Interview: The Lowcocks (Written)

Post punk rockers The Lowcocks are gearing up to release their brand-new EP, ‘Forgotten’ in June with the first single, ‘MayDay’ out now. In this interview we get to know them a little better and find out more about their plans.

1. Hello! Thank you for taking the time to chat to us. First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started.

The Lowcocks have technically been playing together since 2017…but it all started with a Craigslist ad. Both Ryan (guitar) and Annie (vocals) were looking for a project, and responded to the same ad asking for people interested in forming a punk band. Looking back, it feels almost like the old days, when musicians would connect through newspapers and end up creating magic.

Like so many others, Covid killed the band’s momentum; the pandemic forced us to take time off to prioritize health, our families, and really wrestle with life. During this time, Ryan was connected with our bassist, Nick, by a bartender at his neighborhood bar; when our drummer dropped out due to health concerns, Nick brought in a drummer he’d played with in Bay City, Zac – and our current lineup was born.

Although we were not really active for a few years, lots of songs came out of down time, which allowed us to come back strong and hit the ground running with our album Contender.

We’ve been writing and performing together for the past four years and having a great time doing it – and we can’t wait to see what comes next.

2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?

In a word, punk.

In more than one word – we are raw Detroit punk with a bit of hardcore post-punk presence. We’ve got melodies that get stuck in your head, bass lines that defy gravity, and nonstop energy – but all with enough tongue in cheek attitude to avoid taking ourselves too seriously. We’ve been described as “all heart, no filter” and “like an aftershow party in a dirty alley – real, loud, flawed, and brilliant.” We’re a little bit punk, a little bit thrash, a little bit hardcore, and all chaos. Experiencing is believing!

3. What’s currently keeping you busy? A new album/EP/single release? A new video? Playing live, or planning ahead?

We are in the process of releasing new songs this spring, all as part of our “Forgotten” EP, scheduled for full release on June 17th 2025. The first single we dropped was “MayDay” in March, written in response to police crackdowns on student protests, and our newest song, “(close only counts in) Horseshoes and Hand Grenades” was released on 4/17.

We’re currently booking out into summer/fall, and have a few weekend tours throughout the Midwest scheduled. Our dates are:

April 26 – Corktown Music Festival (Detroit, MI)
June 13 – Cosmo Joe’s Atomic Lounge (Dayton, OH)
July 26 – Punk Rock Night @ The Melody Inn (Indianapolis, IN)

Depending on publishing date, our single release schedule is as follows:

● May 20th – single release #3 – “The Forgotten”
● June 17 – full EP is released along with fourth song, cover of “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton

4. What is about this current period that is particularly exciting for you?

We are having so much fun working on our EP and our new album; the four of us have really gelled and are writing more interesting music, experimenting with different melodic structures and lyrics, and making sure we’re being goofy enough in the process. Not to spoil anything, but one of our songs in progress is named ‘Son of Danger Zone’ and we plan to film a music video playing it while ‘skydiving’ on a green screen…because we can.

The other super fun thing has been doing more tours in places we’ve never played before. We’re excited to meet more people and play in new cities because that’s the fun part – making friends and doing something we all love…and buying out every gas station’s supply of Mambas in the process.

5. Tell me about the work that has gone into making it a reality and what it means to you.

Our band functions in true DIY style; most booking is done by Ryan (guitar) and it’s pretty old school, just looking up places we want to go and/or spots that are close enough we can drive them in a weekend, then calling them until we get an answer.

Anne (vox) does most of the promotions/marketing/social media.

We’re really excited to build connections and extend into new communities focus on outreach out of our market to grow and connect with people – the more people we meet, the more bands we can discover ourselves, the better and the more fun this gets!

6. Making music and being creative can be a very positive experience and can be very good for the mind. In what way has making music had a positive impact on your mental health?

This feels like an easy question in our current political climate…

Writing and playing music is a way of escape, to relieve frustrations in a constructive way, and an emotional release during times of stress, anxiety, and frustration.

Ryan: I definitely notice when I don’t play my guitar for a day – it might sound silly, but playing every day keeps me grounded…and it’s also like an escape. I like to go in my head and have adventures, and playing helps me do that.

7. It can also be incredibly challenging, more so in the modern times. What have been some challenging aspects of making music and how have you overcome them?

The unfortunate reality in today’s music landscape is the shift, the escalation, of viewing music (and all art, really) as content, as commodity.

If music is a commodity, it’s easily forgotten and easily dismissed – and if it’s ‘content’ rather than ‘art’, that devalues any messages or true expression in music.

While it may be easier to explore and listen to a wide range of music, that same ease tends to lessen the impact and investment the listener has to the band…there’s not as much of a relationship and it’s harder to build a long term audience. It’s incredible to think of all the great music out in the world to be discovered, but there’s also lots of noise and it can be almost intimidating. There is also a built in limit on finding other fans, there’s a lot of distilled energy and it’s a lot harder to find other fans or be part of a scene when a band has 5,000 fans but they’re scattered around the country or the world.

8. How do you handle the online aspects of being in a band? Having to put out content constantly, promoting across several different social media platforms, and having your success measured in likes and follows?

It’s very challenging to break through the noise, especially when balancing a full time job which we all are – it feels like being buried sometimes, or like you’re stuck in a cycle of ‘what’s next.’

It’s mostly the scale – the noise – that makes this online aspect so challenging. As a small DIY band, it’s not only harder to be noticed, but the scale creates uncertainty – are you doing the right things, doing enough work, doing enough right things differently to stand out…the list goes on.

Plus, the constant pressure for new music can be overwhelming. Some festivals won’t even respond if a band doesn’t have ‘enough’ Instagram followers…like…what? So it forces bands into being content creators in addition to making music, which they may or not be good at.

That being said, we’re SO good at it. And that’s when our ADHD comes in handy. Smash that like button, y’all.

9. How do you make this part of things enjoyable, and fulfilling, for yourself?

Making videos, especially music videos, is super fun – it’s a new reason to make weird art, get more into making videos and stretch our creative muscles. It’s also super fun to see what creators, influencers, and other bands in the space are doing – the cool thing about our current music landscape is how we can all kind of influence and inspire each other.

10. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask they do to help you?

Follow us on socials (@TheLowcocks) on all platforms – it truly does make a difference. Follow and listen on Spotify. Buy merch so we can afford to keep recording and keep making cool shit. Come out to a show – or reach out to us about playing a show in your city!

We want to come out and play as much as we can, and it’s so cool to meet other people who are as ionate as we are about music and punk and community. We have made so many friends already and we can’t wait to meet you and make more.

11. Outside of music, what do you like to do to relax?

We’re not only a band, we’re also good friends, and it’s not uncommon for us to get together and go to shows on the weekends.

Nick, our bassist, is an incredible disc golf player and is in tournaments most summer weekend (when he’s not watching Star Wars); he’s a welder by trade, and makes his own bass guitars out of aluminium in his home workshop – including for some nationally known players.

Zac, our drummer, is a prolific sewer and crafter, and spends a lot of his downtime with his partner, family, and cats.

Ryan, our guitarist, tends to smoke meats, hang with friends, or he can be found laying around with the dog and watching Star Trek.

Annie, our vocalist, loves gardening, reading terrible romance novels, teaching punk rock aerobics, and hiking with her dogs.

12. Where can people find you?

The Lowcocks’ music is on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, or wherever finer music is enjoyed; digital purchases are also available. Purchases of physical media, including cds, vinyl, and merch can be made from our website, www.TheLowcocks.com or at any of our live shows.

We are on social media platforms as @TheLowcocks; our links are below:

Facebook | Instagram | YouTube