Every band has its ups and downs, but few have been as extreme as Lowgold's.

The band have been through serious turmoil, experiencing financial ruin when their record label collapsed, virtual break-up, and the death of their manager - Wonderstuff drummer Martin Gilkes.

They have also hit some pretty impressive highs. Debut Just Backwards Of Square was an understated masterpiece, and tunes like Beauty Dies Young and In Amber ooze the kind of intelligent emotion lesser bands can only dream of. Then there were the sold-out gigs and acclaimed festival performances - including Reading.

But, it is the sense of melancholy which pervades much of their work - particularly latest album Promise Lands - which has been forged out of misfortune.

The trio - singer Darren Ford, guitarist Dan Symons and bassist Miles Willey - were hit badly by the collapse of Nude Records, which left them facing bankruptcy. And their second album Welcome To Winners, on Sanctuary, was criminally neglected.

In an attempt to claw things back, they took matters into their hands, and released Keep Music Miserable, a collection of unreleased songs on their own Dedtedrecords label.

And there, the story nearly ended.

The band broken up, Darren volunteered as a human guinea pig - testing medicines at Northwick Park Hospital (the same London hospital where a guy swelled up and nearly died after a drug trial went wrong a couple of years ago).

Yet, Darren carried on writing, and, following the death of Martin Gilkes - one of the band's fiercest advocates - they played together at his funeral.

Then, showing that some good can come out of tragedy, they reunited, and went into the studio to record the new album.

"It's been a long time coming," admits Darren, from his home in Walthamstow, East London.

"I put a stupid amount of effort into it and hopefully people will like it as much as we do.

"We are very proud of it and funded it all ourselves, as well as setting up the record label - which is all very grown up, and not like us."

He says the album is very much a product of the band's recent experiences.

"We've been through a lot, and that's always going to change you as a human being," he says. "It's given us a very real perspective on what we are doing - and why."

But he is not keen to dwell on the more morose influences on the album.

"A lot of bands go through very dark times," he says. "We don't like to focus on it as there's a danger we might come across as whinging musicians.

"But, yes, we have had some downs to go with the ups. And it was an especially big comedown when we all thought it was over.

"We've been close for knocking on 15 years, but for a couple of years we didn't see each other as much as we used to. But we have rekindled our friendship and the band has never been better."

Lowgold play the Oxford Carling Academy on Saturday. Tickets are £6.50. Doors open at 6.30pm.

Promise Lands is out on Monday on Goldhawk Recordings.

3:04pm Thursday 27th March 2008

Print

Email this