Lowlife және Dead Neighbours: Шотландиялық музыка саяхаты

Lowlife were a Scottish alternative rock/dream pop band, active from 1985 to 1997. Although the group never obtained mainstream popularity, they developed a cult following that continues to this day. The band was led by singer Craig Lorentson on lead vocals and also featured Cocteau Twins founding bassist Will Heggie after his departure from that group.

Dead Neighbours were 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 group were 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 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.

In 1985, Lowlife recorded Rain, a six 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."

In early 1990, following a football 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 guitarists Robin James Hurt and Hugh Duggie and drummer Martin Fleming were brought in as replacements. At the same time Ian Stewart, who was playing with Duggie and Fleming in the band Mutiny Strings, also joined for a brief time on second bass. 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 few 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 (except Gush) was re released on CD by LTM, augmented with multiple bonus tracks and extensive liner notes by Brian Guthrie. The band's website, Permanent Sleep, reported that Craig Lorentson died on 4 June 2010, at the age of 44 after a period of liver and kidney problems. Lorentson's funeral took place on 11 June 2010.

Guthrie, Brian, Eternity Road: Reflections of Lowlife 85 95 (2006) CD Liner notes, LTM.