Sizzling Milk‘s Han Mee and Jim Shaw information us by way of 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 up to now – 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. All over the place you look, human rights are being ignored in favour of revenue, “We had no selection, 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 hysteria and self-doubt, ‘Company P.O.P’ was a vital 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 mentioned 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, truthful. I’ll touch upon the issues that basically matter.’”
What else actually issues? Nicely, Manchester, in fact. Following on from Han’s brief stint dwelling in LA, the frontwoman has doubled down on her Northern satisfaction. 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 satisfaction, 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, type 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 guts, 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 method 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 constantly striving to maintain their palette various, blurring the traces between emo, EDM and energy pop, they’re but to shake the pop-punk associations. “We’ve by no means favored the label of ‘pop-punk’,” frontwoman Han Mee asserts. “We’re extra punk. Every little thing we do is extra in your face and gritty than these wet-lad pop-punk bands.”
It’s a testomony Han’s associate 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 below 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 way of the grit of actuality and forcing you to take observe.
“Whether or not it was an enormous rock track or an offended punk monitor, we needed the sound to be as uncooked as doable,” Jim explains. “Every little thing was recorded analogue, as a result of we needed it to really feel like one among our reside reveals.”
In Han’s thoughts, the uncooked, reside high quality ought to assist lure within the lots. “This document is usually a rally level for individuals,” she says. “That is our mouthpiece, it’s our megaphone. We actually wrote for the reside present – I feel that’s the place the guts of Sizzling Milk lies – and I can’t wait to see how individuals reply at reveals. Hopefully it provides the others the flexibility to wish to choose up a megaphone as properly. We simply need individuals to free their minds and take into consideration issues in a extra important means.”
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, Lifeless 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 school and studied politics due to the music I grew up with – it was about time we wrote a document that seemed 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 corporations that revenue off of perpetuating illness, to ‘INSUBORDINATE INGERLAND’’s jeering footie chants mourning the downfall of “Grave Britain”, the document needs to get individuals considering. “Typically it appears like important considering abilities are at an all time low,” Han explains. “With the document, we’re attempting to touch upon it in a tongue-in-cheek means. 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 in case you suppose you’re ‘ard sufficient!”, however it’s a bravado she hopes individuals 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 – no less than it isn’t America. “I’m a bit apprehensive about how People may reply to ‘The American Machine’,” Han says, nervousness drenching her tone. “I hope individuals know I’m talking concerning the authorities, not People. I’m fairly scared about not getting let into the nation once more… Y’know, in case you say sure issues about Trump on Twitter, it could trigger issues. However it’s an essential track, as a result of we’re commenting on a brilliant capitalist society – they put revenue over well being. I hope it doesn’t grow 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 means of avoiding having to mop up lifeless our bodies. They usually don’t have any security web for individuals… individuals shit on England’s Common Credit score system, however no less than we now have it. It’s the explanation why our nation nonetheless has a degree of peacefulness and security, I feel.”
“We’ve seen all that occurred below Tory ruling, with individuals attempting to siphon off issues and privatise the whole lot,” Jim chimes in. “It doesn’t work. Individuals ought to be watching America, learning it, and realising we must always not comply with in its footsteps.”
‘Company P.O.P’ additionally assesses the injury brought on by the web, with the results of data overload already starting to impression society’s notion of actuality. “The pillars of ‘fact’ have gone fully,” Han mourns. “Whereas it’s nice that we are able to hear from all sides, it’s getting to a degree the place there may be a lot info it’s troublesome to determine the place the reality lies. It’s getting tougher to be goal as a result of some info isn’t even actual; Typically I communicate to my mum, and he or she’ll be like “Have you ever seen that video?” And I’m like, Mum, that’s absolutely an AI video, it’s not true.”
Alongside false articles and digitally rendered movies muddying the waters of fact, the document’s opening monitor additionally notes how our “Demise is televised” at each flip. ‘The American Machine’ additional cements the concept, noting how we “Watch [people] undergo on tiny screens”; the whole lot is filmed and put on-line these days, and it’s resulted in a complete “Lack of compassion”, Jim argues. “You have a look at your telephone, see probably the most terrible factor you might 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 lots, forcing individuals 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 consuming 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 ‘Cost of Ache’, as a result of it appears like the whole lot in life comes with this vital cost of ache… so we’re additionally saying ache has grow to be as widespread 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 – however it’s one thing their label was initially fairly unsure about. “They didn’t just like the title, and the entire document is type 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 needed as an alternative of what a company anticipated from us. We don’t bend to tendencies, it’s simply us artistically expressing our issues.”
Sizzling Milk’s crew had been additionally cautious concerning the document’s paintings – a shot in an ominously darkish alleyway, the only supply of sunshine being a totally ablaze wheelie bin. The scene is topped off with an English flag, hanging out of the highest, the purple and white of the Saint George’s cross scorched by flames. As Han places it, it’s basically 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 improper right here – let’s repair it!”
Shot in a again alley close to Jim’s house in Manchester, the unique plan was simply to {photograph} a burning bin. The flag was a last-minute addition – however it was a stroke of destiny, completely and poignantly capturing the which means of the document. “I attempted to take a number of photographs, they didn’t actually come out proper,” she says. “So, I scanned across the alley, and I assumed ‘let’s put this England flag within the bin’. It felt proper – like commenting on nationalism in a means that’s thought scary.”
THE FUTURE
One other means Sizzling Milk had been in a position to sort out English nationalism got here within the type of a collaboration with Frank Skinner. Whereas Jim is fast to insist Skinner is a “beautiful 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 track usually related to nationwide satisfaction, the soccer anthem ‘Three Lions’, the function was suitably ironic.
Skinner’s function sees him wandering by way of the streets of Manchester earlier than gobbling down a full English in a greasy spoon. And he was completely happy to supply his companies. “He got here and spoke to us after our set at 2000trees, and we received chatting for ages,” Jim remembers. “He instructed us he cherished our music, and his son cherished us. Once we had been planning our music video, he was an ideal match. We had been considering ‘He’s by no means gonna fucking do it…’ however, two days after we despatched him an e mail, he mentioned he’d do it if we purchased him fish and chips and coated his prepare fare.”
Shifting ahead, Han, Jim and the Sizzling Milk gang are hoping that ‘Company P.O.P’ encourages individuals to take motion, earlier than its too late. “This album is simply the whole lot I’m afraid of,” Han admits. “Like, ‘Hell Is On Its Approach’, it’s about oncoming nuclear, and ‘90 Seconds to Midnight’ is comparable, basically saying that it’s a ticking timebomb in the beginning simply explodes.”
“We simply need individuals to free their thoughts a bit of bit, take into consideration issues in a extra important means,” she continues. Jim nods in settlement, including, “I need individuals to hearken to it and grow to be extra ahead considering, much less insular. If it modifications even one individual’s opinion, then that’s nice.”
Regardless of the devastating realities we’ve been dissecting, Han does observe one supply of “English satisfaction” that has by no means let her down. “Don’t get me improper, I do like listening to individuals who have completely ridiculous opinions generally,” she chuckles. “In ‘90 Seconds To Midnight’, there’s a lyric: ‘Three pints down, and I wager you suppose you’re Rousseau.’ That’s the most effective issues about English pubs – speaking to a great deal of previous blokes that suppose they’re new-age philosophers. They’ve all received their fully improper opinions, and I like listening to them.”
Earlier than we half methods, Han has a remaining instruction for anybody tucking into their new document: “Pay attention, have a bev, and open your eyes.”
