Hot Milk, by pure coincidence, spilt onto the punk rock scene late into the 2010s, when founders of the band Hannah Mee and Jim Shaw bonded over their shared love of Manchester’s alternative music communities. The pair were probably unaware that, by 2025, the band would have made full-steam-ahead progress into the release of their latest album, Corporation P.O.P , and had the opportunities to tour with some of the biggest names in rock, including Foo Fighters and Green Day.
“Every single one of them is different. I will say, the Foos are the best out of all of those big ones. They’re the kind of band that will come in your dressing room, and you’ll be there like: what do you want, Dave?” Mee joked when asked about Hot Milk’s experience touring with fellow bands. “Foos are a proper rock and roll band and I’ll take no slander against any of them guys”.
When asked about the band’s feelings on following in the footsteps of rock groups that have received such a large cult following, Mee continued bantering: “we’ve been playing those kinds of big stages for a couple of years now, and so we feel more comfortable, definitely over some of the smaller ones sometimes because you can’t see the whites of people’s eyes. We take how they are backstage and onstage, and we take little bits for ourselves. It’s about learning and seeing how they do it.”
Would it be an interview with such an interestingly named band without asking the itching question: why exactly are they called Hot Milk? “What is the story behind it?” Mee and Shaw brooded, before coming to the conclusion that “it was like six years ago and we were drunk and just kept saying things out loud. This was before we thought the band would do anything. We thought ‘Selfish'”, listing their original potential names, “we wanted short and snappy, a bit of an oxymoron and then it kind of developed”.
The duo have become known amongst fans for their unapologetic and outspoken political opinions: “I’ve always been a big fan of like, slightly maiming politicians, right? How can we violently, non-violently attack them in a way that’s not going to hurt them, it’s going to piss them off? So I always thought throwing hot milk on them would be quite annoying. It wouldn’t hurt, but it would just make them kind of annoyed all day”.
After joking about which beverage would be the most entertaining to throw on a politician, the interview circled back to the release of Hot Milk’s latest album, Corporation P.O.P. Shaw mused, “I don’t really have much of an attachment to these songs, because we had three weeks to write them. The last album I think there was a lot more, I don’t want to say thought…”. “We sat with them for longer”, Mee finished, with Shaw agreeing and continuing “whereas this was kind of a reactionary snapshot of what we could see in front of us”.
Mee explained “there’s songs on the old album like ‘Forget Me Not’, about my granddad, which are a lot more closer to my heart, whereas this is more of a social commentary.” After discussing the latest album for a while, Mee said “there’s a song called ‘Sympathy Symphony’ in there that’s got a bit more gravity and emotion in it, but again that’s kind of just about the demise of this world”.
Mee and Shaw are both immensely proud Mancunians, so it was essential to ask if they had any memorable gigs or stories from the city. “Me and Jim used to work in the Manchester music scene that’s how we met. I was a promoter: I was putting on shows and he was and still is still an LD, he still does lights for bands”, Mee said, whilst Shaw agreed, having been working on the lights for Hot Milk’s upcoming tour in November whilst doing the interview. The pair then began to list their most nostalgic spots, naming Gorilla, the O2 Ritz, and Sound Control.
“We know everybody that works in those venues, we still know the venue managers and so we were very much in the beating heart of this city, which is why we owe it so much. I moved to LA last year for a little bit and came back”, Mee confessed, “because, firstly no one made me laugh, and secondly there was no sense of community and I missed my mates. I have a very personal relationship with Manchester because I was always the last man standing. I used t0 walk home at four or five in the morning with no one around, just me and the pavement were speaking to each other. I owe a lot to this city. It gave me James, it gave me my partner, it gave me all my friends”.
After reminiscing over their most memorable parts of nights out in Manchester, the pair shared their excitement for their upcoming tour. “It’s so nice you know, we’ve worked out way up all the venues: Academy 2, O2 Ritz, Academy 1, and this is going to be our fourth headline show. It’s nice because we care a lot about this place.”
The concluding question for the interview was about their recently released album, and the duo were pressed to describe the album in just three words. Mee was quick with her first two: “visceral, angry… what’s the word I’m looking for? I’m looking for local, but looking out across the world. There’s got to be some word for that, hasn’t there? The kind of epicentre, looking out from your epicentre”. Shaw refused to settle for the offering of three words, and instead opted for “sort your shit out”. After agreeing to either hyphen the four words together to make one, or to just bend the rules for his response, the interview was finished.
Just like in their interview, it is needless to say that the band Hot Milk radiate charisma and passion for their music, as well as their home in Manchester, where they are due to make a return at O2 Victoria Warehouse in November.
