Name: Hotel Lux - Kola - Portsmouth
Start: 2025-12-19T10:00:00+00:00
Location: Granada Road, Southsea, PO4 0, United Kingdom

So Young Live presents: Hotel Lux homecoming Christmas show - part of their second album tour in support of 'The Bitter Cup'
Tickets on sale now at https://soyoung.live
2025 marks both the return and the start of a new chapter for Hotel Lux, following on from their acclaimed 2023 debut Hands Across The Creek with their sophomore effort, The Bitter Cup.
After a period of extensive touring in support of the album, which garnered critical acclaim and support from the likes of The Guardian, Mojo, Uncut, DIY, L&Q, Clash, So Young, NME and BBC 6Music playlists, the band decided to take a step back after a line up change, with the departure of the original bassist, and the addition of multi-instrumentalist Dillon Home. Now heading into their late twenties, the new iteration of the group needed to take time to rediscover their collective musical identity.
After attempting to write using the same methods that produced their previous work , the band realised that finding new ways of working were necessary to continue making music together. ‘We realised we needed to lean on each other more during the process’ says Home, ‘melodically, lyrically, and emotionally.’ A new, and completely collaborative approach to writing was therefore implemented, leading to a sonic development that takes into consideration the total sum of each member’s influences. ‘We looked at our individual influences, and decided to bring in touchstones that maybe before we would have thought weren’t ‘Lux’ enough to draw from’, says Oliver.
Finding themselves with no financial support to make the album, the band were forced to work within tight limitations. "The album was mostly written in a bar I ran in Peckham as we couldn't afford a rehearsal space and the vast majority of the album was recorded live in just 4 very long days" says Home. The result is something inherently more honest, raw and sometimes ugly.
Hotel Lux’s early, clattering pub-rock sound has now made way for something more nuanced, mature and personal. From the vulnerable melancholy of first album single Another One Gone to the sonic experimentation of the stomp-like Costermonger, a newfound confidence and openness to ideas was found within their new honest approach to song writing and production.
The Bitter Cup is also the group's first entirely self-produced release. "It became pretty obvious once we'd formed the first few tunes that we wanted to continue the personal and more organic approach in the production of the album" says Coburn. "We went into the studio with a very clear idea of how we wanted things to sound, which was essentially the five of us in a room playing together - the way it had been written".
Just as you can expect from an established Hotel Lux, social commentary and tales of a former England are ever-present, with a dissection of the pains of gentrification in Costermonger and the problems of inter-generational divides on Encore. The band however has extended their lyrical approach this time round, looking inward as well as out, examining with a raw honesty personal issues that contextualised the creation of the record. Another One Gone highlights the heartbreak of specifically male mental health and suicide, while rockabilly-like track The Fear chronicles the interior conversations one might have while suffering from addiction.
The album also sees the group pay homage to many of their cultural influences, most notably in the title track 'The Bitter Cup', a cover of the Billy Childish song. "It's the song that started the band, really" says singer Duffin. "Given the lyrical themes of the album, it seemed appropriate for us to return to this song. We recorded it in two takes, having never played it together before and it just felt right."
The Bitter Cup will be released on October 31st, before the band takes the album on the road across the UK and Europe, starting in November.