Up-and-coming troubadour Luke La Volpe’s turning potential star-maker on his latest tour.
The Scots crooner has made an indelible mark on the music scene in recent years since releasing his first online singles in 2017.
He famously captured the confusion of a whole generation shortly after the first lockdown was imposed in 2020 with Terribly Beautiful, his broody ballad co-written with The View frontman Kyle Falconer, but he’s been relatively quiet since his snazzy banger Alter Ego landed two years ago.
Fans were delighted when La Volpe performed a rousing set on Radio Scotland’s Quay Sessions earlier this month, and now he’s set to hit the road in support of the Music Venue Trust.
Ahead of an eight-date UK tour, which kicks off in his home town Bathgate tonight, he sent out a Facebook plea to emerging songsmiths who might be keen to support him.
Luke says he was delighted by the response – and that he’s more than happy to share the limelight.
Gigs will be ‘showcase of other talent’
“I’m not treating these gigs as headline shows – I’m treating them like they’re a showcase of other talent,” says Luke, 26.
“I want the support acts to be just as important as it would be if it was just me playing.”
The tour includes a show tomorrow night at Beat Generator, where he’ll be joined by Courier Country songsmiths Nick Shane and Katie Nicoll.
La Volpe says he was still a teenager when he last played on the same bill as Dundee rocker Nick. “I don’t really know him, but I’ve got him on Instagram and I see his posts – he’s doing well for himself,” he adds.
As for Kirriemuir-based Katie, Luke reveals he loved her enthusiastic response to his post seeking support acts. “I just thought, if someone really wants to do it they deserve to do it,” he says.
Taught to sing as a toddler by his grandfather, his recent low profile shouldn’t be taken as any sign of a lack of productivity. Despite just fleeting festival appearances this summer, Luke confirms he’s been busy writing, with his sights set on putting his long-awaited debut album together.
With a chuckle, he describes his new material as “upbeat and a bit psychedelic – almost like if The Arctic Monkeys, Frank Sinatra and Led Zeppelin all had a baby together”.
Anyone who checked out his recent radio session certainly won’t be surprised to hear La Volpe’s got at least one eye on the dancefloor as he plots his next move.
“I feel like I’ve got enough big ballads and anthemic tunes – I just want to showcase that I can do everything,” he declares.
“There were a few new songs in that session. It’s quite strange though, because some of those songs I don’t think I’m ever going to release. I love the one called I Can’t Quit You but it doesn’t really fit with what I’m trying to do for the next part of my career, so it might come later.
“All the songs are a stepping stone to the next song, and Alter Ego is totally different again. I love surprising people.”
‘Bring a friend for free’ to shows
Anyone buying a ticket online for his National Lottery-backed Beat G gig tomorrow can take a friend along for free – and can look forward to a whole new spoken word approach.
“It’s going to be a bit stripped back,” says Luke.
“It’s not going to be the full band, it’s just me and my guitarist Ben MacDonald. He’s going to be playing electric guitar and I’ll be playing acoustic, so the songs will sound a bit different.
“I’ll also be going through what they mean, where I wrote them and who I wrote them with, and just telling the story of each one. It’s kind of like an intimate show where you get to know me better and just hear me singing.
“It’s going to be nice in these smaller venues. I want to have a lot of crowd interaction, just by talking to each other. It’s called the United By Music Tour so I want the music to unite everybody and just feel the love in the room.”
La Volpe has another hope for his shows he’d love to see being fulfilled.
People ‘still scared to go to gigs’
“It’s getting better now, but I think a lot of people are still scared to go to gigs after Covid,” he adds.
“You’re still not seeing the same turnouts you used to see before it all, so I want this tour to let people know it’s alright, everything’s fine and we’re all in this together.”
Asked if there’s a song he particularly enjoys playing at the moment, he comes up with a fitting response. “I always love Terribly Beautiful at the end of the set,” says the singer, whose real name is Luke Gibson.
“That’s the song that shot me into the public eye a bit and it reminds me of being in lockdown and feeling like we’re never getting out of it. Now when I sing it it’s beautiful because everybody’s together – I get emotional singing that one.”
Looking beyond the tour, he’ll shortly be recording his next EP with producer Bruce Rintoul. “The new songs are going to be totally different again, but I love trying every different genre,” he says.
“I’m still trying to find what my sound is. I did a lot of stuff last year with Ian Archer, the guitarist from Snow Patrol – we just hit it off straight away.
“I love just working with different people, it totally unlocks different doors in your brain and you learn something from them all.”
Luke La Volpe will be at Beat Generator on September 2. Look up ticketweb.uk for tickets.
