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with over ten years in the scene and with three albums under their belt, w.H. LUNG HAVE garnered somewhat of a cult following within Manchester's live music scene. named after a Chinese supermarket on Upper Brook Street, this proudly mancunian band head our way soon for their biggest-ever homecoming show!
The beauty of Manchester’s music scene is that it’s so expansive that you can have your finger on the pulse of it, yet still float blindly unaware past some of the most enthralling bands currently on offer.
Pehraps this is the case for W. H Lung, the Manchester-grown band that have been making waves for over a decade yet are still-to-be-discovered by many.
The acclaimed five-piece head to our venue this November to celebrate their 10 Year Anniversary with their biggest-ever homecoming show, so to get you familiar (and prevent you from rueing the day you passed up on tickets…), we sat with the band to chat all things gigs and Manchester.
What made now the right time to put on your biggest ever homecoming show?
“It’s our 10 year anniversary! Inspiration!, our first single, was released in late 2016, with our first ever show not long after. It felt right to condense all our creative energies up to this point into one big Manchester show. Live performances are the life blood of this band, it’s what we’re for I think, it’ll be a proper celebration.”
What made Albert Hall the venue you wanted to host this special night?
“We’ve not played Albert Hall before which feels wrong! We very nearly did as part of a day festival but the venue was moved last minute. Even though it’s only been a music venue reasonably recently it already seems very Manchester and very iconic. Our first show was round the corner at the Anthony Burgess Institute, also a repurposed space, but repurposed exclusively for us on that one night, there was dust cascading from the rafters. We had this idea when we were starting out of only ever playing in repurposed spaces, swimming pools, old cinemas that kind of thing. That idea was eventually dropped as a result of the logistical nightmare it proved to be but this Albert Hall gig seems a nice call back to that. And now thankfully we can play nice and loud without any fear of structural frailty.”
Albert Hall will be a landmark venue in Manchester for a long time to come so it’s an honour to be small part of that history.
10 years on from the release of your debut single Inspiration!, what keeps your creative fire burning?
Loving what you do, loving the process, falling in love with the world and/or having something to fight for. The creative fires are always there, even if it occasionally feels frustratingly like embers, sometimes songs happen and sometimes it’s a fucking struggle. Over time we’ve learnt to trust timing and the eventual return of inspiration. For the past three albums, we’ve only managed to write properly when it feels like we don’t have to do anything and the songs are pouring out of us, we’ve never really been a turn up to the office everyday band. That being said, we’ve never had a problem with gigs, we do always seem to turn up and make it happen.
How has Manchester’s circuit of live music venues supported the development of you as a band?
Massive, essential. We recently appeared in a beautiful film called Finding Emily playing in the Night and Day café, which we played back in 2019 as a first album release party. That felt very full circle, across the road from Piccadilly Records too who were also an important part of our story. I genuinely think we’ve played most currently functioning venues in the city in the life of this band. We may have moved out of Manchester individually, but Manchester is our spiritual home, and the history of this city has only ever been a source of enthusiastic reverence for us on our journey. As a wider community in music, we really must protect venues big and small, of course go to gigs but really listen when we do. The transmission of music is via live performance, you have to know what is to play live to be a music maker worth your salt, it’s the vital, sacred element of music.
What’s one thing W.H. Lung couldn’t hit the road without?
Dave Olson, soundman, caregiver, fire putter-outer.
If you could bring any special guest to the stage for your biggest-ever show, who would it be?
Maybe we will!
Without revealing too much, what can fans expect from this show?
We’re thinking of diving back into the material to play some songs we’ve never played before, or at least haven’t played since those first shows all that time ago. We’ll see. Otherwise, it’s a retrospective show, so all the bangers.
Which tracks are you looking forward to performing the most?
You can never predict which song will resonate the most in the night. It’s nice to let the gig happen without thinking too much about individual moments. Having said that, there’ll definitely be something…
Their show at our venue on the 20th of November is sure to be a special night – the actualisation of over a decade of passion and connection revealed in the form of music. Having played the likes of Soup, Islington Mill, Carlton Club, Manchester Academy and Gorilla in their time, they’re no strangers to Manchester’s live music circuit. But, what they will be bringing is new energy; a special, one-night-0nly set that will celebrate music from every corner of their discography!
Be sure to click below to grab tickets and stay tuned for more input for the band, coming your way soon…
W. H. LUNG TICKETS
CLICK HERE
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