Winsford, England-based alternative rock band, The Luka State, is back with the leading title track from their upcoming sophomore album, More Than This, which is set for a March 10, 2023, release. Accompanied by a new music video, the band sets themselves up for takeoff as they thrash into the new year with big plans and bigger sounds.
The band tackles systemic inequities and classism with this scathing track. Amidst the straight-forward drive of the drums, bass, and guitar, the vocals wail and shred atop of them with angst and desperation. In the video, we go between high-energy shots of band dripping sweat performing the song on a stage and video vignettes of unhoused people counting coins and holding up literal signs for help.
“‘More Than This’ is a song about the tragedy of a young single mum I was delivering food parcels to during lockdown” says lead singer, Conrad Ellis. “She did everything she could for her boys, working 2 jobs a week to put food on the table, but she was let down by the system.”
And speaking on the video, Ellis recalls “Our record label gave us a budget for the video, but we thought it would be more fitting to donate towards The Trussell Trust, the largest food bank charity in the UK. It’s a subject that’s very close to our hearts so we want to put our money where our mouth is and donate. The little lad in the video and on our album cover is from our home town Winsford. We wanted to show the reality of working-class towns like ours so we photographed him in front of one of the permanently shut shops on one of the estates.”
“More Than This” is available now on major streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. The accompanying music video is also available on YouTube. Find “More Than This” and more excellent music on the Alchemical Records Multigenre Mixture playlist on Spotify and YouTube.
Charlie Maybee is a dancer, musician, educator, and writer based in Charleston, South Carolina who currently teaches with the Dance Program at the College of Charleston. His primary work as an artist is with his performing collective, Polymath Performance Project, through which he makes interdisciplinary performance art that centers tap dance as the primary medium of expression and research. He also currently plays rhythm guitar for the Charleston-based punk band, Anergy, and releases music as a solo artist under the name Nox Eterna.
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Alchemical Records is a Washington, D.C. based music publication. We cover the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, VA metro area music scenes, including band interviews, articles about your favorite musicians, new music and concert dates.
