Hot Milk x Slam Dunk: “We imagined ourselves playing in front of these crowds at festivals like Slam Dunk…”

It’s hard to believe that, this weekend, festival season in the UK will have kicked off as tens of thousands of music lovers across the UK head to one of their first festivals of the Summer.

A busy calendar kicks off in style this weekend with one of the highlights of the May Bank Holiday weekend being the return of hugely popular UK alt rock festival Slam Dunk Festival. Setting up camp in Hatfield and Leeds, the staple of the UK festival calendar will see Mancunian favourites Hot Milk headlining the Kerrang! Stage for their first ever Slam Dunk Festival headline set.

In our latest Cover Story, V13 sat down with the alt-rockers to get their favourite festival stories and, having worked their way up through the ranks, what the Slam Dunk crowd can expect from their first headline set at the festival.

Let’s talk about Slam Dunk…

“Slam Dunk was the first festival we ever played. The first festival we ever played was Slam Dunk actually…”

Let’s go right back. Do you remember your first festival as a music fan?

“Absolutely… Leeds Festival when we were 15. Got an Early Bird ticket to go on Wednesday and came back absolutely disheveled on the Monday morning. I went before phones so you took a 3310 and you turned it off and you put it under your pillow and you collected cups for money.”

Looking forward a couple of weeks, you’re one of the headliners at Slam Dunk 2025. Was that ever on your bucket list when you started the band?

“We even said in the first year of our band that we’re going to headline a festival because you just say stupid things, don’t you? You hope that you can manifest them into reality. We thought if we’re arrogant, even though we’re not as people, it stirs people’s emotions.

We’ve always been quite purposely antagonizing like that just because it’s funny. We’ve been going since Slam Dunk was in Leeds City Centre. Getting the train across from Manchester so it does feel like it’s our home. It’s our core fanbase.

Slam Dunk been a big supporter of our since day one as well. Ben Ray, the promoter, is a really good friend of ours. We’ve done a lot of things with Ben all over the world. Lots of hotel rooms until early hours of the morning. Slam Dunk has a family vibe. You turn up and you see people who we’ve known for ten years. It’s just all the people you know and it feels like coming home.

It’s a nice one to get because we’re about to head off for six weeks so that, for us, is gonna be like a big party where we get to see our partners for the first time in six weeks. We get to see all our friends come in. It’s gonna be like a nice little homecoming.”

V13 Cover Story #92 – Slam Dunk x Hot Milk

In terms of festivals, what’s the difference between playing a festival set and your own headline shows?

“I think the line is getting a bit thinner now. The headline shows are quite small whereas, at the festivals, we’ve been really lucky to have pretty sizable crowds from the day and it has always been like chaotic. I’m definitely drunker at festival shows but, I think now we’re playing later as well, I’m having to pace myself.

I think with headline shows and festival shows there’s not really much difference now because we just tend to play the same show no matter the crowd. We tend to make everybody feel like it’s a really small gig, no matter how many people we play to. I want people to feel something whether that’s rage or hatred towards us, that’s fine too. We just want them to feel like they’re in a sweaty gig.

We’ve always reveled in festivals. It’s our favorite shows to play. The headline shows are obviously insane because it’s all your own crowd, but there’s something to be said for playing outdoors in the rain or shine. It’s always a good laugh. Here’s the thing as well. We invented the festival in this country, so we do it best and we are children of the festival. That’s where we found our love for live music. In the mud at Leeds Festival. It’s our bread and butter and we know what to do there because we’ve been to enough of them.”

“Slam Dunk has a family vibe. You turn up and you see people who we’ve known for ten years. It’s just all the people you know and it feels like coming home.”

As a band who have been an up and coming band, now six or seven years later you are headlining, what advice would you give a band that is in that position now where you were in 2019?

“I think have unadulterated confidence. As a person I’m not that confident, but I feel like, as soon as you get on the stage, it’s your stage. Do not be afraid. Just go out and be your most organic in-your-face self. Also hone your craft outside of the gig itself. I think we spend a lot of time working on our set. We are always working, adding stuff to make it better. You’re never finished. You’re never the finished article. You always have to grow it. We aim quite high. We hold ourselves to really high standards. We always want to improve, improve, improve.”

You said festivals are your favorite kind of gigs. What are the best and worst things about doing festivals as a band?

“The higher up you get, the more you’ve gotta pace yourself. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. There’s the logistical challenges of quick changeovers, and it gets more expensive the higher up you get because you’ve suddenly gotta pay for an LD, you’ve got pay for guitar production and you’re like, ‘Fucking hell, I’m walking home with ten pounds here!’ There’s a lot more to do and, because we’re still so hands on with it, we’re doing the budget still, we’re still having to manage it a little bit on the day.

A lot of bands take the the hands off the wheel and let other people do it for them but I don’t think we can do that. I don’t think it’s in our nature to be like that so it’s definitely got more stressful as we’ve gone on, but I think the show makes it all worth it. There’s a lot more bands on these festivals so, more often than not, it’ll be mates or future mates that are there. We love chatting to new people so it’s a great place for us to say, ‘Hello, what’s your name?.’”

With Slam Dunk, you’ve already said it’s your crowd but, in terms of bands, there must be a lot of bands you’ve have crossed paths with over the years…

“We’re music lovers as well. We spend a lot of the time at the festivals going and watching other bands or artists it’s what we love to do.”

What do you remember about the first time you played Slam Dunk?

“I remember being so nervous the first time we played Slam Dunk that I hid the van until the last minute. I think I was sick. I just remember being shocked that people were there. I remember thinking, ‘Why do these people care?’ I definitely cried. I remember going out and being teary-eyed.”

Was it one of those moments where you felt like we’ve achieved it?

“I think so because, when we were at Leeds/Reading, Slam Dunk or whatever festival, we never said it, but we imagined ourselves on these stages playing in front of these crowds at festivals like Slam Dunk. ‘Will that ever happen? Probably not.’ Then to go and actually do it and get the response that I think we both kind of dreamt of it’s very startling because you realise you can think of something and it can come true. Did I do that? Did I think that into reality? Oh shit. What else can I think into reality? It’s nice.”

Hot Milk © Greta Kalva

For a band like Hot Milk, what makes Slam Dunk such a special festival?

“Slam Dunk is the backbone of the UK rock scene. I think without that festival we wouldn’t have a lot of the bands that we have in the UK. I think it’s incredibly important. It brings over a lot of US bands as well, European, Australian bands. It’s a gateway. The flagbearer. It’s important for the scene.

It is literally the starting point for a lot of bands like us, Holding Absence, Wargasm, all those bands that are our peers and our friends, we all owe Slam Dunk a lot. You can show that you can not only play those shows, but make them happen which is a feat in itself to be able to perform on those stages and make them happen and sound good.”

What’s your routine on festival day?

“Because I’m nervous a lot, I try to eat as early as possible because if I don’t eat anything then I just get really like lightheaded, dizzy, and no energy.

I think looking after yourself is really important – trying to load ourselves up and look after ourselves as performers, because, firstly, we are our own techs so trying to make sure that everything is there ready for the show then you can get into the zone.

In the last few years we’ve moved from stage openers. We’ve done Download where it was wake up in the morning, try warm up as quickly as possible and then get on stage. Whereas now it’s moving from that to we’re closing the stage. What will be interesting is, because we’re a lot smaller in America, we’re now opening festivals over there so this Summer we’re going to have to do the dichotomy of opening again but closing them in the UK. That’s gonna be a really interesting balance.”

“Slam Dunk is the backbone of the UK rock scene. I think without that festival we wouldn’t have a lot of the bands that we have in the UK.”

What are you expecting from American festivals?

“In America every regional crowd is different. Different crowds to Australian crowds to Japanese crowds. We’re a bit unsure of how Americans are going be at festivals. We do really well on the East Coast. Boston and New York and Philadelphia have always been really good. We’ve done a headline tour out there before and they were really good shows and then get further to somewhere, like LA, they’re a bit different. We’ll see what happens with them. I think, as long as they do what I say, then it’ll be fine. We’re gonna treat it the same as every other festival. Probably just go more Manc to be honest.”

Before you going out on stage, will there be any pre-show rituals?

“We always sing a song about Wigan actually. We’ve got an affinity to Wigan. We have this obsession with Wigan. I’ve not got my top with me but recently in a charity shop, I found this Harrington jacket from the Seventies and it had like Wigan Casino patches on it from 1971 to 74, Northern Soul Nights and I bought it for ten pounds. It’s the best thing I’ve ever bought.

The day is normally quite chaotic. We try and get together for half an hour before the show, have some drinks, blast some tunes. We actually played our first sober show the other night… we tend to have a couple of drinks just to loosen up a little bit. It depends on the day. It depends how we’re feeling. It ebbs and flows. How tired is everybody?”

You’ve talked about Slam Dunk being your crowd and you’ve talked about your peers playing and friends that you know. Are there any special memories from Slam Dunk that really stick out for you?

“First thing I got comes to mind is my mate Charlie being sick all afternoon and I had to look after him and miss loads of bands. Special memories? I just love that feeling when it starts going from like light to dark, the dusk starts to happen… that is always a peaceful, reflective time. I love that. That feeling of an English summer and it just feels like that’s what you’re gonna think of before you die.

Slam Dunk is also the first festival of the year as well so it really sets the tone for the Summer and it’s the starting point of everyone coming together after a year away because you have festival friends that you only see once a year so you catch up with everybody. It is a sense of community, which is so important I think, especially in the year of 2025. Disconnection.”

“I just love that feeling when it starts going from like light to dark, the dusk starts to happen… that is always a peaceful, reflective time…”

For somebody attending Slam Dunk for the first time as a fan or even as a band, what advice would you give?

“Get there early to make sure you don’t get stuck in the car park queue. I think I would say it’s a marathon, not a sprint. I would say that it can be quite deceiving how big the site is now.

Don’t be worried to make friends as well because everyone who comes to that festival is super open and friendly. We’ve met people who we have gone on to see every single year. It’s a lovely community.

Make sure you have something to eat. Make sure you pace yourself. Watch the sun because when it’s out it can hit you hard!”

What are you expecting from your first Slam Dunk headline set?

“We’re clashing with A Day To Remember. I’m not sure. I honestly, I’m open-minded about it. I’m not gonna have expectations but I know our people will come through for us. I don’t know how big the crowd will be because of that clash as we’re also clashing with Alkaline Trio, which I’m a bit annoyed about. It’s a hard slot for us we’ll see what happens.

No matter who’s there, we’re just gonna give it our all as we usually do. I know that we’ll play well. I’m going with the an open mind and just the idea that we’re all gonna have a good time.”

Any message for your fans coming to Slam Dunk this weekend?

“They know what to do. They don’t need us to tell ’em. They know what to do. They know when to open up that pit and when to go crazy and when to cry. We trust them and they trust us. We have a great symbiotic relationship and we’ll have a great day no matter what.”

Hot Milk headline the Kerrang! Stage (8.50pm) at Slam Dunk Festival this weekend. The band release their new album, Corporation P.O.P. on June 27th, 2025 and you can pre-order your copy here.

If you’re heading to Slam Dunk North or South this weekend, make sure to check out our 13 Bands to Watch at Slam Dunk and, for more information head over to the Official Slam Dunk Festival Website.

Slam Dunk 2025 Poster