IN CONVERSATION WITH THE LILACS | RHYMES, TOURS AND REVS

INTERVIEW | THE LILACS | YNOT 2026 by Kayleigh Nickson and Gracie Erskine.

‘In Conversation With…’ Dave Gomersall and Matt Johnson, the drummer and bassist, from The Lilacs. Kayleigh and Gracie managed to sit down with the lads after their main stage set at Y Not and we all struggled to hear each other over Reverend and the Makers set.

Gracie: You guys are hot off the main stage after a quick last minute upgrade. How are you feeling after your set? 

Dave: Ecstatic, I think that was probably our best gig yet!  

Matt: It was unbelievable. I now understand crowd safety. If that crowd was trying to get in The Quarry tent, we would’ve had some issues. Everybody was on shoulders, it was a great crowd. 

Gracie: Arguably the best reception was for ‘Grace’ – is she a real person or can I carry on thinking its about me?  

Matt: I don’t think that Grace is necessarily a person, more of just someone in your life. Obviously it’s about a person but not that person? Does that make sense?

Dave: You’re asking the wrong two people here. Ollie writes a lot about what he’s seen and what his mates are going through, mainly what he’s seen in life and Grace just rhymed with face so we were like ‘that’ll do’. 

Kayleigh: Easy rhyming words for you. 

Matt: You should see our search history, it’s just rhymes. ‘What rhymes with this, what rhymes with that.’ 

Gracie: It’s nice to know that ChatGPT isn’t being used here. 

Dave: We can’t do that, definitely no AI. We will have none of that! 

Kayleigh: So, your debut album ‘Keeping Up with the Joneses’ is coming out in October. What can you tell us about it? 

Dave: It’s flippin’ mint. There’s no set fillers, they’re all bangers. I think we’ve matured a lot in the songwriting side of things as well. 

Gracie: All killers, no fillers. 

Ollie and Sam bombard the interview while apologising for ‘ruining the podcast’. 

Kayleigh: Ollie, you went from performing in my local pub to performing on the main stage at festivals? 

Ollie: Yeah, it’s pretty wild, isn’t it? It’s so surreal, I have no words.  

Gracie: You’re playing Victoria Warehouse in April next year and it’ll be your biggest headline show to date.  

Ollie: Yeah, it’s the biggest show that we’ve ever done. That we ever will do. No, no… not that we ever will do. No because I’m leaving the band, that’s why. One album and that’s it, I can’t be bothered doing it anymore. It’s too much hard work. I’m joking, it’s good, I love this stuff and Victoria Warehouse is going to be really, really good. 

Ollie and Sam got told off by management as they had other interviews to do. 

Dave: They fully hijacked us there.. Anyway, yes, Victoria Warehouse will be mega.  

Kayleigh: Other than that, it’s also a massive tour that you guys have planned. 

Dave: Yeah, the smallest venues are about 600 cap, which used to be our biggest ones. Crazy. 

Kayleigh: And you have a few in Europe as well? 

Dave: Oh yeah! Amsterdam. I cannot wait for Amsterdam. 

Gracie: Have you got a favourite venue that you’ve play so far? 

Matt: For me, it’ll have to be The Ritz in Manchester.  

Dave: You know what? The Ritz was the favourite for our own gig but we supported James a couple of weeks back. I forgot what it was called but it was the castle near Newcastle somewhere on a cliff edge. 

Matt: Oh yeah, what was it called? It was so cool. 

The discussion lasted a while and we got no closer to figuring out where it was so we googled it when we got home – it was Mouth of The Tyne festival. 

Kayleigh: Do you have any support acts picked out for your tour yet?  

Matt: Honestly? No. Not yet. 

Dave: We can’t say because the label decides and then we get to pick a few that they might get on, we like to put names into a hat. There’s a few bands on there that might support but we’re not going to tell anyone yet.  

Gracie: Have you got any upcoming bands at the minute that you’d want or that you’ve got your eyes on? 

Dave: The K’s, The Cases, The Slates, The Freight, Public.. 

Matt: Basically anyone in This Feeling tent. 

Dave: Yeah, if you go to This Feeling tent, you’ll be amazed, they’re all sick. What about you guys? 

Gracie: Definitely not The Lilacs, who are they? 

Dave: C’mon, just one. 

Gracie: The Clause 

Kayleigh: The Covasettes or The Lottery Winners 

Dave: Oh yeah, The Covasettes are good, very good and The Lottery Winners are like our best mates. 

Gracie: They’re best mates with everybody. 

Dave: I know, but we are at the top of the list. 

Kayleigh: When are they going to take you on tour then? 

Dave: I can’t say anything, I’ve got my manager standing behind me. I can’t say anything. 

Gracie: The question I’m asking everyone this weekend is, if you were to pick a lager sponsor for a festival you were building, who would it be? 

Matt: He can’t drink beer, he’s allergic to lager. 

Dave: Yeah, I can’t drink beer. It’s really upsetting but I’ll go for a cider instead. It’s got to be the Old Mout Cider for me, the green one, it’s like pear.  

Kayleigh: I don’t think they do pear, isn’t it Kiwi and Lime? 

Dave: Yeah, it might be… or pear. I might be making that up, if they don’t already do it, they should. If you’re listening Old Mout, fucking do it! What beer are you going to say, Matt? Moretti? 

Matt: Nah, definitely not Moretti. It has to be Asahi. 

Kayleigh: If you were allowed to pick the headline acts for YNOT 2027, who would you pick? 

Dave: The Rev. Big up Revs. No wait, hang on. Let me think, they’re on my mind because they keep interrupting this podcast. I do love Revs though. This is hard, I would’ve said The Reytons but they’ve already done it this year.  

Matt: This is what I’m going to do. I’ve got a main support act and I have a main act. The Royston Club being the support act because they need to move up a little bit and then for the main, Oasis because they’re definitely touring next year. They have to be! 

Dave: That is so basic. I’m going to go with Revs, fuck it. I’m sticking with my original… Oasis? C’mon now.. 

The Lilacs‘ debut album Keeping Up With The Joneses is out on 2^nd October. You can pre-order physical copies of the album here and buy tour tickets here. 

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