Lottery Winners: How Robbie Williams became a 'therapist' for indie band
Thom Rylance, frontman of indie band The Lottery Winners, has experienced panic attacks since he was a child. But he'd never had one on stage... until last month."I've got this other, outgoing version of me that does the shows, and he just turns up every time," the singer explains."I don't really know him, and I think he's brilliant and quite handsome, but when we played Bournemouth, he just didn't come."The panic manifested as "a tremendous sense of overwhelming dread", he says, accompanied by sudden shortness of breath and a racing heartbeat.He isn't sure how, but he survived the gig without anyone noticing. YouTube footage shows him goading people into singing Reef's Put Your Hands Up, and taking selfies with fans during the encore.In his head, though, it was a disaster."I came off stage and I was really apologetic. I was like, 'Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I was awful. I couldn't speak'."And everyone was like, 'What you talking about? It was absolutely fine.'"The reaction wasn't entirely unexpected. At the age of 35, Rylance has become adept at masking his anxiety.It's a topic he addresses frequently (and movingly) on the band's new album, KOKO, whose title is an acronym for "Keep on keeping on".The singer learned the phrase from his grandmother, who used it to comfort him when he was excluded from school."I didn't want to be bad or naughty, but there was something in me [that meant] I couldn't sit through the lessons," he recalls."I was expelled and taken away from all my friends, and it made me really sad – but my gran used to say, 'Keep on keeping on, Thom', and it stuck with me."
'Where was my support?'
The singer was belatedly diagnosed with ADHD two years ago, and the sense of relief hit him like a tidal wave."It was like a release of guilt," he says. "Like, nothing I've ever done has ever been my fault!"But it also came with a mourning period, where I was looking back and going, 'Where was my support? I didn't have to be a sad child'."I literally remember a teacher saying, 'If you don't do well in your GCSEs then your life is over.' That sent me spiralling because I was like, 'I don't want to be a junkie', you know?"So, I've been going into schools recently and talking to kids with ADHD, just to show them that someone who did terribly in education can wake up every day excited and happy and ready for work."
Rylance is speaking from Paris, where The Lottery Winners are wrapping up their latest tour.The band, completed by Robert Lally, Katie Lloyd and Joe Singleton, have been working tirelessly since they formed in Leigh, Greater Manchester, in 2008 – but success has been a slow grind.They signed their first record contract with Sire Records in 2016 after boss Seymour Stein (the man responsible for discovering Madonna) called them "the best band since The Smiths".But when he left the label the following year, the group went with him, delaying their debut album by years.It finally arrived on British indie label Morning Sky in 2020, a week before the country went into lockdown, making promotion impossible. Even so, the band's buoyant indie pop songs and engaging online presence (Rylance is one of the funniest and likeable musicians on social media) helped them build a dedicated fanbase.By 2023, that support was support enough to send their third album, Anxiety Replacement Therapy, to number one, beating releases by The National and Jessie Ware.For Rylance, who spent his childhood "feeling like an alien", it was a huge deal."It's literally a trophy with a number one on it," he laughs. "What bigger symbol of affirmation is there than that?"How about being personally invited on tour by Robbie Williams?
That's what happened last October. Robbie heard the band's single You Again on BBC Radio 2 and instantly booked them as his support act this summer."It was a really huge moment for me," says Rylance, who made his first public performance singing Williams' song Stronger on a school trip."Robbie's been a huge part of my life, so when he told me, 'I've listened to all of your albums', I was just like, 'What do you mean, Robbie Williams? Why are you saying that to me?'"The pair subsequently struck up a firm friendship, and talk almost daily."Robbie's like my therapist," says Rylance. "He's got ADHD as well, so he can relate to the things that overwhelm me."And I can literally ask him anything. I'll be like, 'Robert, how long do I put this pizza in the oven?'"But Williams isn't the only famous name in his contacts. The Lottery Winners have recorded singles with Shaun Ryder, Nickelback and Boy George ("a mild hit in Greece," laughs Rylance), while Noel Gallagher struck up a friendship with Rylance after playing with him last year."These people have always seemed so unreachable," he marvels. "Noel Gallagher is not even... He's barely even a human being!"So to have him right there in my phone... I've texted him for advice loads of times."
That guiding hand proved crucial last November, when Rylance published an ill-advised tweet criticising musician Kate Nash's campaign to save the live music industry.He accused Nash of posing as a working class musician, pointing out she'd attended the Brit School - which he mistakenly thought was a private, fee-paying establishment."I wasn't very proud of that, and it ended up in the NME," says Rylance. "They kept contacting me, asking me for a statement, and so I texted Noel, 'What should I do about this, mate?'"He was like, 'Just tell them to speak to your new PR officer: Me."'I'll tell them you're too busy being mega to talk to the press.'"In the end, Rylance took a different approach, apologising for his comments and offering to work with Nash, external, but Gallagher's support helped him keep a level head in a tricky moment.
Today, he's still passionate about highlighting the issues around working class access to the arts.He recalls The Lottery Winners' first gig, at the Collier's Rest Pub in Leigh, 16 years ago. The venue was so packed that it ran out of beer, but the band were only paid £30, which they immediately spent on a demo tape."I don't know how we did it," Rylance says. "We were really, really poor for a long time."We kept going because we believed in it, but that's not a realistic prospect for a lot of people."If you don't have any money, you can't afford to make mistakes."Even now, the band need help funding their European tour. Last month, they accepted a grant from the UK's Music Export Growth Fund to help pay for visas and transport costs."I wouldn't be in Paris right now without that," Rylance admits. "They match what we spend, and we're willing to invest as much as we can."That's where ADHD can come in handy. Rylance is relentlessly creative, always on the look-out for ways to promote the band. On the album, he even calls ADHD a "neurospice" that helps him "see solutions before problems even arise".To that end, he's got a plan to secure a second number one album this week. Since Friday, Lottery Winners have been hosting a pop-up shop in Leigh, with free live music every day and copies of KOKO for sale. "I can promise you this, there isn't a single band who'll work harder than us," he says.To paraphrase his gran, they're keen on keeping on.
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