MAGIC MILK are one of the finest purveyors of sweaty fuzz damaged, punk bent garage in the chicago's riotous rock n roll scene....
many outside of the city may not yet know
MAGIC MILK, but with their newest release,
the MELLOWS ep, out on
SLOW FIZZ, surely that has to change.....
fans of the MIND SPIDERS, THE OH SEES, WAVVES and TY SEGALL need to check them out now.....
here's what SLOW FIZZ had to say about their newest release.....
It’s so good we pressed it on both sides......
Originally from The Big Onion, Kenny Alden left the Heartland to attend college inthe high desert of Arizona. But the scorching sun didn’t quite fry his brain; rather it seems to have baked his songwriting down a sinewy, lo-fi racket that is hard to deny. MELLOWS is completely of the moment, but like any record worth listening to– it is original while not being shy about some of its influences. Picking up on thedroney ripper vibes of fellow citizens like Disappears, Radar Eyes and Alex White, Magic Milk also sneak in a Waylon-like swagger – albeit one drenched in a pile ofreverb that sounds like it was picked up at the Creation Records fire sale.
But a sports car isn’t worth the rubber it’s sitting on if the engine doesn’t purr. On MELLOWS, all instruments are courtesy of Mr. Alden. But with a newly solidifiedline-up, the live version of this band is another animal altogether. Bassist Nick Spiese does a yeoman’s work holding this infectious cacophony down tight. While drummer Maggie Laleman keeps it moving straight ahead in a whirlwind of flailing limbs and abused tambourine.
LISTEN TO THE MELLOW EP BELOW.....
and go buy it now from yer local record store...
TINY GROOVES had the chance to sit down with Kenny, Maggie and Nick a couple of weeks ago to talk about their new lp, tours and favorite Disney movies..... and let me tell you, Magic Milk is entertaining both on stage and off......you should get drunk with them sometime soon....read on below....
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Tiny Grooves- When did you guys form Magic Milk?
nick- Kenny started the band a couple of years ago...but we weren't all in the band til recently...
kenny- But this has been the lineup since last New Year's Eve, when Maggie joined the band.
nick- I met Kenny two years ago when he moved here.... and I joined somewhere along the way...
kenny- He was one of the first people I met here...
nick- Magic Milk has always been Kenny's band.... (which he started after moving to Chicago)...
Tiny Grooves- Did you guys play in any other bands before Magic Milk?
kenny- Nick won the battle of the bands in high school at the Congress Theater. and won a thousand dollars.....
maggie- I used to play with this other guy as his keyboard player, but then I quit and learned drums for Magic Milk.
kenny- I used to play in a band in Tuscon called the Fucking Kennys, with the drummer from Wavves.....
Tiny Grooves- Is there a story behind the band name, Magic Milk?
maggie- Kenny, I asked you the same question before.....
nick- ....but we could talk about our alternate band names like....
kenny- Deep Stuff....the name of our secret band....it's on the bass drums even....
but Magic Milk came from me wanting to copy a guy who used to play drums in the Fucking Kennys who had another band called Magic Practice, which sounded real cool. and this was before there were a hundred bands with Magic in their fucking name..... and i wanted to be the first to steal the word Magic.... and then when i drove up to chicago, i listened to "safe as milk" by captain beefheart a whole bunch... so hence the milk part of the name..... and later on there became all these other weird connotations - most of them gross - but we don't have to talk about them.....
Tiny Grooves- what are some of yr influences? bands you like to listen to?
kenny- we're all a little different... you end up listening to so much shit these days....ipod generation and all..... we listened to johnny thunders today....so we could do a cover song....
maggie- nothing i listen to has anything to do with what i play in the band...
nick- if i was in charge, it would be a much sadder band....
kenny- so i guess it doesn't matter what we listen to.....
Tiny Grooves- Do you consider yourself a garage rock band?
kenny- we're lumped in with all that garage rock crap...we don't mind it....but we play rock n roll music.... and yeah it's through a tube amp... and we play blues progressions.... it's not really about the labels.... like i said we just play rock n roll....
(at this point, we started hating on the White Stripes, Sleigh Bells and we all agreed everyone sounds bad on SNL....except maybe Bob Dylan....maybe we were a little drunk....just maybe, too much of this interview ended up being "off the record"....i wish you could've been there.....)
Tiny Grooves- Tell me about the new ep?
kenny- the new album is called the Mellows. our shows are real high energy and out record is called the Mellows cause its for chilling out... and hanging out with yr buddies... i like listening to it slowed down.....
tiny- so its slower than yr shows?
kenny- yeah but i like to actually put my finger on the turntable and slow the record down even further... its coming with a sticker that says "it sounds good slowed down, in the car or even under water..." but you can't really listen to it in the car or under water but you get the point....
Tiny Grooves- what other bands do you like to play with and/or how do you like the chicago scene?
kenny- i like the chicago scene a lot...
nick- people are always real receptive
kenny- here are the bands that are fucking rad - slushy, white mystery, we gotta plug our friends.....this is the thing about chicago, other places you go see your friends bands and you have to say "oh that was really good" and not mean it, here you go see your friends' bands, even though its a big city, and their bands are rad...
nick- toupee is awesome....
kenny- who else is really good?
maggie - bare mutants, heavy times
kenny- football
nick- runnies
kenny- running is sick too and the yolks for sure....
Tiny Grooves- Where do you guys like to play most around town?
kenny- parties....so many great venues in town, but we always like to play parties the most...
maggie- people are more free spirited there....
kenny- and the kids are younger. drunker and more fun...
nick- they don't care about the music as much, but....
kenny- the show with the Mind Spiders at the Burlington was awesome, but it was a different reaction then we're used to....its different with the thirty and over crowd at a bar... and that's great it's just different....
maggie- instead of knowing they like you cause they're drunk and dancing the whole show, the thirty and over crowd comes up afterwards and talks to you and tells you how much they liked you. and buys merch.
kenny- yeah they're dancing in their mind....instead of actually dancing. and maybe they remember the show afterwards instead of just getting into some college mistakes afterward like at a house show..
nick- yeah like at a party, who the fuck just played?
kenny- who the fuck was that band last night? who cares let's smoke some more dope.....
Tiny Grooves- What's the craziest show / band story you have?
nick- when we played double door, kenny took off his pants, got off stage and walked on top of the bar, with the bouncers trying to grab him, while he's kicking them away...
maggie- yeah or the VFW show was insane
nick - yeah they got mad cause kenny got naked, which happens a lot....but at Super Happy Funland, some guy rebirthed himself...that was crazy
kenny- he was pouring fake blood all over the place.....
maggie- and at that same show there was a transvestite on roller skates.....
kenny- all sorts of crazy shit. we broke the floor at a gallery we played once. but every show something crazy happens..... we've signed autographs after shows before, there's nudity, people banging on the air vents and lots of drinking....
Tiny Grooves - How was SXSW?
kenny- saws lots of bands, drank a lot of beer, yeah we had a great time....we didn't even lose money on the tour down there and back....
nick- the shows down there and back were more fun than actually being at SXSW.
kenny- the tour was where it was at. at sxsw, we didn't have a record out yet and we only had one show booked ahead of time, so we played where ever we could....
maggie - i had a great time thanks to Tom's Tabouleh and the Spider House...i mean we hung out at the spider house for two and a half days.
kenny- we hung out there and saw tons of bands, got wristbands for free PBRs the whole time we were there...made friends with the bands and the people who worked there.... we went to the GET BENT show and that was awesome..... and i got to see the Cosmonauts, that was definitely a highlight....
Tiny Grooves - tour soon?
kenny- maybe at the end of the summer but at least again in the fall...you know go to all the places that are too hot to visit during the summer....
maggie- maybe we can get an unpaid intern for tour?
kenny- white mystery has one...
maggie- maybe we should look into it...
Tiny Grooves - final question, what are your favorite Disney movies and yr astrological sign?
kenny- dumbo, libra
maggie- little mermaid, aquarius
nick- fantasia, sagittarius
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watch them live below.....
and pretend you were there....
Magic Milk lay waste to a VFW hall. from GONZO CHICAGO on Vimeo.
