10: Interview: LOW

2 years ago, prior to the release of their latest album 'Drums & Guns', I had the pleasure of interviewing slowcore/low-fi legends Low. Since the interview they HAVE released Destroyer (via Retribution Gospel Choir's self-titled debut) and played Union Chapel once again. You'll see what I mean later... This interview was originally for cowandfield.co.uk but the site is down at the moment so I've decided to post it here! Enjoy...


The new album 'drums & guns' was originally planned to be called 'the violent path'. Was there any reason for the sudden change of heart after already announcing that it would be titled 'the violent path'?
Alan: Drums and Guns was actually the first title we came up with for the new record, we thought about it as we were doing the record and started to come with other ideas...
Mimi: I don't think you're right, the violent path was the first name we came up with
Alan: Oh yeah yeah, that was the potential name for the album then we heard this old Irish folk song “johnny a' hardly new yeee” (In full irish meets pirate accent) and the chorus was like “drums and guns and drums and guns”
Mimi: Yeah, then we though 'well that's a cool name'. We didn't know if the music would be appropriate at first for the name.
Alan: We gave it some thought and decided it was more fitting to what the record was like that 'the violent path'. Errr, We'll use that for something else I think.

[matt joins]

It's the second album you've recorded with Dave Fridman (Alan corrects by saying 'grammy award winning producer dave fridman'), did the process differ the that of when you recorded the great destroyer?
Alan: We approached it very different for sure. Usually in the past we'd record the songs like an extension of how we play them live, with the drums, bass and guitar, so we tried to use some different methods and do different things to what we usually did, whilst still being Low. We approached the great destroyer in a more traditional fashion, but this time having worked with him already we knew we could go in and he could help us with what we were trying to do.

Zak left the band in 2005, was it hard for you (Matt) to come in and learn the older material to play live as well as writing new material with the band?
Matt: Learning the old stuff came pretty easy as I was already familiar with most of the catalogue, and the new stuff kind of similarly went well as I'd played with Alan in the past, so rehearsals went smoothly.
Mimi: Then we just beat him [group laughter]
Alan: It's always a struggle, we're not always on the same page but we tackle things at the same pace and with similar vision. I enjoyed the process of revisiting the old stuff, I think that in itself might of influenced the new record. We weren't necessarily running away from the old style but we looked at things and thought 'yeah, maybe we do do this, but lets see what chances we can take and what changes we can make'

You did a radio 6 session and interview yesterday, the presenter more or less openly admitted he didn't know an awful lot about you and what sort of thing you did, what did you make of that?
Alan: I think he handled that pretty well. There's nothing worse than when you have an interview with a presenter who knows nothing about you, but even worse when they pretend to know stuff they don't. He was honest about it and we had a talk with him before and after it so it wasn't so bad. You could tell he had listened to the new record and paid attention.
Mimi: It's so hard in that profession, you have so much music to get through and stuff to organise, so yeah, he didn't do badly.
Alan: I don't think we've ever been offended by a presenter not knowing much about us, it's to be assumed generally.

Am I right in saying this is the first show of the tour?
Mimi: Yeah I guess, it's a pretty short trip and this is the first show.
Alan: Yeah this is the first one on this record, it's not out yet but I guess the point of this short trip is to present the new material and to talk with people like you.

So will there be a good mix of new and old material at these shows? Are you planning on mainly previewing the new album or playing a mix of the older stuff and just dropping a few new tracks in there?
Alan: We're pretty much on the new record.
Mimi: Yeah, we play a lot of the new record.
Alan: We'll probably play most of the new one, but we'll have to do about half of the set older material too.

Will you be playing the new or old version of Murderer on this tour?
Alan: I know a lot of people who like the ay we've always done it live so i think we'll probably just keep doing doing it that way

I was wondering if there's any particular reason that the 2nd tracks of the last 4 records (including the new one) have been the names of places. Whitetail, Canada, California, and Belarus.
Alan: We should of had Missouri 2nd on Secret Name too, could've got a run going.
Mimi: Yeah
Alan: That's actually the first we've heard of it... actually... wait wait wait...Completely deliberate. Yes, yes, if you were to take out a globe and plot those places on it, they would create a 3 dimensional algorithm that we believe is the key to cold fusion... Yeah, that's a good one, very observant.

Makes a change from the Mormon questions?
Mimi: Yeah, we need more questions like that one.
Alan: Now you're putting pressure on us.

On the making of Trust dvd, there's a list of tracks being worked on and Belarus was listed. Was it recorded, unused and then reworked for use on the new record?
Alan: Yeah it's a track we've had kicking around for a while, it was a possible song for trust.

Was it more low-fi back then?
Mimi: Well there was no drum machines
Alan: Yeah and there was a lot more guitar. It's a very very basic song, there's just a couple of things happening, it's almost a 'no-song'. Very simple but a nice track.

Any plans to record the track destroyer?
Alan: It was a track we were working on the great destroyer, we still kick it around a bit. It's one of those songs that's really great live, at the right moment, but if it's not the right moment and especially if you're trying to record it, it just seem doesn't work.

Are the venues on the tour handpicked? Or do the promoters tend to pick where you play?
Alan: We try and get the booking agent to ask the promoter to find somewhere interesting sometimes you're left to what's on offer, we really loved playing union chapel, but they don't do gigs there anymore?

Left a bad impression?
Alan: Oh yeah yeah, all those rowdy Low fans causing a riot, spitting on the floor and stuff. No, that was a really nice venue, I'd love to play there again one day.

Does it frustrate you when the crowd speak through the music when you're playing? I know it annoys me.
Alan: It's kinda a crap-shoot but you realise that some shows are noisy and some aren't.
Mimi: You can't let it get to you, we realised pretty early on that it happened.
Alan: Yeah, if you let it get to you it can destroy you for no reason. Some of the stuff we do it has to be silent for you to hear though, I tend to play louder and with less dynamics if people are speaking loud. They can please themselves really, it's their money.

Are there any plans to reissue the older albums like I could live in hope and long division? They're pretty hard to get hold of this side of the pond.
Alan: Well, the label that owns them aren't traditionally very helpful with allowing people to reissue old records. It's good you mentioned that though cause I forgot we really have to speak to someone about that, they weren't very well distributed outside of the US. We really have to speak to someone about it.

You've covered artists like Pink Floyd and Neil Young? Are these major influences on the music you're still making?
Alan: We've been listening to a lot of Jamaican music over the last couple of years, it's really interesting just to hear the way they make music.

Well I've started to go over the amount of time I was told I had and I've just about got through the questions so I'll let you go and set up and stuff, thanks for the interview
Matt: Thank you very much
Mimi: You're welcome
Alan: Ermm, Cheeerio