Hello Pete, can you tell us a little about how the band started?

By accident! I was in a band called Razorblade Smile which played Cardiff and the girl who played drums in the other band, Terrorist Trash Stars, asked for a lift up to Newcastle. We stayed up all night and then hung around all day and it turned out she had changed her name by deed poll to Joey Ramone, which blew my mind. (All this is 100% true, I promise). So that night, Linus were playing and a support band dropped out so me and Joey improvised a set, under the name Cake Polish. We’d only met the night before and had never played music together before stepping on stage, but it came out pretty good, so we decided to continue but under the (slightly) less ridiculous name Milky Wimpshake.

Where did the bands unusual name come from? I read that you like wimpy band names like Talulah Gosh and The Sea Urchins.

By accident, again, actually. My friend Matthew suggested getting a Milky Wimpshake when he meant to say Wimpy Milkshake. I decided to use it for the band name, not realising that 18 years later I’d still be performing under the same name…

You recently played a Which Way Is Up! show in London where you played three new songs (“On Top”, “Chemical Spray” and “Worthless Person”). Can you tell us more about each song and will you be playing them at Indietracks?

We’ll be playing all three. “On Top” is one I wrote after strumming my way through an old Razorcuts song: I took some of the chords, re-arranged them and wrote a lyric in 5 minutes, which is how I usually write songs. “Chemical Spray” is kind of a “Johnny’s in the basement mixing up the medicine…” type of a number, goes down well at gigs. “Worthless Person” was written under the influence of a certain Billy Childish, and it shows, and chronicles the experience of looking up “punk” in the dictionary.

I understand another new track “You Are the Bomb” will be ready in time for the festival?

I hope so! It’s a dance floor kind of a thing, good drums on it.

Can the band be persuaded into playing your cover of Electro Hippies “Don’t Kill Sheep”?

Don’t know yet, I haven’t asked them: it’s a pro-vegetarian song, we did live years and years ago a couple of times, but I’m the only vegetarian in the band so it depends on how the others feel about doing it, really.

With those new songs in mind, will you be putting out any new music soon?

Hope so; I’m in discussion with Sean at Fortuna Pop! on this particular issue.

You also play in another band called Chronicity. How did that come about?

I formed the band in 2005 with my friends Jeff and Sophie. The original idea was to sound like Jackdaw with Crowbar, bIG fLAME, stuff like that. Then another friend Cath joined and we took a different route, more folky. Sophie and Jeff left, W. C. Schrimshaw joined on drums and Phil was shipped on for extra guitar. We still sometimes play with this line-up, maybe I’ll have a different line-up at some point though, it’s just a hobby really.

Whatever happened to Red Monkey?

It became pretty much impossible to continue after the other two members got married and had two kids, because we just couldn’t manage to practice let alone play gigs. It was a good band and, you never know, we might do some music together again one day, maybe; I wouldn’t bank on it, but I wouldn’t absolutely rule it out either.

Out of all the records you have released over the years, is there one you are especially proud of?

Ooh, that’s hard. Probably Bus Route to Your Heart by Milky Wimpshake, because it was thrown together in just two days but people still seem to love it 15 years later. Also Gunpowder, Treason and Plot by Red Monkey, which was our third album, especially the first song “The Jazz Step Forwards” which is a really distinctive bit of music and a genuine group effort which I’ll admit I’m extremely proud of.

You’ve just put out a video for “Cherry Pop” and you’ve said “Milky Wimpshake join the MTV generation! Fuckin’ sellouts!” Who suggested making the video?

Sean of Fortuna Pop! suggested it so I thought “fuck it, I’ll try to do one on the Dale family camcorder”. I’m from that generation where some of your favourite bands, eg. The Smiths, didn’t do videos on principle – until they did! Hence the MTV comment. But I also remember, in the 1980s, that you’d be lucky to even see a photo of the bands you were listening to on John Peel, let alone a video, so I thought “well, people out there probably might be wondering what the Wimps look like” So now you have it, take it or leave it, I really couldn’t give a fuck! Although I’ll admit that it makes me laugh.

You’ll be playing the Nottingham indiepop all-dayer in October. With such a great line-up of Help Stamp Out Loneliness, The Blanche Hudson Weekend and Standard Fare amongst others, who are you looking forward to seeing?

Ste McCabe is really good, and I’m a big fan of Pale Man Made from Newcastle, but I’m sure it’ll be cool stuff all day, I like indiepop! I mean, y’know, I like Mortal Terror and Archie Shepp too, and Galdys Night and the Pips, but I sure do like your indiepop! Yessir!

myspace.com/milkywimpshakemusic

The band started as a basement project between you and James. Did you ever think you would release so much music in a relatively short space of time (three EPs and two LPs in six years)?

We basically just wanted to put out a 7” record. That was our goal. Keep in mind we started playing together pre-internet and we didn’t know anyone with a 4-track, so recording your own music was still pretty mysterious then. We’ve always put more emphasis on recording than on playing live, but still, I never thought we’d end up releasing as much as we have.

Growing up in Olympia, Washington, how important were K Records and Kill Rock Stars in shaping your sound?

Aside from Beat Happening, I think we were more influenced by the ethic of those labels than the sound, at least early on. We were more into on bands on Popllama like The Young Fresh Fellows, Fastbacks, and Posies. It wasn’t until later that I went back and discovered The Softies and Heavenly and realised I’d wasted too much time listening to Oasis in the 90’s.

How vital were KEXP and WOXY radio stations in getting the band better known when you first started?

It was huge. We couldn’t believe they were playing our little homespun recordings. We sent KEXP our demo just hoping to get a spin on their local show on Saturday night, and then John Richards played “Sixteen and Pretty” on his weekday morning show and we were like, “Holy shit!” We started getting emails from listeners all over the world, and we never really had to work hard to get noticed by local bookers for good shows. It was instant credibility.

How is the indiepop scene in Seattle at the moment?

We’ve always had good turnouts at pop shows, so I’d say there’s a modest but loyal scene. There’s a good community of local blogs that support indiepop, but as far as I know there aren’t currently any club nights happening. Tullycraft has been on hiatus so that leaves a bit of a hole in the scene, but there has been a lot of buzz about Seapony this year so hopefully that will help energize the pop kids.

Is “Jimmy Had a Polaroid” about Jimmy Tassos at Matinée Recordings? Tell us more about the song as we love playing it at the club.

Oh, thanks! It’s not about Jimmy, but truth be told, I did like that connection when I came up with that line in the song, so it’s not completely random. And Jimmy loves photography so it’s even more fitting. Hmmm… maybe the song IS about him?

Have you started writing new material for another EP or album?

Quite honestly, I expected I Shouldn’t Look As Good As I Do to be our last record, but in rehearsing for the UK tour I’ve started to get inspired again and I’ve written about a  half dozen new songs that I’ve floated out to the band. We don’t have any timeline, but I suspect we’ll at least release another EP.

You don’t often get to play live due to so many family commitments. Does that frustrate you or does it make it more special when you do play together?

It’s definitely frustrating not to play more when we work so well together as a group, but I’ve come to terms with it. We’re not 25 anymore, you know? Now there are careers and families to consider, and none of us live in the same city anymore, so that makes it difficult. Writing is easier than playing live because we can trade files over the internet, but trying to coordinate schedules for practicing is excruciating. We really enjoy it when we do get to play together though, which I suppose is what keeps us going.

How was your recent show with The Smittens, The Special Places and Monnone Alone? Do you feel you share the same ideals as bands such as The Smittens and The Lucksmiths?

Great! The Smittens were fantastic and really nice people, and we always love playing with Cori and Jenny. Mark was a late addition to the line-up and really turned it into a lovefest. I wish we could have taken that little tour all over the country. I definitely feel a kinship with other indiepop bands. Its fun to play with other bands that appreciate where you’re coming from and it’s such a tight knit community that you often know a lot of the same people.

You’ve got a few warm up shows before Indietracks in Glasgow, Manchester, London and Nottingham. Tell us more about those.

Yes, we’re very excited for those shows as well. I was able to convince Laz to play a Bubblegum Lemonade set with us in Glasgow, which will be their first show ever, and The Hermit Crabs are playing that show as well so that’s going to be ace. We’ve joined up with Very Truly Yours from Chicago for all the warm-up gigs so it will be great to get to know them a bit. Other shows include Pocketbooks, The Sweet Nothings, and Moustache of Insanity. Seriously, how lucky are we?

Finally, do you embrace Pitchfork’s description of your music as “music to hold hands to” or do you find that unbearable twee?

It’s fine, I understand why it’s easy to label us that way, but I’d like to think the songs are a bit deeper than that. Many of the lyrics actually deal with love from a perspective of insecurity, loneliness, and even bitterness, so I’ve never thought of them as being particularly romantic or sugary. But people are free to call it whatever they want. I just call it pop!

www.mathandphysicsclub.com