Interview: Milo’s Planes

Despite their youth, Bristol punks Milo’s Planes have been around for a fair old while already. The band has quadrupled in size since singer Joe Sherrin started fiddling about with fuzzy pop under the Milo’s Planes name on a four-track in 2012, and they’ve recorded three full-lengths since, adding layers of heavier sound every time round. Their latest release, Individual Development Plan, is a bolt of melodic post-hardcore energy that was introduced at a rammed and sweaty album release show last month – a typical sight whenever Milo’s Planes play their home city.

Individual Development Plan, much like the last album, is centred around Joe’s “really boring admin job” and expands on the already established themes of anger and self-dissatisfaction, railing angrily against being stuck in a mundane routine and “not really achieving anything.” This, paired with the urgency of the band’s barbed post-punk sound, formulates into addictively acerbic bites of guitar-fuelled venom. When I meet the band at The King Bill, he tells me that much of the album was written while slyly on the job, covertly jotted into a draft on email platform Outlook.

Such clandestine processes can only be born from years of musical determination, and this band certainly have that. Joe and Harry are brothers, and they’ve been in bands together since they were little kids. Their first band – formed when Harry was six years old and named Testys – nicked its name from sex ed. In addition to many other musical projects and bands over the years (SLONK, Let’s Kill Janice, and Holy Stain are just a few) a couple of Joe’s creative highlights include recently finding a tape of his thirteen-year-old self screaming into a tape machine and an art project involving drilling various fruits.

The band say they’ve been in local bands “since forever” and that if it wasn’t for the support of venues like the now-closed venues Start the Bus and The Croft might not have made it this far. The Stag and Hounds is another recently shut venue they’re going to miss. But apart from that, the band think the Bristol scene has stayed healthy thanks to a constant flux of bands coming and going, as well as DIY labels such as Howling Owl and Breakfast Records creating the platforms for bands to do so. Vociferous gig-goers themselves, the band all have a packed calendar of stuff they can’t wait to see in Bristol over the summer.

While there’s a lot of jokey suggestions about where Milo’s Planes might head next from the band themselves (Harry suggests loads more “synths”, while Joe would prefer to go “full techno”), to the outside listener it seems Milo’s Planes have been heading in the right direction for a long time already. It’s interesting to hear the evolution of their sound via Bandcamp, and while their older stuff is by no means weak, Milo’s Planes seem to be drawing on camaraderie, more mature sonic observations and support from fans to sound better than ever before.

Catch Milo’s Planes with Yo No Se and The Plainviews at The Old England Pub on Friday, June 16 from 8pm till 1am. Admission is free – check out the Facebook event at www.facebook.com/events/1399364606797447

Photography by Nat Bevins

Read more: Review: Dot to Dot Festival 2017