The Lower 48 Are Bluesy Rockers Bound For Success

Los Angeles — Although the Lower 48 have only three members, their collective sound is bigger than most five-piece bands. After relocating to Portland, Sarah Parson, Ben Braden, and Nick Talk have reached a level of style that is endearing, memorable, and will force any listener to get up off their feet and bop to the beat.

Their 60s-like bluesy rock n’ roll rumblings about the many walks of life are rich with animated riffs and bangs, sexy oohs and ahs, and kicky choruses. The trio’s multi-instrumental thick wall of sound is marvelous because the lead singer isn’t just a lead singer, the bassist doesn’t only play bass, and the drummer doesn’t only drum; they all carry the weight of at least two players effortlessly.

Of all the 6 tracks on their self-titled debut LP, “Rabbit Hole” is the most striking. It features an intense vocal drop at the beginning that suddenly surges with rattles, a dense guitar solo, and splendid brass in the background. Throughout the album, Parson’s smoky voice has an all-consuming might that luminously harmonizes with Braden and Talk as they thrum at their strings and pound on their drums. If the Beatles and Jack White gave birth to a musical baby, it would sound something like The Lower 48 – and yes, the band is just as ferocious as one would imagine, as we discovered in our interview.

Ariela Kozin: There is very little about The Lower 48 online, but I know you’ve been through a lot of changes already. Can you tell me how it all started?

Ben Braden: It started in Minnesota actually, and we moved to Oregon after high school… instead of going to college we moved to Portland.

Sarah Parson: We were a four-piece when we first started and Nick wasn’t quite in the picture yet.

Ben Braden: The other two players who moved with us slowly left. Nick was our old friend from Minneapolis. It was actually really easy to get him to move across the country and change the whole course of his life. It was me, Nick, and Sarah and then the bass player sort of drifted in and out of the band for a couple of years before finally we kicked him out. It sounds terrible but it definitely needed to happen. That was kind of our adolescence period and then we sort of realized what we’d been working toward. Now there is no question of members going in or out.

AK: Three members is a rare number for a band. Why did you decide three was The Lower 48′s magic number?

BB: We finally came to the decision to kick out the bass player when we started jamming without him. I took over bass and I realized, “Oh, I can play this.” We realized we had drums, bass, guitar and three vocals. It was all we needed. The sound felt more complete than ever.

NT: We also realized we worked a little harder and sang a little more. We were making just as much sound as when we were a four piece before because we’re more aware of it.

SP: I actually think we’re even louder now or more rounded out then we ever were before.

AK: You began folksier and now it seems like you have a 60′s classic rock vibe. Was that decision conscious?

SP: It wasn’t on purpose. It was a subconscious thing. I think that we’ve all always been focused on rock n’ roll for the most part. Folk was almost a phase; we still play some folky stuff, but we blanket it all in rock. There are definitely still elements of folk, like our harmonies.

BB: Folk was the foundation, but rock n’ roll was the band we wanted to be. It was easy to sound like a unique rock n’ roll band quickly because we all have an indie background.

NT: Like Sarah said, it wasn’t conscious. Art is always changing.

AK: Was that transformation influenced by any particular rockers?

BB: I’m into The Kinks and The Stones. Sarah’s into Jack White.

SP: Definitely Karen O, St Vincent, Zeppelin.

NT: LCD sound system.

SP: Yeah, it’s a mixture of classic rock n’ roll.

AK: Who writes the music?

SP: Lately we’ve been coming to the practice space and just jamming and then adding lyrics later on. I think that’s become my favorite way. It’s kind of crazy and eerie in a way how we read each others minds.

NT: We play everyday pretty much. We play so much now with just us three in our space or on the road that we end up writing songs on the spot.

BB: We never really write lyrics together, but melodies and arrangements and everyone has to like it in order for it to be accepted. We rarely disagree.

AK: What are your goals with your music? What inspires you to keep going and creating?

BB: We just want people to dance with us. Our pieces and bass lines are focused on making people dance.

SP: And it makes us dance too, which is fun. It’s really cool to see people move and to see their faces.

BB: But really we are just American pop music because we do so much. We’re kind of a mutt.

AK: Does Portland influence your sound at all?

SP: I can’t really imagine us living anywhere else right now. We love it here; we love the bands here. Neither Ben nor I had been out [to Portland] before we decided to move here. We went in blind.

AK: What have you learned since leaving Portland for your first national tour?

SP: I think just learning how to work with each other better. We’re learning new things about each other.

BB: Being respectful of each other’s space.

SP: It’s also improved our sound. The whole mind-reading thing has been taken to a whole new level.

BB: Every once in a while a guitar strap will come undone or a string will break and it’s almost fun when that happens. It’s kind of like, “Oh shit, we have to fix this on the spot.” We’ve gotten really good at that. Once Sarah’s guitar strap just came undone during a song and Nick and I spontaneously picked up the beat while she fixed it.

SP: It’s a challenge and it’s almost embarrassing for a second but nobody will notice and even if they do, we make sure we don’t drop a beat. It’s fun.

AK: What do you have planned for after the tour?

NT: We’ve toured the entire country, so we’re going to take some space and just write. We want to get back in our space. We have a cool place together and we’ve been gone for so long.

The Lower 48 are currently on tour with Au Revoir Simone. Visit The Lower 48′s Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/TheLower48) to learn more about the threesome.

BestNewBands.com is pleased to present a series of articles about worthy artists that came to us via our Artist Discovery program with ReverbNation, the website that provides over three million music industry professionals with powerful easy-to-use technology to promote and prosper online. Look for additional artist profiles in the weeks and months ahead!

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Ariela Kozin

Ariela was born and raised on Los Angeles' creative hunger and booming sounds. She grew up humming the Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan records her mother played on repeat until a driver's license gave her the freedom to obsessively explore the live music scene. It only seemed natural that when Ariela went to journalism school, she paired her love of writing with her passion for discovering amazing new music.