“Can you name a few songs from that record?”
Mimi Parker – drummer, vocalist and co-founder of minimalist miserablists Low alongside her husband, Alan Sparhawk – is asking afterThe Curtain Hits The Cast, Low’s third album, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.It should be stressed, for context’s sake, that Parker is not posing the question to challenge the fan knowledge of her interviewer, but rather because songs from that album have completely slipped her mind. “I mean, it has been 20 years,” she justifies with a laugh. Discussion turns toward ‘Do You Know How To Waltz?’, a 14-minute opus that was famously the entirety of a one-song, half-hour set the band performed at the Minneapolis music festival Rock The Garden back in 2013.
“People were so angry at us,” Parker recalls. “We only had a short set due to some time cuts, so we figured if we were ever going to try and do it, it would be now. It honestly took us aback how many people complained to the festival organisers and even tried having us blacklisted. It definitely opened up a dialogue, though. I wanted to know what they were upset about – was it that we only played the one song? Was it that we didn’t play what they wanted to hear? Was it that the performance itself wasn’t any good? It was interesting to see so much discussion about bands playing live, and what one gets out of going to see a band that you love, not to mention what happens when something unexpected happens. What, if anything, do bands owe their audience?”
Parker and Sparhawk have been trading under the Low moniker for 23 years, which has seen them go through 11 studio albums – most recently, last year’s Ones And Sixes – as well as four bass players (current bassist Steve Garrington joined in 2008). Their finely detailed and often heartbreaking take on indie rock has been stunning audiences since their inception – and, unlike many of their peers, they have continued to grow and progress as artists throughout their career. Rather than clutch onto nostalgia, Low are constantly finding ways to challenge their craft and still make albums as heartfelt and emotionally intense as classics like the aforementioned The Curtain Hits The Cast and their seminal 2001 LP, Things We Lost In The Fire. Ones And Sixes serves as testimony to this, and Parker has found that long-time fans have been especially responsive since its release this September past.
“When you’re preparing new material, you never know how people are going to react to it,” she says. “Especially if it’s being played directly in front of them. Honestly, though, we’ve gotten such a great reception. I even see people singing the new songs when we play them. It’s always great for us to be able to play new material. It brings something fresh to the table and it gives the show a sense of the unexpected. It throws caution to the wind, in its own way. It’s nice that people give it some respect and will pay attention to it. I think it’s great that we have fans that are always listening.”
Talk turns to Duluth, the seaport city that Parker and Sparhawk call home in the state of Minnesota. It’s the birthplace of icons like Bob Dylan, R.E.M.’s Bill Berry and the world-famous ‘trailer voice guy’, the late Don LaFontaine. It isn’t, however, necessarily seen as a music hub in the same way one would view the bigger cities in the States. But Parker is quick to refute the notion that Low are one of the few success stories from the area.
“There’s always been a music scene here,” she says, “even before Alan and I lived here. It’s grown a lot in the time that we’ve been here. There are a lot of great bands, a lot of great places to play – our dear friend Charlie Parr spends a lot of time playing shows in town. It might be small, but what we have here is thriving.”
Low are set to return to Australia in April for a run of headlining dates for the first time in six years. They were scheduled to do a run of dates in March 2012 around an appearance at Golden Plains in support of their album C’mon, but were unable to make it down for an undisclosed “international commitment”. Now Sparkhawk, Parker and Garrington are officially locked in and excited to return.
“We really do love it there,” says Parker. “We’ve only ever come across the kindest and most supportive of fans when we’re there. We’re doing a show right now that is more or less going half and half in terms of a split between the older material and the new songs. Everything is coming together really well, and we like doing this blend a lot.”
Joining the band for these shows will be Mike Noga, the former drummer of The Drones who has since ventured out into his own solo material and is soon to release a Paul Dempsey-produced new album. “We’re all big fans of Mike,” says Parker. “We actually got to tour with him all the way through Europe, and we had such a wonderful time. He’s a good friend – one of your best countrymen, I have to say.”
[Low photo by Zoran Orlic]
Ones And Sixes is out now through Sub Pop/Inertia. Low play the Factory Theatre, withMike Noga onstage, on Friday April 8.
