Why We Should All Be Excited About The Possibility Of New Milburn Material.

The Sheffield four-piece have recently teased new material, tweeting a picture of frontman and bassist Joe Carnall standing outside Parr Street Studios with the caption "Just going to leave this here. Draw your own conclusions X".

For those of you that don't know, the band formed in Sheffield in the early 2000's and were made up of Joe Carnall (bass and lead vocals), Louis Carnall (guitar), Tom Rowley (guitar), and Joe Green (drums) and for many people who grew up with the 2000's UK indie scene, Milburn will be a familiar but forgotten name. This is due to a series of pretty unfortunate events. They rose up through the ranks of the northern English music scene at around the same time The Strokes were making a name for themselves over the Atlantic. They played their first shows around their hometown and even had a support slot from a then unknown band named Arctic Monkeys.

AM's drummer Matt Helders even tweeted saying "I saw milburn loads of times before I even owned drumsticks! Joe (green) pretty much taught me to play!! Not Debt!". The tweet came after NME posted an article about "Unfairly Forgotten Bands of the 2000's" in which they claimed Milburn were "a band so indebted to the Arctic Monkeys they make Miles Kane look like the most independent, misanthropic artist in the whole of the musical kingdom". A statement they would obviously later regret.



Their Debut album "Well Well Well" was released on Mercury records in late 2006. It was met with critical acclaim and established that signature Sheffield sound that many bands (admittedly including Arctic Monkeys) went on to imitate. Their second album "These Are The Facts" was released less than a year later in September 2007. Not long after the release of this album the band decided to go their separate ways, making it clear that there had been no falling out, and that they still remained friends and wanted to support each other as they explored new musical horizons. The band played two last shows, one in Glasgow and one at Sheffield Academy. The Sheffield show went on to become the band's crowning achievement. The show sold out in a few hours and was a very emotional event for the band and fans alike. You can watch the whole thing on YouTube here. The video has over 27,000 views and still pulls in comments referring to them as the "most underrated band ever".

Surely by now it's clear that the prospect of new material from this band really is something to be excited about.

All of the members went on to do other things, some forming bands including The Book Club and Dead Sons as well as two members going to on to play with Reverend and the Makers and even Arctic Monkeys. Frontman Joe Carnall has played a Christmas show in Sheffield for several consecutive years, with the venue has increased in size each time, moving from small pubs to legendary venue The Leadmill. The group's current reunion was announced at Joe's Christmas 2015 show. The rest of the band joined him on stage unannounced and played just one song, fan favourite "What You Could've Won".

On Christmas day 2015 Milburn came back to life on social media and announced a five night run at Sheffield Academy. All of the dates sold out in minutes. I went along to the second night and was absolutely blown away, after watching videos of them playing live and listening to their albums since I was about 11 years old I had pretty high expectations,  they were exceeded and then some. The band played an equal amount of songs from both albums and it felt as if they were at the height of their fame, and that the 8 year gap between shows had never happened. You can watch a fan shot video of the crowd reacting to the first song of the gig here. The gigs were a massive success, the band, fans and critics all agreed that a Milburn reunion is definitely something worthwhile as they still hold a lot of meaning to a lot of people, another reason to be excited about the looming new release.

All of this must mean something, the legacy they already have, taking pride in unjustly always being seen as the underdog. They've played to thousands already this year and have proved that they're not just here for nostalgia. They're a real current band with actual talent, and they've shown this time and time again.



A full UK was announced earlier this year, with dates spanning the whole country, from London to Glasgow and everywhere in-between. A large portion of it has already sold out but you can still get tickets for some shows, you can see the full tour poster with dates below:


 

Words: Liam Navey.

The Cribs Really Are As Northern As Killing Your Brother's Kestrel: Live Review.

The Cribs are a band that have something really special about them, whether they're playing to a crowd of 100 people in a Wakefield pub or thousands of people at a festival, they always put on a brilliant and somehow intimate show.

They proved this just last week, playing a huge show at Leeds' Millennium Square to a crowd of almost 10,000. With support from Thurston Moore, Pulled Apart By Horses and Menace Beach, it was quite a line-up for the humble price of 20 quid. The Cribs have always seen the city of Leeds as a bit of a second home and are always welcomed to the stage there with adoring open arms. This is due to the four-piece having a sort of cult following in the north of England, playing six sold out "Cribsmas" shows at the Brudenell Social Club in December 2007 and two sell out nights at Leeds o2 Academy in December 2013 are testament to this.



The Jarmans have just about got off the road after extensively touring their most recent album, 2015's "For All My Sisters", which was a huge success for the band. They announced this "homecoming" show a few months back, they immediately made it clear just how much it meant to them to be playing a gig this big in their adopted hometown. This was echoed on the night, with bassist Gary repeatedly thanking the crowd and talking about how much of an unbelievable experience it was for them.

The setlist was definitely career spanning, with songs from their 14 year discography being played throughout the hour and a half show. The band gave 2011 single "Leather Jacket Love Song" a relatively rare outing, this being the third time the group have played it since 2013. There were some curveballs in the set as well, opening with "Ancient History" from 2006's "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever" certainly wasn't what much of the crowd was expecting. Crowd favourites such as "Another Number" and "Men's Needs" also made an appearance alongside the lesser known tracks. A personal highlight of mine was experiencing the live performance of "Be Safe", a poetic punk masterpiece from their third album, it has always been something special but the performance at this show seemed somehow more significant, with everyone holding their arms up and shouting back every word. The set's closing number, and the closing song of their 6th studio album, "Pink Snow" really was something to behold as well.

The crowd was as rowdy as anyone would expect at a Cribs gig with hundreds of sweaty heads jumping into each other and twice as many pints flying through the air. I even witnessed the odd lighter ironically appear in the air during the occasional slow number. Ryan (guitar) seemed to be feeding off the crowd's energy, encouraging chants of "Yorkshire" and "Wakefield" as well as instructing the crowd on how and when to open up mosh pits, especially rowdy tracks such as "Hey Scenesters!" and "Our Bovine Public". The band also branched out for the show in regards to their stage set, incorporating a pretty extravagant light show and confetti, something which you wouldn't see at a standard Cribs show.

The legacy of The Cribs really must be considered pretty impressive, whether you enjoying listening to their music or not, the fact that they're still able to play shows this large really does prove that they have always been one of the better UK indie bands. On top of all this they recorded and played with Johnny Marr (one of the best musicians of all time) for a few years. And with more and more modern bands such as Catfish and the Bottlemen rising up through the ranks its good to see people still give a shit about The Cribs, one of the only bands from the 2000's indie scene that have managed to make a lasting impression. Most have gone the way of Kaiser Chiefs, who are still about, relying the chorus of "I Predict A Riot" to pull smaller, balder crowds as the years go by (but if you fancy a laugh you can listen to their latest track here).

After the show the band shared this statement on social media, once again thanking the fans they love so much for enabling them to put on the show: "We have played 833 Cribs shows over the years. Last night was #1. Still have no words to describe how special that was for us. Thanks to @thurstonmoore58 @pulled_apart_by_horses @menace_beach and every single person that came along X".

Here's to another 14 years.

Words: Liam Navey