Hotel Lux

‘Daddy was a bad guy/His hands upon my thigh’. So declares vocalist Lewis Duffin on Hotel Lux’s newest single, Daddy, successfully inhabiting status as both the bands’ most refined offering to date and yet their most decidedly radio unfriendly. Originally hailing from Portsmouth, it is the quintet’s willingness to eschew the conventional in pursuit of uncomfortable reality that truly sets Hotel Lux apart from many of their contemporaries. With a sound best described as The Stranglers fronted by Mark E. Smith, their music evokes a certain twisted cynicism that seems to both rage and glory at the quasidystopian actualities depicted within the universe of Duffin’s vocals, as he alternates from apathetic drawl to guttural growl. Having recently toured with the likes of Shame, and with a host of larger headline gigs under their belt (most notably London’s Moth Club), it seems the particular brand of post-Brexit-punk practised by the Lux is just getting started.

Q: The new single, ‘Daddy’ contains some fairly heavy lyrical imagery- could you elaborate on the inspiration behind the song?

A: So near Portsmouth, there’s this place called Paulsgrove. Around 2001, there was supposedly this halfway house set up for people who’d been in prison for stuff like sexual assault- it’s quite a rough place anyway, but the locals found out about these ex-offenders living there and there were genuine riots, in this tiny place, in a protest about them living there. I also always loved Shane Meadows [This is England] and Alan Clarke, these directors talking about terrible, real, things. It’s about confronting these subjects, not wanting to sugar coat or shy away from discussing them.

Q: I was surprised to see that Duc from HMLTD produced ‘Daddy’- how did this pairing occur?

A: We were looking for a way to expand our sound, from our first two singles, and because of the music HMLTD produce, he seemed like a clear way to do that. They’re great songwriters, they really think about every part of the song- we learnt a lot from working with him. We weren’t lazy songwriters before, and maybe we just preferred a rawer sound on the first two singles, but it wasn’t what we wanted to exclusively do anymore. Now we’re going to try and put together an almost dumbed down version of that, to find a sweet spot in the middle.

Q: Flicking through a couple of other pieces that have been written on you, there seems to be a real fetishization of sorts around the idea that you are the ‘working-class cult heroes’ in a group of super middle-class bands. Is this something you embrace?

A: No, it’s horrible! A lot of my lyrics are telling stories about experiences particular to the working-class, because that is my reality- but I certainly wouldn’t want the band to be paraded and defined as just a product of that. ‘Class’ is a weird one. The whole fetishization and glorification of being working-class is so boring, especially when it’s just not who you are. But the fact the ‘working-class’ nature of my lyrics comes up in every fucking interview I think means we should move on.

Q: In a lot of your lyrics, there is a sense of anger and injustice- is anger important as creative fuel to the band?

A: Anger is as important as love and everything else. I don’t like the concept of bands refusing to play love songs because ‘that’s been done’. So have fucking hate songs! But as a band, we’ve done the writing about despair, and we now want to create stuff about the positive parts of negative emotion- the hope etc. But I guess the music you most connect with reflects your mood, and that extends to what you write. So maybe I’ve just been angry too much!

Illustration by Bo Matteini

Words by Dan Pare