Sizzling Milk‘s Han Mee and Jim Shaw information us by the creation of the band’s second album, ‘Company P.O.P’, out on June 27 by way of Music For Nations.
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England is burning – and Sizzling Milk are right here to douse the flames. In an period of mass desensitisation and commodified distress, the Mancunians are unleashing ‘Company P.O.P’ onto the world, a rip-roaring burst of socio-political alt rock condemning the insidious realities of company management. It’s Sizzling Milk’s most political feat so far – and one they insist was a very long time coming.
Spearheaded by the outspoken Han Mee and industrious Jim Shaw, the rambunctious pair have been harbouring political resentment for years. 2025, nevertheless, has tipped them over the sting. In every single place you look, human rights are being missed in favour of revenue, “We had no alternative, actually,” Han says with a frown. “We simply needed to say one thing – what else was I going to put in writing about?”
Whereas their 2023 debut, ‘A Name To The Void’, targeted on extra inner affairs, unravelling the intricacies of tension and self-doubt, ‘Company P.O.P’ was a crucial shift of focus. With an obsessive and ever-growing fanbase, the band felt it was about time to step up onto their soapbox and make a distinction. And Han’s dad would function the ultimate straw, spurring the frontwoman into motion.
“My Dad simply stated to me as soon as, ’does anybody even care what you’re moaning about?’” she remembers, laughing to herself. “It made me suppose… ’Y’know what, honest. I’ll touch upon the issues that actually matter.’”
What else actually issues? Properly, Manchester, after all. Following on from Han’s quick stint residing in LA, the frontwoman has doubled down on her Northern delight. Upon realising that the American dreamland felt too faux, she returned to her roots – the attract of gritty cornershops, rough-around-the-edges pubs and a correct pint was an excessive amount of to withstand. All through, ‘Company P.O.P’ additionally sprinkles in loads of Mancunian delight, from music movies set in Salford to ‘Swallow This’ paying tribute to Manchester’s rave scene.
With a rock-solid sense of self and ample company fury, this document showcases Sizzling Milk at their most mature – properly, sort of. Whereas the document toys with three half harmonies, sweltering waltz actions, and arena-worthy riffs, there’s nonetheless loads of cheeky, unpretentious lyricisms. Its punk rage served with a facet of snot-nosed defiance, Han and Jim balancing eye-rolling sarcasm and sharp fury all through every monitor.
So, with out additional adieu, let’s dive into the center, soul and socio-political whirlwind of ‘Company P.O.P’.
THE SOUND
As opener ‘(How Do I) Make The Satan Fall Asleep’ booms into life, ‘Company P.O.P’s end-of-days gloom unfurls with a vengeance. Urged on by a foreboding bassline, the monitor serves because the document’s mission assertion; we “can’t depend on lullabies” to melt 2025’s nightmarish political turmoil, so the one reply is to confront the problems head-on.
It’s an unflinching solution to make an entrance – and one which immediately distances Sizzling Milk from the brilliant and breezy connotations of the pop-punk style. Regardless of the pair persistently striving to maintain their palette numerous, blurring the strains between emo, EDM and energy pop, they’re but to shake the pop-punk associations. “We’ve by no means appreciated the label of ‘pop-punk’,” frontwoman Han Mee asserts. “We’re extra punk. Every thing we do is extra in your face and gritty than these wet-lad pop-punk bands.”
It’s a testomony Han’s accomplice in crime, Jim Shaw, firmly agrees with, noting how even their introspective 2023 debut, ‘A CALL TO THE VOID’, was scattered with political undertones. Hopefully, the punk rock ethos of ‘Company P.O.P’ ought to do the trick; inserting the group’s mature, sobering political observations underneath a magnifying glass, the document appears like Manchester’s reply to ‘American Fool’. It’s a whirlwind of sturdy rock, rave-ready synthetics and rambunctiously British quips, trudging by the grit of actuality and forcing you to take word.
“Whether or not it was an enormous rock music or an indignant punk monitor, we wished the sound to be as uncooked as potential,” Jim explains. “Every thing was recorded analogue, as a result of we wished it to really feel like one in all our dwell exhibits.”
In Han’s thoughts, the uncooked, dwell high quality ought to assist lure within the plenty. “This document is usually a rally level for folks,” she says. “That is our mouthpiece, it’s our megaphone. We actually wrote for the dwell present – I believe that’s the place the center of Sizzling Milk lies – and I can’t wait to see how folks reply at exhibits. Hopefully it offers the others the power to wish to choose up a megaphone as properly. We simply need folks to free their minds and take into consideration issues in a extra vital manner.”
THE LYRICS
Whereas ‘Company P.O.P’ amps up Sizzling Milk’s political agenda, frontwoman Han’s fury has been brewing since her teen years. Weaned on the likes of The Replacements, Useless Kennedys, and Unhealthy Faith, the daring, outspoken Mancunian has been gearing up for a document like ‘Company P.O.P’ all her life. “It feels pure for us to do that – I grew up on political punk music, it’s a part of my DNA,” she says. “I went to college and studied politics due to the music I grew up with – it was about time we wrote a document that regarded extra outwards.”
All through ‘Company P.O.P’, Sizzling Milk drop verbal grenades then run for canopy. From ‘The American Machine’s commentary on corrupt pharmaceutical firms that revenue off of perpetuating illness, to ‘INSUBORDINATE INGERLAND’’s jeering footie chants mourning the downfall of “Grave Britain”, the document desires to get folks considering. “Generally it appears like vital considering expertise are at an all time low,” Han explains. “With the document, we’re making an attempt to touch upon it in a tongue-in-cheek manner. I simply wish to carry some points to the desk, spark a dialog.”
It’s a sentiment she even coyly voices on ‘INSUBORDINATE INGERLAND’; “Pay attention proper, it’s a social commentary – relax!” she sighs. Han follows it up with a cocksure proclamation of, “come and have a go if you happen to suppose you’re ‘ard sufficient!”, but it surely’s a bravado she hopes folks take with a pinch of salt. Basically, don’t shoot the messenger – it’s not her fault England is fucked.
Although, England does have one factor going for it – at the very least it isn’t America. “I’m a bit anxious about how People may reply to ‘The American Machine’,” Han says, anxiousness drenching her tone. “I hope folks know I’m talking in regards to the authorities, not People. I’m fairly scared about not getting let into the nation once more… Y’know, if you happen to say sure issues about Trump on Twitter, it could actually trigger issues. Nevertheless it’s an necessary music, as a result of we’re commenting on an excellent capitalist society – they put revenue over well being. I hope it doesn’t turn out to be like that over right here.”
“I’ve been to locations like Portland, Oregon, and it actually does put it into perspective,” she continues. “They’ve let the homelessness scenario will get so out of hand – they’ve put water fountains on the street in order that when it will get actually sizzling, the homeless don’t die of dehydration. It appears like a manner of avoiding having to mop up lifeless our bodies. They usually don’t have any security internet for folks… folks shit on England’s Common Credit score system, however at the very least we have now it. It’s the explanation why our nation nonetheless has a stage of peacefulness and security, I believe.”
“We’ve seen all that occurred underneath Tory ruling, with folks making an attempt to siphon off issues and privatise every part,” Jim chimes in. “It doesn’t work. Individuals needs to be watching America, learning it, and realising we should always not comply with in its footsteps.”
‘Company P.O.P’ additionally assesses the harm brought on by the web, with the implications of knowledge overload already starting to impression society’s notion of actuality. “The pillars of ‘reality’ have gone fully,” Han mourns. “Whereas it’s nice that we will hear from all sides, it’s getting to some extent the place there’s a lot info it’s tough to determine the place the reality lies. It’s getting more durable to be goal as a result of some info isn’t even actual; Generally I converse to my mum, and he or she’ll be like “Have you ever seen that video?” And I’m like, Mum, that’s totally an AI video, it’s not true.”
Alongside false articles and digitally rendered movies muddying the waters of reality, the document’s opening monitor additionally notes how our “Demise is televised” at each flip. ‘The American Machine’ additional cements the thought, noting how we “Watch [people] endure on tiny screens”; every part is filmed and put on-line these days, and it’s resulted in a complete “Lack of compassion”, Jim argues. “You take a look at your telephone, see essentially the most terrible factor you can presumably think about, then get on together with your day,” he says. “Everyone seems to be desensitised.”
THE ARTWORK & TITLE
As ‘Swallow This’ unravels with a thump of rousing EDM and slick riffs, the monitor focuses on how the media and authorities “inject” ideas into the plenty, forcing folks to “swallow” down info designed to maintain them satiated and desensitised. This notion is foundational to ‘Company P.O.P’, with the album title implying that the consumption of company lies is as widespread and customary as ingesting faucet water.
“Company pop is what my granddad used to name water from the faucet,” Han explains. “So it’s this company factor that is available in and infects everybody’s households. P.O.P additionally stands for ‘Fee of Ache’, as a result of it appears like every part in life comes with this crucial fee of ache… so we’re additionally saying ache has turn out to be as frequent as water.”
After all, that doesn’t imply this can be a ‘pop’ document. Once more, Sizzling Milk are placing a large berth between their pop and punk sides – but it surely’s one thing their label was initially fairly unsure about. “They didn’t just like the title, and the entire document is sort of the antithesis of what they anticipated from us,” Han laughs. “So I suppose that’s an additional layer to the title, as a result of we wrote what we wished as an alternative of what a company anticipated from us. We don’t bend to developments, it’s simply us artistically expressing our considerations.”
Sizzling Milk’s group have been additionally cautious in regards to the document’s art work – a shot in an ominously darkish alleyway, the only real supply of sunshine being a totally ablaze wheelie bin. The scene is topped off with an English flag, hanging out of the highest, the pink and white of the Saint George’s cross scorched by flames. As Han places it, it’s primarily commenting on how England is within the bin, and it’s as much as us to alter that. “We’re not saying we’re going to burn all flags or something,” Han laughs. “Simply stating that there’s one thing unsuitable right here – let’s repair it!”
Shot in a again alley close to Jim’s residence in Manchester, the unique plan was simply to {photograph} a burning bin. The flag was a last-minute addition – but it surely was a stroke of destiny, completely and poignantly capturing the which means of the document. “I attempted to take a couple of photographs, they didn’t actually come out proper,” she says. “So, I scanned across the alley, and I believed ‘let’s put this England flag within the bin’. It felt proper – like commenting on nationalism in a manner that’s thought upsetting.”
THE FUTURE
One other manner Sizzling Milk have been capable of deal with English nationalism got here within the type of a collaboration with Frank Skinner. Whereas Jim is fast to insist Skinner is a “pretty chap”, the comic starred within the video for ‘90 Seconds To Midnight’, embodying the “archetypal British man” brainwashed by dystopian ranges of company management and governmental lies. As Skinner walks round in a daze, he’s blind to the truth of an impending doomsday – and, contemplating he helped write a music typically related to nationwide delight, the soccer anthem ‘Three Lions’, the position was suitably ironic.
Skinner’s position sees him wandering by the streets of Manchester earlier than gobbling down a full English in a greasy spoon. And he was comfortable to offer his providers. “He got here and spoke to us after our set at 2000trees, and we received chatting for ages,” Jim remembers. “He advised us he liked our music, and his son liked us. After we have been planning our music video, he was an ideal match. We have been considering ‘He’s by no means gonna fucking do it…’ however, two days after we despatched him an electronic mail, he stated he’d do it if we purchased him fish and chips and lined his practice fare.”
Shifting ahead, Han, Jim and the Sizzling Milk gang are hoping that ‘Company P.O.P’ encourages folks to take motion, earlier than its too late. “This album is simply every part I’m frightened of,” Han admits. “Like, ‘Hell Is On Its Method’, it’s about oncoming nuclear, and ‘90 Seconds to Midnight’ is analogous, primarily saying that it’s a ticking timebomb in the beginning simply explodes.”
“We simply need folks to free their thoughts a bit of bit, take into consideration issues in a extra vital manner,” she continues. Jim nods in settlement, including, “I would like folks to take heed to it and turn out to be extra ahead considering, much less insular. If it adjustments even one particular person’s opinion, then that’s nice.”
Regardless of the devastating realities we’ve been dissecting, Han does word one supply of “English delight” that has by no means let her down. “Don’t get me unsuitable, I do like listening to individuals who have completely ridiculous opinions typically,” she chuckles. “In ‘90 Seconds To Midnight’, there’s a lyric: ‘Three pints down, and I wager you suppose you’re Rousseau.’ That’s probably the greatest issues about English pubs – speaking to a great deal of outdated blokes that suppose they’re new-age philosophers. They’ve all received their fully unsuitable opinions, and I like listening to them.”
Earlier than we half methods, Han has a closing instruction for anybody tucking into their new document: “Pay attention, have a bev, and open your eyes.”
