The punk foundations remain wonderfully obvious throughout - somewhere around The Clash, The Ruts, UK Subs and that whole tradition of guitars being used as social commentary rather than interior decoration
When everything is going wrong, forget the police or politicians, what society really needs according to MC16, is the reassuring presence of the milkman. ‘We’re Gonna Need A Milkman‘ is a twelve song follow up to the midlands-based trio’s 2025 debut ‘Machine Code’ and is supposed to be their happier album. Which tells you something about MC16, as it still manages to consider depression, addiction, class prejudice, war, environmental destruction, artificial intelligence and the impending human occupation – and inevitable ruination – of Mars.
Cheer up, lads.
Drummer Duffy says the intention this time was to step away slightly from the overt politics of the first album and make something more personal. “We can actually be happy sometimes”, apparently. Bassist Quinn’s rather more accurate assessment is: “OK, it’s slightly happier then!” And that probably sums up MC16 rather nicely. They’re angry because they care, funny because otherwise you’d probably cry, and smart enough to know that Punk rock doesn’t have to just shout slogans through a megaphone.
Produced once again by Dave Draper, whose CV includes Michael Monroe and The Wildhearts, ‘We’re Gonna Need A Milkman‘ sounds like a band building upon the punch of ‘Machine Code’ rather than trying desperately to reinvent themselves. It’s twelve tracks of wiry, muscular Punk, Post-punk abrasion, and occasional Reggae looseness, with the rhythm section doing plenty of heavy lifting underneath Carson’s guitar and suitably disgruntled vocal.
Opener ‘Standard Class’ gets straight down to business. Already released as the album’s first single, it takes a swipe at a Britain full of creative talent apparently condemned to produce everything as cheaply, safely and generically as possible. Art versus units shifted. Vision versus margin. As the band’s own notes rather magnificently put it: Dunelm sells more art than art galleries. Musically it has the required boot behind it too – a punchy, economical opener that announces there will be no twenty-minute ambient intro while everybody searches for the concept. The song was recorded with Draper at Old Cider Press Studios and the accompanying video features Punk artist Sophie Carabott:
Then comes ‘Cheerful’, which naturally, is about depression. Inspired partly by the public reaction when footballer Stan Collymore spoke about his own mental health struggles, it remembers that particularly British response of essentially saying: “You’ve got money, what have you got to be unhappy about?” The joke of the title quickly disappears and something rather more pointed takes its place.
‘Trooper’ goes deeper still. It’s based on someone known personally to the band: a woman pulled into drugs through an abusive relationship and unable to escape the life surrounding her. Rather than simply document the tragedy, the song attempts to rewrite the ending and give her the fresh start which reality denied her. It could easily become mawkish – but it doesn’t. The fact there’s a real person behind it gives the song weight, as clever tempo changes add to the drama and narrative.
There’s little relief with ‘Help Desk’, a blast of anger, railing against deteriorating mental health and the desperate desire simply to make everything shut up. A huge bass presence underneath clipped, hacked-at guitar gives it the sort of physical shove that stops introspection turning into musical group therapy and makes it personal “This is happening to me”.
And then ‘Rubble Walker’ lands. Beginning with memories of watching the early Covid death toll change from individual human tragedies into another number on the television screen, the song makes the connection with today’s images of people searching shattered buildings in war zones. Yet, rather than turn the song into a predictable rage-fest, they deliberately leave a crack of hope running through it.
Halfway through, not too happy at all, but somebody thankfully opens a window; ‘Last Card’ emerged from MC16’s habit of turning rehearsal sessions into Reggae jams and consequently swings rather than bludgeons. There’s inevitably a whiff of The Clash about it, but they have enough personality of their own for it not to become fancy dress. Its central idea – stop continually trying to reshuffle the hand life dealt you – suits the loose-limbed arrangement perfectly.
One of the album’s sharpest observations and memorable tunes comes with ‘Red Lorry Yellow Lorry’. Not about tongue twisters, but class. Based upon a cleaner, patronised by the people whose houses she has looked after for years, it asks why the job somebody does should instantly decide their place in the social pecking order. She’ll collect prescriptions, check the house while the owners are away and generally making herself indispensable, but when the big summer party arrives, apparently even the postman ranks higher. Overly effected vocals fit a funny song title that deals with a far less amusing reality.
‘Descended From My Victims’ with its deep bass intro turns the attention towards humanity’s relationship with animals and the planet, has great sing-along lyrics -“‘I’m a rat but I haven’t got a place to drown!” ‘That’s Progress’ finally provides an Elvis-inspired interlude that was simply written to make people “wiggle and shake”. Mission accomplished, I’d say.
Then MC16 leave Earth altogether, for another belting track that could well be a future single. ‘Mars’ contains the gag that gives the album its splendid title. Having comprehensively knackered one planet, mankind heads off to another, starts building houses and – obviously – discovers that we’re gonna need a milkman. It’s a very MC16 joke: ridiculous on the surface, but rather less ridiculous when you think about it. The title itself has become a sort of reassuring anti-slogan. Police? Politicians? Technology? Nah. Send for the bloke quietly delivering the semi-skimmed at six in the morning. According to the band, the milkman’s whistle represents the soundtrack of a happy society. “Mars is an opportunity!”
‘My Mind Is Obsolete’ brings us back to AI, imagining technology not simply assisting human thought but overtaking evolution altogether. The band’s notes pitch human perception against machine reassurance: your eyes tell you explosions mean war; the computer tells you they’re merely pretty lights in the sky. It’s absurd, funny and currently real enough to be unsettling. And finally, there’s ‘End On A High’ – MC16 answering accusations that they don’t write happy songs by writing one. Well, sort of, even this optimistic ditty has a sting in the tail…
Across its twelve tracks, ‘We’re Gonna Need A Milkman’ may not radically alter the MC16 formula – and occasionally their desire to make the point absolutely clear can leave little room for ambiguity. But that directness is also part of their appeal. These are songs about recognisable people, recognisable frustrations and a recognisably screwed-up modern Britain, delivered without requiring a postgraduate degree in metaphor to work out what the singer is on about.
The punk foundations remain wonderfully obvious throughout – somewhere around The Clash, The Ruts, UK Subs and that whole tradition of guitars being used as social commentary rather than interior decoration. But MC16 aren’t interested in museum-piece punk. They sound like three blokes looking at now, deciding much of it is bollocks and writing songs accordingly. As they say themselves, music should “challenge, confront, question and entertain”. ‘We’re Gonna Need A Milkman‘ does all four. It’s thoughtful without disappearing up its own backside, angry without becoming exhausting and, at times, genuinely funny.
So, whether MC16 have indeed made their happy album may be up for question, but its dark humour certainly made me happy to listen to it, and God help us when they get miserable again!
‘We’re Gonna Need A Milkman‘ is released by Neverlution Records on 28th August 2026 on CD, LP and download – order your copy HERE
Main Photo Credit: WILL HUTCHINSON
- Standard Class
- Cheerful
- Trooper
- Help Desk
- Rubble Walker
- Last Card
- Red Lorry Yellow Lorry
- Descended From My Victims
- That’s Progress
- Mars
- My Mind Obsolete
- End on A High
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