In April 2005 I had the chance to interview the guys of the Swedish newcomer Lowe.
Here are the questions:

LOWE was formed in 2002. Where do the members of LOWE come from?
Leo:
I guess you mean which cities we're from, right?
Mehdi:
I was born in Iran but my family moved to Sweden via Paris when I was about six years old. We then ended up living in Nybro, in the south of Sweden.
Leo:
I come from a small industrial town called Oxelösund, about one hour south of Stockholm. It was a nice quiet town, but I couldn't wait to get out of there.
Rickard:
Well, I'm born and raised in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, and I've lived here all my life! I'm getting kind of bored with it, but I get to travel a lot in my dreams, ha ha.

I am a fan of the Swedish band STATEMACHINE and I know that Rickard is a part of it.
Rickard, how do you handle your engagement to LOWE and STATEMACHINE?
Rickard:
Actually both me and Leo are in Statemachine!
Leo:
Yeah, I joined Statemachine in 2001, although I've worked with the band since the beginning, doing remixes and producing.
Rickard:
And when former Statemachine member Albion left the band in 2001 it felt natural to bring Leo in. That's when we started to talk about Lowe, actually.
Leo:
It's not that hard to make Lowe and Statemachine go together, really. We work really hard with Lowe right now, and luckily Statemachine has decided to take a small break now.

How is the status of making music in your lives?
Is it a full-time job? What 'real' jobs do you have?
Leo:
We release our music on our own label, Megahype.
Rickard:
We work almost full time with Lowe and Megahype, but we don't earn that much money just yet.
Medhi:
But we will hopefully make loads soon, ha ha.
Rickard:
Yeah, we're gonna make it big in Austria J.
Leo:
Apart from making music we also produce videos and do graphic design for other artists and companies.
Medhi:
And in between we sometimes shower together, ha ha.
Rickard:
Simultaneously with the release of the next Lowe single "Simplicity", we'll release the debut single from June Six on Megahype. She's a really promising electropop-girl!

Why have you named your band LOWE?
Mehdi:
I think it was Rickard who came up with the name Lowe in the first place.
Rickard:
No, I think it was Leo that had the idea first.
Leo:
Definitely not me... must have been Rickard or Mehdi *laughing*.
Rickard:
Anyway, we really lowe our name J.
Mehdi:
It's a kind of mixture between the words "love" and "low", which describes our music very good.
Leo:
And not a tribute to Rob Lowe as a lot of people think. You know, the hot stud in Youngblood!

You describe your music as emotional electronic pop, contrived with acoustic elements.
Who are your examples and what kind of audience do you want to reach?
Mehdi:
We listen to all kinds of music, but we're all basically raised by Mute.
Rickard:
The label that is, not people with hearing problems.
Leo:
Ha ha, very funny you guys.
Rickard:
I like artists like Bryan Ferry, David Bowie, Indochine as well as cocktail music.
Leo:
I prefer to listen to everything from Björk, Depeche Mode to Faithless and Sugarbabes.
Mehdi:
I only listen to Coldplay, Keane, Oasis, Depeche Mode, Placebo, Günther and a Swedish band called Kent.
Rickard:
We think of our music as kind of alternative commercial, and we tend attract the same kind of audience as New Order, Placebo, The Cure and a band called The Meche Pod.
Leo:
You mean Depeche Mode?
Rickard:
No, never heard of that band J.
Mehdi:
Ha ha ha!

LOWE is a young band and I first got in contact with your music in March 2005.
How has the response been of the community to your music?
Leo:
The response have been amazingly good so far.
Rickard:
Which makes us even more confident about what we do.
Mehdi:
As of now we've only released our stuff in Scandinavia, but we hope to release the album in Europe really soon!

You combine acoustic and electric instruments with electronic sounds.
How important are the 'natural' sounds for your compositions?
Mehdi:
I'm not sure I understand what you mean!? But if you're referring to the use of acoustic instruments, it's a natural thing for us.
Rickard:
We tend to see each instrument as a sound that can be used to describe different emotions.
Leo:
Yes, we don't use guitars just for the sake of it.

What are the sources for your lyrics?
Leo:
I get inspired from people around me, movies, situations and life in general.
Rickard:
You forgot girls, non?
Leo:
Oh, sorry, I didn't think I had to mention that. My apologies to women worldwide, especially in Austria J.

The name of your debut album results in a wordplay, as LOWE Tenant reminds me of the two guys from the Pet Shop Boys (Well, Neil Tennant has two 'n' included!).
What's behind all this
Rickard:
Ha ha, you're almost the first person that has noticed that.
Mehdi:
Yes, not many people get the humour and wordplay of it.
Leo:
We just thought it would be fun as Rickard is an old PSB-fan and worked as a rent boy once, ha ha.
Rickard:
Yeah, you wish! "Tenant" is also the name of my favourite movie by Roman Polanski, so actually the title has different meanings.

LOWE isn't a pure studio band, as you are also present at several gigs located in Sweden and UK.
How important are live gigs for the band??
Leo:
Playing live is simply what makes us tick. We love making an impression on people.
Rickard:
Yeah, being on the road is almost like having sex!
Mehdi:
Yeah, we make really good caesar salad from of the vegetables that some people throw on us.
Rickard:
Don't you mean panties?
Mehdi:
Oh, yeah, sorry, ha ha.

LOWE has been nominated in three categories at Scandinavian Alternative Music Awards 2005.
How do you estimate your chances winning one or more of the awards (Best Newcomer, Best Song, Best Album)?
Rickard:
We don't know all the other bands that have been nominated, but I think we have a fairly good chance to win at least one award.
Mehdi:
Yeah, and if we don't we'll simply steal one, ha ha.
Leo:
Or make our own ones and sell to other promising bands.
Rickard:
Actually, I think awards are a lot of crap, but it's fun receiving it as proof of recognition.

You are going to release your fourth single from the debut album 'Tenant' in May 2005.
Are you working on your new material and how long do we have to wait for the successor of 'Tenant'?
Leo:
We're always working on new material and we've already done pre-productions of half of the next album. Rickard:
We have a name for it, but we want to keep that for ourselves at the moment. Mehdi:
We still feel that Tenant has a lot to give so we won't release a new album until next year.

In one of his last newsletters Todd Durant of A Different Drum adores LOWE.
What are your ambitions in capturing the U.S. music landscape?
Rickard:
Cool, we didn't know that! Mehdi:
That's amazing as we really would like to release our music in the States and do gigs there. Leo:
As of now we don't have anything planed, but we're waiting for Todd to make it happen *nudge nudge* Rickard:
Yeah, we're always open for suggestions.

Get LOWE songs and videos directly from www.lowe.st.

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