Low Hanging Lights

One of the best parts about meeting and interviewing bands is that I get to meet and interact with really great people. Almost without exception, all of the musicians I have met over the years have been hard working, humble and appreciative people and I really respect that. The gentlemen who make up Toronto band Low Hanging Lights are no exception. While setting up the interview, they kindly offered me a place to stay for the night in case I didn’t want to make the drive back home late at night. When I met them in person, they were just as welcoming. Before we get into the interview, let me introduce the band.

Low Hanging Lights formed in early 2011 following a solo album that singer/songwriter Alex Grantham released. After many line-up changes, the band has found the right mix with Grantham on guitar/vocals, Ian Boos on bass/vocals and drummer Aaron Bennett on drums/vocals.

Funny story about how Grantham and Boos originally hooked up. Both grew up in Paris, a small Ontario town about an hour and a half from Toronto. After Grantham released his solo album, there was a feature piece in a local Paris newspaper which Boos’s mother read, and suggested to Boos that he contact Grantham so they could play music together. Boos had also recently moved to Toronto, so he contacted Grantham and they started jamming, originally with Boos on drums. It became apparent that Boos was more inclined to play bass, so they decided to bring on a new drummer. Enter Bennett. The band first released an EP titled Small Talk.

The show I attended on June 28 was a launch for their latest release, titled Insulated Picnic Bag.

Within the music, their small-town roots and love of folk music can be heard alongside influences and experiences picked up since moving to the big city. As for their musical influences, they’re huge Nirvana fans, enjoying the distortion and noise aspects that have crept more and more into their latest repertoire. These little outbursts of noise are injected, like moments of chaos that eventually sleep when their momentum fades out. There’s punk in there too, with the way they move onstage and also that they don’t seem to strive for “perfection” (think over-production) when performing or recording, preferring something of a raw, emotive sound. Lyrics are of the utmost importance and are a driving force for Grantham, who does most of the songwriting. The lyrics are thoughtful and a main focus.

It’s this interesting blend that give Low Hanging Lights their unique sound. Since settling into their charismatic three-piece group, the music has become less folky and more direct, highlighting punk and rock elements. They also strive for a visual component, and brought a friend they affectionately call “Michael Jackson Jr.” who danced along to their set and had some killer moves.

“Undress and fall into arms, you were completed the day you were born. Undress and fall into arms, remove your face” are some poignant lyrics in ‘A Sharp Minor Suicide’, the song on their website that is most similar to their more recent output, with a noise outro to finish an indie-rock song which emphasizes lyrics. The song was composed after Grantham read Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. He is voicing his distaste for arrogance and reaffirming his belief that everyone has flaws, and on a fundamental level, we’re all the same. “Everyone should be full of doubt, apprehension, skepticism and curiosity.”

Following their energetic and intense set at The Press Club, the band and I sat and discussed their music, lyrics and much more.

Stephanie Beatson: How has being in Toronto affected your songwriting?

Alex Grantham: Most of my songs were written when I lived back home. I’ve often thought that there’s a freedom from responsibility when you’re living in the house you grew up in. You don’t have to be the grown-up which gives you freedom to create. Now that I’m a busy dude trying to scrape by in Toronto, it’s sometimes hard to sit down and write songs, but I do it. The songs are different because they’re informed by where I live now.

Aaron Bennett: I grew up in a small town too and I think the difference is the level of artistic license that you can take in a big city is way more. There’s more people trying different things. You can meet so many more musicians, artists, filmmakers and share a common bond. It’s inspiring.

Ian Boos: I can literally walk down the street and see some of my favourite bands. Last night I saw Beck. It’s so inspiring having that access. In a bigger-picture sense, some of Alex’s earlier songs might have been a little simpler but since moving to the city, you can hear there’s more chaos in the music now. I think bands are taken in by their scenery.

Grantham: One of my favourite things about being in this band is that I feel we have so much room to grow. I feel like we haven’t tapped into the full potential of what we could be. We’re getting more aggressive and realizing what works for us and our musical personalities. You never want to feel like you’re at a dead-end with a band.

Bennett: The city allows that growth as well. There are more venues here.

Ian Boos

Where do you draw your songwriting influences from?

Grantham: I’m usually more liable to write a new song when I’m in a place of emotional vulnerability. I went through a really bad break-up about a year ago and I got an entire album out of it. Whenever I’m in a place of emotional turmoil is when I write more, which is probably true for a lot of people. It’s so hard to write a happy song! [Laughs].

Bennett: We were talking about this the other day. For me, I think a song has to be really genuine and people relate to it when it’s genuine. When you write a happy song, it’s hard to make it not campy. A song that evokes darker feelings is easier to relate to. You can almost make that connection instantly. For myself, if I were to write a song, it would have to have those real elements.

Boos: When Alex is writing a song from the bottom of his heart, that’s the way we play it.

Bennett: What drew me to this band were the lyrics. They’re really thought out. That’s what made me want to work with them. I connected with the music and I think other people do too.

Alex Grantham

You guys have an obvious punk influence, and to me the biggest thing about punk is the attitude and often the lyrics and music take a backseat to the attitude. In your music, lyrics are the driving force. How do you manage to get the two seemingly opposing traits to work in tandem?

Grantham: As a songwriter, I’ve been very much influenced by Bob Dylan and many others from the ’70s. Their lyrics were very confessional and emotional. To me, the best thing about punk — and you talked about attitude — is it’s non-conformist, it’s skepticism, it’s anti-authority. It’s questioning what’s laid before you and I think you can do that in an intellectual way like Dylan did. When you do it that way, it’s not some bush-league thing, it’s a higher intellectual pursuit. I read a lot of philosophy when I was in my early twenties and it had a profound impact on me. I read a book called The Outsider by Colin Wilson, Straw Dogs by John Gray and those books touched me because they’re intellectual and they’re punk inspired. If I could equate that to music, that was punkish because it was anti-conformist but it was done in an elegant and intelligent way and I respect that. Sometimes punk music can be a bit crass and stupid, and I hate it when punk music is demeaned like that because I think the higher goal of punk is more noble.

Do you have any closing words you’d like to share?

Boos: We want to be theatrical, we want to play well and we want to give it all we have. That’s what we do and it’s true to our hearts. We believe in it. We believe in the lyrics, we believe in the songs and I think that if we get a chance, we’re going to take it.

Grantham: If you can afford a grande latte at Starbucks, you can afford to see a really good musical act in Toronto. Next time you go out, consider that for every one established act, there are twenty up-and-coming who are doing amazing shows. Find the smaller clubs; Press Club, Not My Dog, Rancho Relaxo, Silver Dollar… any of these small bars. If you want to see original music in Toronto, all you have to do is take the initiative and pay a $5 cover, the cost of a cup of coffee.

Bennett: Whatever you do — whether it be art, film, music — always do it with integrity. Never compromise. Do what you feel is best and someone will like it. If you’re doing what you love, that will last far beyond a flash-in-the-pan band or movie that comes along. Longevity is important. Often today, artistry in music is lost. When you see independent bands trying to do something new or different, give it a chance and support them.

The guys dressed up in suits for their show to mimic their dress in this video for ‘Solitary City Man Death’. - Forget The Box

Alex Grantham says making an impression on the Toronto music scene isn’t easy, but his band Low Hanging Lights is plugging away.

“It’s hard work trying to break out as a band,” said the longtime Paris resident. “It’s taking a while.”

Grantham, 26, was actually born in Toronto, but moved to Paris with his family around age 4.

“I loved growing up in Paris, but like most young people I got antsy to experience something else,” he said. “I was ready for this.”

Grantham said he moved to Toronto three years ago “mostly for the music’s sake.”

The launching pad for the move was his enrolment in the independent music production course at Seneca College.

He tried his hand at starting a music career as a solo singer-songwriter and put out an album called When I Was a Boy in December 2010, but didn’t get the response he was hoping for.

Grantham started to shift towards the idea of starting a band, and making his music more accessible to a wider audience.

He was further inspired to collaborate when an old acquaintance from Paris, Ian Boos, moved to Toronto.

Grantham and Boos were not close friends as kids, and didn’t attend high school together. Boos went to Brantford Collegiate Institute, while Grantham attended Paris District High School.

Their connection actually dates back to age 10 or 11, when they played baseball together for the Paris Pirates.

They also connected through Nick Bastien, a guitar teacher who taught both boys in Paris.

Grantham recalls they had different taste in music in that he was more into Nirvana, while Boos liked punk rock.

Boos moved to Toronto about one year after Grantham to take a post-graduate course in behavioural therapy.

Around that time, Boos sent Grantham a Facebook message. Boos’ mother had read The Paris Star’s December 2010 article about Gratham’s solo career in Toronto and relayed the story to him.

“Ian’s mom suggested we get together,” Grantham said. “We started jamming and it was great.”

Those jam sessions led the pair to start the band Low Hanging Lights, a name Grantham said was inspired by the image of lights hanging in an old barn.

“It’s an interesting name with an eerie vibe,” he said. “The name Low Hanging Lights refers to a humble, low hanging, but bright person. For instance, a down on his luck artist, or a teacher at a particularly tough public school, or a volunteer worker; basically anybody doing something for the greater good, while not demanding any sort of?recognition or reward for it.”

Some of his songs written as a solo artist have transferred to the band, and Grantham continues to be the principle songwriter of the group.

Grantham brings finished songs, both music and lyrics, to the band for them to arrange the tracks as a group,” he said.

“Sometimes the other guys will come up with something to add to the song after it's been brought to them,” he said.

While the other members of the band have changed since they first formed, Low Hanging Lights is currently made up of Dillon Spencer, who plays keyboard, trumpet and sings, and drummer Aaron Bennett.

The band released its first album in the form of an EP, Small Talk, in December 2011

Grantham says the band’s sound is always changing.

“We’re always looking for something different,” he said. “We’re experimental and creative.”

He describes their sound as heavily influenced by folk music traditions such as lyrics that tell a story, combined with some of the more aggressive sounds found in punk. Grantham also expressed a fondness for classic songwriting and standards such as Over the Rainbow and Moon River.

Low Hanging Lights has more songs ready to be recorded, possibly as a full-length album, but it’s more likely they will put out a second EP of a few songs, said Grantham

Besides recording and playing gigs around Toronto at venues such as Rancho Relaxo, the El Mocambo and The Silver Dollar, Grantham says they are looking to schedule a month-long tour, possibly playing in Brantford, Guelph, Peterborough and Montreal, over the summer.

For more about Low Hanging Lights, visit www.lowhanginglights.com.

michael.peeling@sunmedia.ca

@theparisstar
- The Paris Star

Alex Grantham says making an impression on the Toronto music scene isn’t easy, but his band Low Hanging Lights is plugging away.

“It’s hard work trying to break out as a band,” said the longtime Paris resident. “It’s taking a while.”

Grantham, 26, was actually born in Toronto, but moved to Paris with his family around age 4.

“I loved growing up in Paris, but like most young people I got antsy to experience something else,” he said. “I was ready for this.”

Grantham said he moved to Toronto three years ago “mostly for the music’s sake.”

The launching pad for the move was his enrolment in the independent music production course at Seneca College.

He tried his hand at starting a music career as a solo singer-songwriter and put out an album called When I Was a Boy in December 2010, but didn’t get the response he was hoping for.

Grantham started to shift towards the idea of starting a band, and making his music more accessible to a wider audience.

He was further inspired to collaborate when an old acquaintance from Paris, Ian Boos, moved to Toronto.

Grantham and Boos were not close friends as kids, and didn’t attend high school together. Boos went to Brantford Collegiate Institute, while Grantham attended Paris District High School.

Their connection actually dates back to age 10 or 11, when they played baseball together for the Paris Pirates.

They also connected through Nick Bastien, a guitar teacher who taught both boys in Paris.

Grantham recalls they had different taste in music in that he was more into Nirvana, while Boos liked punk rock.

Boos moved to Toronto about one year after Grantham to take a post-graduate course in behavioural therapy.

Around that time, Boos sent Grantham a Facebook message. Boos’ mother had read The Paris Star’s December 2010 article about Gratham’s solo career in Toronto and relayed the story to him.

“Ian’s mom suggested we get together,” Grantham said. “We started jamming and it was great.”

Those jam sessions led the pair to start the band Low Hanging Lights, a name Grantham said was inspired by the image of lights hanging in an old barn.

“It’s an interesting name with an eerie vibe,” he said. “The name Low Hanging Lights refers to a humble, low hanging, but bright person. For instance, a down on his luck artist, or a teacher at a particularly tough public school, or a volunteer worker; basically anybody doing something for the greater good, while not demanding any sort of?recognition or reward for it.”

Some of his songs written as a solo artist have transferred to the band, and Grantham continues to be the principle songwriter of the group.

Grantham brings finished songs, both music and lyrics, to the band for them to arrange the tracks as a group,” he said.

“Sometimes the other guys will come up with something to add to the song after it's been brought to them,” he said.

While the other members of the band have changed since they first formed, Low Hanging Lights is currently made up of Dillon Spencer, who plays keyboard, trumpet and sings, and drummer Aaron Bennett.

The band released its first album in the form of an EP, Small Talk, in December 2011

Grantham says the band’s sound is always changing.

“We’re always looking for something different,” he said. “We’re experimental and creative.”

He describes their sound as heavily influenced by folk music traditions such as lyrics that tell a story, combined with some of the more aggressive sounds found in punk. Grantham also expressed a fondness for classic songwriting and standards such as Over the Rainbow and Moon River.

Low Hanging Lights has more songs ready to be recorded, possibly as a full-length album, but it’s more likely they will put out a second EP of a few songs, said Grantham

Besides recording and playing gigs around Toronto at venues such as Rancho Relaxo, the El Mocambo and The Silver Dollar, Grantham says they are looking to schedule a month-long tour, possibly playing in Brantford, Guelph, Peterborough and Montreal, over the summer.

For more about Low Hanging Lights, visit www.lowhanginglights.com.

michael.peeling@sunmedia.ca

@theparisstar
- The Paris Star

Pics from The Silver Dollar - The iNDiE MACHiNE

Pics from The Silver Dollar - The iNDiE MACHiNE

Low Hanging Lights are a Canadian “lounge punk” trio, consisting of Ian Boos, Dillon Spencer, and Alex Grantham. If you’ll remember, I actually gave Grantham’s solo debut When I Was a Boy a pretty bristling 2.5. It was the kind of album that I wanted to like more, but it kept pushing me away. For Low Hanging Lights’ debut EP, Grantham and Co. have plucked two of three songs from When I Was a Boy, so for me, Small Talk has been like comparing the rough draft to the revision, and the difference is tangible.

The redux of “Towering Tree” kicks off Small Talk, and I sort of wish it didn’t, because Grantham delivers with a formidable snarl over what starts out as a quiet and pensive couple of verses. The snarl is not first impression material, though as the song fills out and the instruments start to swell over his voice, it fits the aesthetic much better. Now, the song itself is a remarkable step up, complete with a rich chorus with crashing drums and a jangly organ that rings out shambling and loose, deliciously messy. Grantham has also reigned in his “Nevermind, sit down...” sections to be less stark and militaristic. Yeah, the effect is gone, but it’s much nicer to listen to. “Towering Tree” ends brash and rowdy and deconstructed, and I wonder if it would make a nice closing track on Small Talk instead.

“A Sharp Minor Suicide” follows, the second revised track from Grantham’s solo work, a dramatic and brooding folk tune with deep bass and tingling percussion. I’d probably start Small Talk here. The song’s got a great pulse, and the 10-second held note during, “Remove your face!” marks the chorus pretty distinctly. If Grantham and Co. want their listeners’ attention, after that they probably have it. And once the track kicks into its second gear at the halfway point, any stragglers will be hooked. Up the tempo, enter horns, driving guitar, and a long, discordant breakdown, and you’ve got the makings of the great stuff Murder by Death have forgotten how to write on their more recent efforts.

The relaxed, piano-laden ballad “Prince Edward County Dress” closes Small Talk. Despite it being (as far as I can tell) an original Low Hanging Lights song, I honestly don’t have nearly as much to say about it. It’s pleasant, makes good use of several instruments like it’s chamber folk, but it doesn’t have the same sense of progression and verve that really spark the first two tracks. It’s like listening to Beirut through a funhouse mirror, but the song is entirely content to be the same for four minutes.

I am, however, incredibly excited by Small Talk. I’ve gotten to experience a few tracks I really wanted to like develop into a few tracks I genuinely do like, and the folk/punk/indie/everything direction in which Low Hanging Lights are taking their music is plowing some fresh, yet familiar musical ground. If this EP is any proper indication of what’s to come, Low Hanging Lights are only going to get brighter.

--Zach Roth

Author - Decoy Music

It's a Monday night in Toronto and the weather was starting to turn on us.....It's the first day of October and I had come upstairs from the Radio Regent studio to welcome "Low Hanging Lights" into our space where the magic actually does happened. I wasn't sure what to expect from the band as every photo that I got my hands on of the band, was never the same band members as the previous picture. But on this Monday night, we were welcomed by Alex Grantham (songwriter/guitar/vocals), Ian Boos (bass/vocals) and Dillon Spencer (keys/trumpet). Their drummer, Aaron was absent this time around but we probably wouldn't have had room for him anyways as the studio was jam packed with; two amps, one acoustic guitar, bass guitar, keyboard and five mics. It was pretty snug and the boys were tightly packed in the 50 square foot studio. I wish some of the community would have come out to this in-studio acoustic performance because the band was ready for a live set.

After a half hour of setting things up and finding the correct mic setup, instrument positioning, and where the guys would stand, we were ready to go. Kubani was pumped as he sucks off punk music and takes it from folk music, I knew he ready to take it right up that alley. "Giving and receiving on a Monday night" is what I called this session.



".........Bob Dylan is very much a punk artist and maybe was one of the more original punk artists. In that his lyrical outlet was defiant for the time. It was edgy and it engaged a lot of people, intellectual people. Not just passive music fans, serious thinkers......very well structured, very poetic....." - Alex Grantham



The two heads of the band (Alex & Ian) are originally from Paris, ON but have moved to the big city to find their footing in life, and in music. Besides Ian popping his "P's" very 5th word, the boys are very much in their musical sense. The band formed in February of 2011 with a good core group led by Alex and Ian, but later had difficulty keeping the band in check as members of the band began to find side projects which took up most of their time. With the help of classically trained pianist, Kaleb Hikele on drums, and his production expertise, Low Hanging Lights had released their first EP "Small Talk". They haven't taken the city by storm as many artists have a hard time doing, but the city can do that to a number of acts.



".....You can also look at other acts too. Their are certain indie acts that just roll through the town, may or may not have been signed recently. They are on tour and you just drop in to some place on the west end.........And you are like "wOw"! You just stumble upon it, and that is the best part about the city....." - Ian Boos





The guys also needed the assistance of a few other Toronto based musicians to put "Small Talk" together including Rebecca Harrison on vocals while filling in on violin during some of their shows. Emily Van Der Laar and Iman Wain singing backup vocals on "Prince Edward County Dress", and Dan Farrar plays the accordion on "A Sharp Minor Suicide". This EP was definitely a team effort, from production to fill-in instrumentals. All three songs on this EP give off a very bright folkie old timer feel, but also show shades of folk-punk darkness within songs like "Towering Tree" and "A Sharp Minor Suicide". Their exposure to alternative rock might have played a factor in their sound. I personally wont know where this comes from till I see more of their live act as I hope they cover a few of their favourites. The bands arrangement might have also influenced their overall feel.


Kubani and myself had a great time with the boys even though I left a little discouraged after not hearing some of their stuff off the "Small Talk" EP. Wasn't a big deal as we got to chat with the boys about their influences, city life and a horror story of a show that went bad thanks to a luge event.


Right Click HERE to download TSTOpast

Low Hanging Lights are dangerous if you are tall. But in this instance, it ain't so bad. If you want to get yourself a set of Low Hanging Lights, check out their website, twitter @LHL_band and facebook. Their bandcamp isn't extensive but it packs a solid punch if you are one for folk-punk with a tad of pure independence.

Excited to see these guys live! - The Show TO

Low Hanging Lights are a Toronto-based band who draw their inspiration largely from the poppy garage rock of the '60s, adding a dash of orchestrals for dramatic flair. Their latest release is the 3-song Small Talk EP. - Snob's Music

Low Hanging Lights are a Toronto-based band who draw their inspiration largely from the poppy garage rock of the '60s, adding a dash of orchestrals for dramatic flair. Their latest release is the 3-song Small Talk EP. - Snob's Music