Hot Milk | SWG3, Glasgow | 18.11.2023 | Live Review
Very few bands deserve the plaudits they are getting now more than Manchester’s Hot Milk. The blood, sweat and tears poured into this band shows and then some. Having taken over Europe with several sold out shows in support of their debut album – the chaos club rolled into Glasgow for night one of the UK leg.
Hot Milk and Glasgow go hand in hand and playing their biggest headline show to date in the cities SWG3 on a Saturday night, it has all the ingredients to be something special. Prior to doors, guitarist Jim & vocalist Han perform a special acoustic show to 25 loyal fans in a special VIP experience. Despite only playing two songs, it was a special thing to be part of – Awful Ever After being a VIP exclusive followed by Breathing Underwater, a song when performed acoustically in such an intimate environment just hits different.
After a fun filled meet and greet with the band, it was time for doors. Up first, it’s Cambridgeshire post-punk trio, Modern Error. Lead by brothers Zak & Kel Pinchin, they are quickly adding their names to the canon of first-rate rocker siblings, delivering a thunderous collection of songs that compellingly tackle the subject of modernity. The band are highly underrated and from this set alone, it’s clear that they deserve so much more appreciation. The audience participation might have been minimal but it didn’t stop the band giving it their all on stage. As a person with such a broad taste, their music mixes together all the right genres from Nine Inch Nails-esque electronic elements to the instrumentals of the likes of Boston Manor and a vocal range reminiscent of Chris Motionless.
Although it was a hard act to follow, next up we were treated to the gritty doom punk sounds of Witch Fever. They came with crunchy riffs and edgy vocals as singer Amy’s angst seeped from the stage to the crowd with every line. As with Modern Error, they were giving it their all from the get go and even had the crowd jumping at points, which was really nice to see for a support band. There’s a Sabbath chorus, and a Nephilim verse, tastes of Bob Vylan and the royal emo’s My Chemical Romance. The anti-church sentiment is not quite to the level of the Norwegian metal lads, but Amy does a fantastic job of running through a number of vocal personalities. A solid performance and judging by the queue at their merch table, it was one that impressed.
Now for our headliners. A band that have built their fame on endless amounts of graft and to have their biggest headline tour to date fully sell out, shows the numbers they have on board with what they have set out to do.
Within minutes of taking to the stage, the pit was already open and ready for action as “Welcome To The….” followed by “Horror Show” kicks things off in typical Hot Milk fashion. It’s quite fitting they’ve labelled this run of shows and the fan experience as being part of ‘the chaos club’, as where this band goes, madness follows. Speaking of, guitarist Jim asks the Glasgow faithful if they know what a circle pit is – no further questions asked as a pit the size of the room emerges and within seconds descends into a fully functioning circle pit, as the opening riff to “I Just Wanna Know What Happens When I’m Dead” sparks carnage.
It was a very evenly mixed set that gave us a big chunk of both classics and new bangers from their debut album, fan favourite “Over Your Dead Body” came after “Zoned Out”, a song Han asked all fans to leave their phones in their pockets and just live in the moment – something that was followed to a tee, this felt like such an incredible moment looking on. A little bit of mid set emotion now as “I Think I Hate Myself” and “Bad Influence” received huge crowd participation before the very hard hitting and tear inducing “Breathing Underwater” comes next – as special a moment as I’ve seen as a Hot Milk fan. It’s a song that means so much to both band and fans alike that really adds that extra impact when heard live and as they stop for the final chorus to let the Glaswegian vocals take over, it produces a moment that left many including myself with tear soaked cheeks.
Next up the floor was literally shaking for “Candy Coated Lie$”, the full room bouncing in unison screaming every word back at Han and co, the same was to follow for “Party on My Deathbed”. Prior to what was said to be their last song, Jim dedicated “Forget Me Not” to anyone who had lost anyone, another emotional moment that brought out those stunning crowd sing-a-longs again.
Following a short break off stage the band re-emerge to a rapturous cheer from the crowd before thanking them for selling out their biggest Glasgow show. As far as Hot Milk shows go this has certainly been up there with the best I’ve seen them as they round off in style with “Glass Spiders”. Hot Milk are an outfit who can use their live show to say something profound and meaningful, while having an insane amount of fun doing it and they are just getting started.
Words by Craig McInnes
