Scorching Milk‘s Han Mee and Jim Shaw information us via the creation of the band’s second album, ‘Company P.O.P’, out on June 27 through Music For Nations.
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England is burning – and Scorching 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 Scorching Milk’s most political feat thus 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. All over the place you look, human rights are being neglected 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 needed 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 recollects, laughing to herself. “It made me suppose… ’Y’know what, honest. I’ll touch upon the issues that basically matter.’”
What else actually issues? Effectively, Manchester, after all. Following on from Han’s brief stint residing in LA, the frontwoman has doubled down on her Northern satisfaction. Upon realising that the American dreamland felt too pretend, 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 report showcases Scorching Milk at their most mature – effectively, form of. Whereas the report 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 aspect of snot-nosed defiance, Han and Jim balancing eye-rolling sarcasm and sharp fury all through every observe.
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 observe serves because the report’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 option to make an entrance – and one which immediately distances Scorching Milk from the brilliant and breezy connotations of the pop-punk style. Regardless of the pair persistently 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 appreciated the label of ‘pop-punk’,” frontwoman Han Mee asserts. “We’re extra punk. All the pieces 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 report appears like Manchester’s reply to ‘American Fool’. It’s a whirlwind of sturdy rock, rave-ready synthetics and rambunctiously British quips, trudging via the grit of actuality and forcing you to take be aware.
“Whether or not it was an enormous rock track or an offended punk observe, we needed the sound to be as uncooked as potential,” Jim explains. “All the pieces was recorded analogue, as a result of we needed it to really feel like one in every of our reside reveals.”
In Han’s thoughts, the uncooked, reside high quality ought to assist lure within the plenty. “This report generally is a rally level for folks,” 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 Scorching Milk lies – and I can’t wait to see how folks reply at reveals. Hopefully it provides the others the flexibility to wish to choose up a megaphone as effectively. We simply need folks to free their minds and take into consideration issues in a extra crucial means.”
THE LYRICS
Whereas ‘Company P.O.P’ amps up Scorching 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 report 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 report that appeared extra outwards.”
All through ‘Company P.O.P’, Scorching 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 report needs to get folks considering. “Generally it appears like crucial considering expertise are at an all time low,” Han explains. “With the report, we’re making an attempt to touch upon it in a tongue-in-cheek means. I simply wish to convey 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 – settle down!” she sighs. Han follows it up with a cocksure proclamation of, “come and have a go in case you 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 apprehensive about how People would possibly reply to ‘The American Machine’,” Han says, nervousness 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, in case you say sure issues about Trump on Twitter, it will probably trigger issues. However it’s an necessary track, 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 state of affairs will get so out of hand – they’ve put water fountains on the street in order that when it will get actually scorching, the homeless don’t die of dehydration. It appears like a means of avoiding having to mop up lifeless our bodies. And so they don’t have any security internet for folks… folks shit on England’s Common Credit score system, however at the very least we’ve got it. It’s the explanation why our nation nonetheless has a stage of peacefulness and security, I feel.”
“We’ve seen all that occurred below Tory ruling, with folks making an attempt to siphon off issues and privatise every little thing,” Jim chimes in. “It doesn’t work. Individuals ought to be watching America, learning it, and realising we should always not observe in its footsteps.”
‘Company P.O.P’ additionally assesses the harm brought on by the web, with the results of knowledge overload already starting to influence society’s notion of actuality. “The pillars of ‘reality’ have gone utterly,” Han mourns. “Whereas it’s nice that we are able to hear from all sides, it’s getting to a degree 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 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 reality, the report’s opening observe 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 little thing 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 probably the most terrible factor you may 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 observe 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 ‘Cost of Ache’, as a result of it appears like every little thing in life comes with this needed cost of ache… so we’re additionally saying ache has turn out to be as frequent as water.”
In fact, that doesn’t imply this can be a ‘pop’ report. Once more, Scorching 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 identify, and the entire report is form of the antithesis of what they anticipated from us,” Han laughs. “So I suppose that’s an additional layer to the identify, as a result of we wrote what we needed as an alternative of what an organization anticipated from us. We don’t bend to traits, it’s simply us artistically expressing our considerations.”
Scorching Milk’s workforce had been additionally cautious in regards to the report’s paintings – a shot in an ominously darkish alleyway, the only real supply of sunshine being a completely 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 vary that. “We’re not saying we’re going to burn all flags or something,” Han laughs. “Simply mentioning that there’s one thing mistaken 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 that means of the report. “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 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 Scorching Milk had been capable of 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 fact of an impending doomsday – and, contemplating he helped write a track typically related to nationwide satisfaction, the soccer anthem ‘Three Lions’, the position was suitably ironic.
Skinner’s position sees him wandering via the streets of Manchester earlier than gorging down a full English in a greasy spoon. And he was blissful to offer his companies. “He got here and spoke to us after our set at 2000trees, and we acquired chatting for ages,” Jim recollects. “He advised us he beloved our music, and his son beloved us. After 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 electronic mail, he mentioned he’d do it if we purchased him fish and chips and lined his practice fare.”
Transferring ahead, Han, Jim and the Scorching Milk gang are hoping that ‘Company P.O.P’ encourages folks to take motion, earlier than its too late. “This album is simply every little thing I’m terrified of,” Han admits. “Like, ‘Hell Is On Its Manner’, it’s about oncoming nuclear, and ‘90 Seconds to Midnight’ is comparable, basically saying that it’s a ticking timebomb at the start simply explodes.”
“We simply need folks to free their thoughts a bit bit, take into consideration issues in a extra crucial means,” she continues. Jim nods in settlement, including, “I would like folks to hearken 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 be aware one supply of “English satisfaction” that has by no means let her down. “Don’t get me mistaken, 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 guess you suppose you’re Rousseau.’ That’s top-of-the-line issues about English pubs – speaking to a great deal of previous blokes that suppose they’re new-age philosophers. They’ve all acquired their utterly mistaken opinions, and I really like listening to them.”
Earlier than we half methods, Han has a ultimate instruction for anybody tucking into their new report: “Pay attention, have a bev, and open your eyes.”