“ROBBIE WILLIAMS IS MY THERAPIST” – THE LOTTERY WINNERS THOM ON THE NEW ALBUM, GOING FOR GOLD (AGAIN) AND BURNOUT

“I love Scotland. I love the way everyone talks and I love how friendly everybody is and I love how it’s persistently rainy.” laughs Thom. “Even when the sunshine, it’s still raining, but it gives it a charm, doesn’t it?”

This is the second time I have met The Lottery Winners ahead of a Glasgow show, However, despite only meeting a little over a year later, the path of The Lottery Winners has spiralled massively. From a sold out UK/Europe Tour with Canadian Rock legends Nickelback to making the BBC Radio 2 ‘A List’ with their single ‘You Again’ featuring Reverend and The Makers Jon McClure. A track which led to one of the most unexpected bromance’s of the year with Superstar Robbie Williams. For frontman Thom Rhylance – aka “the main one” as he likes to be referred to – the past year has been a whirlwind of often tumultuous personal battles with himself, following a late ADHD diagnosis.

“I knew [I had ADHD], but there is something about having the official confirmation. It was mixture of emotions. Like I felt relief, but I also felt like there was like a morning period where I was thinking about all the things where in my life didn’t have to be like that, because I should have had more support.”

Whilst finally gaining his official ADHD diagnosis as an adult was an challenging time for Thom, he pulled in that emotion and channelled it creatively, admitting that many of the songs on brand new album KOKO are his own way of dealing with the process. In particular singles such as ‘Superpower’ and ‘UFO’ alongside the currently unreleased ‘Panic Attack’, ‘Struggling’ and the album’s namesake ‘Keep On Keeping On’. Whilst Thom is largely known for his big – and frankly hilarious – personality, I felt after this chat that I saw another, more vulnerable side of a man who is battling every day; trying to keep focus on his dreams (another No.1 album perhaps…), embracing the moment and staying grateful – all whilst trying to avoid burnout.

Set for release on March 21st via Modern Sky, The Lottery Winners fourth full studio album KOKO follows 2023’s Gold Certified Official Charts No.1 Anxiety Replacement Therapy. Of course, in true Lottery Winners fashion, the band are going for gold again; “It’s a pressure. An immense amount of pressure, but the pressure’s only coming from ourselves really. I think that we always just want like the biggest and the best and we’ll always just work as hard as we can to get there.” Pulling out his phone, Thom shows me his screen: “So my phone background is actually picture of a number one trophy and I’ve made everybody else do it as well.”

But, if manifesting another No.1 album isn’t enough, perhaps vengeance will be. Chatting about the stiff competition the band will face for the top spot, James Arthur is revealed to be releasing his new album on the same day. In 2024, James Arthur beat Rotherham indie underdogs The Reytons from the top spot. Despite technically selling over 300 extra copies than Arthur, over 2000 of those sales which were disqualified following an industry complaint. “I know all about that” Thom seethes “So it is kind of personal because they are my mates. So I feel like I’ve gotta avenge them.”

If all else above fails, The Lottery Winners have some pretty cool names on the track list. There’s Reverend and The Makers (You Again), Shed Seven’s Rick Witter (The Ceiling), repeat collaborator Frank Turner (Dirt and Gold) on round 3 and Nickelback‘s Chad Kroeger (Ragdoll).

“It took me a long time to build up the courage to actually ask him to do it” shares Thom on collaborating with Kroeger. “It was almost the last night of the tour and he’d given me his number when we were hanging out. It felt scary to ask him, ‘what do you think of this mate? Do think you might want to sing on it?’ Then I thought, do I really want to ask him, am I always just pushing my luck? Why can I not just accept that we’ve got this great thing? Like do I really need to push my luck here. But I sent it to him. I got brave and sent it to him, and then he left me on read, and I was like, WOW, I’ve ruined it.”

“Like, why did I do that? Then he calls me at like four in the morning and he was like ‘you bastard’ and I was like, ‘oh no, he’s kicking us off the tour” laughs Thom. “But he said, ‘I can’t get that song out of my head. It’s amazing.’ And then we recorded it the next day”.

The Lottery Winners owe a lot of their good friend and frequent collaborator, Frank Turner. Recently, Frank performed to 10,000 hungry fans at London’s Ally Pally to celebrate his 3000th show, with The Lottery Winners on main support. “You know what? I wish we’d have counted all our shows because I bet we’re not far off.” says Thom. “He is prolific, he’s like constantly touring and largely due to him. I love Frank’s work ethic, his whole model as well as his songs and his heart. It was really special”. Frank makes his third consecutive appearance with the band on new album KOKO, performing on recent single ‘Dirt and Gold‘ which follows 2021’s ‘Start Again‘ and 2023’s fan favourite ‘Letter To Myself‘.

“We start recording KOKO about a year ago when we were on tour with Nickelback. I was writing a lot of the songs for it during that tour but the song Superpower was written straight after we played at the O2 Arena with Nickelback. I was having a kind of difficult ADHD day. One of the burnout days. But I went on stage and usually when I come off stage, I’m really critical on myself like ‘you shouldn’t have said that, you shouldn’t have done that, that wasn’t very cool’. But on that one I just went out and absolutely smashed it and I came off stage like, you know, you did really well that time. I knew that and you know, it was largely to do with the way that my brain works that I did” Thom reflects. “It just made me feel like a superhero. I went and wrote ‘Superpower’ that night in a Travelodge.”

Anne: You don’t make any secret that you have been diagnosed with ADHD, but it’s actually quite a recent thing though, isn’t it?

“Yeah, so really it was throughout this album I got the diagnosis, so a lot of the themes on the album are the emotions that I was dealing with from that. It was a relief I suppose, and that I could kind of forgive myself for a lot of the things I’ve been through. But I also felt like there was a mourning period, where I was thinking about all the things where my life that I didn’t have to be like that, because I should have had more support.“

Speaking a little more about his motivations for diagnosis, Thom admits that he was keen to try the medications used to support ADHD. “I wanted to try some of the medications which I’ve now decided against after trying. I felt like they took away my spark a little bit.”

However, in what was one of the most intense and challenging periods of Thom’s life, he found himself bonding with international pop star – Robbie Williams. Following the release of their single ‘You Again’, The Lottery Winners caught the attention of Robbie and the rest is, as they say, history.

“Yeah, it’s incredible. He’s honestly become one of my closest friends. Robbie Williams is my therapist, now there’s your headline!” Cracks Thom. “So he’ll ring me up he’ll ask me how I am and I ask him how he is and we’ll have these really great chats.We can talk four or five times a week for hours on face time, just to catch up – we both have ADHD. It’s weird because I don’t think the rest of the band believed me just how often he face times me until they were there. I remember, I came off a call and Kate was like, ‘Oh my God. You are literally the same person’. I’m doing like the TEMU version of what he’s doing” laughs Thom.

Not only are Thom and Robbie now besties, the star has invited The Lottery Winners to support him on his massive stadium tour this summer.  “I was born for them [stadiums], a lot of people say it” Thom wittily remarks. The cocky Northern attitude though is just a front. In reality, Thom masks his insecurities with humour, creating a confident persona to take on stage. “So I’m terrified all the time. I’m terrified to go up on stage and sing. I feel like my biggest talent is not singing or writing songs or playing guitar. It’s been brave enough to do it anyway.” he reveals before sharing a recent moment where the ADHD burnout almost won over. “I was terrified but usually when I go up on stage that all goes away and then this other version of me comes out, this broad version of Thom. He’s the one that’s on stage and I’ll leave it all to him, but for the first time, in Bournemouth, he didn’t.”

“He didn’t turn up and it was just me there. I was terrified the whole time. That feeling didn’t go and I had a really tough show. Like I came off stage saying ‘I’m so sorry everyone, I just wasn’t on it. I had a terrible time. I’m really, really sorry’. And everyone was like – ‘what are you talking about?’ But I didn’t see it and I still can’t see that, yet I’ve read reviews and everyone’s comments online and they were great.”

With a massive year ahead of them I can genuienly emphasise with the pressure Thom is under. “I’m kind of struggling to be honest with it. Because it’s just you wake up and then there’s just stuff to do until you go to sleep, which is great but it’s hard. I understand why Robbie burnt out and I understand how when you get more successful – like Lewis Capaldi – I understand how he burnt out.”

Later that evening, Thom and the band went on to perform their biggest Scottish headline show yet. A sold out St Lukes in Glasgow’s East End, the show may be the smallest venue on the tour but it marks a significant moment for their reach North of the Border. Thom showed up and he delivered better than ever. The energy, enthusiasm, passion and hilarity ensued a special night for all of us. What makes Thom so charming to his fans is his relatability. Always wearing his heart on his sleeve, he captures the sentiment of the daily struggle and finding strength to persevere. His words are more than just words, they are scripture to heal.

Anne: So the last time we met I asked you who the most famous person in your phone books was, and you told me it was Noel Gallagher, has Robbie taken that crown?

“I think they’re probably equally as famous. I speak to Robbie a lot more than Noel, but I’m pretty proud of both. I might make a WhatsApp group with them both” laughs Thom before I remind them of the pairs infamous riff. “I think Robbie is a very sensitive, wholesome and spiritual person who’s not got beef with anybody. And Noel’s cool as well. He’s so cool and funny, like I reckon they’d love each other actually.”

Anne: Can we expect a Robbie collab soon?

“There’s a laptop up on that table and just before you came in, I was working on the song. So we’ll see. I’ll send it in and let’s see what he says. I’ve got to get brave again. We’re going to release a summer banger and it’ll take over the world…it’ll be our first number one single.”

If anything, I truly believe in these guys to continually raise the bar and reach for more. From a little band from Leigh, The Lottery Winners have managed to defy the odds of success over, and over, again. Much a like the mantra of Northern Exposure itself; ‘If you don’t ask, you don’t get’, The Lottery Winners are living proof of success beyond expectation. Keep On Keeping On.

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