Interview: Lowlight in Red Bank on Their New EP and Touring with Pretenders

Lowlight at Count Basie Theatre on 3/30/18.

Born to Run

Asbury Park's Lowlight released their new EP, Born to Run, on Friday March 30th. That also happened to be the day that the band's tour with Pretenders rolled into Red Bank's Count Basie Theatre for a hometown show. I had the chance to sit down with Renee Maskin (guitar / vocals), Dana Sellers (keys / synths / backing vocals), Derril Sellers (guitar / percussion / backing vocals), Colin Ryan (drums), and Rey Rivera (bass) before their Basie set for a wide-ranging discussion on the EP and what it's been like to tour with rock royalty.

Born to Run is Lowlight's second release. Recorded, like Where Do We Go From Here, by the band at the Sellers' home studio, Born to Run is the next step in the evolution of Lowlight's "roadhouse chic" sound. There are still hints of the twang of Americana that drove the first album; but, now, Dana Sellers's synths wash over everything. Of the change Sellers says, "I've gotten really more into the synth stuff, and I think I'm trying to find my way as more of a synth player than a traditional piano player or an organ player."

Closing track, the 10-minute, mostly instrumental "Birdman's Last Ride," highlights the way in which Lowlight has become a fully collaborative effort among its members. It also illustrates how the band use synths, disparate sounds, and the studio to add to the sense of atmosphere and space that was already a hallmark of their sound.

Maskin says, "We come from all kinds of backgrounds, and we've listened to all kinds of things over the years. That one kind of branches in the different influences. Because it's 10 minutes long, it gave us the canvas to do that."

"That one was definitely a bit of a challenge...," says Derril Sellers. "Renee kind of literally challenged us to do it."

And, while it may seem a little sacrilegious for a band, especially an Asbury Park band, to call their release Born to Run; the title works for Lowlight's material. As a songwriter, Maskin often writes about literal and figurative movement, wandering, running. "Can't Stop Now" deals with being able to see the potentially negative consequences of your actions barreling right toward you while also seeing that it's too late to change course. "Nights and Weekends" is a song with which anyone who's ever felt like they were spinning their wheels or running in place at a day job can identify.

The title, which the band acknowledge is tongue-in-cheek, pays homage to Asbury's past while kind of saying, "Hey. There's lots of new music going on here, too."

"We're doing it out of fun," admits Maskin. "But, at the same time, the more people told us, 'No! You can't name your record that!' the more we were like, 'I think we're gonna name the record exactly that.'"

Following our discussion, Lowlight delivered a brilliant and emotional set at The Count Basie Theatre in front of a crowd of friends and, I'm sure, new converts. Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders were as spot-on as they were when I caught both groups at Terminal 5 last April. Hynde's voice and whole persona are rock and roll treasures.

Lowlight at Terminal 5 in April

Lowlight have two more dates on their run with Pretenders. Tonight, April 1st, they play Boston's Orpheum Theater. Tomorrow, April 2nd, they return to New Jersey when the tour concludes at Morristown's Mayo Performing Arts Center.

Lowlight are back to their "scrappy ways" next Sunday, April 8th, when they play New Brunswick's Scarlet Pub with Community Center, Snailmate, and Joe Galuppo.

After all of that, you can listen to my full interview with Lowlight right here:



Born to Run is out now via BNS Sessions / Cargo Records UK.