by Ashley Jones
Originating as a Radiohead cover band and self-described as “dairy-fuelled emo rock”, MILKINCRISIS is a four-piece band based in Cardiff, South Wales.
In terms of the band’s name, they feel as though there are higher powers that can explain the meaning behind the name MILKINCRISIS, asking “was there a milk in crisis, or were we milking crisis? It’s a proverbial issue that I think will haunt us for the length of time that we are a band”.
“Dairy-fuelled emo rock.”
Inspired by bands such as American Football, a large portion of MILKINCRISIS’ songs are written in FACGCE tuning on guitar. Pairing this with the influence of bands such as Glassjaw, My Chemical Romance and Modern Baseball, the band are keen to incorporate elements of pop-punk and post-hardcore, stating “We are suckers for octave chords & open tunings”.
In addition to this, the band also identify other bands they have watched within the local music scene as one of their broadest influences:
“The Meritones were a massive influence on the way we push ourselves while performing. Slate were another massive influence on how we try to achieve aesthetic and dimension in our performances.
Breichiau Hir has shown us a standard of emotion and heaviness that we
are constantly chasing in our writing. The insane carnival of bands like Shlug and Spithood push us to pursue the hardcore influences in our writing.
Other bands further afield like Tai Haf Heb Drigolyn have broken the mould for us in embracing weirder instruments like using a melodica and a trumpet in our set.
There’s a lot of names. This is a very roundabout way of explaining that we are really just aspiring to be everything we like about the bands around us.”
“Was there a milk in crisis, or were we milking crisis?“
When asked if the band had a dream collaboration with another artist in mind, the members expressed an interest in working with a range of different musicians spanning anywhere from emo icons to classic rock legends.
“Max Bemis of Say Anything. Epic Rap Battles of History. If the guy from Glassjaw wants to we would happily get him on a song. Same goes
for you, Connor Murphy of Foxing.
If My Chemical Romance need help getting their fifth album out then we’d happily extend a hand. If Modern Baseball needs a few more members to help get back together then we’ll also lend a few of us.
We would happily embrace Ringo Starr too if he wanted to sit in on a couple of practices, peace & love.”
“…We are really just aspiring to be everything we like about the bands around us.”
Speaking fondly of the local music scene in Cardiff, the band identified the scene as being responsible for introducing them to other artists and some of their favourite bands, naming the closure of The Moon as one of the biggest changes they have seen.
“We loved doing a gig at The Moon before it closed [in 2024]; we mention that one a lot just because it meant performing in a space we really liked.”
The members also fondly reminisced upon their performance at Paradise Garden, a music venue based in Cardiff:
“Our Paradise Garden show where we opened alongside Jonesy for The Meritones was probably the gig we’ve enjoyed the most.”
If you want to keep up to date with MILKINCRISIS you can find them here:
Feature Image by Lewis Sharpe (Instagram), image provided by band
The Signal Chain 
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