More about: The Lathums

Two years ago, The Lathums were merely a local name in Wigan, performing in the shrouded backstreet pubs and venues of the city. Today, they’ve had top 10 charting singles to their name, made their debut TV appearance on Later with Jools Holland and are set to tour with huge household names such as Paul Weller and Blossoms very soon. Not to mention, that’s all happened through a global pandemic...

It’s safe to say that The Lathums have reached the point in their careers where they can say “we’ve made it”, yet their rapid rise to the top is only continuing. Last week they announced their biggest headline tour to date set for later this year with huge venues such as Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse, London’s Kentish Town Forum and Glasgow Barrowlands included on the enormous 25-date tour. 

Today, the band release their new single ‘Oh My Love’, a short but sweet upbeat love song paired with gorgeous summery instrumentation. It’s no doubt that the song will make up part of this year's Sound of the Summer tapestry since The Lathums aren’t just a band anymore, they’re on track to becoming a phenomenon. 

Last month, we had the opportunity to speak to the lads in their veiled rehearsal room in Wigan. On arrival, it was clear the four-piece were in great spirits thanks to their continuing success. After taking in the beauty of their celestial creative space full of stunning guitars, pedals, a piano, various other instruments and chalk covered walls - frontman Alex Moore, guitarist Scott Concepcion, bassist Johnny Cunliffe and drummer Ryan Durrans all sat down and gave some insight into their journey. 

Gigwise: Firstly, let’s go back to where it all began. How did it all start?

Johnny: Well, when a mummy and a Daddy love each other very much… oh you mean the band!

Alex: Ha! Well Johnny and Ryan knew each other from when they were kids.

Ryan: Since we were 4! Me and Johnny played in a few school bands at dinner time and stuff, and it continued when we went to college. 

Alex: Did you do owt before it Scott?

Scott: Not really, just played around with my mates a bit. 

Alex: Myself, Scott and Ryan then met when we were at TMP, a music college in Wigan. We realised quickly we had a bit of a musical bond and started the band. We had a couple of different bassists before Johnny.

Johnny: One of them was called Johnny as well!

Alex: Yeah, so we call this one Johnny 2.0! It was Ryan who convinced Johnny 2.0 to come and play with us. 

Johnny: I actually said no a few times. Ryan had to really convince me! When we played our first gig, I’d only had about 2 hours practice and hadn’t played bass in years, so it took some adjusting!

Alex: Ah, those were the days boys! It’s kind of just blossomed from there really, we had about a year of playing the deep dark abysses of Wigan and all of a sudden, we were billed for Kendal Calling and these huge festivals! Although, we played in a few of the nice places in Wigan too.

GW: What was that journey like, from playing locally in Wigan all the way up to receiving huge mainstream attention and playing these huge festivals and gigs?

Johnny: It sort of just fucking happened! 

Alex: I think we got the best of both worlds. We had all the mad pub gigs with our mates there which were so much fun, but not a lot of people know that we were grafting for a few years before it all kicked off. It was gradual for us, and then when people started learning about us, that’s when it hit and became rapid. We kind of prepared for it, but it was still so unexpected. 

Johnny: I think social media played a part too. When we were local, we barely used social media and just played the gigs without much promotion. Then one of our managers called Tyler started promoting us and putting posts of us on which had an effect. He put our video for The Great Escape on YouTube too and it got about a quarter of a million views.

Alex: Then it got took down which was grim!

Ryan: In the times before it when we were just gigging locally, we literally did a gig every single weekend for a full year, just grafting round all these pubs and things.

Johnny: We sometimes even did two in one night pal! 

Alex: What was that time when we did that gig all dressed in suits?

Scott: We did a wedding! 

Alex: That was it! We played a wedding then played another pub gig straight after.

Johnny: We are available for weddings!

GW: The first time I’d ever heard about you was when you first played a gig at Jimmy’s in Manchester back in 2019. Was that around the time it began to all kick off?

Alex: Yeah, that was definitely one of the first steps. 

Ryan: That was one of our first gigs outside of Wigan.

Alex: That was the first time we had complete strangers turning up at our gigs too, and we just thought bloody hell! 

GW: Now you’re where you are, you’ve had attention from these huge names in music such as Paul Weller, Blossoms and Miles Kane and are planning to go on tour with Weller and Blossoms. Were you all fans of those artists before that, and what is it like to have attention from these names?

Ryan: I remember when I told my nan about Paul Weller and she had to sit down! I said I’d get her on the guestlist and she nearly fainted! 

Alex: To be honest, this is all new to me really. I’m a bit of a recluse when it comes to music, I only ever listened to what I listen to which is stuck in the '60s. I’d heard of a lot of these names, but I’d never been very familiar with them at all. But it’s been great to learn about them and meet them. Meeting the Blossoms lads especially, I didn’t really have any expectations about them and they’re all really sound lads. When you think of bands, you get the expectation that they think they’re above people and that, but when we actually meet them, they’re all well sound! 

Ryan: Everyone we’ve met so far has been sound.

Alex: Well… actually… there’s been a few…

Ryan: Okay, well 75% of the people we’ve met have so far!

GW: Following from Alex saying he’s into '60s music, where does the inspiration for the music and lyrics come from? Do you have individual or collective influences?

Ryan: As a four, it does vary across all of us. Elvis for Alex, The Smiths for Scott, Ramones for Johnny and Led Zep for me. They’re our individual favourites anyway!  

Johnny: Then the lyrics are all written by Al. 

Alex: Not quite. Honestly, people expect this mad answer about the lyrics that I sit and read books and poetry and the lyrics come to me in dreams and stuff, but I’m actually not very knowledgeable with stuff like that. They literally just come out of me from nowhere. I do get some inspiration from some things I listen to that might affect the way I write, but I think it’s mostly just a subconscious thing. 

Scott: Same with the music, who knows where it comes from really!

GW: Take us through the whole creative process, from writing a song, recording it and then all the way to release. What’s it like?

Alex: It’s a pretty easy process to be honest. I write a lot on my own to get down the foundations, then I bring the lads into the rehearsal room and build up each instrument from there. We get a few takes recorded, then show it to the record label and management to agree which one is best…

Johnny: We speak with the elders! 

Alex: Yep. Then we can take it into the studio, and it comes to life a lot more. 

Ryan: We’ve started doing demo sessions once a month too which are really helpful with developing ideas. 

Alex: We all contribute too which is good. We’ve developed songs with the foundations of a guitar riff Scott has written. For example, he comes up with chord progressions that inspire my writing to become a lot more complex since he has so many more years of experience with the guitar than me, so he can push me a bit more. It makes me more thoughtful about the writing not just with my lyrics, but also the way the arrangement is structured and things. I like Johnny’s basslines too! I have to say, a lot of songs have been built on Johnny’s basslines with his funk! Ryan’s drums then bring them all to life a lot more, so the writing process is definitely a collaborative thing. 

GW: You’ve got your new single ‘Oh My Love’ coming out, tell us about it. What can we expect?

Alex: It’s a bit of the OG jangly pop from Scott. It’s jangly, summery and a very vibey tune.

Ryan: It’ll put a smile on your face!

Alex: It’s weird though because it’s a song that has deep and thoughtful lyrics, but the music is completely juxtaposed to it. It’s quite different to what we’ve already got out, but we think it’s great! 

GW: What else have you been up to at the moment? I hear you’ve all been in the studio a bit more. 

Ryan: I think we can now safely say that our debut album is done. 

Alex: Without sounding crass or arrogant, I think we’ve recorded an album of the generation. Not just about the fact that these songs are the best thing we’ve ever done, but we’ve really tried to capture the very essence of our journey up to now and how it’s shaped us as people. We want to use our platform to do good too, and people respect our opinion and it’s just amazing to have that. I think the album is testament to that, not only does it sound brilliant, but I also think we’ve created something timeless. 

I think we’ve got a bit of a number one on our hands pal. 

GW: How does it feel to know you’re not just appealing to one demographic?

Alex: It’s what we wanted. It’s what we spoke about at the very start of our journey. We wanted songs that everybody in the world could listen to. One song could really appeal to someone, then another appeal to someone else. But the fact that most people like all of them of all ages feels like a dream come true. That’s what you want as an artist, not just for people to love the music but to also understand it and take away some kind of emotion from the songs.

Ryan: I feel like it’s the emotion that does that more than anything. Everyone can connect to us in a way.

Alex: We’re human beings before we’re musicians, but we’re musicians before we’re entertainers. 

GW: Getting to more serious territory, how’s this damned pandemic affected the band?

Alex: It hasn’t pal. If anything, it’s given us time to reflect and slow things down. When it comes to writing, we’ve got enough material for about four albums now thanks to the pandemic. We’ve also been so lucky with signing to Island Records just before it happened, so we’ve still been able to operate as professionals and we can still work. We appreciate the fact that we’re so lucky for that because not a lot of people in the world can do that at the moment. If anything, we’ve not been hindered at all mate. 

Ryan: It was a bit of a blessing in disguise. 

Alex: We also appreciate that so many people have stuck by us too since everyone will be having their own problems, but we’ve still got our fans and community buying records and just interacting with us. It’s still been tough for us with not being able to play live and tour as that was our livelihood, so we’ve had to adapt and fill that missing void. Thankfully, we’ve done alright with that. We’re just grateful for fans sticking by us most of all, life’s still gonna be there when we get back. 

GW: You also had your first TV appearance on Jools Holland through the pandemic, how was that? 

Alex: That was really cool! It was a shame we couldn’t go to the studio, but I reckon we’ll be back on soon… 

Ryan: Even if we have to beg, we’re determined to get back on there! If you’re seeing this Jools, please have us back!

Alex: But that’s a huge thing for a band to get on there, Jools Holland is a legend!

Ryan: It was a real shame we didn’t get to go to the studio and meet Jools though, but it was still amazing.

Alex: He still said our name on TV, even if he did pronounce it wrong!

GW: Despite still having opportunities to play through all this, do you still miss playing to a full crowd, and how has missing it effected your upcoming bounce back to it? What can we expect when you’re back on tour? 

Alex: Of course we’ve missed them! We’re also really looking forward to how the crowd will bounce back to gigs too. I think we’ll get so much energy from the crowd with them not having anywhere to go for over a year. 

Ryan: It feels great for us to be on stage but being at a gig is really special for people so we’re so excited to just give people that feeling again. They’ve been missing out the most.

GW: So, you’re coming back with a bang?

Scott: Damn right! 

Ryan: Too right yeah! 

Alex: We want to give people something the world hasn’t seen before; we’re really going to go for it. 

See the video for 'Oh my Love' now:

More about: The Lathums