By Will McGuirk
Canadian proto-indie rockers Lowest of the Low bring their proletarian proselytizing anthems back again to the heartland of factory flavoured beat streets, yip Oshawa Friday June 16 2023 at the Biltmore Theare. LOTL first formed in 1991, issued ‘Shakespeare My Butt’, played, signed, toured, roared, released, raged, roared, broke up, reformed, went solo, regrouped, started other groups, locked down, got up and got back in in it all again. OG songwriters Ron Hawkins, Stephen Stanley, plus Chris Brown of the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, have been on the road together, the Stephen Stanley Band has been releasing albums and has a new album in the works, Ron Hawkins has the Rusty Nails, the Do Good Assassins, plus a recent new solo EP, Thrash Talking at the Speed of Sound. Oh and he paints. Its all go, go go, for these inspirational indies, all DIY so we independently reached out to Ron Hawkins for a chat.
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Slowcity.ca: You've been really busy as per usual, LOTL tour, and again with Steve and Chris, tell me about the genesis of this EP Thrash Talking at the Speed of Sound and how do you find the time?
Ron Hawkins: “Well, the EP started out as a "two producers" album I was going to make with Producer/Songwriter Devon Lougheed (Altered By Mom / Skye Wallace Band). We were going to contribute five songs each and were going to produce each others' songs. But then Covid happened, and after much consideration (not least of which was it might be confusing if there was yet ANOTHER entity I was involved with releasing music) we decide Devon would just produce a six song EP for me. So these were songs I had already written and had demoed quite extensively in my basement studio (55 Below!). So what turned out happening was I sent Devon all the tracks I had demoed - he added his own flourishes, flagged a few takes he wanted me to nail more convincingly (ha ha) and then he mixed the all.
As for how it all gets done - I found that if you stay in this insane biz long enough you get to a sort of Zen/ Jedai place where in you are always hustling and working but it never seems like work and everything just seems to slot itself in somewhere. A dance that happens wherein you just react to the creative stuff and don't sweat the capitalism or the toxic bullshit that is everywhere around us in this world.”
SC: The tracks seem chunkier to me, broader, did you approach production differently on this?
RH: “Yeah, I would say it was a perfect storm, or a happy accident wherein I was stretching a bit artistically, playing with new sounds and trying stuff out at the same time I hooked up with Devon who is a generation and a planet away from me talent and mix mastery wise. I learned a huge amount from him on this project. He is another artistic jedai. He just rolls with the punches and listens to what the song needs. . . then makes it 200% better.”
SC: I'm always curious how an artist decides where songs go when they have bands, side projects and solo - how does that work for you?
RH: “To some degree it's whomever is making a record in May. . . or September and what songs do I have lying around. Solo, Lowest of the Low, Do Good Assassins? I mean I'm being a bit glib about it but it's a bit like that. Though sometimes I write something and it's so obviously a Low song (angry, a bit scrappy) or a solo song (am I trying something completely new for me) etc.”
SC: We have collectively shared something extraordinary with Covid 19 - and now we are back out there - how are you approaching touring, performing, has the pandemic informed your decisions on any level?
RH: “Not really. I mean I know we're not really "post pandemic" yet but everyone seems to be acting like it. I'm a good mammal so I'm following along and doing shows and going to shows etc. Where I see it most is in how expensive it's gotten post Covid - Sprinter rental, gas, road food etc. And of course because we are art workers our wages have not gone up at all so there have literally been some shows we had to say "sorry, can't afford to get there". That's certainly a first, at least in my career.”
SC: How are things with LOTL, you have Hallucinogenia on vinyl yes, will it be available at the show?
RH: “Things with The Low have never been better. I feel like this is the tightest and most focused Low since 1.0 in the early 90s. Everyone is firing in the same direction, the hang is a blast and we are all energized and feel like we're sixteen so I think the crowd gets a great experience every night and we put our hearts and souls into it every fuckin' night.
Hallucigenia vinyl is out you're right, but what I'm most excited about is a new Low banger called Welcome To The Plunderdome. It's our new full length studio record and it's coming out in October with a release show at The Danforth Music Hall and full tour to follow. We're all super proud of it and can't wait to drop it.”
