Q&A With Lookout Tower
On May 26, Cape Breton-based Lookout Tower will be releasing their sophomore LP, “Fields,” which was recorded in a 125-year-old farmhouse. On June 2, the band is holding their release party at The Carleton and are ready to share their signature winter swamp music sound with Haligonians. Band members Rankin MacEachern (vocals), Bryan Picard (guitar, vocals), and John Pinnington (drums) shared more about the release and the group. Franzi Habith (bass) is away for a few months and recorded his parts from Austria.
How did the band form?
BRYAN: We’re all from different parts of the country aside from Rankin, who’s from Mabou. We all moved out here between 5-10 years ago for different reasons. I had met Rankin earlier on and always knew I wanted to sing some songs with him. So then, after some jams with John and Franzi, it just became obvious that we could do something interesting together. It was an excuse to play some music, and it just took off, much more than what we had in mind at the beginning.
RANKIN: Our original concept was to just bring some songs to the table we enjoyed and maybe play a few bars over the summer. Well, once we started playing together, the creative juices started flowing, and we gelled immediately. Covers turned to original songs quickly, and we formed our ever-changing winter swamp sound
Can you describe "Winter Swamp sound" - what is it?
BRYAN: It was sort of a joke at first, but we thought it kind of described what we were doing well, meaning similar to southern swamp music which is a blend of americana, blues, roots and country, with a sort of distinctive twang and always a good groove. We just kind of do the Canadian version of that.
RANKIN: Winterrrrrr swwwwaaaaammmmmp! We've been described by others as having a southern soul, riverboat rock, and northern roots sound, so winter swamp was born.
We feel we have our own brand of americana/canadiana, and we feel there isn't anybody around playing our unique wide range of original music. Winter swamp is the culmination of a guy from Ontario, a guy from New Brunswick, a guy from Cape Breton, and a guy from Austria breaking the mould of what is americana.
JOHN: It's a twist on southern swamp rock which is probably the closest known style of music to ours. A mix of blues, country, and soul with a groovy beat. We just sprinkle in some of our Canadian sensibilities into the mix, and voila... Winter swamp!
This is your second LP, how has your sound evolved from your debut?
BRYAN: The first album came kind of unexpectedly. We were only playing together for about five months when Franzi announced that he was going back to Austria for a year with his family in mid-summer. So we decided that it would be great to record some demos or an EP while he was here, to kind of put what we've worked on ‘on tape.’ We had written a few songs and took a few songs that were written earlier on, but then this gave us a push to write a few more and came up with a full album. It was all done very fast. We recorded a few months later, instruments live off the floor during a three-day session. We thought doing it in a small church that our neighbours repurposed into a venue would be sweet and would give it a totally unique sound. We always loved the sound of early 70’s soul and wanted something dryer and more up close, so we recorded ‘Fields’ in a small but open dining room in an old farmhouse. The sound and feel are different, but it’s pretty seamless between the two albums. It helped that it was mixed and mastered by Jamie Foulds, which made it sound unique, but he knew what we were going for, and both have a similar vibe sound-wise. As we were writing the songs, we realized a lot of them were about leaving places and how we perceive the passage of time as we get older, so we kind of cornered that as a theme for the album, but it happened very organically. There’s a bit more variety on this new one, a few rockers, a funky instrumental, a few folky songs, an acapella song, an old-timey song, a French song, a motown-influenced one, but they all connect theme-wise.
RANKIN: Our first album, "Smoke Over Sound," is the journey of us discovering each other and what each of us brings to the table. Nothing was and continues to be, off limits. Our new album "Fields" is a congruent trip through the seasons of life, moving on, establishing yourself. We've taken more chances with our sound and the stories we want to tell.
JOHN: From a songwriting and performance standpoint, I'd say it's pretty similar - a continuation of our winter swamp sound. Our approach to recording was different this time around, so that probably has the biggest impact on our evolving sound. But overall, I think we have kept a pretty consistent sound and feel across both albums.
Who are some of your musical influences?
BRYAN: We all have different tastes but with some connections still. The sixties and seventies soul and funk is a big one, like Ann Peebles, Irma Thomas, Sam and Dave, The Staples Singers and O.V. Wright. We dig The Band quite a bit. I’m a big fan of bluegrass and gospel, so that always comes in handy for harmonies. Some of my favourites in that genre would be Doc Watson, The Stanley Brothers and Del McCoury, but also later instances of americana songwriters like Guy Clark and Jerry Jeff Walker who write absolutely beautiful songs.
RANKIN: We have a broad myriad of musical influences, ranging from The Band, JJ Cale, John Prine, The Tragically Hip, CCR, and Gillian Welch, the list could be three miles long. Good music is good music. We really believe our writing process is successful because nothing is off the table style-wise. The amount of amazing artists to draw off of is seemingly limitless, so why limit ourselves?
JOHN: As a drummer, I'm all about the beat. I love hip hop, reggae, funk, house, bebop jazz, disco, afro-cuban, and afrobeat..anything that has a relentless groove.
In terms of specific musicians that I am influenced by great drummers like Tony Allen (Fela Kuti), Tony Williams (Miles Davis) and Tony Thompson (Chic) come to mind, but you don't need to be named Tony for me to dig your drumming style. Also love Yussef Dayes, Elvin Jones, Sly Dunbar, Carly Barret, Clyde Stubblefield and Jabo Starks. Basically, drummers who can lock into a groove and just ride it, leaving room for other musicians to lay interesting ideas and sounds overtop. Bonus points if it has some polyrhythmic elements weaved in. I also love beatmakers like J Dilla, RZA, Juicy J, Dr. Dre, Madlib and DJ Screw, to name a few. I basically spent my formative years as a drummer playing along to hip-hop records, and I still love to put on hip-hop and play along.
Beyond that, I love the musical sensibilities of Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Ramones, Minor Threat, 2pac, Beastie Boys, Too Short, Project Pat, Erykah Badu, Marvin Gaye, Lee Perry, Dennis Brown, Barrington Levy, Vybz Kartel, Prince, Madonna, John Coltrane, Daft Punk, Ween, Buena Vista Social Club and so many more!
All that stuff might not be patently obvious when you listen to Lookout Tower music, but it's there… it's in there somewhere.
You've recorded music in some interesting locations, a century-old church on your debut, and now a 125-year-old farmhouse. Why did you choose these locations? Does this influence your sound?
BRYAN: At first, it was just a way to do the recording in an interesting location so that we’d be more at ease. Then I knew the house always had an amazing sound and acoustics by having some jams and parties over the years. We did some tests and it was amazing. So now we were half joking about doing the third album in the even older barn and calling it the old building trilogy haha! It seems we’re on a good creative track, and the teamwork is natural, so the songs seem to keep coming.
RANKIN: Choosing these heritage properties to record fits our sound of old meets new. There's a vintage feel to our sound; however, it has a new-age resonance. These buildings have so much history lurking in their corners and allow for a raw, off-the-floor vibe that doesn't need to be manufactured post-production.
JOHN: Honestly, I think we just chose the church because it was close to Bryan's house, it was available and seemed like a cool place to record. Then we recorded in Bryan's house because we wanted to approach the sessions for Fields in a more DIY way, so doing it at Bryan's made sense because we could work at our own pace.
So recording in old buildings has become a thing for us, I guess. I personally don't feel like it's necessarily integral to our sound, but old buildings are cool and interesting. Full of history and spirits. When you're recording, you want to feel relaxed and comfortable. I guess we're more comfortable among the spirits.
The band formed during COVID - Now that things are in a more normal state, how has that been?
BRYAN: Well, we started jamming during the pandemic just for fun, played some covers, and we never did a show together before we released the first album, so we almost did things backwards. Then in June last year, we started playing live and were just happy to be able to play in front of people, and everyone was coming out of the woodwork, so it was a lot of fun for everyone.
RANKIN: We formed during the tail end of Covid, which actually allowed us to focus on writing and recording. We are probably in the very small percentile of bands that have recorded an album prior to playing a live show together. In fact, the first show we played was in the old church we recorded our first album.
JOHN: Covid was tough, but being able to work on something creative and fun during those dark times was a very positive and fulfilling experience. Now that we can play shows for live audiences, it's much better. Now that the pandemic is over, we are in the same boat as everybody else, booking lots of shows across the Maritimes. I think people aren't taking live music for granted anymore, and Covid taught us we need to get our every chance we can and support artists because you don't know when you may be locked up and wishing you had the opportunity to do so.
What can fans expect out of your live shows?
BRYAN: I think we have a good groove live and are versatile - we can either sing some ballads and more intricate and harmony-focused songs but we certainly crank it up and can get a crowd dancing for a good long while.
RANKIN: We want the audience to feel like they are listening to a Lookout Tower album, we worked diligently to make our album as close to a live experience as possible. People work hard for their money, and we want them to leave knowing we left it all on the stage for them. There's nothing better than playing a show and knocking the crowd's socks off.
JOHN: People can expect good music and good vibes. We give it everything we got when we play live.
See Lookout Tower live at The Carleton on June 2.
