IN CONVERSATION WITH THE LOTTERY WINNERS | TOURS, GHOSTING AND QR CODES

INTERVIEW | THE LOTTERY WINNERS | Y NOT 2026 by Kayleigh Nickson

‘In Conversation With…’ Lead singer Thom Rylance from The Lottery Winners.

Kayleigh sat down with Thom before their short 30-minute set at Y Not Festival to discuss world tours, getting ghosted, and slagging off The Lilacs. 

Kayleigh: Hi, I’m with Thom from Lottery Winners at Y Not Festival. Hello, how are we doing today?  

Thom: I’m alright, thanks. How are you?  

Kayleigh: I’m a bit warm, but you know, the sun’s out for you.  

Thom: It’s nice, isn’t it? We were in Scotland yesterday, Belladrum. It was quite grey, and it’s nice to wake up to the sun here.  

Kayleigh: Yeah, at least you weren’t camping last night; it was freezing. 

Thom: No, no, no, I’m too famous for that; we’re on a tour bus.    

Kayleigh: Oooh sorry, haha. How’s the summer shows going?  

Thom: Really good, I’m having the best time ever. I can’t believe that people pay me for this and it’s my real life. It’s stupid, really. I would do this for nothing; I’d literally not get paid.  

Kayleigh: Don’t tell them that though.  

Thom: No, yeah, don’t tell them.  

Kayleigh: You have to keep it professional.  So, you are on the main stage today?

 Thom: That one, [points to main stage] it’s where I belong, right?  

 Kayleigh: Obviously, what other stage would fit your personality?

Thom: Perhaps none…of them. Yeah.  

Kayleigh: Is that stage big enough for you?  

Thom: Yeah, I think it’s quite nice, isn’t it? We’re only on it for half an hour though, which I’m a bit sad about, because it means I can’t go off on tangents. So I’m gonna have to be quite strict and quite professional, which isn’t really my vibe. 

Kayleigh: No, I’ve seen you a few times and you do love your tangents.  

Thom: I do. I’m gonna have to stick to just playing some songs, really, which is what people pay me to do, so it’s probably right I actually do that.   

Kayleigh: Yeah, you should probably do that. I want to know who is the most famous person in your phonebook? 

Thom: I think it’s a toss up between Robbie Williams and Noel Gallagher. They’re both pretty famous, aren’t they? I don’t know who’s most famous.   

Kayleigh: I mainly wanted to ask that because we asked you that a few years ago and you said Noel Gallagher so I was just curious to see if I would see if anyone had outranked him. 

Thom: You just checking to see if I got Donald Trump’s number, or something? I haven’t, and I wouldn’t want to, no, no, I would block him.  

Kayleigh: Haha, or call him up saying “you suck”.  

Thom: Oh, I guess I’ve got the prime minister’s number. 

Kayleigh: How did you manage to get that?  

Thom: Well, I’ve known him for a while before he was prime minister. I did text him since saying ‘well done, mate’ and he’s left me on read.  

Kayleigh: You got ghosted by a prime minister? 

Thom: Yeah, so I’m not voting for him next time.  

Kayleigh: You are going to be going on a tour with Robbie Williams across Australia. Are you excited for it? 

Thom: Nah, boring,  

Kayleigh: What do you mean boring? 

Thom: I hate going to beautiful places, playing in stadiums with my best mate. It’s gonna be crap. 

Kayleigh: What city are you most excited for in Australia?  

Thom: I don’t know where we’re going. I don’t know where I am now. Where are we going in Australia, Dave? [Dave starts listing the cities starting with Adelaide.]  Adelaide, I’m looking forward to Adelaide the most.  

Kayleigh: You’re going to Melbourne and playing at Marvel Stadium. I know that one. 

Thom:  How do you know all this? Do you wanna be our tour manager?  

Kayleigh: Oh, I can do, I’d do a great job. I just came back from living in Melbourne. 

Thom: No way, that’s cool. I’ve been to Sydney, I really liked it there, but that’s the only place I’ve ever been.  I’m looking forward to seeing it all. I think it’s crazy that we get to go and see all these places in the world just by playing songs. It’s amazing. 

Kayleigh: So speaking of tours, we had a little chat with The Lilacs the other day, and they said you guys are besties.  

Thom: Who? I don’t think I’ve heard him. Are they good? Not really? Ahh. 

Kayleigh: They’re alright, you know.  I asked them whether you guys were going to do a tour together if you’re such close best friends, and they would not answer my question.  

Thom: It’s cause they don’t have the authority to answer that question. I’d love to take them on the road or do something with them. They supported us at our biggest ever show, the stadium gig at Leigh, and yeah, I love them. Ollie’s lovely, I love the band, and they’ve got an album coming out in October. Everyone should get behind it and buy it. What I particularly like is when they do the gigs, they just have a huge QR code behind them with the album art, and it’s like, yeah, we get it.  

Kayleigh: Yeah, it was ruining some of my photos. 

Thom: Yeah, just like every photo is shit, is it worth it?

Kayleigh: So nothing’s actually in the works yet then? 

Thom: Not that I know of, but I’m not a grown up, you know; I just get told where to be. I don’t know what I’m doing.  

Kayleigh: When it comes to performing at festivals, what is your favourite song to perform live? 

Thom: Well, it’s a new one that we’ve got called ‘Steady We Go’, which Dave, our manager, has specifically told me I’m not allowed to play today because we’ve only got half an hour. He was like, “play one of the hits”. I really like the new song. Whatever’s the newest song is usually my favourite.  

Kayleigh: Is it because it’s the freshest and you’re not sick of it yet? 

Thom: Yeah.. Wait, no! I’m not sick of any of them because I’m a genius and all my songs are brilliant. That’s what my Auntie Tracy said. 

Kayleigh: Auntie Tracy’s always right. 

Thom: She always knows.  

Kayleigh: And then a question I’m asking everyone is, if you’re in control of the Y Not 2027 line-up who would you have headline? 

Thom: Me. Us. The Lottery Winners. Obviously, who else? We’re the best ones. 

Kayleigh: You are honestly the first band that’s actually said themselves. I’ve been waiting all weekend for that. 

Thom: We’re the first band that actually could do it. Like, come on, let’s have it. Who else can do it? The Lilacs? I don’t think so. With a QR code behind them? 

Kayleigh: They’re trying their best. 

Thom: Love you, lads! Oh, they’re amazing. They really are. What surprised me the most about them is that Ollie’s got that thing where you can walk out on stage and even if people don’t know them, he’s instantly likeable. And I think that is such an amazing quality to have.  

Kayleigh: Yeah, every time I’ve seen them, they just put on one hell of a show. 

Thom: We love QR codes. [chanting] QR codes, QR codes. I think that the screen should just be QR codes, nothing else. More QR codes. [chanting] One more QR code. One more QR code. 

Kayleigh: Are you going to do that next? Just put a massive QR code behind you on stage.  

Thom: No, definitely not. We have got taste. Hahaha,  I can’t wait for a text off him. I can’t believe I’ve just slagged The Lilacs off for 5 minutes.   

There might not be any new music or tour dates to plug yet (at least this side of the globe), but if you fancy some proper indie bangers, you should definitely give The Lottery Winners a listen on Spotify. While you’re at it, go give them a follow, because we reckon there’s exciting news coming very soon…