An interview with The Milk

The Milk have just shared their sophomore album 'Favourite Worry' with us, an album which sees their soul, funk and R&B influences at the forefront of their sound. We caught up with the band ahead of their show at Band on the Wall on 28th October, to discuss their label 'Wah Wah 45s', the music of Stax and the importance they place on the tight rhythm section at the core of their sound. 

You're signed to Wah Wah records, a label with a roster of international artists that dip into so many styles and genres. How did you find yourselves signing to the label, and does it feel like home among those artists?

What attracted us to Wah Wah 45s more than anything else I'd say was the people that run things down there. Dom and Adam came to our studio (Woods Lodge Studios) in Essex and we spoke for hours about our vision and our intentions and what we wanted to say with the record and they seemed to believe in us straight away. Also it seemed to perfectly align with their intentions moving forward while keeping to their core values (being genre specific and trading heavy vinyl) so for that reason I think we found our place in the whole Wah Wah family. Since being with them we have always had their unwavering support and dedication which is a diamond encrusted platinum gold commodity from a record label.

The Line of Best Fit described 'Trouble Gonna Bring Me Down' as "a stax-style banger", do you have a favourite artist from the Stax family?

Stax much like Wah Wah and most of the labels we love are genre specific so I find myself being into the sound of the label more than a particular artist usually. Stax is a big one for us, one that we've quoted as being integral since the beginning but as our sound has realigned itself for 'Favourite Worry' so to must the references and inspirations. If I had to pick one, Isaac Hayes' rich 70's production was a big one for this record.

You namecheck a heap of great '70s funk and soul artists when discussing your influences, as well as plenty of other eclectic choices. What lead you to the older style of music, was it raiding a family member's record collection, or have you discovered music by other means?

We joke that our first record pulled on a lot from the 60's as does this one on the 70's god forbid we make the third 'cause I don't think we need to go through the 80's again do we. In truth it became apparent that our writing in the early stages had a lower tempo with content addressing issues of a more serious nature than of those songs that went into the first record so the more we delved deep into our record collections for references and inspiration we found that more of that flavour and tone was apparent in the post motown glory era of the 70s and we were getting drawn into that slower 70's soul-funk groove so it all started to make sense.

We've always been a soul band but when we write we're not thinking of a bygone era, our heads are firmly in the here and now. I think to think that there is a flavour of the 70s in there that we are happy to talk about but essentially its a modern soul album of classic british songwriting.

When you play live, does the four piece line-up change roles to include all the aspects of your detailed arrangements, or do you hold a more direct, rhythm based sound?

When we recorded the album every song was a live take of the four of us at our respected stations with Rick either on guitar on Piano. When we play live that core rhythm set up will remain the same but also we have the very talented Charlie Myers coming on the tour with us to cover all those aspects of the production that we otherwise don't have enough limbs to play, and as we pride ourselves in being a tight live band we won't be using triggers or samples or any of that nonsense. Any sound you hear we would've made it. We do often use the mighty Stella Horns for certain shows but the bar bill alone would cripple us if we took them on the road with us, thats not to say they won't be making an appearance though.

You played the jazz, funk and soul festival earlier this year, alongside a host of legendary names and many who've appeared at Band on the Wall before, the likes of Roy Ayers, Cymande and Soil & Pimp Sessions. Do you look forward to adding yourselves to that list?

You've had Roy Ayers there? Fair play. He is another big inspiration for us for sure so yeah we are really looking forward to the show. Manchester is always a good night for us, its a proper music city as I'm sure you know more about than me but yeah, it does stand out from a lot of the other dates. We hope everyone gets what we are doing now.