David Lowery Photo credit: Jason Thrasher
He’s been writing songs about people on the fringe for damn near a lifetime. 40+ years of detailing the idiosyncrasies of outcasts, losers, freaks and outliers in society in his two acclaimed, if not totally different, bands – Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven.
David Lowery, chief singer-songwriter and frontman from the aforementioned bands, is now taking a much different approach to his songwriting and is singing about something he’s really never dug that deep into – himself.
On his latest sprawling 28-song solo album, Fathers, Sons and Brothers, Lowery lets his memory, and pen, traverse back to some of his earliest memories as a child in an English seaside town (“Frozen Sea”). Throughout the length of the album, he chronologically takes us through his youth (attending a Spanish bullfight with his family, where he asks “Papa, do they really kill the bull?”) and carries on through his coming-of-age period (re-locating to California’s Coachella Valley with his family in the ’70s, as well as a humorous tale of landing in Disneyland jail after getting sh*t-faced on vodka and mushrooms at the theme park, and standing up to bullies in his disabled sister’s defense).
David recalls moving away from his loving parents’ home (“Mom, I’m Living the Life”), starting a band (“I Wrote A Song Called Take The Skinheads Bowling”) and then goes onto detail an early love that sadly disintegrated due to his own self-described anger and selfishness on, perhaps, the album’s most moving track (“Mexican Chickens”).
The album further delves into the ups and downs of his music careers with both groups (tapping into CVB band tensions on “We Hate You” and Cracker’s quick rise to fame in the early/mid ’90s on “It Don’t Last Long”). He recalls hooking up with his future ex-wife in Richmond, VA (“Pretty Girl from Oregon Hill”), and details friends (Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous on “Mark Loved Dogs and Babies”), family, children, divorce and more.
By the end of this lengthy, insightful album, you get the feeling that you really know this artist, how he thinks, and have a good sense about who he really is… warts and all. Just as every good autobiography worth its salt does. Thankfully this one just happens to be bound with some truly gorgeous melodies and songs.
Today The Big Takeover is proud to premiere David’s latest single and title song “Fathers, Sons and Brothers” featuring The BellRays.
David shares some in-depth insight into the creation of this fantastic track:
“‘Fathers, Sons, and Brothers’ is a straightforward song that earnestly and forcefully preaches brotherly love. While it doesn’t add much to the story, it conveys an attitude reset on my part as I got sober and started reflecting on my actions and behavior over the years. I was working on this song when the shocking footage of George Floyd’s death was aired on national networks, and it served as a way for those of us working on this recording to reckon with his death.”
“The spark for the song came to me after watching a shared video of a boy’s birthday party on social media. When the first piece of cake is sliced, the boy gives it to his little brother as an act of kindness. The little brother, about five years old, bursts into tears because he adores his older brother and is overwhelmed by the kindness and respect shown to him. This made me think of my father, who surely loved his older brother in the same way. When his brother was murdered, it devastated him . Although he never really talked to me about his brother’s murder until the last years of his life, I know it was something he carried with him his entire life. It made him forever a little sad, a little sweet, and always on alert or fearful that something terrible could happen.”
“There is also an interesting backstory here. The recording is a collaboration with a ‘sibling’ band, The BellRays, who emerged from the same Inland Empire music scene in California. The two principals, Lisa Kekaula (vocals) and Bob Venom (guitars), are long-time family friends. The recording is a reunion of sorts, bringing together not just Lisa and Bob, but members of Cracker and a far-flung cast of musicians I’ve worked with over the years. This was at the height of the COVID lockdowns, so Luke Moller, who arranged and played the strings, sent in his parts from Australia, and Leith Fleming-Smith played that insane solo from his home in Nova Scotia.”
David Lowery’s new solo album Fathers, Sons and Brothers will be available May 30th as a 3-LP LTD edition vinyl gatefold set with 12-page booklet, a 2-CD set with 20-page booklet, and on digital & streaming platforms via Cooking Vinyl.
