Do It Fast, Do It Loud: An Interview with Henry Bucanan From The Lotts

Sometimes there’s no deep and meaningful message. There’s no hidden political agenda. And that’s all good and well; it doesn’t have to be about that. Sometimes it’s thrash, noise, and anarchy, plain and simple. Warrington The Lotts is at your service with the motto: do it fast, do it loud. You get the idea; this band wants to stimulate the senses, and their strength lies in the abundance of hot white sparks they omit when together. With their debut EP We Are The Lotts released on July 24th, we wanted to hear more about the Garage punks from vocalist and guitarist Henry Bucanan.

All in their early 20s now, Henry, along with Adam Bridge (Guitar), Joel Norton (Drums), and Jamie Evans (Bass) was getting along with teen life when they drifted together; their friendship consequently flourished from a seed that solidified over those explorative jam sessions. Harry explains, “We were in the same class in college together and we kind of just became friends and started jamming in our free periods. It was just something to do to kill some time in college.” Collectively, they appreciated the Garage Rock revival movement when they started playing together. “We were super into Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall and that kind of vibe, but I guess we listen to different stuff now, usually centred around that good Rock n’ Roll.”

Now that they were a group, they needed to decide on a fitting name for their identity to grow. Again, there was no pressing urge for seriousness. “There’s no meaning to it. We just didn’t want a big outlandish name, so we tried to think of the most generic-sounding one with no meaning, and The Lotts was born. It’s a little annoying because Fontaines D.C. has a song called The Lotts, so people think we stole it from them, but we had it first, baby."

With the name established, it was imperative not to become too formulaic, holding their spontaneous outlook. He continues, “I guess we didn’t have a set sound we wanted to go for. A lot of our songs have a very different sound; we just write whatever sounds good. There's nothing we're aiming towards; I think that takes the fun out of it.”

Bucanan thinks about their hometown and is thankful for the chances they received. “Warrington’s scene not as good as it once was. Two of the really good venues in town closed recently, and it's a real shame, but there are still a few decent venues. The Promoter Lee Harmen runs the whole scene so everyone kind of knows each other, which is cool. A lot of new bands are popping up; hopefully, there's a revival coming. When we started playing, he was the only person who’d give us a show, and it's always a brilliant crowd.”

Before COVID-19, the boys had shows booked in as far afield as California and its asperations. The young performer moves onto a memorable time when they played that holds great meaning. “We supported an American band on tour called Daddy Long Legs at the Night & Day in Manchester. We were on a streak of playing empty shows. All of a sudden, the show was packed out with a great crowd. That's what makes a show: a crowd that's down to get weird.”

New release We Are The Lotts is packed full of energetic youthfulness and has an in-your-face attitude, which is never over planned. You get the sense that the band takes things as they come and respond graciously when complemented as they can often face criticism. “We’re used to people hating us, so any praise is great. We don’t spend a lot of time writing. I feel like when we spend a long time on a song, it kind of becomes more of a chore, and the buzz is gone. There’s not a huge amount of thought into our lyrics, and some of our songs don't really have a message as such. We usually get together when we practice, and one of us will have an idea; we’ll all do our parts and then a song is born.” He confesses.

Making them as oven-fresh as possible, the writing of certain songs doesn't always happen until the quartet arrives at the studio. “We get bored of songs quickly. Mouth was written and recorded live in the space of like fifteen minutes. The lyrics were sort of centred around how boring I find everyday tasks and just the normal way of life: go to school, go to college, go to uni, get a job, get married, and settle down, really is my worst fear.”

The popularity quite rightly is ever-increasing for the heavy punk sound of Idles and Henry’s for it. “Our drummer is a huge fan of Idles. I can see there's like this weird growing scene going on at the minute centred around those bands. Maybe it’s a good thing, and I hope there is a resurgence for bands like that.” He ends by trying to remain positive for the future. “We’re aiming to go back to the studio and write an album but write it as an album; we’ve never done that before. It has been a compilation of songs we have written the year before. Maybe we'll get a few more tours in when we can. We love travelling, so touring is the best thing to do. Hopefully, we’ll play a few shows in Europe next year, who knows. ” Whatever happens, it’ll be fast. It’ll be loud.

Article by Beverley Knight