The Lathums’ frontman Alex Moore on huge Robin Park hometown show, new music and giving back to Wigan

The boys from Wigan have two studio albums to their name, and are set for a big summer. They’ve just released their new single and are days away from playing their biggest show to date. On Friday, July 19, they’ll play at Wigan’s Robin Park Arena in front of 12,000 adoring hometown fans. 

“I think it's always exciting,” frontman Alex Moore tells us with a tangible hint of excitement in his voice. “It would be weird if there weren’t some nerves, it keeps you on your toes.

“You don’t want to get too complacent and we want to make it a good show. We’ve played some warm up shows and I’ve just started making weird noises and screaming so I think we’re excited.  It’s always the same really. We always have things leading up to a big event, with Robin Park we have the warm-up shows. There’s always something to occupy the mind, and you have to be in the moment. 

“I speak for myself here when I say if you’re looking into the future all of the time and not living in the present moment, that doesn’t really work for me, so we always have something to think about.  We’ve been counting down the days. It’s our biggest show to date. It’s quite the landmark for the band. I think we all just want to get on there now because we feel like we’ve waited so long.”

The hometown show will see them surpass a memorable night at Manchester’s Castlefield Bowl 12 months ago.

“Castlefield Bowl was at the time our biggest show to date,” Alex said. “That was an amazing experience, and that’s led into how we feel about Robin Park, we knew how good Castlefield Bowl was and that’s in Manchester and now we’re doing a hometown gig to even more people, 12,000 people, it makes it more exciting there’s more to look forward to.”

The Lathums released a brand new song on Monday, and ‘No Direction’ is the band’s first new music in over a year.

“All I want to say is, we’ve not held back,” Alex said. “We’re coming back and smashing it, letting people know we are back in the scene. Musically, we’ve not really released much for a long time, it feels like a long time for us but we’re coming back with a storm. 

“I think people will be pleasantly surprised with the sound we’re bringing back. I’m really excited for people to hear it- it feels like Old Lathums. OG Lathums, it’s exciting. We’re coming back with a bang.”

Giving back to the town of Wigan is something that the band are keen to do. The band has partnered with local charity Curious Minds to create the Chance To See Fund. This is to help Wigan-based young people and organisations access funding exclusively for the borough.

“With the success of the band, even though we have worked hard and we’re very determined with a lot of passion, we have been very lucky over the years,” Alex said. “We’ve been in the right place at the right times, the people who have got into the music are astounding and come from all walks of life, different ages, families. 

“All of these people not just in Wigan but all around the country have got onto us so strongly and intensely, it felt like we wanted to give something back, to give people the opportunity even if they don’t become popstars - I’m not saying we’re popstars - but even if they don’t start a band or artist, it would be nice for them to have a place to go, especially the youth of Wigan. 

“That’s where me and the lads come from. It’s not the most affluent place, there’s not many places where a young person can go and feel safe and do something they want to do, even if there’s just a little inkling of a passion for music. 

“We know things aren’t easy for a lot of people at the moment, there’s quite the crisis going on. Even just to buy a little acoustic guitar or have a drum kit costs money and we know people don't have the ability to buy these. 

“So we wanted to put something back into Wigan as we've gained so much from Wigan. It’s so important for us to remember we’re we’ve come from. We’re not flashy and we’ve not got lots of money, it’s not like that at all. We’ve gained a lot from the town and we want to give back. We didn’t want to get fame and money and then head off to LA and never think about Wigan again. That’s not what we want to do.”

Looking ahead to the future, Alex is ready for more firsts after delighting a hometown crowd on Friday night.

“The good thing about the position we’re in now is that, as we’ve seen with Castlefield Bowl and then Robin Park the year after, it feels like a steady and organic growth,” he said. “There’s always something to look forward to and it’s always building up. We don’t know what we could be doing next year, it could be something even bigger that we don’t know about yet. 

“That’s the most exciting thing. I’m excited for 2024, 2025 and 2030.”