TikTok star Casey Lowry sets sights on Eurovision after fighting for grassroots venues

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Through a rough Zoom connection, Casey Lowry chuckled through questions as if I had just bumped into him down the pub. “Can I swear?” he asked, with a rare hint of nerves through his thick Sheffield accent, before getting serious about the government, its failings, and how we, the people, are better off fixing it ourselves.

Casey is talking to Express.co.uk for the National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour. It’s a string of tour dates featuring massive and emerging artists (such as Casey, Charli XCX, Paolo Nutini, punk sensations Superlove, and Lianne La Havas, just to name a few) playing small, local venues. The Revive Live Tour’s mission is to inject money and joy back into some of these smaller locations after they have been failed by governing bodies and constantly rising cost of living prices.

Casey went one step further for his shows, though. 

Casey admitted that it was the fairness of the Revive Live Tour that brought him on board.

“Well, half of it was me getting paid,” he explained. “And half of it was the venues getting paid if I’m honest.”

He practises what he preaches, as well. After his attendance was announced on the Revive Live Tour, he posted a short eight-second video telling his fans: “The cost of living crisis is absolute b******t. Gigs shouldn’t be something people can’t afford. With the help of the lottery and the music venue trust I’m doing a little tour that has £2.50 tickets around the seaside in my van. Hope to see everyone there, and if you still can’t afford for you or your family drop me a message and I’ll sort something out.” (sic)

Casey’s seven gigs then sold out within minutes – something he gushes endlessly about how grateful he is.

“All I did was post that the crisis is bullshit and people should be able to live,” he reflected. “And that if the government can’t do anything we f*****g should! It’s not our problem but we’ll f*****g fix it!” 

@caseylowrymusic gigs are for everyone!!! #gig #newmusic #27000days #caseystunes ♬ original sound – Casey Lowry

Casey noted just how important it is for the music industry that these smaller venues not just survive, but thrive. For the good of the country’s future.

“I think the reason we’re supporting [the venues] is because it’s so obvious that without them the next Ed Sheeran just doesn’t stand a chance,” he half-yelled. “If you don’t have a chance to [play] those venues you never get a chance to become a f*****g good artist.”

And these smaller venues are the only good place for new, talented artists to get discovered. Without them, Casey lamented, “the culture dies”.

But Casey doesn’t think small venues dying will ruin music forever. “I know it’s obvious to say it would,” he laughed. “We’ll always find a way around it, but it’ll make lives so much f*****g harder! Bands will persevere through it but we shouldn’t _make_ them do it.”

He added: “We make our bread and butter, our livelihoods through these venues, that if they are gone I dread to think how many bands wouldn’t make it through.”

What struck me is that, through his passion for his peers and the British people, Casey was still very self-aware. At one point, he stopped to note: “I am very lucky to make very commercially viable music.” 

But that isn’t to say he’s rolling around in Scrooge McDuck piles of cash.

Casey is still very much in the early stages of his career. He hasn’t released an album just yet, and is still releasing exciting new singles as soon as he finishes writing and recording them (“The next song that’s coming out is the best song I’ve ever written in my entire life.”)

Being at this point on his journey has posed many struggles for him, however. 

@samhairwolfryder

Casey explained how he couldn’t afford to bring an entire band on the Revive Live Tour. Instead: “It’s just me and my drummer – who’s my pub landlord,” he cackled. “It’s very, very real.”

Incidentally, this is exactly how he described his two-man shows. “It’s very real. No b******t just like, it is a gig, there’s music there, and the music’s sick. It’s what I love to do. We’re just playing some f*****g songs with some f*****g energy!”

Casey struggled to put into words which artists his shows might be compared to. “Half the people haven’t seen me before,” he pointed out with his self-awareness. “Which is sick! So when they come out and see me they don’t really know what to expect.”

He added: “The problem is: people have only really seen me on TikTok.”

Right, TikTok. The platform that Casey has more than 3 million followers on, where he is best known for posting guitar-based skits and bleeding-heart confessionals.

Considering Casey is building a successful music career, you might think has grown a little sick of being connected to the latest social media app. 

“I’ll never be sick of it!” he smiled. “It’s made my life a lot better, honestly. As much as it p****s me off sometimes, I’ve got absolutely no quarrels with it. It’s changed my life… I make money! I don’t have to live in my parents’ basement anymore!”

In fact, he confessed his dreams of following in the footsteps of another musically-talented blonde-maned Brit: Sam Ryder. 

Sam, of course, came second in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest – being beaten only by Ukraine. It was the first time the UK has earned any points in the competition for almost a decade; something experts have chalked up to Sam having a strong personality as well as a powerful voice (and his 13 million TikTok followers probably helped).

With a giggle, Casey revealed he has been yearning to represent the UK at Eurovision for the better part of a decade.

“Honestly,” he breathed. “I’ve been desperate to do Eurovision for the last six years! The amount of people I’ve been trying to email to get on Eurovision is ridiculous!”

And while he has nothing but good things to say about Essex-born Sam (“He legitimised coming from the internet and spreading a message”) Casey would kill to replace him in 2023’s competition.

“Ask me tomorrow [and] I’ll be on it,” he said.

Get tickets to The National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour HERE.

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