzy 90s-indebted indie rock. It’s this trademark sound which is more realised than ever on the group’s latest full-length effort HIGH PRECISION GHOSTS, produced by Me Rex's Rich Mandell and releasing this Summer via Bristol’s Specialist Subject Records.
Considering their reluctance to slow down, it’s no surprise that HIGH PRECISION GHOSTS - the project’s third studio LP and first as a full band - was mixed, mastered and sent off to the pressing plant barely a month after recording started. Despite not having influenced the content of the album, it would be impossible to deny that band leader Jake Popyura’s recent diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a rare and fatal motor neuron disease, has played a vital part in this ‘do it yesterday’ approach to making music: “I’ve never wanted there to be too much of a lull in activity with any band I play in,” says the bassist and lead vocalist, “and I’ve always liked it when things move at pace… but following my diagnosis, making music that I love with people I love feels more important than ever, and I want to make sure not a second is wasted.“
They took a moment to talk to us about how the album came together.
Hey there Supermilk, how are you? So your album is out now – how does it feel to have it out there?
Em: Feels good that it’s out, it’s a banger.
Jay: It feels sooooo good. It's great and I'm excited for people to listen to it and go "ok cool".
Charlie: Personally, this is my first time making an album so I’ve been pretty staggered by the whole thing. It’s very exciting holding something in your hands that you put a lot of work into. It’s rare that I’m proud of anything I’ve worked on, but I’m deeply proud of what we’ve created together.
It is called ‘High Precision Ghosts’ – what is the meaning behind that?
Jake: There’s a loose theme that threads most of the songs together, which is toxic relationships - both romantic and platonic - and their remnants which can stick around like ghosts, haunting you long after you think you’re over it.
Charlie: Like a lot of Supermilk things, Jake tells us about an idea and I go “cool!!”. It's nice we got a Prefab Sprout reference in there. Beyond this, it was a bonus that we had a good excuse to use so much cool vintage halloween imagery for the album and the singles.
Em: Hauntings are notoriously vague (cross-dimensional but often limited to specific locations, unintelligible wailing, floating orbs) and we are ushering in a new wave of ghost efficiency, greater paranormal accuracy, and targeted bad vibes.
Jay: It's a reference to John Carpenter's "Ghosts of Mars"
Jake: …. wait what?
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories you are willing to share with us?
Em: In a studio with Rich Mandell (Happy Accidents, Me Rex) round the corner from The Den.
Charlie: There’s a Millwall cafe nearby that had such good sandwiches that I saved the cafe on my phone's map with a little heart. I chart my life in lunch breaks.
Jake: Rich has been involved with pretty much every Supermilk release in some way shape or form. He’s an absolute joy to work with and he really outdid himself on this record. We came to him with an insanely tight schedule and not only did he get it done in that time, it came out sounding better than I think any of us expected.
Charlie: He’s such a calming presence and knows exactly what’s up, so the whole recording period felt like a dream. It was so exciting hearing it all come together. I also did my first gig with Supermilk supporting Speedy Ortiz during that first recording block, so it felt like a real whistle-stop tour of “ok, you’re definitely in this band now, it’s not a prank”.
Jay: Em made some deranged content that I think is better than the album itself.
Jake: Yeah look up ‘Phil Mitchell Polka’ and you’ll get a sense of where Em’s head was at throughout the process.
What are the key influences behind the album?
Jake: A lot of the same foundations are there as with other Supermilk stuff, which has traditionally been 90s US indie with bits and pieces of post-punk and new wave. I think we leaned more into the comparisons we get to XTC and Guided by Voices on this record, but also there’s a lot more classic rock and power pop influence than before. Cheap Trick was a big reference in a lot of places, especially for Em’s solo on ‘Words of Affirmation’.
Em: Sounds like Cheap Trick having a fight with Cheap Trick while Cheap Trick are smoking in the hallway at a party thrown by Cheap Trick and Cheap Trick are playing Cheap Trick songs in the garden.
Jay: Jake’s biggest influence for this album is the song "3 Little Pigs" by Green Jelly.
Jake: Everyone else in the band hates that song so much which makes me like it even more.
Charlie: I was influenced by a great deal of emotional baggage about keeping up with three very talented musicians. I went back through my notebook and most of my notes are just enormous scribbled exclamation marks and on one page I've just written "Uh oh!" and, helpfully, nothing else.
Jake: What Charlie didn’t know is that we all have an “Uh oh!” page in our notebooks. Supermilk is essentially one big notebook full of panic.
If the album could be a soundtrack to any film – which one and why?
Jake: Fred (Again) the Movie.
Em: 10 things I hate about you. Think it would work pretty well as a like for like swap.
Jay: John Carpenter's "Ghosts of Mars".
Charlie: Maybe we should use this as an opportunity to pitch a movie. I feel like we all like yucky rubber horror films. If I say one of those, will somebody give us some money to make a yucky rubber horror film?
Jake: We can make it real cheap. We’ll use every bit of the shoestring.
Charlie: Please contact us directly if you wish to invest.
Do you have a favourite lyric on the album? If so, which one and why?
Em: “Sweat gets in my eyes” - it is well known for doing this.
Charlie: It’s a universal truth that none of us can escape from.
Jay: The one about the horse reigning supreme because I accidentally wrote it.
Jake: “Like a bullet in your mouth, it’ll find an out, maybe even tear right through. But two out of five is still enough to keep wishing” from Patterns. Sorry I just wanted to ruin the flow with a serious answer.
Now the album is out there – what’s next for you?
Em: I think shows, more albums, more shows.
Jake: I have MND/ALS so I plan to continue dying. Fingers crossed we can get one more album done before I pop my clogs!
Charlie: We spent a lot of time talking about making tins of vegan spam on tour. Maybe we can do that. Once again, if there are any investors reading this article who enjoy HIGH RISK LOW REWARD investments, please contact us directly.
Jake: Unless you’re vegan. It’s only for meaties who are attempting to quit cold turkey, but not cold turkey.
Jay: We're going to chill out and watch John Carpenter's "Ghosts of Mars" because I've never seen it, also we got some great gigs in September.
Jake: Oh you haven’t seen it? I always thought it was called Ghosts of Mice. And Men. Ghosts of Mice and Men. Hello?
