The Milk Announce Release Of 'B-Roads and B-Sides'
Monday, 14 November 2011
Written by Elliott Batte
Hotly-tipped and freshly-signed rockers The Milk have announced details of a brand new EP, ‘B-Roads and B-sides’, which will see a release on 19th December via Sign of the Times / Sony.
The lead track from the new extended play has already picked up repeated spins from the likes of Zane Lowe at Radio 1, Mistajam at 1Xtra, Huey Morgan at 6Music and XFM. Having sold out Dingwalls earlier this month, the band will now go up against the likes of Bruno Mars and Jessie J for ‘Best Breakthrough Artist’ at the UK Festival Awards.
The Milk won widespread acclaim for their debut single, (‘All I Wanted Was) Danger’, which was released earlier this year. Inspired by everything from The Vandellas to Bruce Springsteen, the band’s contemporary twist on classic soul was supported across Radio 1, 1Xtra, XFM and 6Music. Then followed sold-out shows at the likes of Hoxton Bar & Kitchen, Jazz Cafe, XOYO and Barfly, climaxing with a triumphant homecoming performance at Chelmsford’s V Festival.
Not bad for an unsigned band, then. Amidst this, however, their focus remained the same: Months were spent perfecting the writing of their debut album, which is being produced by celebrated DJ and remixer Brad Baloo (The Nextmen). Having signed their record contract in a red telephone phone-box, the band’s long-player is now due out next year.
Until then, The Milk will wrap up a breakthrough twelve months with the release of ‘B-Roads’. Musically, it portrays a broader range of styles than their first single might have suggested. A surprisingly effortless hip-hop groove, ‘B-Roads’ mixes sirens, strings and expert pop songwriting with sweetly-sung harmonies: much like ‘(All I Wanted Was) Danger’, the song’s lyrics express the wish to break out and live recklessly, even though this protagonist - “known to a biker gang / as the next neck they’re gonna hang” – is thankfully a fiction. Yet the small-town frustrations at the root of the song feel very much a reality.
For The Milk, all B-Roads lead to home, which in this instance is Wickford, Essex. Having been friends since school, they began life as a teenage punk band: after some disastrous efforts to act rock-and-roll, the group soon split, though lead-singer Rick’s belting soulful voice arguably benefited from these loud, formative years. Sometime later, the boys revisited the classic Motown, Stax and Trojan Records that had soundtracked their teens, intent on putting on a club night. Instead, they hit a creative breakthrough. Holed up in the shed at the bottom of their garden, all new songs and sounds were experimented with, which were written in-between and sometimes in response to a series of make-do jobs (builder, teacher in a special needs school, pharmaceutical salesman).
The remaining tracks on the ‘B-Roads’ release offer a tantalising glimpse into what The Milk have been up to at the bottom of the garden. ‘Kimmi Kimmi’ (released here in demo form) is a lurching, beat-heavy tribute to the door-lady at a local bar. Also included is a blistering cover of Toots & The Maytals’ ‘54-46’, which has since become a live favourite, and really does sound like a group of friends having a load of fun. And so it proves to be. Yet an acoustic take of ‘Broke up the Family’ shines an altogether more personal light on the band. Written in response to broken homes, it is direct, affecting, and proves beyond doubt that The Milk have the Soul they sing of.
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