The Luka State

A British indie rock band with a solid guitar attack and urgent melodies that are both catchy and powerful, the Luka State burst out of the mining town of Winsford, Cheshire in 2013, scoring an early success with the song “30 Minute Break.” A change in drummers coincided with a shift in the Luka State’s creative approach, as synthesizer lines began winding their way into their guitar-based arrangements on their 2015 EP The Price of Education. A steady stream of tracks followed before the band scored another success with 2018 single “Feel It.” The Luka State hail from Winsford, Cheshire, a community in the Northwest of England, located midway between Liverpool and Manchester. The town is best known for salt mining, but with two cities famous for music not far away, the four members of the Luka State began making music in their early teens, and formed the group in 2012. The original lineup featured Conrad Ellis on guitar and lead vocals, Lewis Pusey on lead guitar, Sam Bell on bass and backing vocals, and Jess Whitmore on drums. In 2013, the Luka State came to the attention of Sam Williams, who had previously been an early booster of Supergrass, and he engineered three tracks for the band — “Matter of Time,” “30 Minute Break,” and “Rain.” The first two songs were issued by Project Records on a double-A-side vinyl single in 2013, and “30 Minute Break” became an online hit, thanks in part to a music video that featured actor Thomas Brodie-Sangster, best known for playing Jojen Reed on Game of Thrones. In 2014, drummer Whitmore left the band, and with the arrival of percussionist Jake Barnabas, the Luka State’s sound shifted, with their recordings featuring a greater use of keyboards while still emphasizing the guitars. 2015 was a busy year for the Luka State, with the band issuing a seven-song EP, The Price of Education, as well as two singles drawn from the set, “Can’t Help Myself” and “The Believer.” (The latter included a cover of the Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” as a B-side.) The band dropped three more tracks in 2017: “Lies! Lies! Lies!,” “Bring This All Together,” and “Bold.” In 2018, the Propaganda Records’ singles club issued a Luka State single, “Feel It,” which earned positive reviews and fared well on major streaming services. With the song giving their profile a boost, two more tracks were issued before the year was out, “Bury Me” and “Kick in the Teeth.” ~ Mark Deming