Telling Truths, Breaking Ties, the debut album by London band Millie Manders And The Shutup – who are due to play The Moon in Cardiff next Thursday – feels a bit like a record No Doubt might have made if they’d started in the era of Paramore rather than late 80s Californian punk. Large radio-pop hooks, larger choruses and relatable lyrics about relationship drama and fluctuating mental health are joined by party-soundtrack horn parts and upbeat ska rhythms.
A more polished production than their previous EPs, which date back to 2015, Telling Truths… was released last autumn and is finally to be performed in the environment where the band made their name. Accruing word-of-mouth popularity on the UK’s ska-punk scene, as well as being a fixture at Blackpool’s gumby punk weekender Rebellion, as well as the previously mentioned sounds the quintet throw in hip-hop and metal influences, notably on politicised songs Poor Man’s Show and Panic. Milly Manders And The Shutup’s lengthy pre-Christmas tour – including this Cardiff stop off – precedes a 2022 cross-European run supporting Floridian ska-punk veterans Less Than Jake.
words NOEL GARDNER
See Millie Manders And The Shutup live
The Moon, Cardiff, Thurs 18 Nov