The Lathums are THE band of the moment and are set to have a number one album with ‘How Beautiful Life Can Be’ this week. Music Editor Emma Harrison caught up with guitarist Scott Concepcion to talk about their first full length album, touring with Blossoms, their musical influences and why he is looking to win a chocolate bar when they play Glastonbury!
House of Coco
You are on tour – how’s it going!
Scott, The Lathums
Yeah, really good. Thank you – I’m having a nice day so far. I’ve just travelled up to Cambridge and am a bit warm to be honest.
House of Coco
I listened to your new album ‘How Beautiful Life Can Be’ and I absolutely loved. Every single track is just amazing. It’s one of those albums where you actually listen to every single track.
What can people expect from this album?
Scott, The Lathums
Just positivity and nice individual tunes.
House of Coco
It’s quite a hopeful album, isn’t it?
Scott, The Lathums
Definitely, because of this and Ghosts (The Lathums previous EP)
House of Coco
How did you approach the album? What was the process like?
Scott, The Lathums
It was a bit mad- we had more tunes than an album worth by quite a lot, really. So, it was just a case of whittling them down and picking which ones if I was right.
House of Coco
So, you didn’t have a particular process for it? You had a lot more songs, which is a real lovely thing to have.
Scott, The Lathums
Yeah, definitely. We needed outside minds to give us a bit of important insight otherwise as the band we would have put out a double album if it was up to us and to future albums too.
House of Coco
Are you thinking that far ahead?
Scott, The Lathums
Well, we are thinking of the third and fourth one!
House of Coco
Really? I love that. That’s great.
Do you have a favourite track from the album that you just love?
Scott, The Lathums
I think my favourite one is the last one of the album – The Redemption of Sonic beauty.
I just think it’s miles away from anything we’ve really done before. I wrote the music on a piano and I liked it, a lot! It was the first thing I’d ever written on a piano. It was originally for a college project and we revived it for the band.
House of Coco
Do you have own guitar heroes?
Scott, The Lathums
I’ve got a few. A few definite ones. There’s Johnny Marr obviously. Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits.
House of Coco
Mark Knopfler? Good shout – an unbelievable guitar player!
Scott, The Lathums
Then there’s the likes of Clapton, Gilmour and all those sorts of guys.
House of Coco
You have previously told me that you think your music is ‘un pigeonhole-able’ -why do you think this is a case? Who do you consider to be your biggest influences?
Scott, The Lathums
Our influence is a weird one to be honest. There are many artists that we like. Jonny and Ryan like the 90s – the British back catalogue of music. We also like a few other bands from the States like Nirvana, the Foo Fighters and Ramones and those sorts of guys.
House of Coco
You were declared as one to watch by the BBC Sound poll. How important are these accolades to you?
Scott, The Lathums
A little bit. It’s nice hearing people say nice things about people. It’s the response to what we do – that’s what’s most important to us. It’s the reaction for the tunes we are doing and the gigs. It’s great to see people enjoy themselves rather than the accolades that you get.
House of Coco
Totally! You’re on tour supporting Blossoms at the moment. I know you guys were really excited about doing that. How’s the experience been so far?
Scott, The Lathums
Great! We’ve done a few dates! I don’t know when anything was or when anything is!
House of Coco
Tell me about it! I still think it’s still 2019 in my head – I’ve lost track of it all. It’s ridiculous. Do you have any standout tour memories so far?
Scott, The Lathums
I think they all evade me every time someone asks me something like this. Just as we were setting up things on the first day. Jonny threw up literally 10 minutes into the journey!
House of Coco
Oh my goodness! I am sure it got better from there. So, you’ve got your own tour next month and you’re off to Europe next year. What are you most looking forward to your own tour?
Scott, The Lathums
Very excited to be honest. Yeah! We’ve played lots of massive festivals and got good reactions, especially doing these shows with Blossoms. So, I think it’ll be a bit more used to bigger gigs than before.
House of Coco
Definitely! The festivals that you’ve been doing like Victorious and Big Weekend must have helped set you up to be ready for these bigger gigs. Do you ever stop and take in how far you guys have come in terms of what you have achieved and the venues that you’re now playing at?
Scott, The Lathums
Yeah, definitely! This is what we’ve been talking about lately. It’s amazing yeah!
House of Coco
That’s exciting! You have previously done a live album. Can we expect another live album?
Scott, The Lathums
Probably. Yeah. I wouldn’t say no – at some point! When we did the live album, we didn’t realise that was really going to be a live album as such.
House of Coco
Perhaps it’s on the cards? So, let’s rewind a little bit for our readers who maybe aren’t as familiar with your music. How did you get the name? And how did you guys come together as a band.
Scott, The Lathums
We all went to music college in Wigan and me, Ryan and Alex got put together for a project. Jonny and Ryan were friends – we were whippersnappers! Towards the end of our last year of college, they put us into this band for this final project.
We just sort of stuck with it. And Jonny ended up joining the band. We had our first gig which was a hen party and were driving through a place called Lathom which was the basis of the band’s name when they drove through the village and needed a name.
We didn’t have a name for (the band) and just jumped at it and just changed the pronounciation.
House of Coco
Most of you went to music college. Did you always want to be a musician?
Scott, The Lathums
Yeah – definitely! But I wondered is this realistic, but I think anything’s possible.
House of Coco
You have definitely proved that!
Scott, The Lathums
So I’ve got a bet with a maths teacher from my high school that I’ll be playing Glastonbury one day!
House of Coco
Without a doubt, you’re gonna win that bet Scott!
Scott, The Lathums
It’s only for a chocolate bar, like, but I’m gonna claim it – yeah, definitely!
House of Coco
Talk to me about song writing, is it mainly Alex or is it more collaborative?
Scott, The Lathums
I think it helps not being too ‘samey’ about the music – I come from a very different place than Alex does. He’s much more about his words and I am more about the music.
House of Coco
Having listened to the album, it’s such a mature, evolved sound. Your EP was great, but I just feel like you have reached a completely different level with this new album. It’s good that you’ve got a strong appetite for progressing. You’re already looking at the fourth or fifth album – that’s definitely the way to be.
Scott, The Lathums
Yeah, definitely! You’ve got so much in being productive and creative in the sense of the variety of songs we put out. We go into the practice room and a song can just appears randomly. It’s the best way to be.
The Lathums debut album ‘How Beautiful Life Can Be’ is out now and you can catch them on tour throughout autumn.
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