Ones to Watch 2023 #6 Lovejoy

 

First Featured on Breaking More Waves: 22nd May 2021

For a relatively new band, the Spotify streaming statistics for Lovejoy are extremely impressive.

In 2022, with just a handful of songs spread over a couple of EPs and single releases (including a cover of Knee Deep at ATP by indie legends Los Campesinos!) they generated 263 million streams on Spotify, with 6.6 million listeners in 180 countries.

It’s not just online though. Lovejoy’s growing army of fans is a real physical thing. When the band took to the stage at their debut sold out gig at London’s Omeara a couple of days ago, all reports say that the place went ballistic. Certainly online clips show utter jubilation. A young screaming audience singing every word of every song with passion and joy in their hearts.

In 2021 I featured Lovejoy on the blog and so nearly put them on the end of year Ones to Watch 2022 list. A year on and this time it feels right. If you want to know who they are, why their chirpy indie tunes that sound totally out of sync with most modern hyper-produced pop is generating such a loyal fanbase and why it has enabled them to easily sell out their spring 2023 tour, read my original post (here) and listen to songs like One Day and Oh Yeah, You Gonna Cry. You'll find yourself bopping like you’re watching Jack Penate play Spit at Stars or Torn on the Platform with a firework up his arse or listening to the The Wombats Let's Dance To Joy Division at your local cider covered indie disco.

If they keep going at the rate they are Lovejoy is going to get a lot bigger yet. Keep an eye on them. They’re Ones to Watch 2023.

Lovejoy - Oh Yeah, You Gonna Cry

Lovejoy · Oh Yeah, You Gonna Cry?

Lovejoy - One Day

NEW #25 - Lovejoy

 

Here’s an odd one. Press play on Lovejoy's debut EP Are You Alright? released a couple of weeks back and you’ll probably think you’re listening to something from 2005- 2007. Their blend of hooky pop tunes formed out of chunky energetic guitars punctuated by punchy brass riffs sounds far removed from much of today’s designed for Tik-Tok / You Tube influencer led pop music. 

So, it might come as a surprise to find that Lovejoy are already enjoying some success. After all, their sound certainly isn’t flavour of the month. A couple of the UK band’s tunes are already hovering around the lower reaches of the Top 100 singles chart, and the video for their song One Day has over 5 million views on You Tube. 

The reason for this seemingly very non-zeitgeist band doing so well? The answer is Wilbur Soot (real name Will Gold). The lead vocalist is an established UK based internet personality and Twitch streamer. Wilbur has over 5 million subscribers on You Tube and has already released some solo music. It seems that perhaps bands like this aren’t dead, they just have to work out how to engage with an audience in new ways. 

Of course good songs and personality help and there’s something really likeable and very British about Lovejoy’s tunes. If in the mid noughties you were listening to Jack Penate, Scouting For Girls, The Rumble Strips or Athlete then Lovejoy will probably bring a smile and sense of nostalgia to you. 

All credit to a band who start one of their songs with the line: “Stop! ‘Cos why did you have to kill my cat?” (on One Day), before continuing with Wilbur singing that “a toilet with the seat left up is closure like a deer in headlights.” Combine that with the aforementioned bouncy exuberant brass, stupidly frantic foot to the floor drumming, a momentum that sounds like they might fall apart at any moment and Wilbur’s existing online presence and you have all the ingredients of an old fashioned band that might just cut through.

Lovejoy - One Day

Wilbur Soot · One Day - Lovejoy