Source: Promo/ Tom Falcone
With new pop punk bands popping up left and right, it can be quite hard to keep up sometimes. Recently signed to Fearless Records, young North West band Milestones are one of the few UK bands trickling the predominantly American roster.
With one debut EP Equal Measures under their belt, the quintet are already hard at work for their forthcoming debut full-length. Having caught our attention with the undeniably catchy EP, we thought it was only right to catch the band when they recently hit Camden’s Dingwalls with Hawthorne Heights.
Milestones have basically spent their entire summer out on tour and it shows, as they comfortably tackle the venue’s half-filled room. Clearly having no trouble performing to people who weren’t familiar with their music, the band seem to understand they have quite a journey ahead of trying to win people over. Evidently, they’ve already won a few hearts in their few short years as a band.
With a rather limited back catalog, the night’s set list boasted the entirety of Equal Measures; a true treat to fans of the EP who don’t have to worry about their favourite track not being played. From upbeat, hook-centric ‘Call Me Disaster’, to the heavier title track, to the soothing opening to ‘Shot In The Dark’; Milestones offer more than just the same 5 generic tracks.
While the crowd at a Hawthorne Heights gig is not necessarily the pop punk target group the band would be more suited to, as the night progressed the crowd surrounding the lower level stage got bigger with more and more people showing interest. Vocalist Matt Clarke is a great frontman in the making, never shying away from crowd interaction and encouraging fans to jump along with him, even when there isn’t full reaction from the entire room.
Pop punk is best served with catchy hooks, an excess of singalong opportunities and bursting live energy. Seeing as Milestones have got all those boxes in check, they’re definitely ones to watch in the next year or so.
