A Dirty Dozen with STEVE LUCARELLI from LOWLIVES – May 2024

Photo Credit: Wil Foster

According to a recent press release: “West coast based raucous rockers LOWLIVES have shared their new single and music video for “You Don’t Care.” The track is taken from their debut album, Freaking Out, due out May 31 via their new label home Spinefarm and marks the end of the band’s three-part, ‘Helvis’ video narrative. LOWLIVES aren’t so much about carefully stoking the embers as pouring on gasoline with merry impetuosity. With vocalist Lee Downer and drummer Luke Johnson joined by guitarist Jaxon Moore and bassist Steve Lucarelli, the nascent band was founded on a shared love of ’90s alternative and grunge, and a shared desire to make music once more for little more than the love of doing so.” We get Steve to discuss new music, influences, and more.

1. Tell us a little about your latest release. What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through? Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

Our latest release is a song called, “You Don’t Care” off our new album coming out on May 31st called, Freaking Out. I think one of the main things you might take a few tries to fully realize is what’s happening with the guitars…it’s a shred zone. I remember hearing the demo the night Lee wrote it just being absolutely blown away, it’s us at our most technical. All over the album are little hints back and forth, in our single “Loser” the pre-chorus says, “But we won’t pretend, maybe what they say is true, but I don’t care at all.” And I think that song, which comes right before “You Don’t Care” is the juxtaposition of how complicated relationships can be. Caring is a concept in this album, because you don’t see many nihilists freaking out.

2. What got you into music and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

Well, I come from a musical family. My father and uncles are musicians, and so I grew up around going to smoky jazz clubs and hearing music played in the house always. Discovering Jimi Hendrix in middle school was what ignited the love of rock for me, specifically the visual of seeing him over his guitar on fire. It’s the careless abandon in lighting something you care deeply about on fire, the volume of the feedback ringing out and damaging your ears, just the whole spirit of living once resonated, and continues to. I have never looked back, wavered, or regretted my decision.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

I’m probably the member of LOWLIVES with the most eclectic taste in music. It’s hard to pinpoint because I draw influence from many places, but probably The Clash’s “London Calling” is a fair place to start. On that album you get punk, jazz, rock n’ roll all wrapped up together with lyrics and messages that are aware, human, and youthful. I remember buying that on CD and eventually having to buy another copy because I wore it out. I’m drawn to authenticity from the artists I enjoy, and to throw out some other artists who have influenced me personally… Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Heilung, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Refused, The Replacements, The Fugees, I can go on for hours, so I’ll cut it there.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

Dang, that is difficult. I’d love to hear a LOWLIVES + J. Mascis (from Dinosaur Jr) collab, I think Jerry Cantrell (from Alice In Chains) would be insane to work with as well, as their influence seeps through on us. To bring it into this decade, I think Olivia Rodrigo has been giving out some cool alt-grunge songs. It’s nice to see a new generation flying the flag and helping push rock vibes back towards the mainstream. The belief that ‘rock is dead’ is such shit, the spirit and community are still very much alive. I’d love to hear what that would sound like.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour? What do you like to do to unwind?

I love exploring. The not so subtle part of being a touring musician is that you have to be cool with going outside of your comfort zone very often. Wandering around new cities is one of the biggest perks about this gig, and so is taking in cultures and visiting places I’ve only seen on tv or in book descriptions. We try to make it a point on tour to hit some historic places, and I do the same in my personal life. As a band we’ve been to Stonehenge, Loch Ness, the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, we are about that life. Personally, I’ve been to all 50 states and played in 48 of them. To unwind…there’s really nothing better than a good A24 horror movie and a glass of mezcal.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

Picture this; the year is 1994, you’re at the mall with your friends. You walk into the cd/tape/record store, and you walk up to the display and put on oversized padded headphones and press play on the cd player. Some unbelievable asshole before you has cranked the stereo to the max, and you jolt, gasp and rip the headphones off after the first 3 seconds of piercing feedback. Ears ringing, you adjust the volume, start again, and hear the sounds of real amps, real songs, real performances, then you buy the cd on the spot, and listen for a month straight. It’s your first experience with rock, and you’re fucking psyched. It’s always fun to hear people who don’t know rock music try to describe us, but we’ve been called a metal band in the past and that is humorous to me. Music is subjective, but sir, if you think we sound like Slayer, you do not listen to Slayer (but you should listen to Slayer).

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Well, I can say for certain that I’m the drink and booze slinger in the band. I will make you a proper cocktail, and give you the history and science behind it. Lee has a guitar in his hand pretty much at all times and will constantly blow your mind with his catalog of songs. Luke would be the one cooking and maintaining the schedule, and Jaxon is the one documenting all of it and interjecting with pun lyrics over Lee’s playing.

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

Asking all the hard questions! Honestly, in the last few years, I’ve been working on separating the art from the artist, and living around LA, you see almost everyone, so being truly starstruck doesn’t happen much in a traditional sense. I’ve grown to have a fear of meeting my heroes, so Paul Westerberg, Tom Waits, Paul Simonon, Nick Cave… stay the fuck away from me! I think the one caveat though, is that we have gotten to share the stage with bands I grew up with, and I think that if younger me knew we’d one day be playing with Pantera at Download Festival, that would freak him out. But yeah, Lee and I might be in the pit for that, we’ll see.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

There are a ton of best parts, but feeling the groove is high up there. Sometimes, you can look down and wonder how your hands know how to do what they’re doing, because you have no idea what the hell they’re doing, yet you feel that so deep. Playing in a room with real instruments and real voices is big for me, because that’s an expression of humanity. It’s expressing yourselves in rhythm and tones, and I might do something different than someone else would, and that’s where the magic happens. If music were off the table for good, well that’s a hard fucking question. I think if people knew how much has to happen to see a touring band play, they’d understand how much is sacrificed. It’s a fun job, the most fun job… most musicians form their entire life around a 20 min – 3 hour max performance. Trying to compare to that would be like asking an heroin addict which version of no caffeine discount soda they’d like. Nothing can touch it. If I have to choose, I’d pick something with community betterment tied into it. You can never take the boy out of punk rock.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

Ha, well, there’s the Hollywood question, “Did you ever think you’d win a Grammy for this record,” and then I wax poetic and talk about our huge upcoming tours and etc. But I think I’d love to have a question pertaining to the social impact of our band and what our music was able to do for the people who listened to it. Music rescued me from some of the hardest parts of my life, and if I could give back half of what I’ve taken, I think I’d feel good about that. I think we can agree that I’m a talker, so no worries about being tired of answering questions. However, yes, Luke hits the drums harder than anyone I’ve ever witnessed, Lee does record his parts in one take, and for the love of God, Jaxon is actually the nicest human being I’ve ever met, fucking hell, stop asking. And no, I don’t get dizzy headbanging for an hour, it’s a genetic gift.

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

Yeah. I mean, it’s difficult to quantify it, hindsight isn’t 20/20, really. I think elements of the music industry prey on artists who are happy to be noticed, happy to open big shows, happy to “get to do it,” because it is truly wonderful. It’s the weight of your soul plus your commitment to yourself, and that’s how you wind up on stage, and talking to managers, labels, agents, etc. I think if I could redo any part of my path, it would be to attempt to understand the music BUSINESS elements more from early on. Entertainers are blinded by love, but what we don’t see is that this mythical land of ‘sex, drugs, and rock n ‘roll’ is guided by promoters, accountants, investors, and executives. Remove the “music” part of the music industry and replace it with “tech.” Does free sampling your code “for the experience” sound right? Would you let someone pay you in beer or drink tickets to integrate your new technology? I mean, it’s not a perfect analogy, but it works. All that is to say, I’ve trusted elements of the industry in the past more than I should have, because those 30 min +/- on stage meant the world to me and I was vulnerable. And I still am, to some degree. That’s what defines an artist.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

There are so many to choose from, some are obvious like Nirvana’s Nevermind, Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run, anything from Sam Cooke, Metallica’s Master of Puppets, I can go on forever. I think my final answer is that I’d like to be there for Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. There’s a timeless quality to it, I don’t think you can plan it, and new generations are still finding it… hell it’s back on the charts after 50 years. I’d love to know if it was just that simple, you know, we wrote some songs, had a good base and bottled lightning. I think it’s maybe possible to know in the moment that what you’re making will survive decades, and I guess you know, quality was an opportunity especially at the time it was recorded, labels had big budgets to throw at records, people consumed music in different ways.  But yeah, if you’re recording at Abbey Road, you’re not there by accident. But I’d love to know exactly how many times they watched The Wizard of Oz because…come on man. I watched that mash up stone sober and I don’t believe in coincidences.

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Category: Interviews