Sam Battle, better known to his fans as Look Mum No Computer, is representing Britain at the 70th Eurovision song contest after once sending an email to the asking whether he could get on Eurovision. The creator behind the retro-tech music project says he did not set out to chase the contest, but the idea grew from a joke into a real pitch that landed him on one of Europe’s biggest stages.
“I didn’t really plan to do Eurovision at all,” Battle said. “I was chatting to Johnny, my friend who works here, and we were saying wouldn’t it be funny to do it. So, we sent an email to the asking, ‘Is there any way we can get on it?’ and they said, ‘Well this guy might be interesting …’”
The scale of that leap is part of what makes his appearance unusual. Battle has built a cult following around fusions of music and esoteric technology, and his YouTube channel has more than 700,000 subscribers. He also runs This Museum is (Not) Obsolete in Ramsgate, where restored audio technology is not locked behind glass but left out for people to use. “It feels like a village battle of the bands, but international!” he said of Eurovision.
That museum setup is central to how Battle works. His projects are built around turning everyday technology into musical instruments and other devices, and the room is packed with machines that have been brought back to life. One synth is made entirely from rejigged Furby toys. Another, called the Megadrone, is a modular synthesiser built from 1,000 oscillators and takes up an entire side of the museum. All of Battle’s kit is on display and free for the public to grab and mess with.
Battle’s route to this point runs through the mid 00s, when he was lead singer with the indie band Zibra. After Zibra split up in 2016, he threw himself into Look Mum No Computer and built the online audience that now follows his work. The project has since become both a performance identity and a workshop for homemade sound, the kind of thing that can turn a joke email into a national selection.
The contrast is what gives his Eurovision bid its edge. A contest built on spectacle has ended up fronting a creator whose work is rooted in hands-on experimentation, public access and a refusal to keep the machinery hidden. That makes Battle less like a novelty entrant than the face of a very specific modern music culture: one that lives online, but still wants people to touch the wires.
