{"id":13592,"date":"2017-12-12T05:30:06","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T10:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=13592"},"modified":"2017-10-19T10:57:21","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T14:57:21","slug":"lowes-straitjackets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2017\/12\/12\/lowes-straitjackets\/","title":{"rendered":"Lowe’s Straitjackets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Though he’s known primarily for his 1979 hit single \u201cCruel to Be Kind,\u201d singer-songwriter Nick Lowe is a revered figure in rock and pop music. A key figure in the British punk and new wave scenes of the late 1970s and early ’80s, Lowe has since turned his own music in a more low-key direction. But for his current tour, he’s teaming up with inimitable American instrumental rock icons Los Straitjackets, performing his songs old and new in high-energy style.<\/p>\n

Lowe released his first solo album, Jesus of Cool<\/i>, in 1978 (in deference to delicate American sensibilities, his U.S. label re-titled the LP Pure Pop for Now People<\/i>). Nashville’s Los Straitjackets debuted with 1995’s The Utterly Fantastic and Totally Unbelievable Sound of Los Straitjackets<\/i>. Though their music was somewhat dissimilar, both acts have long shared an irreverent and warmly humorous approach to music.<\/p>\n

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But their paths didn’t cross until they shared a North Carolina stage in 2012. \u201cWe’re both on Yep Roc [Records],\u201d notes Los Straitjackets guitarist and co-founder Eddie Angel. The Hillsborough-based independent label celebrated its 15th<\/sup> anniversary with a three-day music festival. \u201cWe backed Nick for a few songs,\u201d Angel says, \u201cAnd everybody thought it was a good idea.\u201d Los Straitjackets would go on to support Lowe on three Christmas-themed tours.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Lowe and Los Straitjackets played a show at New York City’s Lincoln Center. \u201cThat was the first time we did a show [together] that didn\u2019t have any kind of Christmas theme,\u201d Angel says. \u201cThis is the first tour that\u2019s just his regular catalog.\u201d <\/p>\n

Los Straitjackets’ latest album is a collection of instrumental readings of Lowe songs, What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Los Straitjackets<\/i>. The title is a nod to another Lowe classic, one that brought its songwriter a fortune when Curtis Stigers covered it on the soundtrack of the 1992 film The Bodyguard<\/i>. But while Lowe is noted for his lyrics, Los Straitjackets’ tribute to him focuses instead on the strength of his melodies.<\/p>\n

On the new record, the band recasts Lowe classics in different styles: \u201cLately I’ve Just Let Things Slide\u201d becomes a surf rocker, and the uptempo \u201cCruel to be Kind\u201d becomes a ballad. While founding member Danny \u201cDaddy-O Grande\u201d Amis no longer tours with the band (after successfully battling cancer, the guitarist moved to Mexico City), he remains a formidable presence on Los Straitjackets’ albums. \u201cDanny turned a Nick Lowe song into something that sounded like the Shadows,\u201d Angel says. \u201cI think Nick got a big kick out of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not even counting his records with the bands Kippington Lodge and Brinsley Schwarz (not to mention his short-lived supergroups Rockpile and Little Village), Lowe has released 14 studio albums. For the What’s So Funny<\/i> album, the members of Los Straitjackets picked some hits and some deep-cut personal favorites.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to make sure that it covered a lot of bases,\u201d Angel says. \u201cWe had to have some of his real chestnuts, but we didn\u2019t want to overload it like that.\u201d So they picked some lesser-known tunes alongside covers of \u201cRollers Show\u201d and \u201cHeart of the City.\u201d Angel says, \u201cwe wanted to make sure that we covered his whole career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Los Straitjackets have a well-earned reputation for reinventing the works of others; their reading of the Celine Dion Titanic<\/i> hit \u201cMy Heart Will Go On\u201d is just one of many inspired examples. \u201cBut we don’t have any problem writing originals,\u201d Angel notes; his band has released 20 albums to date.<\/p>\n

For this tour, Los Straitjackets revert to playing Nick Lowe’s songs the way they were originally recorded. And the band is happy to bend its style in the direction of another artist when doing so makes musical sense. \u201cIt’s a real kick for us to work with people we’re big fans of,\u201d Angel says. Playing with Lowe affords the band opportunities it wouldn’t otherwise experience. \u201cFor instance, our drummer [Chris Sprague] is a really good harmony and background singer,\u201d Angel points out. \u201cBut you would never know that from our<\/i> shows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Angel says that after the tour with Lowe \u2013 a dozen dates in the Eastern half of the U.S. \u2013 the instrumental band will head back into the studio with Danny Amis. \u201cWe think it’s time for a new album of originals,\u201d Angel says, \u201ca return-to-the-roots kind of an album where it\u2019s just two guitars, bass, and drums: a real rock ‘n’ roll record.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for now, Los Straitjackets are enjoying their time on the road with the Jesus of Cool. \u201cHe’s such a pro,\u201d Angel says. \u201cYou learn a lot just by being around Nick. Here\u2019s a guy who\u2019s been able to have a career spanning more than four decades, and he’s probably better now than he\u2019s ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though he’s known primarily for his 1979 hit single \u201cCruel to Be Kind,\u201d singer-songwriter Nick Lowe is a revered figure in rock and pop music. A key figure in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13593,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,62],"tags":[1346,1586],"class_list":["post-13592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-rawk","tag-los-straitjackets","tag-nick-lowe","cat-41-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13592"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13594,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13592\/revisions\/13594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}