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:
