Adrian Griffin – Lo!

Conceived in 2006 by guitarist Carl Whitbread after the disbanding of his previous band Omerata, Lo! is made up of four “old hands” of the Sydney music scene. Adrian Shapiro on bass, Adrian Griffin on drums and Jamie-Leigh Smith is the man delivering the militant vocal assault that has heads talking.

Metal Obsession had a quick chat with Adrian Griffin of Sydney sludge metal outfit Lo! to discuss the band’s latest album, ‘Look and Behold’ and their upcoming national tour.

Metal Obsession: For someone like me, who is unfamiliar with Lo! could you give us a  quick glimpse into the band’s past and explain how it all started?

Adrian Griffin: Carl, our guitarist started writing songs for Lo! In 2006 after his last band broke up. He pretty much demoed everything himself and then the rest of us joined the band around 2008. We only played our first show in 2010, so as you can see we didn’t rush into it at all. Everyone in the band has played in various hardcore/metal/punk bands over the years and with Lo! we didn’t want to start playing shows until we knew it was going to be completely solid and brutal.

MO: Where did the name, ‘Lo!’ originally come from? Its not the most common name used in metal.

AG: The name Lo! comes from the phrase “Lo and Behold” which really is a call to attention and we definitely wanted the music to have that effect.

MO: How would you define your music. A lot of people seem to label the band  as ‘sludge metal’, similar to that of Baroness or Old Man Gloom. Would  you agree with that statement?

AG: Yeah we do get called ‘sludge metal’ a lot and I guess it is pretty fitting description for what we’re doing. I do think there is a lot of diversity in the tracks so hopefully people who like different kinds of heavy music will find something they like in our songs. We want to bring the hardcore kids and the metal kids together. Like Simon and Garfunkel.

MO: Which band, or bands would you say has had the most influence towards  Lo! since the band’s conception?

AG: Breach is a definite influence. Bands like Converge and Mastodon would also be in the realm as would Queens of the Stone Age.

MO: Now that the new album, ‘Look and Behold’ has been out for a short  period. How have fans reacted towards it so far?

AG: It’s been received really well so far by people. It came out a couple of weeks ago in Europe and last week in Australia and from all reports people seem to be digging it. There’s been about 35 reviews in from Europe so far and bar one or two reviews from guys who’d prefer to listen to vocoder metal stuff, they’ve been really positive.

MO: Would you define your fan base as quite broad, or is it more tailored  to a specific niche market?

AG: Yeah I think Lo! Has the potential to appeal to a broader market then just the metal community. As I said before I think there are elements in the songs that would appeal to different tastes.

MO: The recording period seemed to be a very simple and straight forward  process, judging from the band’s Vimeo studio diaries. Was the process  as straight forward as one would have imagined?

AG: It was a pretty straight forward but also a very drawn out process. As we did it all ourselves, we really broke up the recording so didn’t have to rush to finish things in an allotted time frame

MO: Was most of the album created and fine tuned in Australia or did you  send it off to get mixed and mastered elsewhere?

AG: All done in Australia. Carl Whitbread engineered and mixed the album himself except for the drums which were engineered by Dylan Adams at Stu Stu. We mastered in Australia to, so you could say it’s totally home grown.

MO: I take it you’re quite satisfied with the album?

AG: Yeah we’re all really pleased with it. I think because we took such a long time to do it and did it ourselves, it’s come out exactly as we’d all had it in our heads.

MO: Who’s been the main creative drive or influence behind the debut album,  both from a musical and conceptual stand point?

AG: Carl’s the man. He wrote pretty much every song, designed the artwork, and generally set the tone for what Lo! is. Lyrically, it’s Jamie-Leigh, but musically Carl Whitbread was leading.

MO: Could you go into detail about that Carl’s influences and how they reflect towards the band?

AG: Carl is a sweet man with a musically dark soul! It’s been a real love project for him and he’s spent a lot of time getting everything exactly right be it the CD artwork, poster design, t-shirt design and not to mention writing the music too.

MO: You guys have a national tour coming up soon. I take it you were all  surprised at how, ‘Look and Behold’ generated so much popularity in such  a small period of time?

AG: Yeah we were all pretty excited about the reaction we’ve been receiving from the recording as well at shows. The cool thing about this tour is that we’re getting to play with a lot of bands that we love and are stoked to share the stage with. Robotosaurus, Night Hag, Safe Hands, Headaches and Ironhide just to name a few.

MO:I take it the debut album and various merchandising will be available  on the upcoming tour?

AG: Yeah we’ll have the album for sale at shows and we’ve got two new shirt designs too.

MO: A lot of bands these days seem to be thinking outside the square in  terms of merchandise. Any unique items you guys have  up for sale on tour, or perhaps in the near future?

AG: We thought we might design a Lo! windsurfer one day and we’re working on plans for the new Lo! fabricated home which should be out in 2012. Can only really bring one of each of those to shows though.

MO: Having been catapulted into the limelight after a short period of time. I take it you must be quite content/satisfied with the local music scene  at the moment?

AG: There are some great bands and people out there at the moment. Everyone has been supportive of our band and we’re just stoked to be playing cool shows with cool bands.

MO: If there is anything you could change, at least one thing you  absolutely hate about the live scene in Australia. What would it be?

AG: I think we should all be taking a page out of Totally Unicorn’s book and be wearing party hats at shows. You should be there to have fun! It’s not a fucking funeral!

MO: What’s next for Lo! after the national tour. Any plans for global domination?

AG: We’ve got a couple of shows through till the end of the year in Sydney and Melbourne, and next year we’re aiming to get over to Europe for a tour late May so we’re working on that at the moment as well as chatting to some other bands about doing national tours over here.

For more info on Lo! or to purchase a copy of ‘Look and Behold’, head on over to – www.lookandbehold.net