In the post-Christmas, pre-New Year limbo where no one knows who, when or why they are, it’s certainly novel for The Lottery Winners to capitalise on the inactivity of everyone else. Not that you’d expect much different from this band, who’ve sought to nail themselves down as the people’s champs of independent music, and reaching some commendable heights via their own devices entirely.
This—dubbed their Burning House Party—is intended as a celebration of all of that. Their new album KOKO is due in February, but in the meantime, The Lottery Winners have plenty of mileage already through a reputation as true indie-pop party-starters. The fact this is also the first of three of these would suggest they’re well aware of that. Each has its own different routine of setlists and cast of special guests, the kind of extensive labour of love that feels like The Lottery Winners’ standard in the live field. With that, then, our photographer Ben Whitehurst headed down to Manchester’s Academy to catch the inaugural night of the Burning House Party.
Tom A Smith
The Lilacs
The Lottery Winners
Photos by Ben Whitehurst (Instagram)
