They caught the ears of not only the underground but at times a more mainstream crowd. Back after 16 years we spoke to the two Pauls, Mullen and Gamble-Beresford (Bez short for the latter) at ArcTanGent about their delayed, yet eagerly awaited return.
Venues up and down the country struggling for income and staring at death via landlord after lockdowns, forced music communities to come together digging deep into pockets and down the sides of sofas to keep our creative spaces open. Those who had close ties to certain areas focused on where their own histories were forged. YOURCODENAMEIS:MILO reached out a helping hand to Newcastle’s legendary venue The Cluny and scheduled two shows. Originally planned for September 2020, then hampered for a variety of reasons, the events were pushed back multiple times and the reunion was seemingly doomed. Until thankfully they finally returned in April 2023, reminding those in attendance why they first fell in love with their jaunty rhythms, atmospherics and the joy of shifting tempos with that riff on ‘All Roads To Fault’. With The Cluny back on its feet by this point the money kind-heartedly went to The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation funding cancer research.
That huge delay and the fact that the five had not been in the same room with their instruments for almost a decade did not deter them. You can never keep a good man (or in this case men) down even if original drummer Bez “hadn’t picked up a pair of sticks for ages” and spread across not just counties but across the Atlantic Ocean with vocalist/guitarist Paul now based in the U.S.A. “[I] don’t check my emails” he jokes. “We potentially could’ve played ArcTanGent years ago!” When it came to rehearsing logistically “there was a lot of remote independent rehearsal which was something new as we had always played together,” he explains. No obstacle too tricky when the band is more like a brotherhood with bond built up remaining.
Bez says, “I hadn’t played in any bands after Milo and remember thinking oh shit, is my tempo alright, am I hitting the drums alright?”; but it very much is alright as Paul agrees, “it felt like 16 years ago. That chemistry you can’t just turn on. Once that door is open and someone does something you can react to it.” Bez continues, “Even without Justin [out on tour with Editors] our mate David of Sapien Records slotted right in. The only time we rehearsed for this was a couple days before the festival.”
Paul, as with the other members, now have other day jobs to keep the lights on, meaning this way of remote rehearsing and limited time together was a necessity rather than a wanted problem. “I’ve been away from home since the Cluny shows. After those I flew straight to Philadelphia travelling with Caroline Polachek all the way through to Budapest on Monday. Rehearsal [with YCNI:M] Tuesday and that’s it. It was like turning on different parts of my brain.” Bez adds, “We ran through the set twice, dropped a couple of songs and it was fine, no one was worried.”
With 20 or so years since they first burst onto the scene with an urgent sounding mini album All Roads To Fault followed by two near flawless LPs in Ignoto and They Came From The Sun, every guitar lick and beat still sound as fresh and stimulating to this day for both fans and the band. The interest and following certainly is still there as Paul remarks, “it’s great for us to play the songs again…and it is nice to see Milo t-shirts around the festival and meeting people who are looking forward to seeing us which is good. I think a few people missed us the first time around and it seems to still have a bit of currency.”
“I did see a post to the effect of my Mum and Dad conceived me to Milo,” Bez interrupts. “That would be awkward sex,” as Paul counts in typical math time signatures. Grins Bez, “I’ve never had sex in fives!”
The burning question for any Milo fan though is what will be next. The Cluny shows were canny as the ArcTanGent set turned out to be but “there is nothing new yet” as Paul explains, “[The Cluny shows] I felt went really well and we’ve said we’d like to do something in the studio again. Maybe a bigger festival run next year, manifest that and get an EP together…there’s actually fully finished songs.”
“I’ve been saying this for ages,” Bez continues, “there’s 15 songs of good demo quality.”
We discuss the fact that Ignoto turns 20 in 2025 and agree that it finally needs to be pressed on vinyl. Hearing ‘17’ via some wax, a needle and some decent speakers certainly would be a treat to the ears or that dirty fuzzy bassline in ‘Rapt. Dept.’ with Paul’s distant screams. “Just some boring contractual legal stuff being the only hurdle” Bez dampening the initial excitement, “I’ll sort it…send me an email,” Paul jests initially but seems like he may be serious. Serious enough to restart this superb, yet criminally short lived band first time round? Let’s hope so.
Not forgetting what Paul has been up to since YCNI:M’s elongated hiatus of sorts he has updates elsewhere, “Losers album is recorded. We did that with Jem Godfrey,” a producer who has also worked with the likes of Atomic Kitten, Blue & Ronan Keating. “[Jem] is mixing that but not too sure about touring that as Tom [Bellamy] has bad tinnitus so he’s had to hang up his headphones. The biggest piece of advice to those reading is to look after your ears. You don’t get told that when you are 14, 15, 16 when you start out. You start your first band and you just go and smash it up as loud as possible.” Wise words indeed and all the good thoughts to Tom who also was also part of another stellar 00s band The Cooper Temple Clause who also recently celebrated 20 years since their debut See This Through And Leave.
Maybe because of this uncertain future of Losers and a quiet front with other projects such as Young Legionnaire this has potential for more YOURCODENAMEIS:MILO down the line but for now they are just taking it in. “On the van journey down we were all laughing. In the northeast we all just take the piss out of each other. But now we are older the words are just a bit better and cut deeper.” Paul jokes motioning towards Bez. What is clear is if this conversation with 2/5ths of the band is as relaxed and jovial is reciprocated by the other three brethren, the relationships are happy and healthy, the band can still rip onstage as proven with the three sets this year. And maybe, just maybe, if they find the time, they can start a new chapter for one of The North’s most vital 2000s bands.