Milburn: School Of Rock

  Milburn are barely school leavers and within five minutes they’re making Gigwise feel like they should consider retirement.  With an average age of 18, the energetic Sheffield quartet rightly deserve all the plaudits being flung their way at the moment. Along with fellow Sheffielder’s and best mates, Arctic Monkeys, they’re seemingly another great reason to claim Yorkshire as one of Britain’s hot spots for new music. Their name might not inspire the kind of rapture beloved of many overrated acts around at the moment – they’re named after singer Joe Carnall’s dad’s mate – but there’s a feeling there’s a whole lot more to come from the fresh faced foursome.   Now with a nationwide tour in support of The Arctic Monkeys underway, their unusual name may start to become more familiar. Joe, Louis and fellow band mates Greeny (drums) and Tom Rowley (guitar) have all known each other since the age of six from playing football in the street. Despite Sheffield already having a great reputation for producing bands – Pulp, Longpigs, Moloko, All Seeing I – it wasn’t enough to deter the lads from giving things a try.   “We thought things in Sheffield were a bit dead to be honest,” says Joe. “There’s not been a band to come out of the city and take a lot of press for a while. Pulp did it but it took them a long time to get big.” Now the city has two acts showing great promise on the scene. But despite being the best of friends with Arctic Monkeys, and the obvious camaraderie between the two – during soundcheck both acts are on stage charging through covers of Oasis’ Supersonic and The Coral’s Dreaming Of You – there’s no favours.    “There’s no rivalry between us and the Monkeys,” explains Joe. “We’re not being arrogant but we’re not in awe of them at all.” There’s a disarmingly mischievous grin before he adds in a broad Yorkshire drawl, “If we could start a feud with anybody it’d be The Kaiser Chiefs. I ****ing hate them lot.” Louis, concerned that his kid brother is about to take on one of the biggest bands of 2005 wades in with, “That’s a contentious statement to make.” But Gigwise are spared further brotherly squabbles. “We get asked about it a lot,” says Joe, “but it’s a dull story really ‘cause having Louis here is just like having another member of the band y’know. We’ve got nothing else to compare it with.”   Milburn formed two years ago. It was their first serious attempt at a band and they had only a handful of gigs under their belt before labels started showing interest. Louis remembers the exact moment when it seemed to all come together. “That were weird the first time we heard ourselves on the radio. Zane Lowe were playing us,” he says. The track in question was May’s Lipstick Lickin’, a psychedelic romp of a debut single that, as the title suggests, reeks of pubescence and teenage desire. “Before then we didn’t have any recognition but you get some and your expectations and aspirations go higher,” Louis adds.   “We were on Zane Lowe’s radio competition but we didn’t know we were gonna be on there,” Louis says. “Everyone was sat in the studio rehearsing and we put radio on and chilled out for five minutes and Lipstick Lickin’ came on. We were bouncing around the room, we couldn’t believe it.” Milburn then got a call from Arctic Monkeys telling them to switch the radio on.