Lowlife

Bio

There is more than one band with this name. 1. Lowlife was a Scottish post-punk/dream pop band, active from 1985 to 1997. Although never obtaining mainstream popularity, they developed a cult following that continues to this day. Early years: Pre-Lowlife Dead Neighbours was an early-1980s psychobilly band from Grangemouth, Scotland, originally consisting of Craig Lorentson (vocals), David Steel (bass), Ronnie Buchanan (guitar) , and Grant McDowall (drums). The band was managed by Brian Guthrie, brother of Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins, and had recorded an album, Harmony in Hell (1982), that briefly hit the lower regions of the UK independent record charts. In 1983, Steel left the Dead Neighbours in the middle of recording the band’s second album, Strangedays/Strangeways. Upon learning that Cocteau Twins founding member and bassist Will Heggie had recently departed that band (after a lengthy and reportedly difficult European tour), Guthrie asked Heggie to help Dead Neighbours out in finishing the album’s recording, and join them on a tour opening for Johnny Thunders. Heggie agreed and, after the album was completed and the tour was done, he stayed on and began rehearsing new material with the band. Guthrie noticed that with Heggie, the entire chemistry of the group suddenly changed and they began forging a completely new, atmospheric sound very different from their original Cramps-influenced beginnings. Apparently unhappy with the direction they were clearly aiming for, Buchanan abruptly departed the band. A new guitarist was brought in, Stuart Everest, who adapted quickly to the band’s updated vision. In 1984, the group retired the Dead Neighbours moniker for good and rechristened themselves as Lowlife. Lowlife: 1980s In 1985, Lowlife recorded Rain, a 6-song mini-album. It was released on Nightshift Records, a label formed by Guthrie specifically to release material by the band. All subsequent Lowlife LPs, singles, and EPs would appear on Nightshift, with the exception of their final album, Gush, which was released on the Anoise Annoys Records label. Rain was modestly successful, receiving generally positive reviews and sold well enough to appear on several independent charts in the UK, US and France. In 1986, the band’s debut album, Permanent Sleep was released and received critical praise from several UK and US music publications. Trouser Press noted that the album “…delves deeper into instrumental and vocal textures, with layers of strummed and picked guitar and slippery bass chords (shades of New Order) dominating the sound. Despite Lowlife's concentration on ambience, the affecting "Wild Swan" is a lovely song, punctuated by repeated guitar triplets fluttering overhead.” [1] Melody Maker said “Lowlife practice a mystical form of musical alchemy, with crystalline perfection.” Sounds gave the album four stars and commented “Lowlife construct their deep atmospheres through hypnotically mysterious songs…” An EP, Vain Delights, was released in late 1986. The production of the EP was financed by the band’s new association with Working Week, a recently formed publishing company run by Jeff Chegwin, twin brother of television presenter Keith Chegwin. Record Mirror called the release “Profound, melancholic, and reaches the parts other ephemeral pieces of plastic cannot reach.” A song from the EP, “Hollow Gut”, received airplay on BBC Radio by both John Peel and Janice Long, and a music video for the song made appearances on UK television, including DEF II. The band took six months to record their second album, Diminuendo. Released in 1987, the album received extremely positive reviews and is generally considered to be the band’s finest full-length effort. Q magazine gave it four stars and observed, “A further phase in Lowlife’s refinement…Evocative and dramatic. But never overbearing.” Melody Maker noted, “Lowlife emerge from a distant eerie grace, out of an echo or pause with unworldly drama. The isolation, resonance of this music can bring to mind the notion of the Music of the Spheres.” Music Week said, “Diminuendo is a landmark album, bustling with feeling, dripping with emotion and soft to the touch.” Trouser Press stated, “The aptly titled and excellent Diminuendo reduces Lowlife's volume by stripping the arrangements of their thickening ingredients, leaving only the bass, simple drums and frugal bits of guitar and keyboards to support Lorentson's increasingly ambitious and musical vocals.” Subsequent to the release of Diminuendo, the group underwent a lengthy UK tour as support to headliners The Go-Betweens. The tour helped bring Lowlife to a wider audience, and culminated in a critically well-received show at The Town & Country Club in London, a performance which Guthrie would later describe as “possibly the best set of their career.” Also in 1987, a live performance of the band specifically shot for BBC Scotland was broadcast on television, and a single (“Eternity Road”) and an EP (Swirl It Swings) were released. In 1988, Lowlife rehearsed new material and Guthrie presented demos of some songs to Working Music, which was associated at the time with Chappell Music. Stephen Fellows, vocalist and guitarist of the Comsat Angels, heard the demos and agreed to produce the album, but this was dependent on whether Working Music and Chappell Music would commit to finance the recording. However, while discussions were underway, Warner Bros. Records absorbed Chappell Music, and the Warner regime passed on the option of signing Lowlife. Working Music subsequently dropped the band. The band started undergoing a level of internal strife. Guitarist Everest was asked by the other band members to leave, for reasons never made clear. Hamish McIntosh was brought into the group as Everest’s replacement. In 1989, the band’s third album, Godhead was released. Critical response was slightly less effusive this time, with Music Week noting that the album “…takes us back to that classic case of a band who never reap enough acclaim because they won’t play the game. But they deserve serious attention.” Trouser Press was unimpressed: “The misnamed Godhead lacks the emotional drive that sparks all of Lowlife's other albums and winds up labored and dull, a collection of unaffecting songs that plod — even at brisk tempos.” Lowlife: 1990s In early 1990, following a soccer match accident in which he lost a finger, McDowall decided to retire from the music business and left the band. McIntosh also left, to pursue a career with his own band, Fuel. New guitarist Hugh Duggie and drummer Martin Fleming were brought in as replacements. That same year, while the band adjusted to these most recent personnel changes, Nightshift issued a compilation album, From a Scream to a Whisper, consisting of previously released songs taken from the band’s earlier singles and albums. In 1991, Lowlife and Nightshift Records began experiencing a series of financial problems, brought on by the collapse of Rough Trade Distribution, which left small independent labels with far less options to have their various titles distributed to record stores. Guthrie had to borrow a substantial amount of money to finance the recording of the band’s fourth album, San Antorium. The album received positive but unspectacular reviews, and the sales were no better or worse than their previous offerings. There were no live shows to support the release. The band’s momentum had clearly stagnated. It would be four years later before the group got around to recording their fifth, and final, album, Gush. The recording sessions were apparently by a very professional but unenthusiastic band, and the extremely muted critical reviews reflected this lack of excitement. As with San Antorium, Lowlife did not tour to support Gush. In 1997, after playing fewer and fewer shows to progressively smaller audiences, and with family commitments an ever growing concern for all band members, Lowlife effectively called it quits, although there was never any “official” announcement of a breakup. In 2006, all of Lowlife’s back catalogue was re-released on CD, augmented with multiple bonus tracks and featuring extensive liner notes by Brian Guthrie. Craig Lorentson passed away in the hospital on June 4, 2010. the funeral was held on June 11, 2010. Lorenston was 44 years old. 2. Lowlife is a redneck rebel rock 'n' roll band from USA. 3. LOWLIFE is a new powerviolence band from Long Island. South Shore Scum Violence. http://lowlife631.bandcamp.com/ . User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

Similar artists

Sad Lovers and Giants, For Against, The Chameleons, The Snake Corps, The Comsat Angels

Genres

post-punk,dream pop,ethereal wave,gothic post-punk,uk post-punk,cold wave,gothic rock,darkwave,deathrock,jangle pop,new wave,

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Infos

On Tour: No

country: GB

City: 1985

Begin Date: 1985

Last Update:

Artist next concerts

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Song Kick

Lowlife at Sidestage (June 11, 2026)

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Lowlife at Sidestage (June 19, 2026)

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Videography

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Artist discography

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Last FM

Клуб

Nov/2019

Не влюбляться

Nov/2019

Первое правило

Oct/2019

океан - Single

Oct/2019

Lowlife (Pilot)

Lowlife (Pilot)

Aug/2019

Deliverance - Single

Deliverance - Single

Jul/2019

нас больше нет [Explicit]

нас больше нет [Explicit]

May/2019

20 - Single

Apr/2019

текила и лайм - Single

текила и лайм - Single

Mar/2019

Deadweight

Mar/2019

кукла - Single

Feb/2019

Zizi - Single

Feb/2019

боль - Single

Feb/2019

ттк - Single

Dec/2022

Nice Guys Finish Fast - Single

Nice Guys Finish Fast - Single

Dec/2022

Snow - Single

Nov/2022

PAYDAY

Nov/2022

Phonk Life - Single

Phonk Life - Single

Nov/2022

Unholy - Single

Unholy - Single

Oct/2022

As It Was - Single

As It Was - Single

Oct/2022

Music for sleeping (Relax) - Single

Music for sleeping (Relax) - Single

Oct/2022

Ken Ryuuguuji (Tokyo Revengers) - Single

Ken Ryuuguuji (Tokyo Revengers) - Single

Sep/2022

PARTY PACK! (Radio) - EP

PARTY PACK! (Radio) - EP

Sep/2022

PARTY PACK! (Radio Edit) - EP

PARTY PACK! (Radio Edit) - EP

Sep/2022

2D WORLD Anime World

2D WORLD Anime World

Sep/2022

2D WORLD (Anime World) - Single

2D WORLD (Anime World) - Single

Sep/2022

Elon - Single

Sep/2022

Bapestar! - Single

Bapestar! - Single

Sep/2022

Last Night - Single

Last Night - Single

May/2023

Fuck Wit You - Single

Fuck Wit You - Single

May/2023

Long Nights - Single

Long Nights - Single

May/2023

Moved On - Single

Moved On - Single

May/2023

Nothing good happens past 3AM - EP

Nothing good happens past 3AM - EP

May/2023

Spring (春) - Single

Spring (春) - Single

Apr/2023

not romantic

Mar/2023

Running From The Dark

Running From The Dark

Mar/2023

Running From the Dark - Single

Running From the Dark - Single

Mar/2023

Little Do You Know - Single

Little Do You Know - Single

Mar/2023

Forever - Single

Forever - Single

Mar/2023

Feel - Single

Mar/2023

танцуешь - Single

танцуешь - Single

Mar/2023

I Got Love - Single

I Got Love - Single

Mar/2023

дым (feat. SEEYASIDE) - Single

дым (feat. SEEYASIDE) - Single

Jun/2023

Bad Habit - Single

Bad Habit - Single

Jun/2023

Pints - Single

Sep/2023

barbie

Aug/2023

Ghetto lullaby (feat. Howykjordan) - Single

Ghetto lullaby (feat. Howykjordan) - Single

Aug/2023

не принимай их сторону

не принимай их сторону

Aug/2023

не принимай их сторону - Single

не принимай их сторону - Single

Aug/2023

Dreams - Single

Dreams - Single

Mar/2024

я знаю что тебе нужно - Single

я знаю что тебе нужно - Single

Feb/2024

Drowning in Holy Water - Single

Drowning in Holy Water - Single

Jan/2024

Strangers - Single

Strangers - Single

Jan/2024

First Snow - Single

First Snow - Single

Dec/2023

клуб 2

Dec/2023

не отпускай - Single

не отпускай - Single

Nov/2023

MF LOWLIFE [Explicit]

MF LOWLIFE [Explicit]

Nov/2023

Halloween Song - Single

Halloween Song - Single

Oct/2023

ты и я - Single

ты и я - Single

Oct/2023

Scarlet Eyes - Single

Scarlet Eyes - Single

Oct/2023

Txt No Response - Single

Txt No Response - Single

Sep/2023

Espresso & Snowfall - Single

Espresso & Snowfall - Single

Dec/2024

демоны [Explicit]

демоны [Explicit]

Dec/2024

FREAK - Single

Nov/2024

xoxo [Explicit]

xoxo [Explicit]

Nov/2024

медленно - Single

медленно - Single

Oct/2024

Don't Need Your (Love.) - Single

Don't Need Your (Love.) - Single

Sep/2024

ваайб - Single

Sep/2024

болен - Single

Aug/2024

Without You - Single

Without You - Single

Jul/2024

Blame Game - Single

Blame Game - Single

Jun/2024

миллион поцелуев - Single

миллион поцелуев - Single

May/2024

Capitol Hill [Explicit]

Capitol Hill [Explicit]

May/2024

CRIPWALK

Mar/2025

CRUSH/CRASH - Single

CRUSH/CRASH - Single

Mar/2025

на небе одиноко - Single

на небе одиноко - Single

Feb/2025

Madshit (feat. Gettalot) - Single

Madshit (feat. Gettalot) - Single

Feb/2025

overtime - Single

overtime - Single

Mar/2025

War with us [Explicit]

War with us [Explicit]

May/2025

Will You Stay With Me? Summernight

Will You Stay With Me? Summernight

Jun/2025

Doubt / Undressed nightlife

Doubt / Undressed nightlife

May/2025

мы не такие, как они

мы не такие, как они

May/2025

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