Interview
Interview
Stage Times: The Lathums
From hen dos to a homecoming headliner at Robin Park Arena, The Lathums’ Ryan Durrans walks us through his most memorable onstage moments
Hanging out with musical heroes backstage and seeing countless strangers sing every word of your songs back to you, one of the biggest challenges for any swiftly rising band is remaining grounded.
Overcoming the dreaded sophomore slump on 2023’s From Nothing To A Little Bit More to score their second consecutive No.1 album, The Lathums have certainly earned their bragging rights. Sharing stages with the likes of The Killers and Kasabian, the Wigan four-piece have accomplished more in the last five years than most bands manage in a lifetime but on album three they’re going back to where it all started, working with old college tutor John Kettle to distil their sound down to its purest form.
“The first few songs we did as The Lathums – including ‘Artificial Screens’, ‘This Place O’ Yours’, ‘The Great Escape’ and ‘Villainous Victorian’ – were all recorded with John for 100 pounds each,” drummer Ryan Durrans recalls.
“It was an absolute honour to have him back for this because he’s been such a great help to us over the years. He brings out the best in us, and after knowing him for eight years, we’re comfortable with him. He understands us as musicians, and he’s seen us grow into what we are now. Rather than meeting up with a big shot producer and feeling nervous as you look at all the gold records behind them, it was just like having our mate there every day. It was the perfect way to make an album.”
An organic recording process resulting in their most reflective album to date, Matter Does Not Define feels like coming full circle for Durrans and his bandmates. Free to make music without any constraints, with no pressure to cater to the demands of anyone outside of their core unit, its twelve tracks are the realest representation of their creative vision to date.
“We never set out to make a certain kind of album, we just provide whatever each song needs,” Durrans nods.
“We had so many songs going into this, and it was hard to choose just twelve. The decision came down to, ‘How good will this sound live?’ We thought about the energy each song would have during our show, and I think that shows when you hear the likes of ‘No Direction’. It’s an album with the live show right at its centre.”
Their focus firmly fixed on delivering the best shows they’re capable of, The Lathums will bring the explosive energy of Matter Does Not Define to UK stages this March. Soon see to play some of their biggest headliners yet – including festival sets at Neighbourhood Weekender, Isle of Wight and TRNSMT – we sat down with Durrans to reflect on the shows that got the band to this point, from cutting their teeth in local bars to making their Glastonbury debut.
The gig that made you want to play music
I actually only went to my first gig when I was 16 or 17 years old, so I was a late bloomer, but it was the Pixies in Manchester. It was a hell of a first gig, but I’d loved music all the way through my childhood. My mum and dad had great music taste, so they got me into what I’m into now. I was always in trouble for tapping on tables, slapping my knees, and banging on pots and pans, but they refused to get me my first drum kit until I was 12 years old. I had an interest in music throughout my whole entire life, but it was only when I met the other lads in college that I thought I could actually be in a band. I’d played for fun with mates before, but it was nothing serious. When I met these lads at college though, and we created something that wasn’t just a cover… That was the moment where I thought, ‘Yeah, I’ll have a go at this’.
The first
The first show that The Lathums played was a hen do, and it was on the way to that hen do that we got our name. It was in a little town called Lathom in Ormskirk, near Wigan. One thing led to another, we adopted it for the day, and unfortunately it stuck.
How did you wind up playing the hen do?
It gets even weirder, because we got the gig through college. I think they came there thinking that it was a good place to look for a band to play, and we got put forward. We did two 45-minute sets, and I think we played ‘Artificial Screens’ there as our only original song. It didn’t get a great response, which wasn’t surprising as it was the first time it had been heard outside of a rehearsal room, but the covers went down well!
The smallest
See, that hen do show was actually pretty good, because the crowd had no choice but to be there. There were at least 30 people at that one, but in the months following that when we started doing our own gigs… Let’s just say the attendance was poor. It soon grew, but the first couple of weeks of playing shows it was just to family and friends. There were a few shows where we pretty much played to no one, but you can’t let that get to you. You’ve got to keep going, and we did. Eventually, the pubs started packing out, and then we got onto playing real venues. It’s hard to say for sure, but I think the lowest number of people we’ve played to was around seven.
The biggest
Our biggest headline show ever was the Wigan show we played last year at Robin Park Arena. It was absolutely amazing for it to be in our hometown, and there were so many familiar faces as it was just ten minutes from my house. It was mind blowing, but the biggest crowd we’ve ever played to was at Glastonbury. We had a huge crowd on The Other Stage, and it was also on telly… What better audience is there?
Coming back to that Wigan headline show, it must be pretty special to know how much your hometown has embraced what you’re doing…
It is, because we don’t have the biggest music scene. We’ve had a few artists come out of Wigan like Richard Ashcroft, but it’s not a huge music town. It’s not like we’re doing this in an attempt to make everything happen in Wigan though, we just don’t feel the need to leave. We don’t feel the need to live in London or LA, and we couldn’t afford it anyway! We’ve got everything we need here, and if us being here puts Wigan on the map a bit more and helps the community, then we’re all for it. We’re here to stay.
The weirdest
It’s hard to think of one specific show, but the most surreal shows for me all happened when we went to America. It’s a different world over there, and the whole experience was weird, but so fun. It’s a strange old place.
Even without getting into the differences in culture, it’s bloody massive compared to the UK. Being used to driving a few hours between cities, how did you find that?
It’s just crazy. We drove from Philadelphia to Texas, and it was something like 18 hours. I remember us all sitting there and thinking, ‘Why didn’t we fly?’ We did one show and then had two days of travelling. It’s something like six hours maximum to go from the top to the bottom of England, and that’s like driving across one state over there. It’s mind-blowing, and I couldn’t get used to it. You do see some sights on those long drives though!
The worst
There aren’t many, which is a good thing. There was one time during the early years of the band though when we were supporting Gerry Cinnamon. We were playing Brixton Academy, and it was full to the rafters. Everyone was in the venue, and we were playing ‘I Know That Much’. One of us, probably me, went wrong and it completely threw us off. For the rest of the song, which was at least a minute of it, we were all playing different parts at different times. I’m sure it was at the same show where another bad thing happened too. We were playing ‘The Great Escape’, and back in the day we played along to a click in our in-ears. The click was run from our tour manager’s phone, and he got a phone call. All we could hear was his ringtone whilst we were trying to play to a packed-out venue, and it was awful. He didn’t notice, and he was stood watching the gig oblivious. We were trying to play the song whilst having Apple’s default ringtone blaring into our ears. I just wanted the ground to swallow me up.
The best
The Robin Park show is definitely up there, but there’s always been one gig that’s stood out to me. That one is the Roundhouse in London, which we played on a tour a few years ago. It’s an amazing venue, and I’m pretty sure it was the show that closed off the tour. It felt so special, and nothing went wrong. It felt like the perfect day.
What makes a great show for you?
It’s down to the crowd. If we’re feeling rubbish before we go on stage, we can either sit there and mope about it, or we can feed off the energy of the crowd. That’s exactly what it does, it feeds us, and the more fun the crowds having… It comes straight back to us. We perform better when the crowd’s energy is high, so they’re the ones who make it. It’s not our gig, it’s theirs.
