Q&A: The Lower
48
Ben Braden, Nick Sadler, and Sarah Parson are The Lower 48,
a band formed in Minneapolis in
2009. Their debut EP Everywhere To Go was followed by a move to Portland
and a full-length album Where All Maps End in 2011.
The trio hails from academic, Midwestern families, and approaches
music-making Socratic method style. While formerly folky, The Lower 48’s sound recently
morphed, due to the influence of ‘60s garage rock—and growing up.
We spoke to 22-year-old frontman Braden in anticipation of
The Lower 48’s self-titled album release show at the Triple Rock.
Q: A lot has happened in the past year with you guys!
A: A lot has happened. It’s been an
unbelievable amount of unpaid work, countless hours of playing shows and recording.
It’s been a blur. We all quit our jobs and have just been doing the band. It’s
been a year of poverty but also happiness. It’s the best year yet.
Q: Based on the song “That’s What I’ll Say,” it seems
like you’re leaning more towards pop than folk now. What prompted that
evolution?
A: It’s a lot more pop-rock-and-roll. It wasn’t
intentional. I think it’s because we’re out of the safety net. We’re long gone
from Minnesota . We’re a West
coast band now. It leaks into the art you make. The reason it sounds pop-y is because
it’s just more polished. We’re becoming, like, real adults. [Laughs] Sort of.
Not fully yet. It’s getting there. The product, the outcome, the music that
comes out of it is much more honed.
Q: The image of the band has changed, too.
A: We started getting into the suits and it became a
contest of who can look slicker. Then we landed a couple of really great
licensing deals this year—which is the bread and butter of bands these days for
money—so we went out and got some really nice clothes. We wanted to have a
classic look—a blank canvas for the music. It fits our new style.
Q: Describe your bandmates. What are their
personalities like?
A: Nick has become our showman. He’s probably the
most beautiful member of the band and he’s extremely talented at a wide range
of things. He plays trumpet, harmonica, drums; he sings perfect harmony. He is
fantastic at anything he tries. It’s almost frustrating to be his best friend.
He’ll be like, “Let’s play some pool” and he’ll kick my ass right away. He’s a
very sweet guy, too. He’s really caring and looks out for everybody.
Sarah is the most mysterious member of the band. She’s got
one of the most amazing singing voices I’ve ever heard. She got this fucking
unbelievable guitar this year, a ’67 Gibson, an old mama guitar. She’s been
wailing on it. People say getting an instrument inspires a different kind of
playing and that’s definitely the case with Sarah. She shreds. She
doesn’t really know scales or what she’s doing high on the neck but she has
such a good ear she never plays a bad note.
She’s the most rock-and-roll of the band. Now that I think
about it, she almost pushed the new look and the rock-and-roll harder than
anybody else. She started going down that road and we had to catch up.
Q: You’re calling the show at the Triple Rock a
“homecoming” yet you’ve said that you don’t consider Minneapolis
home anymore. Which is it?
A: I personally don’t feel like Minneapolis
is my home but I think our band started there, so [you could] say that about
the band.
Q: Is there anything that the Portland
music scene has shown you that you weren’t getting in the Twin Cities?
A: To be honest, Minneapolis
is way better. People in Portland
hopefully won’t read that! The first year in Minneapolis
we had a bunch of support right away but it took us a long time to get that in Portland .
There were some cold, cold years in terms of support from the scene. There’s just
more people who are young and cool-ish and doing art [in Portland ].
There’s a lot of competition. It made us fight through the pack. And I really
think we have. We’re doing really well now. It took a while. We’re starting to
just surface.
Originally published on Vita.mn in Aug. 2013.
Originally published on Vita.mn in Aug. 2013.