Lowgold
Encyclopedia
Lowgold are an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 indie
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...

 formed in 1997 in St Albans
St Albans
St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...

, comprising vocalist and rhythm guitarist Darren Ford, lead guitarist Dan Symons and bassist Miles Willey.

The band originally claimed that the word "lowgold" was derived from a Nordic
North Germanic languages
The North Germanic languages or Scandinavian languages, the languages of Scandinavians, make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages, a sub-family of the Indo-European languages, along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages...

 word, directly translated as "of hidden worth". However the band later admitted that it is just a word that Ford made up.

History

Army child Darren Lee Ford, born in Tidworth
Tidworth
Tidworth is a town in south-east Wiltshire, England with a growing civilian population. Situated at the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain, it is approximately 10 miles west of Andover, 12 miles south of Marlborough, 24 miles south of Swindon, 15 miles north by north-east of Salisbury and 6 miles east...

, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, spent much of his childhood travelling around Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, where his father was stationed before attending boarding school near Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...

 and spent the previous 10 years before forming Lowgold on the dole and drumming in numerous bands such as The Knievels with his older brother Gary and Shinecello with Miles Willey on guitar as well as touring the stand-up comedy circuit for eight months. Fed up of backing others, he decided to begin singing his songs himself and recorded home demos on a four-track portastudio
Portastudio
The TASCAM Portastudio was the world's first four track recorder based on a standard compact audio cassette tape.When the original Portastudio 144 made its debut in 1979 it was a revolutionary creative tool...

 with friend Dan Symons, from Poole
Poole
Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council...

, Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

, and sent them off to several record labels. Nude Records
Nude Records
Nude Records was a London based record label, set up in 1992 by Saul Galpern who had previously been involved in the success of artists such as Simply Red, the Fall, Julian Cope, The Triffids, The Slits and The Au Pairs. The label's first success was with Suede. Suede's debut album was the fastest...

 responded that they were interested, and wanted to hear more songs and see the band live. When the duo informed Nude that there wasn't actually a band, the label suggested that perhaps they should form one. They then enlisted Miles Willey, from Bromley
Bromley
Bromley is a large suburban town in south east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Bromley. It was historically a market town, and prior to 1963 was in the county of Kent and formed the administrative centre of the Municipal Borough of Bromley...

, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, who was an old university friend of Symons' and a housemate of Ford, and drafted in Paul Mayes on drums. Symons and Miles had also previously been in rival bands at University Of Hertfordshire
University of Hertfordshire
The University of Hertfordshire is a new university based largely in Hatfield, in the county of Hertfordshire, England, from which the university takes its name. It has more than 27,500 students, over 2500 staff, with a turnover of over £181m...

. Symons was a member of Quadpeace, who had previously toured with Shinecello and Willey had had been a member of Fetus Eaters.

Nude Records signed the band in late 1998 after watching one rehearsal. The band then set about recording their debut album with American producer Tony Lash
Tony Lash
Anthony Carr "Tony" Lash is an American musician and music producer, most notable as a founding member of Heatmiser as the band's drummer. He played with Elliott Smith, in the high school band. Lash played the flute; Smith, the clarinet....

. During the initial sessions in Chipping Norton
Chipping Norton
Chipping Norton is a market town in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about southwest of Banbury.-History until the 17th century:...

 it was agreed that Paul's heavier drumming style didn’t fit Lowgold so he left the band. Along with Ford, Lash took over drum duties for the album, with former Slowdive
Slowdive
Slowdive were an English shoegaze band that formed in 1989. The band formed in Reading, Berkshire and primarily consisted of Nick Chaplin , Rachel Goswell , Neil Halstead , and Christian Savill...

 drummer Simon Scott joining the band after the main album sessions, appearing on "Counterfeit", a track recorded with Dave Eringa
Dave Eringa
Dave Eringa is an English record producer from Essex who has engineered, mixed, produced, and played on albums by such bands as Manic Street Preachers, Ocean Colour Scene, Idlewild, 3 Colours Red, South and Johnny Boy...

.

The band were then left in a state of limbo and barely able to support themselves as any releases were temporarily shelved due to Nude being in financial difficulties.

The band were finally able to release their debut single "The 108" EP in July 2000, which was voted Single of the Week in both the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

and Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...

and toured extensively, including dates with Grandaddy
Grandaddy
Grandaddy was an American indie rock band, formed in 1992 in Modesto, California by singer, guitarist, and keyboardist Jason Lytle, bassist Kevin Garcia, and drummer Aaron Burtch. Guitarist Jim Fairchild and keyboardist Tim Dryden later joined the band in 1995...

 and Doves and a major support tour with Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...

 in October 2000.

The band released Just Backward of Square
Just Backward of Square
Just Backward of Square is the debut album by English band Lowgold, released in 2001.The album was produced by former Elliott Smith associate Tony Lash, mixed by Dave Eringa and reached 33 in the UK album charts...

in February 2001, shifting 40,000 copies in the UK and breaking into the Top 40. The band then ran into further problems with their label, who were repeatedly withholding wages from the band. Due to ongoing financial problems, the label were also increasingly reluctant to fund any further touring to promote the album and the band struggled to be able to afford to play Reading Festival and what turned out to be the band's last gig for two years at a Tim Buckley
Tim Buckley
Timothy Charles Buckley III was an American vocalist, and musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years; his first album was mostly folk oriented, but over time his music incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul, avant-garde and an evolving "voice as instrument," sound...

 tribute night at the Royal Festival in London in September 2001.

In December 2001, Nude and its publishing arm Bare Tunes went into voluntary liquidation after they lost their distribution deal with Sony and a last-minute new deal with PIAS
PIAS
-Abbreviations:* PIAS Entertainment Group** Pln, Sam, an independent record label based in London and owned by the PIAS Entertainment Group** PIAS Recordings, an international recoro known as Play it Again, Sam Records...

 fell through. It was later revealed that the label had debts of £2.25 million and didn't inform any of their acts of their intention to go into voluntary liquidation. Willey later claimed that the label wasted any profit it made from Suede
Suede (band)
Suede are an English alternative rock band from London, formed in 1989. The group's most prominent early line-up featured singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Bernard Butler, bass player Mat Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert. By 1992, Suede were hailed as "The Best New Band in Britain", and attracted...

 on promoting bands such as Ultrasound
Ultrasound (band)
Ultrasound are an English indie band, predominantly active during the late 1990s. Although the band's focal point was their tall, obese singer/guitarist Andrew "Tiny" Wood, the main songwriter was guitarist Richard Green, with the line-up completed by drummer Andy Peace, keyboardist Matt Jones and...

, who split it 1999. Whilst the label's biggest act Suede were re-signed to Nude's parent label Sony (who had been looking after the band's affairs prior to the Nude folding), many of the label's smaller acts, including Lowgold, were left with no record deal and significant debt.

Following the collapse of Nude, the band found that major labels were reluctant to re-sign the band, as Ford admitted the band were now "damaged goods - no one wants to buy a suit someone has died in" and were £58,000 in debt and were forced to take day jobs. The band later revealed that Lowgold was set up as a partnership on the recommendation of Nude owner Saul Galpern, as opposed to a limited company and that all the partners were personally liable for any debts. The label had approved promotion and touring costs, with no way of funding them. Scott, who joined the band after they had signed to Nude, was not a partner and was technically classed as an employee of the band and therefore not liable for any of the debt. After all the band members, including Scott, had agreed to individually get loans to save themselves from bankruptcy, Scott telephoned Willey the day after to inform him that he was quitting the band, leaving the rest of the band to foot his tax bill also.
Still facing bankruptcy, the band began writing new material in the back room of Symon's cousin's house in Winnersh
Winnersh
Winnersh is a village and civil parish, a part of the Borough of Wokingham, in the English county of Berkshire. The parish is roughly bounded on the north-east by the A329, to the north-west by the river Loddon, Old Forest Road and Simons Lane on the south east and Bearwood Road on the south west...

 with the aim of securing a new deal.

In December 2002, following showcase gigs with the band's manager and former Wonder Stuff
The Wonder Stuff
The Wonder Stuff are a British alternative rock band, originally based in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in the Black Country, England.-Origins:...

 drummer Martin Gilks
Martin Gilks
Martin Richard Gilks was an English musician. He was a founder member and original drummer for The Wonder Stuff, based in Stourbridge ....

 on drums (and who described the band as "more punk than most of the West Coast Middle Class Musos put together… and they have better songs"), the band signed to Sanctuary Records
Sanctuary Records
Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest independent music management company in the world...

, home to Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...

 and Spiritualized
Spiritualized
Spiritualized are an English space rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Jason Pierce after the demise of his previous outfit, space-rockers Spacemen 3...

, for a one-album deal plus an option for a second, and set about recording a new album with first album producer Tony Lash as a trio, with Lash on drums. The band headed to the US and recorded the album at Supernatural Sound Recording Studio in Oregon and Lash's home studio. The band then enlisted drummer Rob Lee and keyboardist Colin Hartshorn for live dates. The album Welcome To Winners
Welcome to Winners
Welcome To Winners is the second album by English band Lowgold, released in 2003.The album was again produced by former Elliott Smith associate Tony Lash and two singles were lifted from the album.-Track listing:...

was released in October 2003, named as such as Symon's cousin's house backed onto Winnersh railway station
Winnersh railway station
Winnersh railway station is a railway station serving Winnersh, Berkshire, England, located between Reading and Wokingham. The station, and the majority of trains calling there, are operated by South West Trains...

 where someone had crossed out the H on the "Welcome To Winnersh" sign. The band embarked on a UK tour in support of the album, which saw them supported by an up-and-coming Keane at Manchester Roadhouse. The band's comeback single "We Don't Have Much Time" wasn't promoted and was then cancelled at the last minute, despite it having already having been distributed to record shops and with the album receiving little promotion and the follow-up single "The Same way" failing to get any radio play in a musical landscape of teen pop
Teen pop
Teen pop is a subgenre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards teenagers. Teen pop copies genres and styles such as pop, dance, R&B, hip hop, country and rock....

 and nu metal
Nu metal
Nu metal is a subgenre of heavy metal. It is a fusion genre which combines elements of heavy metal with other genres, including grunge and hip hop...

, the band felt neglected by Sanctuary and the label didn't take up the option for a follow-up. On the band's time with Sanctuary, Ford commented it was “like watching a misunderstood fat kid swim too far out to sea. Sanctuary decided Tubby wasn't worth saving and the lifeboat stayed in the harbour”.

Symons along with his cousin Jon Gilbert, who had helped save the band from bankruptcy, formed independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

 Dedtedrecords to release the anthology set Keep Music Miserable
Keep Music Miserable
Keep Music Miserable is a 2 CD compilation album by English band Lowgold of b-sides, live and unreleased tracks, released in 2005 on the bands own record label Dedted Records...

in October 2005, which saw the band release everything they had recorded. As far as the band were concerned, they were going nowhere and the band was finished for good.

Ford continued to write, but had no intention of letting anyone else hear anything until the death of manager Martin Gilks in April 2006 which saw the band reunite to play at his funeral. After Symons heard the demos Ford had recorded, the band started demoing new material in early 2007 and released Promise Lands
Promise Lands
Promise Lands is the fourth album by English band Lowgold, released in 2008 on Goldhawk Recordings.The album was recorded at The Dairy, Brixton, London and at Darren Ford's home studio, co-produced by Ford and Dan Roe and mixed by Gareth Parton who has previously worked with The Go! Team...

, their fourth studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...

 album on 31 March 2008 through Goldhawk Recordings/Cooking Vinyl
Cooking Vinyl
Cooking Vinyl is a UK-based independent record company, founded in 1986. Its original orientation was toward contemporary folk music—notably Billy Bragg, and Michelle Shocked's Texas Campfire Tapes, recorded on a Sony Walkman, one of its first releases...

. Ford described the album as “a very sad record. There are bits of it that are quite raw, bits of it that are quite difficult to listen to for the same reason they were quite hard to write. It’s probably the most personal thing that we’ve done”.

The future of Lowgold is currently uncertain, though an announcement from the band in August 2009 that they were busy raising children also included confirmation of their plans to continue.

Solo activity

Willey has played with Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

-based Good Morning, Captain and instrumental band -a+M who morphed into Lamp and are signed to independent label Lancashire and Somerset.

Symons has gone on to forge a career in music marketing, working at Sanctuary, Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...

 and Pledgemusic
Pledgemusic
PledgeMusic is an online Direct-to-Fan / Fan-funded music platform utilising a Threshold Pledge System / Provision Point Mechanism, launched in August 2009, that facilitates musicians reaching out to their fan-base to financially contribute to upcoming recordings or other musical projects...

 as well as setting up his own company Band2Market.

Ford continues to write songs and is the author of a number of satirical blogs, including Misanthrobs, I am Bono (you're not), World Of Worksports and Dick Cheney - The Retirement Years. He also writes for Sabotage Times and surrealfootball.com.

Albums

  • Just Backward of Square
    Just Backward of Square
    Just Backward of Square is the debut album by English band Lowgold, released in 2001.The album was produced by former Elliott Smith associate Tony Lash, mixed by Dave Eringa and reached 33 in the UK album charts...

    (12 February 2001) - UK
    UK Albums Chart
    The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

     #33
  • Welcome to Winners
    Welcome to Winners
    Welcome To Winners is the second album by English band Lowgold, released in 2003.The album was again produced by former Elliott Smith associate Tony Lash and two singles were lifted from the album.-Track listing:...

    (6 October 2003)
  • Keep Music Miserable
    Keep Music Miserable
    Keep Music Miserable is a 2 CD compilation album by English band Lowgold of b-sides, live and unreleased tracks, released in 2005 on the bands own record label Dedted Records...

    (10 October 2005)
  • Promise Lands
    Promise Lands
    Promise Lands is the fourth album by English band Lowgold, released in 2008 on Goldhawk Recordings.The album was recorded at The Dairy, Brixton, London and at Darren Ford's home studio, co-produced by Ford and Dan Roe and mixed by Gareth Parton who has previously worked with The Go! Team...

    (31 March 2008)

Singles and EPs

  • "The 108 EP" (24 July 2000)
  • "Beauty Dies Young" (18 September 2000) - UK
    UK Singles Chart
    The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

    #67
  • "Mercury" (29 January 2001) - UK #48
  • "Counterfeit" (30 April 2001) - UK #52
  • "Beauty Dies Young" (Re-Recording) (27 August 2001) - UK #40
  • "We Don't Have Much Time" (2003)
  • "The Same Way" (2003)
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK