Low Measure – Thanks for Asking!

Low Measure – Thanks for Asking! – by Liam Sweeny.

RRX: We all get a little support from those around us. And we also can be impressed by our fellow performers. Who do you admire in your community, and why?

LM: There are so many great musicians around here that we’re grateful to call friends. We just released our first full album in September, which we recorded with Albany legend Joe Taurone, and he is just an angel. Not only is he a great recording engineer with immense knowledge, he’s also an excellent drummer with a crazy work ethic. He’s in like, ninety bands, and does everything from powerviolence to indie pop. He’s also, as we’ve stated, a complete sweetheart. On an entirely different note, we also want to give a nod to our friends in Pink Lady, a band that would be impressive in any context, let alone given the fact that they’re all teenagers. Pink Lady is going to be world famous if they keep going at the rate they’re going, they’re scary good at writing songs and their energy at live shows is infectious.

RRX: A band is a business. A business of love, but you got to work for it. Let’s pretend, instead of a band, you all owned a business. What would it be, and why would it be good?

LM: I mean, the boring answer would be a music venue. We all have good taste and would put together good shows. We could probably scrounge together enough business acumen and booking experience between the four of us to make it run smoothly. But for some reason I also think we could run a good bowling alley or something of that nature. Not that any of us are bowlers or anything like that, I just think we would serve good food and keep the lanes clean. It would be a chill work environment. Maybe it could be a bowling alley and a music venue. The possibilities are endless.

RRX: Cover art is cool. It shows listeners what the artist thinks the album is all about. Because music can be felt visually. If you had to give the public a visual image that you think they would see and just “get” your groove right away, what would it be?

LM: Well, not to get too literal, but the album art from our recent album is (what we believe to be) an old photo negative from the 50s or something, of some kid in a cowboy costume holding a bowl of cereal. Owen, our drummer, had it lying around and thought it could be cool art. The color scheme of it, this sort of starry night-sky blue, fits with the subtle melancholy behind some of the tracks, even with the sound being pretty up-tempo and jaunty at times. But before we settled on that one, we had this drawing that James, our guitarist, drew. It was of this cowboy, drunk, with a bottle in his hand, falling off of his horse and getting dragged through the dirt, his foot caught in the stirrup. We didn’t end up using it because we couldn’t get it to look quite right as album art, but we may still use it for merch down the line, since it does capture our vibe pretty well, this raucous energy clashing with and covering up a bitter, defeated sadness.

RRX: Artists, musicians, we immortalize. We set it in stone. Is there anyone who has passed that you feel you have immortalized in your work? If so, can you tell us a little about them?”

LM: This one has to be answered from a more first-person perspective, since this is a very personal anecdote. I, Sam, got into the scene, and music in general, really, through my older brother Ben, who passed away in 2023. He was a huge component of the community around here, constantly booking and hosting shows, as well as playing in his own band, Miller Time. Ben introduced me to the scene here (including current Low Measure bassist Caleb) and helped me start my first band Medical Board, which was just Ben and I playing songs I wrote, accompanied by a programmed drum track. Without his support and influence, I probably would’ve never played shows, and more importantly, I wouldn’t be involved in this great music community. Much like Medical Board, this band is an outlet for my songwriting, and I feel like the style we’re heading towards, especially on some of the newer stuff we’re in the process of creating, is a spiritual successor to what I was doing with my brother in that band. I’ll always be grateful for the impact he had on my life.

RRX: Stereotypes are a bitch. I mean, aside from the really bad ones, you have cultural stereotypes about everything, including music. Would do you think is the stereotype for the music you play, and how far are you away from it?

LM: When it comes to categorizing this band, it definitely pulls a lot from 90s indie rock or “slacker rock,” which is a term we’ve embraced moreso for sonic reasons than any sort of ideological commitment. It gives a more specific example of what the band sounds like, as opposed to just saying that we’re an indie rock band. We have that sort of loose, garage-band feel to our music, which (we hope) makes it feel more genuine and organic. The term “slacker rock” connotes a lack of effort being put into the music, which becomes less and less true for us as time goes on. Sure, we don’t practice as much as we’d like to, but that’s more of a geographic constraint, with two members in Albany and the other two in Binghamton, and gas costing money, and so on. But there’s always work to be done when it comes to making music, and we do everything in our power to make music that meets our own expectations. But not everything needs to be perfect, and sometimes those little mistakes add more than they detract.

RRX: Our style comes from the extension of our influences. It’s like an evolution. We’re influenced, and it inspires us to influence. What can you say about your influences, and what you feel you’ve done with their influence as a musician or band? Have you extended their work?

LM: Like I said in the last question, we’re pulling a lot from 90s rock bands, but it doesn’t stop there. Every member of the band has really expansive and eclectic music taste, and we each have our little corners of expertise that come through. Owen’s into everything from 60s brill building music to harsh noise tapes he finds at thrift stores, and he plays some really gnarly drum fills at times where I don’t always expect it, but they tend to fit perfectly. Caleb has a strong foothold in a sort of floaty, math-y emo bass style, and James has these lovely psychedelic blues licks that he adds to the mix. I, Sam, am bringing most of that slacker influence to it since I am the songwriter of the band, and that’s my jam, among a million other things. But when I write out a part for another member, there’s room for toying around with it, and these things I write often get made better once someone goes “What if I do it like this instead?” Over time I’ve begun to write to each person’s strengths, thinking “Oh, this lead is perfect for James” and so on. So, while we might wear these main influences on our sleeve, stuff like Pavement, Beat Happening, Guided By Voices and so on, there’s so much more going on under the surface, and I think we’ve really carved out a specific, unique sound within the genre we’re operating in, and we’ll continue to evolve as time goes on.

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