The always-incredible LOWEN have been playing here at The Black Heart quite literally since their inception, and it’s always a special occasion when they do. But the one they’re playing here this Friday (October 11th) might be the most special occasion of the lot, as they celebrate the release of their ridiculously great new record Do Not Go To War With The Demons Of Mazandaran which dropped a few days ago.
We had a quick catch up with ‘em ahead of the show to chat a bit of our shared history with the band, the path they’ve travelled to get here and what to expect on Friday night….
We’ve been lucky enough to have you play here plenty over the years… How has the Lowen live show and even general sound evolved in the time since you first took to our stage?
Our first ever show was at the Black Heart so it is a very special venue to us. We will be performing the first song we played here as the first song of our set on Friday as a homage to our time spent growing as a band at the Black Heart. We are so different as a band compared to our first shows there and have grown into the sound that we wanted to convey from the very beginning. It's taken many years of developing ourselves as musicians and learning our craft, as well as being joined by the incredible drummer Cal Constantine to hone our stagecraft into a more evolved form that we are constantly trying to improve.
And now you’re coming back to launch this new record! We’re obviously very stoked that you’re doing it here…
It feels fitting that we are launching into new phases of the band at The Black Heart. In many ways it's the band's spiritual home and we love everyone who works at and is part of the venue. Me and Shem met and formed the band only a stones throw from the doors of the venue and we have been to so many shows here that have influenced our sound and development as a band.
We can't wait to finally play all of these songs for our friends and fans. We've been holding on to some of these tracks for nearly a year now so it'll be amazing to perform them live for the first time. I hope that people have been enjoying the album since it dropped last Friday, it's been great to see all the positive responses so far.
The bands you’ve got supporting on the night rule too. What made WITCHSORROW and CONGULUS were the bands to share this with?
We are honoured that they [CONGULUS] are making the trip over from Turkiye to play with us! They got in touch a while back about playing a potential show together so I suggested that they join us for our release show. It's also wonderful to have doom legends Witchsorrow on the bill with us as special guests. We've loved their music for years and are so happy we get to play the show with cherished friends.