Hot Milk

Hot Milk is an English pop rock band based in Manchester. Formed in 2018 by singer/guitarists Hannah "Han" Mee and Jim Shaw, the group is known for their genre-blurring sound and for lyrics that often address social and political issues. Signed to the British indie label Music For Nations since 2021, they have released three EPs and released their debut studio album, A Call to the Void, on 25 August 2023. They have toured with acts including Foo Fighters and You Me at Six, appeared at Download Festival and Lollapalooza, and have received radio play from BBC Radio 1 and Kerrang! Radio. Additionally, they have been noted by Alternative Press as part of a new wave of artists in the Manchester music scene. History 2018–2019: Origins and Are You Feeling Alive? Hot Milk was founded in Manchester, England in 2018. Band founders Hannah "Han" Mee and Jim Shaw had met via Tinder and dated for four years, ultimately remaining close friends and housemates. They were also involved in the local Manchester music scene; both Mee and Shaw had been in various bands since age 16, and at the time of Hot Milk's founding, Mee was working as a tour promoter and Shaw as a lighting director. One night in January 2018, while grieving a friend who had passed, the pair wrote their first song together, "Take Your Jacket", in 25 minutes on acoustic guitar while drunk off a bottle of wine. After writing several more songs, Mee and Shaw anonymously sent the demos to contacts in the industry and, after getting positive feedback, secured management and recruited bassist Tom Paton and drummer Harry Deller, whom they knew from the local scene. The band was formed in the same apartment Oasis' Noel Gallagher had written (What's the Story) Morning Glory?. Mee has said the name Hot Milk is "a bit short and snappy, a bit of an oxymoron. The name doesn’t really mean anything: I just thought it sounded cool, and there wasn’t a Hot Milk in existence. And that’s what we called it because when you get to names of bands, they don’t really mean anything when you get big and busy." Hot Milk's first single, "Awful Ever After", was released in January 2019, and "Take Your Jacket" was released as a second single in March. Both singles received BBC Radio 1 play on programs like Daniel P. Carter's Rock Show, Phil Taggart's Hype Chart, and Annie Mac's Future Sounds, as well as on Kerrang! Radio.