Making A Lowly Show Of Themselves

Phew.

If the Lowly Knights were working from a career development DVD, a glance at their progress to date, would suggest they were running it on fast-forward.
Less than six months after forming, and on the back of a single EP and a handful of live shows, the ‘loose collective’ found themselves the subject of a song by Duke Special, had performed onstage with Neil Hannon at the Ulster Hall, and were hand-picked by Gary Lightbody to support Snow Patrol at both their home-town Odyssey shows and also on some choice enormo-dome dates across the UK. The appeal of the Knight’s winsome folk-pop and arresting visual presence (numbers fluctuated, but an average night would find twelve of them bunched together on stage) also extended beyond muso slebs, and by the autumn of 2009, they were packing out shows in Belfast and wrestling with General Fiasco and ASIWYFA for the title of band most likely to go airborne in 2010.
“I think you can safely say it was a crazy year,” laughs founding member, Jon T Parks. “ First half was intensely busy: lots of gigs, Snow Patrol hearing about us and taking us under their wing, playing huge gigs. Then second half, while it didn’t look like much was going on, we were writing and recording like mad, dealing with line up changes – if anything things were even more intense. So, yeah – all in all, it was a bit nuts.”
We’ll get to those personnel changes in a mo’, but first let’s look at that manic initial acceleration. Youtube the band and you’ll see their first days consisted of little more than busking in municipal spaces and playing in one another’s kitchens – that they were walking arena stages within weeks of their first release was, however, according to Jon, surreally in keeping with their early unexpected progress as a group.
“We didn’t start out with any aspirations to play in a huge arena,” he admits. “We never set out to be a conquering army – we just wanted to have a laugh. We relished the experience, though. We pulled up to these arenas in 3 cars with our equipment packed into the boots. I remember going to the Odyssey and not knowing how to get in. I had to ask security to let me in. It was surreal.
But I think we all very quickly realised that something special was happening with this band. We originally set out to record a few demos, but when we played them back we were blown away – they were good enough to release as an EP on their own. We were shocked at how good they were.”
Like many of the original members, Tom Hughes’s first involvement was ad-hoc and unspecified.
“I knew they were some kind of loose collective,” he says, “and to be honest I just played my piece and had no idea how the overall thing was going to end up sounding.”
A familiar collaborator with many local acts over the last few years, Tom identifies the blank CVs of main song-writers Neil Mullan and Stephen Caswell as one of the main contributing factor’s to the band’s success.
“They were total virgins band-wise and I think that brought a real longing and hunger to the music. They’re both incredible songwriters, but humble with it. And I think that set the tone. It was fresh and untainted.”
The group’s ever-increasing fanbase would surely echo the sentiment, and having conquered their home-town so convincingly, would surely be expecting The Lowly Knights right now to be planning on taking their crusade to further shores.
Safe to say, on the cusp of the release of The Hollows EP, they wouldn’t be expecting to find the band, known primarily for the boy girl vocals and extensive cast-list, slimmed down to an all-male six piece.
“Everyone knew that a twelve piece band has a certain life expectancy,” explains Jon. “Logistically, it was really complicated and limiting – there was never really any chance that we’d ever be able to go off on a proper tour. And I think the creative process got cluttered up too.”
“It could have turned into a gimmick,” adds Tom. “It was threatening to go in that direction – we were dressing up, big photo shoots, all that kinda stuff. We’ve stepped back from all that now.”
Which is all very logical sounding and understandable. But the strange chemistry that had so much to do with the early success of the Lowly Knights was bound up in their very obvious camaraderie – and there’s a danger that, with that line-up dispersed, the rarefied magic could disappear too.
“Maybe,” says Jon, “ but I think we actually sound better now than we’ve ever done, and our songs are better. But we’re aware it’s going to be a big thing for people to get to grips with. We have our first Belfast show in seven months coming up, and we’re definitely nervous about it. But we’re confident too. If people give us a chance, I think they’ll like it. It’s almost like we’re a new band. We’re still the Lowly Knights, but it’s less a collective, more like a real band now. It’s a bit more ballsy. I just hope people give us a chance. We’re nervous about it, but also really excited. We’re writing amazing songs right now – we’re a six piece tornado.”