In a home studio brimming with outboard gear, monitors, and guitars, Jim Shaw of Hot Milk sits at his desk – his creative haven where the band recorded parts of their upcoming album, Corporation P.O.P.

It’s here that, not long after headlining the Kerrang! Stage at Slam Dunk Festival, Shaw gave us a detailed rundown of all the musical equipment he uses to create the band’s punchy, gritty, punk rock sound. Disclaimer: There’s a lot. And it’s not all housed in Shaw’s home studio.

From Ableton Live to a Neural DSP Quad Cortex to a UAD Satellite to a P-Bass Deluxe (“the only bass you’ll ever need”), Shaw and Han Mee experiment with a range of gear to get the outcome they want. Even from their very first track, “Awful Ever After”, Hot Milk had an innovative, fully-fledged sound that they could have run with for future music. But they didn’t; instead, they continue to avoid any specific style.

Hot Milk have flirted with various genres since their inception in 2018. They may have been described as an emo band, but their music extends far beyond category constraints, delving into punk rock, pop rock, alternative rock – and any other type of rock you can think of.

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What’s worth really shouting about, however, is Jim Shaw’s appreciation of Manchester, and more specifically, grassroots venues.

“The UK has such a rich [music] scene and so much to offer.” – Jim Shaw

Hot Milk had to start somewhere, and Shaw tells us that Manchester is to thank for such a broad range of influences. Han Mee and Jim Shaw both previously worked in the city’s music scene – Mee as a tour promoter and Shaw as a lighting director – and during Shaw’s chat with us, he spoke in-depth about his love and appreciation for the grassroots venues that laid the foundation for their success, as has been the case for many up-and-coming artists.

“The UK has such a rich [music] scene and so much to offer”, says Shaw, highlighting the need to advocate for these venues and bands that stay true to their roots. Even now, despite having opened for the likes of Foo Fighters, You Me at Six, and Pale Waves, they know how important it is to give back to the scene that made them.

“We’re showcasing Manchester as the creative city that it is.” – Jim Shaw

“When you’re a kid, you’re so set on trying to get out of your hometown… but as you get older, you look back to where you’ve grown up,” explains Shaw. This has been the inspiration behind Corporation P.O.P. They want the record to “sound like home”.

Essentially, they’re “[showcasing] Manchester as that creative city that it is,” as Shaw put it, which is inspiring for new waves of artists.

“If you’re destroying all these grassroots venues… how do you ever expect another band to break through?” Shaw asks. These venues are absolutely crucial to a band’s development, but last year, the UK lost one grassroots venue every two weeks. “There’s no way a band can walk straight into the [O2] Ritz… they need these grassroots venues to help grow the scene,” Shaw can see how exasperating it is for new bands.

So, to pay homage to where it all started, Corporation P.O.P has been recorded partly in Manchester, partly in LA, and the photography and filming have been kept very much “within the family”. Their music videos are shot locally, a few of them by Shaw’s friend, Kennedy.

For “90 Seconds to Midnight”, the band embraced the “bleak Manchester greyness” of Eccles (in the nicest way possible!), and in fact, the whole campaign was shot locally, either in or around Manchester.

From the rich culture of the northern city to the stages of Slam Dunk and Download, Hot Milk have taken many influences with them. Not only are they continually inspired by the venues they used to visit and work at when they were younger, but there are also the Foo Fighters (whom they’ve learned from firsthand) and, for Shaw specifically, there are the artists he listened to growing up, such as Damien Rice and Andy McKee, who have inspired him. 

You can hear how they’ve made these influences their own with their genre-bending sound. Their whole discography so far takes you on a rollercoaster of sounds, styles, and unconventional rhythms. And with such love and nostalgia for the Manchester music scene that made them, and how they’re honouring that with their new music, it feels like they’ve entered a whole new chapter.

Their latest album, Corporation P.O.P, is out on 27th June 2025.