We’re Lowlakes, a four-piece from Melbourne. We like to create moody soundscapes, with elements of pop. We are originally from Alice Springs and have been playing together as Lowlakes for just over a year. We released our debut EP in March this year, and on that back of that, after touring around Australia, are going over to play some shows in the USA.
About two months ago we went back into the studio and started working on our debut record, which we plan to release early-mid 2013. The first single Cold Company was released this week, with an accompanying music video.
Your latest tour is in support of your new single ‘Cold Company’, tell us about it and how its being received at your shows.
Cold Company is a bit of a departure from what we’d previously been writing, but we feel it still retains a lot of the defining characteristics of our debut EP. The first EP had a meandering and retrospective undertow throughout. The new single is more up-tempo, centring upon an electronic beat sampled on Tom’s iPhone. This gives it a bit of an 80’s vibe. But then on top of that we’ve layered some deep and dark bass/synth sections alongside swirling and buoyant guitar-work.
From the outset Cold Company was a very linear track that drew reference from artists like Burial and The Field (which we were listening to a lot at the time). The more we toyed with the arrangements, the more it took the form of a somewhat quirky and brooding pop-structured tune. We like it that way.
‘Fess up. What records have you stolen from your parent’s record collection and why?
My Dad used to put on records from artists like Paul Simon, Eurythmics, UB40 and Pink Floyd on long road trips from Alice Springs to Victoria in summer holidays. But now he’s really one-eyed and only listens to Lowlakes, so there are no hidden gems to be found at his place anymore. I bought him Portishead’s ‘Dummy’ for Father’s Day, but I’m not sure he liked it…
‘Cold Company’ is the first single off your forthcoming debut album, out 2013. Can you give us some hints of what to expect from it?
There will certainly be plenty of stuff on it that is perhaps more similar to what was on the debut EP. However, I think some of the newer stuff is a bit grittier; it seems to have a bit more of an ‘edge’ to it. And then there’s a lot of really obscure stuff that all of us, particularly Tom with his new found vocal-effects pedal, are coming up with. So I think it will include a nice mix of catchier pop songs like the Cold Company single, but also some stranger music that people haven’t heard from us yet.
Your debut EP has achieved critical acclaim, how does that sit with you guys? Did it put pressure on the band during the recording of your debut album?
We were really pleasantly surprised with how the first EP was received. I think more than putting pressure on us for the new record, it gave us a nice little confidence boost, and a bit of a license to try things that we may not have tried in the past.
That said, recording hasn’t been a ‘walk in the park’; we’ve been really painstakingly over-particular with some of the work we’ve done so far, although I think generally speaking, we’re a lot more instinctive with our song writing now than we were before.
Do you have any particular ritual before you go on stage, or even a lucky charm you take with you?
Our Manager is an Austrian Pastry Chef by trade so he always brings us a special cake to eat before we go on stage. Last time it was a chocolate mud cake with cherries in the centre. We’ve requested a triple-tiered crockenbush for our single launch next Saturday.
You’ve been invited to New York’s CMJ Music Festival in October. How are you guys preparing for the festival?
Tom has been spending a lot of time in Canberra, so we’ve found it pretty tricky to rehearse of late, but the remaining three of us in Melbourne have been doing our best. Tom’s in town for the next week so needless to say, we’ll be getting stuck into rehearsals.
We’ll be performing two shows at the CMJ festival. Our own showcase on the 17th and a very short 25-minute set at the Aussie BBQ in Manhattan with a host of cool Aussie bands on the 20th, so we’ll be having to decant our normal set list and will put a lot of thought into which songs make the cut for that one.
If you could have anything on your rider for your latest tour, what would it be?
I’ve always wanted a masseuse, but that’s definitely aiming a bit high. I think we should probably just be content with our manager’s baking.
Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living Australian artist would you most like to collaborate with? Tell us why?
We’re big fans of Seekae from Sydney. Tom’s always said he’d ditch us to be in their band or would at least love to sing on one of their tracks. We think their arrangements are fantastic, and they remind us heaps of Boards of Canada who are a great Scottish electronic instrumental duo.
Brent likes Snowman from Perth but they just broke up unfortunately, so that collaboration won’t be happening any time soon. Bill and I are into fellow Melbournians Sleep Decade and Manor, but they each have great rhythm sections already so I don’t think we will be getting a call up either.
What is your band’s music the best soundtrack for?
I think it would work well on a road trip through Scandinavia; somewhere cold and inland – it’s not really beach music.
Maybe if someone were to use some of our music in a doco on bears – that could also work.
Where we can see you play next, what releases do you have available and where can we get them?
We’re launching the first single from our forthcoming debut album at Ding Dong Lounge in Melbourne next Saturday (October 13th) with Colourwaves and Manor.
You can get that track and our self-titled EP from iTunes and Band Camp, or our website www.lowlakes.com.
There’s also all the information on there about our upcoming US tour, which begins on October 17th in New York City.
