Milloy were an excellent punk rock band from Leeds that I was lucky enough to see once in Le Pub in Newport, along with Bedford Falls, Harbour and Blackbeard. That line up really covers all the bases of the music I was listening to and the bands I was seeing back in 2009. I remember everyone being really excited for that show and I'm pretty sure everyone I knew in Cardiff would have been there that night (a reasonable number on stage).
Milloy pre-dated my getting into punk by a good margin - that meant they were one of the older bands by the time I was getting into things, one that everyone respected and admired. I'm glad I got to see them at least once. We had a copy of Creating Problems While Practising Solutions in the kitchen - I don't know who it belonged to (either Hugh or Nicky) - and it got played a lot. About a month after seeing them, I picked up More Than a Machine in Damaged, which is an incredible album. On this follow-up they stepped it up again - the songs here are ridiculously catchy, the guitars intense and there's enough layered vocals to please anyone.
Propofol opens the album and somehow takes me back to the kitchen in Cardiff every time. Mary Rose and Textbook are a huge pairing, The Math has a brilliant chorus that keeps coming back, Stone Court is a great finisher and the album never relents. I said the same thing about More Than a Machine, but you really couldn't ask for more from a punk rock album.
Periodically between 2009 and 2016 I thought to myself I should get a copy of this album (turns out they also had two mini-albums that I've not heard either) but in my usual, terrible, apathetic way I didn't. Then Boss Tuneage announced a new series of "made to order" records and I knew it was time to rectify that situation. The idea was brilliant, they would press albums from their past that never made it onto vinyl the first time round - the label has been going for so long that they existed before and throughout the time when cd was king and vinyl the old has-been. It's a great idea, and this was the first album they pressed in that series. Of the records they've pressed so far, Milloy is the only one I've been keen to get, but I always keep an eye out for what they're working on next. The idea is that everyone pays up-front, then they press the exact number of albums needed - minimises the risk and means everyone gets something cool. The pressing is nice - the sleeve a half-gatefold and a nice large insert; the record is white label and the paper sleeve is stamped saying "Boss Tuneage Made to Order Series". The only criticism/improvement would have been to number the records so we could see how many they actually pressed - I assume only the people at the label know the exact number. A minor thing though.
As I often say, I'm really pleased to have this in my collection sat alongside More Than a Machine (I don't thank Facebook for much, but it was a promoted post from the Boss Tuneage page that meant I saw this in time). I felt the closest to the UK punk-rock scene when I was living in Cardiff and I have endless fond memories of it; Milloy and this album are deeply wrapped up in that, so I love listening to them and thinking back to those days.
Format: 12", white label, insert, made to order
Tracks: 10
Cost: £18 new
Bought: Boss Tuneage website
When: 10/11/16
Colour: Black
Etching: None
mp3s: None
