Q+A with Britt Haefeli on the band’s new single, playing shows in Nashville, creating custom merch, and the Pittsburgh folk scene
It all comes natural for the folk band The Laurel Lowlifes. The five piece band have been making a name for themselves through their foot stomping high energy shows, from the WYEP Americana Fest to the Three River Arts Fest to shows in Nashville. They have an honest approach to playing live, showing excellence in their craft, and having the best time.
Over a phone interview, I talked with singer songwriter Britt Haefeli about the band’s new single, playing in Nashville, creating custom merch, and the Pittsburgh folk scene.
Band members: Britt Haefeli (Vocals), David Powell (Guitar), Jack Hill (Mandolin), Dan Miller (Upright Bass), and Brenden Beaver (Drums).
Shows in Pittsburgh
Josh: You guys have done a lot in just a couple of years since the band formed.
Britt: Yeah, it’s wild and really awesome.
Josh: I saw you play at the WYEP Americana Fest last fall.
B: Yeah, that was a really cool gig. I went to Montour High School, so it was really great to go back to a town that I lived in for a little bit in high school. We actually played our very first Laurel Lowlifes gig opening for Palmyra. It was a really neat full circle experience.
J: Any shows that stick out that you’ve really enjoyed?
B: One of my personal favorite gigs that we’ve ever done was a dollar dog night at Bottlerocket last summer. It was a Monday night. There were easily over 100 people in that building! It was just a great high energy space where people were just having fun with us.
Nashville DIY scene
J: How was playing in Nashville?
B: Yeah, so last summer, we got an invite from our band’s management company, to an Americana fest at a venue called Joelton Hardware. It’s a really neat spot. They have an outdoor stage. We actually got to do a couple of really neat DIY shows. I think that the hidden gem of Nashville is their DIY scene. We did a house show with my buddy Bronwen Fair. She’s an amazing musician in Nashville. We played our final song, “Ain’t No Grave,” and one of the neighbors set off fireworks. That was a really neat experience.
Original songs
J: How did the new single, “Aquarius Problems,” come about?
B: So that song is written by our mandolin player Jack Hill. What’s really cool about The Laurel Lowlifes is all of us are singer-songwriters, so we all bring in different songs and pitch them to the group.
J: It feels like it’s recorded live.
B: Yeah, Ben, our producer, was working with Red Caiman Studios, and I remember when we went in for this tracking. We told him that we really wanted to try to do live backtracking as much as possible, because there’s just a different energy, especially being in more of the folk Americana scene.
J: I love the song, “August.”
B: I think I wrote that one in like maybe 10 minutes or so. Just one of those where you sat down and started the first line of lyrics and you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, ok, I’ve got the direction of where this song is gonna go.’ It was kind of inspired by letting loose and letting yourself have fun.
J: Any songs that you like to play live?
B: I really like that we play “No Wind Resistance.” That’s a song that David wrote. It’s raunchy and it’s fun. I get to do some really fun harmonies. One of my all time favorites that we do is our cover of “Ain’t No Grave.” It’s such a classic folk song and Jack’s vocals are bone chilling. Sometimes our bassist Dan will bust out the bow on that one.
J: It looks like everyone’s having the best time.
B: Thank you. Yeah, Dan, our bassist, says it all the time. I’m in this to connect with why I love music. That has been the spearhead behind the Lowlife project. We take ourselves seriously and we are all serious musicians, but at the end of the day this project is for us to be able to have an outlet for this style of creativity and have a way to have personal growth in music that isn’t reliant on, you know, viewers and streamers and and all of these things that I think can really weigh down the music industry. We’re gonna let this be what it is at all stages.
J: The business side is tough.
B: I’m the business person who’s constantly like, ‘OK, well, you know, it’d be cool if, if we did X, Y, and Z, to you know, maybe get some money or try this.’ I think it’s a good balance with everyone involved. I think we all can kind of tend to share hats.
J: I know that it takes a lot with booking shows and promo and doing all the behind the scenes work.
B: Yeah, and I do love our merch. I hand print and block all of our merch. So, I carve every design by hand. Every single one gets hand stamped and hand pressed. I’ll fight AI to the day I die. I love the idea of every piece of merch that someone gets from us.
J: How do you find the time?
B: Um, ADHD hyperfixation goes a long way (laughs). A lot of very long nights. Especially before we hit a tour. I’ll just go ham for like five days straight leading up to that gig where I’m pressing 100 shirts and just getting them done. And then we show up to the gig and the guys are like, ‘How are you doing?’ and I’m like, ‘I’m alive.’
Pittsburgh folk scene
J: Pittsburgh fans have really gravitated towards your folk sound.
B: Oh yeah, for sure, folk has such a special community here, and I think the Pittsburgh music scene in general, has just been such a welcoming space to all of us. The folk scene here is really something special.
You can check out The Laurel Lowlifes, especially their latest song “Aquarius Problems,” on streaming platforms! For the latest on the band, follow them on Instagram.
Check out last month’s band of the month here!
This content was provided by a local, independent contributor to Made in PGH, a lifestyle blog.
