Victory Lap are undeniably one of Nottingham’s breakout bands of 2024. Prior to their debut EP Torch Songs, which was released in July, they were already making waves. But now, they have reached new heights, with an upcoming UK headline tour in the diary - including a show at Nottingham’s very own The Bodega. We chat to Tomas Ponting and James Denham about the band’s early origins, how they found their signature sound, and a suspicious new Fanta flavour which has emerged onto shelves…
We have well and truly descended into the colder half of the year now, but back when I spoke to Victory Lap, it was somehow one of the hottest days of the year. It was 6pm and I had just finished my day at work, as had Tomas and James; “We’re very boring men. We both work in offices and do boring office jobs,” Tomas says. “Luckily, I work in an office with air conditioning!”
James was working from home, so he hadn’t been so lucky. “I've actually been going a little bit mental during the last 24 hours,” he admits, before explaining that the smoke alarm that his landlord fitted the previous day had been causing havoc. “It’s been beeping all day. I only mustered up the courage to text him this afternoon. If you take any lesson from this - just speak to your landlord!”
Based in Radford and Wollaton respectively, Tomas and James went to school together, along with the band’s pianist Jake. Drummer Lawrence came into the picture due to his dad’s friendship with Tomas' dad from Nottingham’s punk scene back in the day, while long-term friend and bassist Rory was the final piece of the puzzle, to form Victory Lap as they are today.
James had a bunch of old crooner style love ballads, and I was listening to a lot of 50s doo-wop and 60s romantic ballads. We put those ideas together. I think that mesh formulated the rest of what we were going to go on to do as a band
“It was all quite organic,” James says. “I suppose we kind of all knew each other for a long, long time. Then, we just started taking music a bit more seriously. We've always played music together. But we thought, rather than just leave this in our bedrooms, maybe we should actually go outside and get on a stage.”
That’s exactly what Victory Lap did. Before they’d even released their debut single Jealousy, let alone an EP, they had played a number of shows across the UK, including support appearances in London and Manchester and a headline show at The Chameleon (RIP), which is where I first discovered them.
But prior to their first headline show, the band spent time formulating their sound into what it is today. “James had a bunch of old crooner style love ballads, and I was listening to a lot of 50s doo-wop and 60s romantic ballads,” Tomas says. “So, we put those ideas together. I think that mesh formulated the rest of what we were going to go on to do as a band.”
James adds; “Post punk was the big trend at the time. We’re fans of that, but there was no point in us trying to be like other bands. So, we did the antithesis of it, using open chords. It made sense in the wider context. We were coming out of Brexit, there was a nostalgic feeling of what Britain - or life - used to be.”
At this point, James picks up a can and takes a sip. “What are you drinking?” Tomas asks. “Kombucha,” replies James. When I show my can of Rubicon on the screen, Tomas asks if I knew that Fanta have released a new pineapple and grapefruit flavour, “But it’s just Lilt! They’ve just put a new sticker on it,” he exclaims. “But it is in a lovely blue coloured can, so there are positives,” he concludes.
Having been warned by James that the food and drink conversation needed to move on before they got onto their strong (seemingly, very positive) opinions on crisps, we shift back to talking about the EP, Torch Songs. “It’s a phrase I came across when I was listening to Édith Piaf and Jacques Brel, who bear everything with their heart about their lost love” explains Tomas.
The phrase reflected the persistent failure and upset in love that the band captured across four songs they ultimately selected for the EP. Before the tracklist was decided, Western influences crept more into their sound, but this has been shelved; “The ones we picked are more what we want to display, and the route we want to go down now,” James says.
They will be taking the EP on the road very soon, making the leap from support to headliner, across the UK. “Having the opportunity to go to London and do a headline show, it does feel like we are imposters,” Tomas admits. “But I always compare it to Ronaldo - we try to leave our hearts on the pitch! And make sure we do the best show we can. So, it's just a matter of doing that on a larger stage, I guess.”
The band’s approach to being a support act was to keep their set short and sweet, and not linger on things too much. But now they’ve got the headline spot, they can afford to be a bit more self-indulgent, and include some of their longer, five or six minute songs on the setlist. “I feel like we can flex that muscle now - we've done the bicep curls, so now we can do the rowing machine,” Tomas laughs.
Victory Lap are headlining The Bodega on Saturday 7 December 2024.
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