Lucy Buckeridge of Lowtide
Hi Lucy and thanks for taking the time out to speak with us at Musicology.
Firstly congratulations on your new single Alibi. Can you elaborate a little on the meaning / subject matter around Alibi?
Thanks so much, feels good to have it out.
There were a few ideas at play when I wrote the lyrics for Alibi but basically, it’s about the way a relationship can slip away in a fairly unremarkable way. And the choices people make to stay, because it’s too challenging to leave. Typical feel good stuff!
When an outfit releases a debut album, it is often a case of extracting years’ worth of experiences and pouring oneself through a sieve and consolidating those experiences into one defining LP. In the case of Lowtide was moving from your debut release onto Alibi a continuation of that process or having been relieved of those emotions and experience through your first album, a chance to explore an entirely new direction?
The ideas both lyrically and musically are different this time around, but rather than the new album necessarily being a huge departure from our previous stuff, it feels more like a natural progression with some twists along the way. We’ve been writing music together for quite a while now and had the experience of the first album to draw on, so there’s a new level of confidence and conviction that made the writing a bit easier in some respects. I definitely feel that I was able to be more focused and direct with my musical and lyrical ideas this time around.
Parallels are often drawn between your music and that of shoe gaze. On a technical level, what’s in the kit that provides the signature Lowtide sound?
Well Gabe’s Teisco Spectrum 5 and array of pedals are the foundation that Lowtide was built upon and is still going strong. We also used to have two bass players, but Giles graduated to his amazing custom-made Fender VI for this album, which adds a whole new layer to the sound and leaves me holding it down on the bass. Add vocals and drums to the mix and you’ve got yourself a Lowtide.
In what ways has the group / band dynamic changed with the departure of Giles, particularly in the live setting?
Giles only left quite recently, so it’s still early days really. We’re playing our first live show Friday 25th August at the Northcote Social Club, so we can report back after that.
You are about to embark on a huge tour, first with the single launch in Melbourne and then on through to Europe. Do you feel like this is going to be a precipitous moment in the bands career and the opportunities that will abound from such a wide audience?
Yeah it’s really exciting time for us all personally. The fact that we get to travel and play our music to a completely new audience is amazing. I lived in London for a couple of years in my early 20’s and pretty much every weekend was spent scouring through the racks at Rough Trade, so the fact we’re playing there blows my mind. We don’t tend to look too far into the future, we’re just excited that we get to do this together.
Having performed with and meeting so many amazing artists over the years, have there been some particular moments / conversations that really resonated with and dramatically altered the way you approach your craft?
I really think that the significant conversations for me have happened within the band. When I joined Lowtide I was totally new to the whole thing, so I really have learnt everything about writing and playing music in the last 8 years since meeting Gabe, Anton and Giles. Their opinions mean a lot. We all come from different backgrounds musically and have pretty varied tastes, so there’s always new ideas and things to talk about and listen to. I’m really lucky I fell in with people as nurturing and talented as these guys.
With a new album in the pipeline for 2018, will this tour provide ample mileage for road testing some of the new tracks that will eventually feature on the record?
Absolutely! We’ll definitely be playing some new songs on the tour, probably 4 or 5 of them. Will be great to finally give them an airing.
- TOUR DATES! -
- MELBOURNE SINGLE LAUNCH -
FRI 25 AUG
Northcote Social Club, Melbourne
w/ No Sister & The Great Outdoors
- EUROPEAN TOUR DATES -
WED 30 AUG
Hope and Ruin, Brighton
SAT 2 SEP
End of the Road Festival, Dorset
TUES 5 SEP
The Islington, London
WED 6 SEP
Brudenell Social Club, Leeds **
SAT 9 SEP
Paradiso Noord, Amsterdam **
SUN 10 SEP
The Castle Hotel, Manchester
MON 11 SEP
The Greystones, Sheffield
TUES 12 SEP
Broadcast, Glasgow
THURS 14 SEP
Rough Trade East In-Store Performance, London
** Supporting Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
