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This is the second leg of their ‘Keep On Keeping On’ tour, after the release of their album ‘KOKO’. They embarked on the first leg earlier in February, celebrating their new release which grabbed the No. 1 spot on the UK Album Charts.

The Lottery Winners tour dates can be seen below:

NOVEMBER
11 – Edinburgh, La Belle Angele
12 – Newcastle upon Tyne, NX
13 – Halifax, Victoria Theatre
14 – Oxford, O2 Academy Oxford
15 – Llandudno, Venue Cymru – The Arena
18 – Cardiff, Tramshed
19 – Southampton, 1865
20 – Cambridge, Cambridge Junction
21 – Lincoln, Engine Shed
22 – Norwich, Nick Rayns LCR, UEA
25 – Coventry, Empire, Coventry
26 – Frome, Cheese and Grain

As well as their own headline tour, the band are set to support singer Robbie Williams across the UK and Europe this summer. They’re also confirmed to play at several festivals this year, including Bearded Theory, Kendal Calling and Isle Of Wight Festival.

Fans will welcome the news of the group’s touring schedule, being praised by many publications for their performances and branded as the “best live band in the UK” by Metro.

Their latest album, ‘KOKO’, hosts the single ‘Ragdoll’, which features an appearance from Nickleback frontman Chad Kroeger. Other guests on the album include Frank Turner, Shed Seven and Reverend & The Makers.

The new album saw both commercial and critical success, becoming the band’s second No. 1 album after their 2023 release, ‘Anxiety Replacement Therapy’. Clash wrote of the new record: “Arguably one of the finest live bands around today, Lottery Winners’ latest studio outing finds them on a simple but noble mission in these doom-filled and anxiety-ridden times – to spread a little positivity.”

Speaking on their second successful chart-topper to the NME, the group said: “‘KOKO’ is the UK’s Official Number 1 album! It’s been a lot of work, but this makes it all worth it. It’s such a whirlwind of emotions. We’re so grateful to everybody to be supporting us and the album.

“Go back in time and tell 12-year-old us that we’d have two Number One albums, it’s amazing. This is for grassroots music. This is for the working class. This is for Leigh. This is for anybody who has a dream – go out there and get it. Make it happen!”

The Lottery Winners UK tour tickets will go on sale on Friday (May 2) at 10am. Details can be found here.

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Taking place on Monday, 31 March, at Stockport Plaza, the concert will feature performances from a mixture of Manchester icons, past and present. Special guests include Peter Hook, bassist of Joy Division and New Order, Clint Boon of Inspiral Carpets, and Andy Couzens, one of the founding members of the Stone Roses. The venue has a capacity of just over 1300 seats, and with only 163 tickets remaining at the time of writing, fans must act quickly to secure a place.

Founded in 1968 by Peter Tattersall, Strawberry Studios began life as a modest space above a shop in the centre of Stockport, lined with egg cartons as DIY soundproofing. Eric Stewart, then of The Mindbenders, quickly became involved in the project, naming the studio after his favourite Beatles song, ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’. The studio would be pivotal in the formation of 10cc, bringing together all of the founding members and becoming their home studio.

Tattersall shared his vision  for the studio in a Daily Mail article in 1968, telling the newspaper: “We hope to make the studios into another Memphis, a small place that has built up its own sound in America and is attracting artists away from the big studios in New York and Los Angeles.” Future 10cc member Graham Gouldman joined as an investor within months, and shared his wish for the Beatles to record there one day. Paul McCartney would use the studio to record the debut solo album for his brother, Mike McGear, in 1972.  

The ‘Strawberry Studios Forever’ event on Monday night will feature a variety of performers, including The Lottery Winners, who are set to perform The Smiths’ classics ‘Hand in Glove’ and ‘This Charming Man’. The evening will end with Peter Hook performing ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ by Joy Division, and ‘Ceremony’ by New Order.  

Along with the event, The Stockport Music Story has also issued a vinyl release, also named ‘Strawberry Studios Forever’. The 11-track record features covers of songs originally recorded at the studio, and has been mastered in nearby Bredbury by Jim Spencer, known for his work with Johnny Marr, The Charlatans, and Black Grape. Like the live show, it  features a mixture of established artists and emerging talents.

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 Reflecting on the legacy of the studio, The Stockport Music Story’s John Barratt, who organised the events, said: “The legacy of Strawberry Studios is so important not just locally but internationally. Peter Tattersall’s vision helped put Stockport on the global musical map, nurturing bands like Joy Division, New Order, and The Smiths.”

Fusing nostalgia, history, and emerging local artists, the event is a must-see for music fans in and around Stockport. It celebrates an often overlooked part of music history, though without it, the face of music today would be unrecognisable. Tickets for the event can be found here.

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Lead singer Thom shared in an interview with Contactmusic.com: “We’re working on ideas with him. We’ve been sending over little ideas to each other and putting them together. And he’s a great writer. He’s so good, he’s so witty, and his lyrics are great and his melodies are great. So I just keep sending bits of music, he keeps sending bits back, and before we know it, we’re going to have a summer hit with Robbie Williams. I’ll just literally tell him my every thought, and he kind of tells me his, and we just try and make each other laugh. He’s become almost my therapist, which is so weird, like, ‘Robbie Williams is my therapist.’ ”

The Greater Manchester band is set to release their new album this Friday March 21, an album on which they have collaborated with artists such as Reverend and the Makers, Shed Seven, and Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger.

The lead singer shared some more about his experience working with the Nickelback frontman: “It was weird because I had to find our middle ground, I had to find the Venn diagram of Nickelback and Lottery Winners and then write a song that fit directly in the middle there. And luckily, I am a genius, so I managed to do it very easily [laughs]. But then when Chad came into the room and and put and put his parts on it, man, it just came alive!”

The band formed in Leigh back in 2008 and were discovered by music mogul Seymour Stein in 2019. Their third studio album ‘Anxiety Replacement Therapy’  saw them collaborating with Frank Turner, Shaun Ryder and Boy George and was placed number 1 in the Official UK album chart.

The group, known for their vibrant blend of indie pop and alternative rock, will launch their tour on February 20 in Bristol, with dates running until March 1. The tour includes a prominent stop at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, one of the band’s biggest venues to date. Other cities on the schedule include Bournemouth and Birmingham, underscoring the group’s steady rise in popularity.

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These dates follow a high-profile conclusion to 2024 for the band, which includes a three-night residency at Manchester Academy on December 27, 28, and 29. The shows will set the stage for their busy 2025 itinerary, with the band also confirmed as part of the line-up for the Isle of Wight Festival. They are expected to feature at numerous UK festivals throughout the year, although additional appearances are yet to be confirmed.

Lottery Winners will also be supporting fellow UK indie acts Jamie Webster and Blossoms on selected dates across Australia, Europe, and the UK. This series of support slots will precede their own headline tour, ensuring that the first quarter of 2025 will be an active period for the band, both domestically and internationally.

 

 

 

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In their announcement of the tour, made via social media on October 7, the band expressed excitement tinged with nervousness about playing what they called their “biggest ever venues.”

The new album Koko marks a follow-up to their previous release, Anxiety Replacement Therapy (2023), which was widely praised for its collaborations with high-profile figures like Shaun Ryder, Boy George, and Frank Turner. The album helped solidify the band’s reputation as one of the most versatile acts in the UK indie scene, combining upbeat melodies with reflective, occasionally melancholic lyrics. NME hailed the album as “a rich and varied record that shows Lottery Winners are unafraid to take creative risks and succeed at every turn.”

Formed in Leigh, Greater Manchester, Lottery Winners have slowly built a reputation as a hard-working band with a loyal fan base. They began playing small venues in the North of England before gradually moving to larger stages, supported by a string of well-received releases. Their self-titled debut album in 2020 was a breakthrough, but it was Anxiety Replacement Therapy that brought them wider recognition. Their collaborations with Ryder and Turner added credibility to their status as an act capable of outstripping indie-pop conventions while maintaining an approachable, often playful sound.

Pre-orders for Koko are currently available through the band’s official store, with a presale for tour tickets accessible to fans who secure the album in advance. General ticket sales will begin on October 11, 2024.

We come across such an artistic crossing of paths after The Lottery Winners spent a good effort trying to catch his attention. After 55 tweets, the 61 year old icon gave them a chance, and decided to give the song a listen, which led to him vocally contributing to the track.

Rylance, the frontman of the band, held his persistence in trying to work with George after researching how a pop song should be written to be considered a classic. Having listened to many of the pop artist’s songs for inspiration he came to the realisation that his creation of “Let Me Down” had been written to be sung by no other vocalist other than the man himself. Which he heroically achieved.

The single has been released, previously, as part of their upcoming album Anxiety Replacement Therapy due to be dropped on the 28th April this year (2023). They’ve also released two other singles of the album, the opening song “Worry” and “Money” featuring the Happy Mondays lead singer Shaun Ryder.

Rylance describes the song as such: “The song has a light and sunny ‘80s feel, with a lot of the same colours as other Boy George songs.” The album is to be received as the reflection of a year in the writer’s life. A typhoon of his mental health struggles and how he dealt with it. He shares his concern for others in similar situations and wants listeners to use it as a self-help tape.

The single comes hand in hand with a music video, which is supposed to pay homage to to George’s legacy of equality and paving a way for the younger generation of artists.  It showcases a young boy sadly getting home from school who turns on the television and gets inspired by the band and Boy George’s fexpressive freedom.

They have also just announced a UK tour set to start next month. Kicking off o the 4th April in Sheffield they will make their way through the country, with a couple of cheeky gigs out in the Netherlands and Amsterdam, until the 19th August finishing in Cornwall.

Get your tickets here.

UK Tour dates:

04/04/2023 – Leadmill – Sheffield
12/04 – O2 Academy 2 – Liverpool
13/04 – Epic Studios – Norwich
14/04 – Bullingdon – Oxford
15/04 – Clwb Ifor Bach – Cardiff
16/04 – Corn Exchange – Hertford
18/04 – Mama Roux – Birmingham
19/04 – Room 2 – Glasgow
20/04 – Brudenell – Leeds
21/04 – Empire – Middlesborough
22 /04 – Parr Hall – Warrington
23 /04 – Rescue Rooms – Nottingham
25/04 – Phoenix – Exeter
26/04 – Thekla -Bristol
27/04 – Patterns – Brighton
28 /04 – Engine Rooms – Southampton
29/04 – Lafayette – London
02/05 – Sugarmill – Stoke
03/05 – Docks Academy – Grimsby
27/05 – The Park Festival – Leeds
28/05 – Neighbourhood Festival – Manchester
15/06 – Isle of Wight Festival – Isle Of White
12/08 – Boardmasters Festival – Cornwall
19/08 – This Feeling By The Sea Festival – Bridlington