The Milk are four spirited young men from Essex (and proud of it), though they spent their formative years dreaming of being cool kids in Camden, and thrashing around somewhat aimlessly in a punk band. Having slogged up and down the M1 one too many times, with self-booked tours that took them to Hull via Exeter and Edinburgh, the band realised punk was dead, and split. Remaining a true gang of friends, the boys took a break to re-evaluate what they wanted to do.
Soon after, narrowly avoiding naming themselves Nigel Winterbottom and the Flat Back Four, they re-emerged as The Milk; embracing the classic Motown, Stax and Trojan records that had soundtracked their teens. And it’s all there in ‘(All I Wanted Was) Danger’: a track that the Guardian aptly described as “killer…like the Jam doing Stax”.
The Milks debut portrays an undeniable ear for big melodies. The boys have ambitions beyond the ‘retro’. The plan, they say, is to further stress the elements of hip-hop, dub and dance in their official recordings (they idolise the Beastie Boys’ seminal ‘Paul’s Boutique’). Already, there’s a tight, workmanlike energy to their sound that suggests punk wasn’t wasted on them, but they’re equally inspired by the DJ sets they used to watch enviously on holidays to Ibiza, which would keep feet moving throughout. This is particularly evident in their live set-up, where tracks flow without break from one into the next, via quick snatches of Kelis, Dr Dre or Kanye West.
