A band capable of the moments that make music so exciting, Hot Milk aren't here to compromise or back down.
Words: Jack Press.
Photos: Jessie Rose.
We bang on a lot about moments in music. We all want to witness those points where bands change their fate in a single set. The ones that send shivers down your spine.
Ask anyone who went to Slam Dunk 2022, and they'll tell you they witnessed one. They played just after lunch, yet you'd think they were headlining. Who conducted the coup? Hot Milk.
"They felt really special to us. I don't know what it was about them. There was just something in the air," muses co-vocalist and guitarist Han Mee, stealing some precious time at home on her sofa before flying out to the US, as her partner in crime and fellow co-vocalist Jim Shaw jumps in.
Insane is an understatement. Some bands have to set off fireworks to stand out, but Hot Milk are the fireworks. If stage headliners Neck Deep weren't already on alert, they were standing to attention soon enough. Like Slipknot and Download, it's Hot Milk and Slam Dunk.
It's that party-hard mentality that's pushed them to the front of the queue. They've not even got an album written, yet they've skyrocketed to the top by going hell-for-leather night after night. As Jim says, "it's a big party. We just happen to be the hosts."
Storming stages and playing sets that make headliners quiver in their boots won't curry any favours, but they're not about to go changing who Hot Milk – completed by bassist Tom Paton – are for anyone.
It's their all-or-nothing nature that's endeared them to so many so soon. Having only formed four years ago and written most of their songs in a tiny bedroom in Salford, they've become the people's champs. It's "never a 'them and us' thing, it's a together thing," whether they're playing live, promoting their music online, or pushing out records.
"If I see a band, I'm gonna go get involved, and that's what I want for everyone – if they want to, they can, and for anyone who's not got the confidence to, maybe our show's the one they can try it out at," Han says, like reeling off a mission statement.
When Hot Milk play sets like Slam Dunk or sell-out headline shows across the UK, it's easy to forget they're still growing up themselves. When the show is said and done, they're still humans coming to terms with being rock's next big thing. But they're willing to give us their all if we give ours back.
Taking over the world is a tall task for bands selling out stadiums, let alone some teenage runaways from Salford. And while they're more than up for the fight, they're not immune to the toll it takes.
"We put on such an energetic, in-your-face show that after the last couple of shows, we're finding we're struggling. We sleep on a really hard mattress, and then we get in a really cramped van, and we drive for 10 hours, then we get out, we bang our heads for an hour and jump around and then get back in the van and our bodies are like 'what are you doing?" Jim shrugs, as Han backs him up.
There's that old saying about burning the candle at both ends. And then there's the Hot Milk approach – burn the candle at both ends, then set everything else alight, too. It's that living life on the edge of battering yourself black and blue, burning yourself out, and breaking down that usher in their next chapter. As their new EP arrives, welcome to the era of 'The King And Queen Of Gasoline'.
When the going gets tough in any walk of life, it's easy to think tipping a jerry can over your world and setting it ablaze will solve everything. But for Hot Milk, it helped them crack the code. Struggling with writer's block, they dubbed themselves the King and Queen of gasoline as if they were superheroes donning capes.
It's easy enough to connect the dots between oppression of any kind forcing you into a mould, only for you to break out of it and rebel later down the line.
"Looking at the news, and I'm trying not to, there's something worse every day. That's why it's ended up being a concept record. We've personified all this frustration into two fictional characters," Jim explains.
The EP might only be six songs long, but they've crafted a multiverse of Hot Milk madness to dive into. Whether you're following the plot and finding all the easter eggs, or getting caught up in the videos' Bunny Cult bonanza, this is Hot Milk at their most conceptual. Yet some of it might not see the light of day, according to Han.
They're ready to rage against any machine they come up against.
That anger isn't anything new for Hot Milk. 2021's 'I JUST WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I'M DEAD' EP saw them question their mortality. They spent a lot of time down in the dumps during those sessions, and they had to come to terms with that record before they could break through to being the King and Queen of gasoline.
Looking back, simply living through it nearly broke the band. We've all had those tears in our ice cream moments, but this was a flood of blood.
Stuck in their bedrooms during a global pandemic has put a taint on that time of their careers. Songs like 'Good Life' and 'Woozy' aren't looked back on with fond memories. They're seen as the songs for Jim that "didn't quite tickle my pickle."
That taint toyed with them for too long. They spent six long months dreaming up the concept of 'The King And Queen Of Gasoline' before a single song snuck out of their pens. It was like it was happening all over again. They were well and truly back inside their heads.
"I remember myself panicking at one point going, 'fuck, I'm so shit, I can't think of anything, like what am I even writing about? Who am I?' And then it all came very quickly in the last month," Han frets, getting caught up in memories. For Hot Milk, the floodgates opened when they wrote the title track. Only this time, they weren't in a bedroom in Salford. They were in a hotel in LA.
As an EP, 'The King And Queen Of Gasoline' sends them off into the stratosphere of sound once more. Getting bigger and braver in their bedroom studios, they've made music to pop confetti to on tour. From creating entire choirs out of a single voice layered over and over and over to dropping in Baker Street-style sax solos, they've dug deep.
It's not just musically either. They're baring their souls for all to see in every song. It might be a concept record, but it's as autobiographical as it gets. For example, take the title-track and its generation encapsulating rally cry, "It's all for nothing, and we're no good, an alien since childhood".
"All I know is it's the most truthful song I think we've ever written," enthuses Han, proud of the catharsis poured into every lyric this time round. "I think the alien since childhood thing is something I still feel now. I've always said I don't feel like I'm a human being, like people misunderstand me because I'm weird, and I'm slightly on the spectrum.
Being alien shouldn't make you feel so at home inside your skin, yet it's a feeling so many of us have experienced time after time. That's where Hot Milk take their role as the people's band to a new level. It's music for outsiders, made by outsiders.
Listening to each song is like listening to Han and Jim's diaries. They're voyeuristic voice notes that share their inner sanctums for all to see. On the standout 'Secret To Saying Goodbye', Han poignantly sings, "I'll never be the person I always hoped I'd be". It's a line that lives on in her never-ending struggle with imposter syndrome.
"I have this idea of the person I wanted to be when I grew up, and it's like trying to get to that point of realising 'is that person who I'm actually going to end up being', or is all this other stuff gonna get in the way.
Despite their mental states being stapled together by pure adrenaline some nights, they're not afraid to take aim at others in the music industry. It's a Hot Milk policy: wear your heart on your sleeve and be brutally honest no matter the cost. They sing of being their own martyrs, of killing their idols – and they talk of becoming positive ones themselves.
"We always say we'll meet as many people as possible, and we're honest with them. I'm not a perfect person, but I don't think anybody should be. I think we're just human.
Whether in a song, on stage, or somewhere in a venue car park, Hot Milk are willing to right the wrongs of their idols to create a better space for their fans to grow.
If 'The King And Queen Of Gasoline' does anything for Hot Milk moving forward, it's opening that door between them and their fans even wider than before. It's the warm hug you long for when you're far away from home. But they're not about to be walked over, either.
"We've always said the more, the merrier. We've got an open door. That's what has got us to a place we're at. We've not made any enemies of anybody because we've always been as open with them as we would want them to be.
Han's strong moral compass has kept Hot Milk in the headlines, not just because of the music. It's her spirit that permeates all they do as a band, and it's seen all over their social media, too. Whether they're talking about their own music or weighing in on subjects like Roe Vs Wade, they're not afraid to use their platform when they feel it's needed – even if they've got their fair share of backlash for it.
"I don't give a crap what religion you are. What I care about is the fucking US trying to flex their muscles aboard. That's what I care about, because I am anti-American, and a lot of my degree and master's was in American politics.
The older they get, the more they learn about the way of the world and what works for them. They're beginning to realise that just because they can doesn't mean they always should, but that they do have a responsibility to speak wisely when it's right.
While they're willing to raise their fists and fight for what's right, at the end of the day, Hot Milk are here to have a good time. They're here for those Slam Dunk moments. They're here to make people feel like they're part of a family. And they're here to be the King and Queen of gasoline no matter what.
Taken from the September issue of Upset. Hot Milk's EP 'The King And Queen Of Gasoline' is out now.
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