If you were at Truck Festival last summer, chances are one of your stand-out acts was Seb Lowe – or perhaps you’re one of the 40 million who have streamed the band’s music on Spotify or added to the over 13 million likes on TikTok. This band is big, and getting bigger during a time in which, despite increasing polarisation in politics, protest songs seem to be few and far between. Seb Lowe has placed ‘politics, social injustice and misogyny in his crosshairs’, and the resulting tracks are brimming with rage, brilliance, exceptional musicality… and a certain dark humour.
This month, the band (who consist of frontman Seb, violinist Kate Couriel, and Joel Goodwin on drums) are embarking on a headline tour, starting in the UK and heading to Europe in May. They’ll be at the O2 in Oxford later this month and I met up with Seb and Kate over Zoom to learn more about what drives them. First and foremost, though, I wanted to know more about how the band came to be called Seb Lowe. I mean, couldn’t that get quite problematic, I asked. Kate laughed, and Seb acknowledged, “I've got the good end of the deal. It started out as a solo thing, but I found that really lonely and depressing. I always wanted to be in a band, I really just love that vibe of a full team of people, all into it. That slowly built up, but the name never changed.”
What's more important for the band; the music or the message?
Seb Lowe: Most of the songs start with something that we really want to write about, [so] the lyrics come first, like 95% of the time.
Kate Couriel: and that's what initially grabs people on social media
Kate, you play beautifully and clearly you're musically trained… Are those your grade certificates I can see on the wall behind you?
KC: Yeah, I started when I was four, so it's been a long journey. I did all my grades, and then was like, now what? I was 16, and I wasn't really into classical music. I mean obviously, I liked playing it but it wasn't really what I was listening to. [I thought] it would be cool to try and branch out a little bit and then I was introduced to the band. It all just fitted really well together.
SL: Honestly, if it wasn't for Kate and Joel our drummer, the band would have a very limited musicality about it. My musical experience is limited compared to Kate, and the stuff that Kate and Joel play is otherworldly to me, really… Which is very helpful, actually, because it means when you want a really, really groovy solo, someone can do it.
How do you identify as a band in terms of genres, and what musical influences do you recognise in your music?
KC: The genre question is hard. We're asked that, and it's – I don't know – just this weird fusion of things that seem to work.
SL: And we like to try lots of different stuff, all sort of in the realm of ‘folk-y or a little bit ‘rock-y’. And sometimes it can be quite theatrical.
Influences are another one that’s always quite hard to pinpoint. Because you're influenced by everything, aren't you? I can see some random thing and then immediately just feel inspired to write a song. I listen to a lot of Bowie and Sinead O'Connor. I've got a guitar with a load of artists on [it] and it’s Sinead O'Connor, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Eminem and Arctic Monkeys. They were like, the big ones.
The formative years?
SL: Yeah, I think so. I'm sure that that they all sneak in at various moments.
KC: It really is a lot about what you've been exposed to recently. Often, when we go into the studio, and we've recently heard a song that we really liked we might use elements of it as inspiration.
You’ve become so popular through social media, and I was wondering if the more traditional routes, like getting on to radio playlists, ever had appeal? Obviously, your music has some choice swearing that wouldn't really work on Radio 2 but is that somewhere you would like to be?
SL: I mean for us, it's because of the whole Tiktok thing, and soon after that Reels, which have been the priority as far as our platform goes – and then a lot of gigs as well. We’ve had the odd bit of radio play, but radio doesn't often bite to our music.
Are you happy with where you are, or do you want the stadium tours and all of that?
SL: The thing is that would be great, but not if it meant squeezing or changing the message. I don't think we'd ever want to change that for the sake of radio.
KC: I think if you try and cater the music too much towards radio, you risk losing your fan base because a lot of people like how honest the music is. We wouldn't ever want to change that.
We are working our way up and social media helps so much with that, so at the moment, it doesn't feel that necessary to change it.
What can Oxford audiences expect?
KC: Last time we did an Oxford show, it was unbelievable. It was so good. There were, like, 200 people in a small venue but the energy was crazy. It was the best show that we did on that tour.
SL: It's been a while, so it’s going to be fun to come back. So, expect the music, but also high energy.
KC: Lots of people make friends in the crowd, which is really nice…
SL: Yeah, it's a really good atmosphere.
Is your music different when you're playing it live?
[both]: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SL: Mainly in the way of segues and stuff. We’ll always throw in little flourishes here and there.
Do you ever do covers?
KC: We have. Long ago,
SL: We did Rolling in the Deep.
KC: A rock version. It was really fun.
SL: Every now and again we jam them in the practice room and we learn them.
KC: We did an Inhaler song...
SL: I've always wanted to do Groove is in the Heart by Deee Lite.
Is there anywhere you can't go in terms of your songwriting because you're known for being very political?
SL: It never feels quite as planned as that. If I go to the guitar to write a song, occasionally it is a love song or some random song about nothing, or just a song about life. But generally speaking, the desire is to go in that direction.
KC: It's very authentic, though. Like, we talk a lot about politics.
SL: There was a time when I was about 19, I was slightly confused and neither here nor there in the songwriting because I felt this pressure to write songs about mainstream topics. I soon came to the realisation that none of that mattered really, and I wanted to write what I care about and stick to that.
Finally, if you could look into a crystal ball where would you want to be seeing yourself in five years’ time?
KC: Wow, five years is a long time… Doing this same thing.
SL: Yeah, just being able to do this for a living is insane. And being able to do the thing you're most passionate about every day is awesome.
Seb Lowe will be at the O2 Academy on Friday 24 April.
For more information about the band including full tour dates and booking details visit seblowemusic.com or find them on social media @seb.lowe.music.
