FEATURE: Spotlight: The Lottery Winners

FEATURE:

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: MEN UGC

The Lottery Winners

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I wasn’t sure whether to call them…

‘The Lottery Winners’ or ‘Lottery Winners’ – as they are called either depending on whether one looks at Twitter or Spotify. I will refer to the former. I have been following the Leigh, Greater Manchester band for a while now. Even though they were formed in 2008 by Thom Rylance (vocals/guitar), Robert Lally (guitar/vocals), Katie Lloyd (bass/vocals), and Joe Singleton (drums), I think they are really coming into the spotlight over the past year or so. It seems that they have an important date at The Great Escape Online next month. Some interesting and kick-ass new music is also coming soon. I think the band will reach a lot of new people this year. Their previous studio album, Sounds of Isolation (a collection of cover versions), was released last year. The band put out the Start Again E.P. this year. Not only do I love the songs and the fact the band are always evolving and staying fresh. They put a lot of effort and detail into their cover art and social media channels. They are a group who consider and care about every asset and facet of what they do – one reason why they have a loyal and growing fanbase and are a band who will catch the eye of the wider world very soon! Whilst many artists were struggling to get into 2021 and find any energy – understandable, really! -, The Lottery Winners put out the title track of the Start Again E.P. They recruited a certain Frank Turner for the track:

“January is a time for looking forward as the bleakest year in living memory fades and now, soaring over the mound of broken resolutions, comes hope! Lottery Winners join with the punk-folk hero, Frank Turner in the first big blast of optimistic, fresh air of 2021 with their single, Start Again. A soundtrack for the vaccine-era, of a new US President, light after the dark, rebirth and new beginnings.

Written about leaving the past behind and embracing new beginnings, the luminescent video for the track features Turner appearing as a remote flight commander, guiding the band as astronauts through space. The I Still Believe singer helps the glass-half-full four-piece find their way to a heart-shaped planet filled with sweeter things as their space rocket lurches away from Armageddon on earth.

Lottery Winners and the HAL-esque Turner power away from raging nuclear war, hate and disease to a new planet engineered in plush velvet and filled with Haribo jelly sweets. Clear in their mission, the band returns to earth and distributes the sugary goodness to all, ushering in the new start to life everyone needs right now. A COVID-Lockdown-busting production, almost every shot of the video was filmed in singer-songwriter, Thom Rylance’s garage using tin foil and a whole heap of imagination.

The sun-bringing track bottles a moment of future-facing good feeling in an instant classic, FM-ready pop song. Bubbling up through fertile writing and recording sessions at Giant Wafer Studios in rural mid-Wales, it was the keen ear of producer, Tristan Ivemy heard the Frank Turner-shaped hole in the track. Kept apart by necessity, Turner sent vocals digitally to leapfrog the tedious blockades caused by the fun-strangling virus and became the final, perfect-fitting piece of the jigsaw”.

The Lottery Winners have gigs listed on their official website, so go and see them if you can (though I suspect tickets might all be sold). They are a wonderfully exciting band who have a genuine love for one another. That connection and loyalty has not only resulted in them being as strong as ever after so long; they seem to get better and better! I feel their best days are still ahead. With every new release, they adopt new layers and brilliance.

I will wrap things up in a bit. I wanted to source a couple of interviews that provide more detail and story behind one of the U.K.’s brightest and most hopeful young bands. I forgot to mention that, prior to Sounds of Isolation, they put out their eponymous debut album in 2020. They were Taylor Swift levels of productive last year! It is amazing to think that they got so much done and released such cracking work at a difficult and stressful time. Maybe a lack of gig opportunities attributed to that, though I just feel like they had a lot to say and wanted to get it out there! Even the Stars spoke with the band when The Lottery Winners arrived. I will not quote everything from the interview (as it is a pretty hefty one!). There were a few questions-and-answers that caught my eye:

“So, your debut album is out today. It's ten years since you became a band. How does it feel actually having it in your hands and out in a record shop?

Katie : I cried

Thom : Probably cried, not like a little tear of relief and happiness. She was like snotting and she was on the floor and lots of people had to come and check she was OK.

Rob : St John's Ambulance had to come over

Katie : Me and Joe were talking before and all this work we've been putting in, sat in rehearsal rooms, having arguments, you're in a band..

Thom : What do you mean arguments?

Katie : I mean, we've all been getting on. But to stand here like before, in an actual HMV and to feel like an actual band for the first time, it just made me cry.

It's been a long journey hasn't it?

Thom (interrupts) : It's only down the Lancs isn't it?

Some things haven't changed (everyone laughs). You recorded it with a different label, and then you got the album back and it's come out with Modern Sky. Was there a point where it felt like it was never going to happen?

Thom : Constantly, it was really really hard on our mental health.

Joe : Thom quit the band every day. One day he'd say "I'm quitting" then the next day he'd be "I'm definitely quitting. 100% I'm out of the band"

Do you have favourite songs on the album. Are there any on there have a particular sentiment?

Thom : The album's like an autobiography for me so I can tap into where I was, what the song's about and how I felt at that time. I've got a favourite song for when I'm feeling sad, a favourite song for when I'm feeling happy, when I'm feeling thankful, when I'm driving through Leigh. I like them all, apart from three.

Rob : My favourite changes every single day. Today it's Headlock, but I think they're all crackers.

Joe : I remember more back to when we were in the studio, different parts that took hours and hours to think about

Thom : We started recording it in 2016, that was our first studio session. That's four years ago, we hate it all now, it's well old (everyone laughs)

Katie : My Only Friend and Young Again

Thom : The last two, you've got a long time to wait for yours

Katie : Just because of what we were going through at the time, it was very frustrating, I think those two songs make me want to cry again.

It's taken four years then for the record to come out. What's happened to songwriting in that time, have you now got a big set of new songs ready to go?

Thom : Of course, because throughout all that time when we were frustrated and nothing was coming out, we had all these feelings to write about. We've got albums in the bank now and it's all happened for a reason. We've been working hard all the time. I really feel that if you want to do this, and we do, and all our eggs are in this basket, we've got no plan Bs, then you've just got to do it every day and you've got to live and breathe it, otherwise what's the point? We don't want to do anything else. We live and breathe this every single day and that's the way it should be if you want to be a successful band and hopefully one day we will be successful”.

I will round things off with an interview from RGM. It was quite a fun chat where we learn a few new things about The Lottery Winners:

“I caught you live at Kendal Calling last year, your live shows are so much fun, the energy from the band comes out and you instantly grab the crowd by the bollocks with your whit and storytelling, how organic are those things or are some planned ahead?

Oh god, no, I never have a clue what’s going to happen until it’s happening, sometimes I surprise myself. It’s like it’s not even me up there, it’s someone else. I only ever get to meet him on stages, he’s better than me. I like him. I wish he could be there when I have to get a bus or walk in a pub on my own and it’s scary.

What’s the most fun you have had on stage?

I literally love being on stage for anything at any time. I just love showing off, I always have.

What’s the worst experience you have had on stage?

My full penis fell out once, I felt it on the cold back of my guitar and panicked. I turned around and the drummer at the time got an eyeful. Well, not full.

Tell us something about each member that you think people would be surprised about?

Joe was head boy at school and knows every flag in the world. Rob is really good at football, but in slow motion, it’s like an action replay all the time. Kate used to be a goth and I’ve never even tried a cup of tea or coffee in my life.

While the world goes through difficult times and we all adjust to a different way of living, how are the lottery winners adjusting?

We’re taking some time to process everything that’s happening around and being there for those who need us. We have plans to make an album, and we’re working on pushing LWTV, which I’m excited about. But for now, the priority is staying safe and looking after ourselves and each other.

What would you like to say to your fans at these difficult times?

I’ve seen so many messages and tweets from people that have said our album is helping them get through these grey days. It’s been so touching to think we could have injected even the smallest bit of colour back in. I am so grateful for everybody’s support.

But mainly, wash your hands, stay inside and listen to our record. Love will keep us together.

So once things get back to normal what can we expect to see from the band?

We’ll pick up exactly where we left off. We have a lot of unfinished business”.

Things are looking pretty exciting in The Lottery Winners’ camp right now! Having put out a lot of music last year – plus an E.P. featuring Sleeper, Frank Tuner and The Wonder Stuff -, one could forgive them for resting or taking some time out! A lot of top musicians want to record with The Lottery Winners. The band are establishing themselves as one of this country’s very finest. If you have not followed them on social media and checked out their music, then make sure that…