During SXSW I got the opportunity to sit down with Dublin-based indie-rock band milk. A funny four-piece that consisted of Morgan, Mark, and not one but two Conors who all met in college when they decided to create the band. Despite meeting later in their youth, they talked about how music still played an important role in growing up during their childhood. While they both had completely different upbringing and musical inspirations, they all have their connection with music in common.
“And then for me, my uncle was a drummer. So I had seen him play when I was a kid. And he will kind of let me use his drums and his equipment and stuff from like, when I was three, or four. So I kind of got an early introduction, unlike Connor was saying it was always presented that this was something that was fun, but it's also kind of to be taken seriously and that you could use to kind of better yourself and make friends and build these things. So as soon as I realized I had kind of an aptitude for it, I was really single minded about it the whole way through school, like in secondary school, and in college, and everything that's been my kind of singular focus. Like I knew that I would go to college to do music that I wanted to pursue it. So it hasn't been the most kind of bumpy track.”- Conor Gorman
This is the band's first time in Texas and SXSW, which is a BIG change from their everyday life in Ireland. Despite the long travel time and cultural differences, a SXSW debut is a very big deal and milk. deserves to have their unique craft shared. For a group of young men who just traveled across the world to perform in a city very foreign to them, they were not at all nervous about their showcases throughout the week and were very excited. Similar to a lot of international performers, the most stressful part of their SXSW experience was the paperwork and logistics.
“No, I think it's more exciting than it is nerve wracking. The parts that were the most nerve wracking for us, I think were the boring kind of more legal parts like until we had everything with our visas and everything sorted. We didn't even feel we could sincerely be excited because we might never be allowed. Yeah, so as soon as that was all behind us, we were pretty much on the excited there's a certain element of just rolling with the punches with set by to where you kind of just have to see what happens. We didn't really know what to expect. So we kind of just wanted to open one just excited about it. But it does yet means a lot to us. We were all aware of it long before we got to play.”
milk. currently has amazing projects out, the most recent single being, Human Contact (2022), and their EP, 2, the EP. While I had to ask if the next EP will be “ 3, the EP” , they were unsure of exactly what the EP would be called, they are confident there will be one in the future, possibly even an album. After speaking with them, I could tell producing music was a very important methodical process for them, and they worked hard in creating something that reflected the identity of milk. successfully. Their creative process is very collaborative and they want to keep it that way, even hoping to include more of themselves in the production as well. Specifically when it comes to their future projects, they don’t want to bombard people with their new sound and would prefer to release another EP over an album.
“I know the next one is the first one we're doing self produced. So we wanted to take more time to instead of harming someone else, making your sound and kind of putting it together, we wanted to take the time to be like, we can now create our own sound. And I feel like before we want to do an album, we want to put out a smaller body of work like an EP to be like, this is the sound. And now let's continue from here. Instead of just like, one massive release, and then people being like, "Oh, why is it shifted?””
I wanted to thank milk. for sitting down and chatting with me in light of their extremely busy week. They are an extremely talented group I am excited to see grow in the indie-rock industry, especially with their unique personal touches in their own music. Keep an ear out for their new projects and check them out on all their social media platforms! It feels like they are never not touring so see them live if you can!