The Milk @ Mama Roux’s, 7th June 2018
For many bands a tour acts as promotion for a new record, however for The Milk whose latest tour rolled into Mama Roux’s on Friday evening, the tour was simply a road test to see which songs would be recorded and make it onto the bands third record.
After rising to prominence with their debut album ‘Tales from the Thames Delta’ followed by the critically acclaimed ‘Favourite Worry’, the band create a unique sound that pays tribute to the forefathers of soul and roots music whilst putting a modern and contemporary twist on it.
From the start the band were clear that tonight was a chance for them to show the large Birmingham crowd what material they had been working on, and that the crowd’s feedback would determine what gets recorded and put onto the band’s third album. However that’s certainly going to prove a difficult task, considering that all new tracks were received with applause and slotted perfectly into the band’s lengthy set.
Older tracks such as ‘Wanderlust’ and ‘Don’t Give up the Night’ were put in between the new tracks to please fans, however I think the band were safe in that whatever they played the audience would have enjoyed.
As the set moved towards its end, tracks such as ‘Broke up the Family’ and ‘All I Wanted Was Danger’ saw the energy levels of the crowd grow and the more rock led side of the band emerged.
As a band, the group performed with exceptionally smoothly and professionally with lead vocalist Rick Nunn’s husky vocals sounding excellent on tracks such as ‘Favourite Worry’ and ‘What Did I Do To My Love’.
It’s almost a certainty that following the release of the anticipated album, the band will be welcomed back to Birmingham with open arms and hopefully in a much bigger room.
Reviewer: Dan Earl