Each month, we invite artists along to the Red Light Sessions to lay down a live performance. One take. No do-overs. Usually, drummer Joe Green is on our side of proceedings – helping put the sessions together, playing with visiting artists and joining us behind the mic afterwards. This month, though, Greeny finds himself on the other side of the table, as we welcome his own band, Sheffield indie favourites Milburn.
Today he’s here in Hybrid 3 Studios, alongside Milburn frontman Joe Carnall to talk about 20-plus years of friendship and the anniversary gigs that have brought them back together.
The session itself took place at The Foundry Studios, next door to where a teenage Milburn used to record at Steelworks.
“It was really really weird meeting up at that point in town and then going through those doors,” says Carnall. “Like I don’t know if it was the same door, but it was yards away from where we used to be, so that instantly took me back to being 16, which was bizarre.”
After over two decades playing together, the one-take premise didn’t particularly faze them.
“I think we’ve got to the point now where we’d rather do it in one than 17,” says Carnall. “Yeah, we’d much rather just get it done and obviously try and do it well.”
Greeny, having since heard the mix for Send in the Boys, goes further: “Personally, I think it’s better than the album.”
The session arrives as Milburn mark 20 years since debut album Well Well Well. Earlier this summer, they returned to Don Valley for Rock N Roll Circus, with anniversary dates in London, Newcastle, Leeds and Sheffield following this autumn.
“It’s 20 years since Well Well Well, and people like that record, believe it or not. We don’t really understand why sometimes,” says Carnall.
“We’re not really an active band as such. We’ve not made a record for the best part of 10 years, so it’s still nice to do gigs. And at the end of the day, we’re musicians. That’s what we do.”
Talk of Rock N Roll Circus also prompts stories about the younger Greeny, who was rather more difficult to keep track of on tour.
Carnall recalls one morning in Cologne when the drummer had disappeared entirely, only to stroll into breakfast wearing what looked like “a pilot, Spitfire pilot’s coat” and announce: “I’m like a bouncy ball. You may throw me, but I will always come back.”
There was also the tour bus alarm that repeatedly blasted out a Kooks’ song while its owner remained unconscious.
“Because he was like a comatose chuffing weasel,” laughs Carnall. “You’d never wake up, so you could just hear this alarm going on and on.”
Greeny is, they both assure us, a reformed character.
“Hangovers and small children just don’t go hand in hand,” he admits. “I’ve learned that the hard way. So I’ve tried to like rein it in a little bit.”
The Sheffield anniversary show carries particular significance. Milburn will play Electric Studios, formerly The Leadmill, returning to the same room where they played 20 years ago.
The decision attracted some criticism, but for Greeny the reasoning was rooted in Milburn’s own history.
“We played this gig 20 years ago in that very room, and in my head, that’s where that music originated from – that’s where we have all them memories and kind of like where it belongs.”
“There’s a lot of places, a lot of venues that have been bulldozed or are non-existent, and we’re quite fortunate in a way that we can relive that.”
Carnall acknowledges that conversations were had before accepting the show.
“I suppose for this show, it was just the best place to do it. There were some conversations, but we’re a band, and ultimately, we agreed on what’s right for that band. Moving forward, it doesn’t mean we don’t want the Leadmill Productions to do great things and support indie artists.”
What happens after the anniversary dates is less certain. Carnall has previously suggested Milburn could be approaching the end, but he’s wary of declaring it definitively.
“Milburn matters to people around here, and it matters to us. I mean, without Milburn, none of us as a four go on to do what we’ve done in our own personal careers.”
For another record to happen, all four would need to find themselves in the same place creatively. Right now, that conversation hasn’t happened.
“We’re focused on doing these gigs, doing them well, and seeing what happens. It could very well be the last thing we do. I don’t know. There’s no exclusive to give because it’s not just my opinion.”
“There’s no studio sessions booked. To put it that way.”
Greeny, meanwhile, is still taking lessons, working with different musicians and obsessing over his craft.
“I fell in love with drumming again. Like it’s weird.”
“Sometimes, on tour, the gig was the worst bit. It’s just because you wanted to go out and enjoy the night in a different city.”
Practising and challenging himself has brought back some of the feeling he had as a teenager. There’s something similar when Milburn reconvene. Rehearsing old songs in a practice room when you’re pushing 40 can feel faintly ridiculous. Put them in front of a crowd and everything changes.
“You get on stage and it completely makes sense for that hour,” says Carnall.
“We know when we go on stage there’ll be a great energy, and it’ll remind us what that record means to people, and the gigs always have been incredible, really, really good.”
For now, there are shows to play, an album turning 20 and one more chance to fill that old room with those songs. Beyond that, nobody is making any grand declarations.
As Carnall puts it: “Just at the minute, wait and see.”
Milburn play Electric Studios on 24 October. Tickets available at electricstudios.co.uk.
