Rock isn’t dead — this underdog British band are proof

Once 1 of our top taste exports, British rock bands are facing a superior drought successful the UK charts close present – but that could beryllium astir to change.

The Lottery Winners could beryllium the guitar set to interruption the popular domination and capable that illustration void with their recently announced medium KOKO.

Last twelvemonth they landed a breakthrough number-one medium and are gunning to bash the aforesaid but this clip with the blessing of icons similar Frank Turner, Morrissey, and adjacent Oasis.

‘We’re a large woody now,’ pb vocalist Thom Rylance declares, grinning astatine Metro.co.uk arsenic helium sits unassumingly successful a Wetherspoons successful Wigan for our Zoom call.

The radical has gained truthful overmuch traction, they’ve adjacent been named by immoderate outlets arsenic the underdog Oasis Live ’25 support enactment (an alternate to Blossoms, who coincidentally they person besides worked with).

The Lottery Winners are your favourite band’s favourite set and if you haven’t heard of them yet, you’re decidedly astir to.

Thom and bassist Katie Lloyd confess the attraction is each alternatively overwhelming, particularly from their ain idiosyncratic heroes.

‘I person Noel Gallagher’s number, and Chad Kroeger FaceTimes maine sometimes, and it’s weird,’ laughs Thom successful disbelief.

Success hasn’t happened overnight, though. Word of rima has propelled The Lottery Winners into these circles 16 years into their career.

‘We’ve been doing it a agelong time,’ helium continues. ‘We started disconnected playing pubs successful Leigh [Manchester] to virtually nary 1 and conscionable loved it capable to sacrifice our full societal lives and finances to prosecute euphony arsenic a beingness and arsenic a career.

‘Luckily, it worked retired — we’re successful a bully presumption present wherever it’s working.’

The Lottery Winners — consisting of Thom, Katie, Robert Lally, and Joe Singleton — slogged for implicit a decennary earlier getting signed successful 2020.

Their debut self-titled medium landed astatine fig 23 successful the UK charts, with the way Love Will Keep Us Together climbing to a akin spot connected the singles chart.

It was 3 years aboriginal with the medium Anxiety Replacement Therapy that the set burst into much mainstream success, with the hitmakers calling it a ‘key that opened a door’.

Often the euphony comes from songwriter Thom’s struggles with intelligence wellness and ADHD, with a way connected the caller medium simply titled Panic Attack.

He explains they ‘dressed it [up] with a kids choir and brass, and it’s each summery. There’s a juxtaposition of it being truly melodic and rather bully and uplifting.

‘But if you really peel it backmost a small bit, determination is thing darker. It feels similar what I’ve had to bash for years, which was masking those feelings.’

Returning to his cheeky demeanour, Thom adds that this was ‘very, precise smart’ of his songwriting and should beryllium appreciated arsenic such, overmuch to Katie’s amusement.

She teases that helium has ‘all the ego’ the radical could ever need, particularly acknowledgment to their newfound success.

However, ego is not the defining trait of The Lottery Winners’ music, the indie stone songs are overmuch much honorable and susceptible than Thom’s cheeky persona would suggest.

‘I had to speech astir things that I knew and things that were important to me.’ helium shared. ‘If I tin archer a opus is disingenuous consecutive away, it doesn’t bash thing for me. It conscionable feels empty.’

It was lone successful the past fewer years, since his ADHD diagnosis, that Thom has begun to truly code his intelligence health, having felt similar a ‘broken oregon bad’ idiosyncratic for overmuch of his life.

The Let Me Down vocalist recalled: ‘I got kicked retired of 2 schools, didn’t truly acceptable successful anywhere, and I felt similar the casual things that everybody could do, I conscionable couldn’t. And I knew that I wasn’t stupid.

‘So idiosyncratic said to maine that I mightiness person ADHD, and truthful I did a batch of probe into…’

His wifi chopped retired present and Thom returned with the somewhat baffling connection that ‘lemons descend but lime float’, which helium promised was a ‘sick punchline’ — Katie looked unconvinced.

The Lottery Winners person spent the past twelvemonth touring with the likes of Noel Gallagher, Blossoms, and Nickelback, with Chad Kroeger featured connected KOKO.

He covered assorted Oasis tracks alongside the set during Nickelback’s circuit and has released a mentation of Rockstar with their vocals featured too.

‘This doorway opened,’ explained Thom. ‘Then each these cool, truly celebrated radical were conscionable like, “Hey, travel in, beryllium down. We’ve been waiting for you”. It’s unusual due to the fact that we are astir celebrated radical a batch now, and outwardly enactment precise chill astir it, but wrong conscionable perfectly freaking retired each the time.’

Katie, who lets Thom bash astir of the talking, simply shakes her caput erstwhile asked astir the abrupt dizzying heights the radical has reached.

While they whitethorn person the backing of immoderate large names, The Lottery Winners are inactive ‘nervous’ to merchandise KOKO to the nationalist — contempt Thom ‘nearly leaking it 20 times’.

He confessed: ‘You consciousness really, truly vulnerable. It’s truly scary to enactment thing retired into the world, like, “Look this is simply a portion of maine and I truly anticipation you similar it, and if you don’t, I won’t beryllium bothered but I volition beryllium truly bothered and I’ll beryllium dormant upset astir it.”‘

‘Someone erstwhile called america grin music,’ Katie added. ‘I truly took that [to heart], it was truthful sweet.’

Thom agreed: ‘We’re conscionable mean radical but we’re getting to bash this bonzer thing, and we’re truly grateful for it.’

The Lottery Winners’ caller medium KOKO is retired February 2, 2025, and pb azygous You Again ft Reverand & The Makers’ Jon McClure is retired now.

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