Artist On Artist: Contrast Vs Lowtide

Australia's shoegaze revival has been building momentum in the past few years, to the extent that the label 'Roogaze' beginning to stick to proponents of the genre. So it makes sense that a showcase of local artists come together for a mini-festival under the Roogaze banner ("come and see 'the scene that celebrates itself' celebrating itself!" reads the presser), taking over The Tote bandroom this Saturday May 7. Ahead of the show, Contrast's JACK CROOK interviews Lowtide's GABE LEWIS.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

JACK CROOK: When I first moved to Melbourne, I remember thinking of you guys and Parading as being the forefront of a very small shoegaze scene, and also Lowtide were the closest thing I'd ever see to mbv or Slowdive, ever. But maybe I was oblivious, before there was any sort of revival locally or on a big scale were there other local bands that inspired your music? How does the scene now compare to a few years back?
GABE LEWIS: I think there have always been tiny pockets but being so small it was hard to maintain a scene. In the last five years there’s been such an exciting explosion in Melbourne. It’s nice to have such a great selection to choose from when booking shows now. And we aren’t the odd ones out anymore! My inspiration for experimentation came from playing solo Three Month Sunset shows alongside other artists doing similar things with odd guitar setups.

You are one of the only people I know pimp enough to rock a frullet. What's the dopest describing word you've heard directed at you about your melon?
Haha! Party at the front, business at the back. Although it’s party everywhere at the moment. Wouldn't have a clue what people are saying about it behind my back.

So I've heard you're a banjo demon, do you still play it? But more importantly when are you gonna run the motherfucker through three amps?
I do occasionally play it, but no, I’ve never run it through any amps. I think it’d feedback like a bastard.

Ok, let's cut to brass tacks. Your experience with pedals and guitars rivals originators of the genre, I think anyways. I'm not asking you to give up any of your secrets, but not being smart enough myself to fuck with delay and reverb, I'm interested how much cash you would have spent overall to obtain this guitar sound? And did the sound come together easily?
Oh god… I’d rather not consider how much I’ve spent. It’s my only guilt free spending. I’ll happily not eat for a week in order to buy something to experiment with to try and do something better, or at least differently. Some people have cats. I have amps and pedals and guitars. Although, I have been selling off my guitars because I only use a couple of them. Next is to offload some of the amps! I think there’s about… 15 or something. Sorry Mum and Dad’s garage. So, towards $10,000, I guess… ugh.

This shoegaze show has almost gathered more attention overseas than here. Do you think the genre is less appreciated here or have we just tricked a bunch of people on an international scale into thinking we actually aren't shit?
Ha! Well, I think locally audiences are more drawn towards new sounds/innovation and probably see us as rehashing old ideas. But that said, garage/psych/blues/rock/metal all seem to be able to thrive without any question of originality, so I don’t know. Shoegaze always got a hard time so I guess we’re just fulfilling the prophecy?

The Lowtide album took a long time between you guys gathering attention and the release. It was Melbourne's version of a My Bloody Valentine album. Are you going piff another one out soon or stick to the shoegaze formula and make people beg for that shit?
At least we didn't send any labels bust! There’ll be a 7” later in the year. We’ve been writing rough sketches for a new album, but are kind of restarting that now that Giles has his shiny new custom made Fender VI jobby. More strings to write with!

Since the psych/shoegaze scene seems to more thriving in the UK and Europe, do you have plans to take this party overseas? Or do they have to beg there as well?
Treat ‘em mean, keep ‘em keen! I’d love to get over there. It’d be really interesting to see what kind of response we get there as compared to here.

So what's the funniest shit you've ever seen go down at The Tote?
Oh boy… Ummm… I probably shouldn't say. Or, I probably shouldn’t be able to remember.

Do you think this genre could gather mainstream radio attention ever again? Would you even want it it to?
Gabe: I don’t think so. Not in the current format, at least. I mean, shoegaze is being touted by various artists as a sound they are embracing. It's a similar aesthetic with a more mainstream core. So there’s a more palatable, but convoluted sound that’s more easily accessible. I guess we can benefit from this though, as it broadens the audience's awareness of more underground movements. But that said, I don’t think the purist type bands would have the same success. Which is probably a good thing, right?

Do you think this would sort of thick 'gaze lineup work as well in other Australian cities?
Gabe: I guess anywhere, as long as there’s a few active bands there, then there’s going to be enough people aware of it to be able to pull it off. At least we’d have all the band members at the gig!

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Roogaze, featuring Day Ravies, Contrast, Bloodhounds On My Trail, Miners, Miniatures, Blush Response, Lowtide, Kigo, Luna Ghost and Hideous Towns, takes place at The Tote, Melbourne on Saturday May 9.