Lowe Give Us The Only Rock Song You’ll Need Right Now: ‘Worst House Best Street’

You know how sometimes you just want the perfect song to listen to? Not something too harsh, and not something too slow. Something that you can listen to in the morning while you’re getting ready for the day, and something to chuck on after work while you’re cheffing it up in the kitchen. Well, I think I’ve found it.

‘Worst House Best Street‘ is the debut effort from Melbourne band Lowe and they look as good as they sound, too. Mark Stewart (vocals), Arlo Dean Cook (bass) and Timmy Hansen (drums) are the deluxe trio bringing you these sweet, sweet sounds and as someone who is currently living in the worst house on such a good street (I’m not even kidding) this song gets me. It’s one of those tracks where you can get lost in the melody cause it’s just that good. The vocal melody is angsty and the lyrics are so true for so many of us that it hurts. It’s Aussie rock along the lines of Luca Brasi with a little more grit and bigger guitars. And we like big guitar sounds very much.

We caught up with Mark to ask a few questions and get a few answers.

Hello Lowe! Tell us about yourselves: who are you and what’s your best tip for surviving isolation?

Hey! We’re a brand new three piece rock band from Melbourne. We’ve spent the better part of the last year and a half at Laneway Studios in Abbotsford writing our first album. We recorded it over the summer at Woodstock Studios and our first track ‘Worst House Best Street’ is out now. Best isolation tip? The one thing that look forward to more than anything else is the daily trip to my local dog park. It’s complete puppy chaos and it’s the best. So yeah… that’s my advice. Get out (safely of course) and play with as many dogs as you can. It’s does amazing things for your health.

Lowe is very new to the scene and breaking out during a pandemic at that, how has that impacted you as an up and coming band?

Hard to say. Maybe not at all. I know that we never considered waiting till this all blew over before releasing any music. Obviously, the only thing we can’t really do as a band is play shows, and we only had a few booked anyway. The inconvenience we face is nothing compared to venues, workers and bands who had tours booked. Our hearts go out to all of them and no doubt government assistance is desperately needed. Like most bands, we can’t wait to play shows and hopefully we can soon. But if things stay the way they are for a while yet our only choice is to keep writing, recording, making videos and releasing them.

But let’s talk about your debut single! ‘Worst House Best Street’ is a ripper track, what inspired this one?

Thanks! It’s definitely fun to play. It was the first song we wrote and it definitely set the tone for the rest of the record. Lyrically it’s a bit weird, I guess it’s real estate 101 but from the perspective of a renter rather than a buyer. We all want to love where we live and for us that’s usually in an area that is well beyond what we can afford. So the only way to do that is to compromise and rent the cheapest most run down house you can find. It’s always worth it though. The experiences you have stay with you forever.

It’s about the hidden beauty of suburban life, what’s a highlight of suburban life for you?

It’s the people, it’s the music, the food, the smell… everything. Some places can be really inspiring, like you’re part of something good. We’ve all done our fair share of share house living in some severely run down places across Melbourne but we all agree location is always more important than the accommodation. The more diverse and vibrant the suburb the better. My first share house was in Lennox St in Richmond. There were 6 of us and we each paid $50 a week. We lived right near a pub and a laundromat and we felt like we had everything we ever needed. Our landlord was this sweet old man with one eye, he lived in the house behind us. Most days he would drop around a Carlton Light and a few apples from his tree. Living the dream.

But really, would you rather live in the worst house on the best street or the best house on the worst street?

Well, I’ve never lived in the best house in the worst street so I guess in that sense I’m probably not qualified to comment. But I do know that living with friends you love and doing everything together, or nothing together, feels amazing. So I’m gonna go with worst house best street.

You said you have an album on the way, what can you tell us about it?

Yeah we do. It’s pretty much done, just a bit of mixing to go. Sam Sproull is mixing it and he’s crushing it. The whole thing was tracked live in just under a week. Plenty of overdubs and stuff too because it’s pretty easy to be sucked in to multi-tracking once you’re in the studio. More of everything seemed to work best for this record. More guitars, more harmonies. We’re hanging to release more songs and we will soon.

I know that playing gigs is a way off just yet, but who’s on your bucket list to tour with or support?

Nah no bucket list for us. We’ll play with anyone.

Lowe’s debut single ‘Worst House Best Street’ is out now.

Interview by Ebony Story

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