Artist: Fightmilk
Title: That Thing You Did
Format: digital single
Cat#: Fika104SG3
Release date: 17th September 2024
Bandcamp | Spotify
Hot on the heels of announcing their third album, DIY power pop quartet Fightmilk are unleashing its third single, “That Thing You Did” on 17th September 2024..
The track sees Fightmilk return to their vicious and riff-heavy best, as singer and lyricist Lily Rae explores trying (and failing) to forgive someone after a bad relationship.
Rae explains that the song’s origins came from one of the band’s regular discussions about cover versions. “That Thing You Did started with the title. Alex wanted us to cover That Thing You Do for a show, and I liked how putting it in the past tense made it sound so much more ominous and vengeful. So I wrote the song from the viewpoint of somebody who’s just trying to move on from a bad relationship, but the ‘souvenirs’ in this case just won’t leave. As we were writing it, the meaning started oozing out without realising.”
“It’s about refusing to forgive somebody.” Lily adds. “Just because somebody says sorry, it doesn’t mean you have to accept it.”
Talking about the song’s creation, guitarist Alex Wisgard says: “We kept banging our heads against That Thing You Did for about eighteen months, because we were trying to be too clever about it - we’ve lost a lot of good songs that way, but we all had faith in this one. The version you hear was maybe the fifth or sixth time we’d played it, recorded about half an hour after we nailed the arrangement. Lily came back with a whole new chorus the next day, and that was that - the only time we’ve ever finished a song in the studio. And I still want to cover That Thing You Do.”
The track is taken from the band's upcoming third album No Souvenirs, A riotous combination of riffage, pop hooks, angst, heartfelt emotions, wit, and wisdom crashed out with infectious, gleeful abandon, the new album will be released on 15th November 2024 via Fika Recordings (Mammoth Penguins, Fortitude Valley) and new kids on the block INH Records.
Three years in the making, the 12-track album is preceded by third single ‘That Thing You Did’, released 17th September 2024, with the album also available to pre-order now.
Following swiftly on from the success of the album’s well-received first two singles ‘Summer Bodies’ and ‘No Souvenirs’, which explored issues of body imagine and death respectively, Fightmilk are increasing the tempo as they build toward the album release which is to be marked with a headline show at London’s Paper Dress Vintage on 15th November 2024 with a full tour to follow.
Having relished in the visceral pleasure of playing together and live on stage again post Covid, the band’s new sound reflects that joy, the abandonment in doing what you love and the catharsis of doing so. Moving on with their third album and embarking on a more intuitive and collaborative style of writing, the band have embraced their influences and gone with their instincts.
The new single demonstrates how well they have achieved those ambitions, and how making a screaming racket in front of people can be both elemental and fun, sensitive and muscular within the span of moments.
“As a songwriter, I’ve disciplined myself to keep to ‘first thought best thought’ more, and not overwork lyrics and melodies into the ground,” says Lily of the new approach. “We’re more secure in keeping weird shit in and not adding or cutting things because it feels like we’re supposed to.”
New single ‘That Thing You Did’ is released 17th September 2024 via Fika Recordings/INH Records
Fightmilk is Lily, Alex, Healey and Nick - a London-based four-piece who write sweaty, loud, shouty pop songs. Formed in the beer gardens of South London in 2015, the band quickly drew attention with their debut album Not With That Attitude (Reckless Yes, 2018) - singled out by Drowned In Sound for its “package of massive, Godzilla-heft hooks” and “crack–like melodies.” Gaining support from 6Music and Radio X, the band swiftly hopped in the van to play shows with the likes of Art Brut, Desperate Journalist and Nova Twins, as well as touring Germany.
Not letting a seismic global clusterfuck stand in their way, the band released their second LP Contender in 2021 via Reckless Yes. Described as “a joyous riot from start to finish” by Kerrang, it was an album with something to prove, adding stacked harmonies, analog drum machines and even heftier riffs to the band’s arsenal, while still remaining decidedly true to the band’s spiky indiepop sound. As soon as they were released from lockdown they began a near relentless gigging schedule, taking in multiple trips around the UK, support slots with Johnny Foreigner, mclusky and Problem Patterns, plus a sold-out 2022 headline slot at Norway’s Indiefjord Festival, where a sweat-soaked Fightmilk crowdsurfed their way offstage at midnight only to find it was still light outside.
The band’s eighth year in action has seen them writing and recording their third album, to be released in late 2024 on Fika Recordings & INH Records. Fightmilk have turned the distortion up and the indiepop down with rougher and rawer songs about body image, death, and being fired from bridesmaid duty.
Live Dates:
15.11.24 - London - Paper Dress Vintage (album release show)
16.11.24 - Cambridge - Indie Pop All Dayer
27.11.24 - Sheffield - Sydney & Matilda (with Slash Fiction)
28.11.24 - Glasgow - Stereo (supporting Slime City)
New album ‘No Souvenirs’ will be released 15th November 2024 via Fika Recordings/INH Records