Time To Pretend: Asbury Park, NJ's Lowlight Is Ready To Run
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — As The Pretenders make their way back to Philadelphia this Saturday at the Tower Theater, they bring with them a group of unlikely tour companions.
The band Lowlight from Asbury Park, NJ caught the eye of singer Chrissie Hynde before a Jersey stop years ago, and now they are ready for their third run opening for the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers.
"Through a weird circumstance I guess, we ended up opening for them once in New Jersey" recalls Lowlight's Derril Sellers. "Chrissie Hynde actually listened to our set and asked to have us back at Terminal 5 in New York - which was incredible - and then somehow I guess we ended up being asked to go on tour with them now on the East Coast."
"It definitely feels like a dream" laughs Sellers. "It's a little surreal. It's incredible. She was just cool enough to actually listen to the band that opened for her, which I give her a lot of credit for. I would probably be asleep in my hotel room."
The band shares some of the same Americana DNA with Hynde's Pretenders. "We joke around, we call ourselves roadhouse chic" explains Lowlight singer Renee Maskin of their band's brand. That, coupled with their shared work ethic has made the two bands a likely pairing once you get past the unlikely origin story.
As for Lowlight, despite their musical aesthetic they manage not to take themselves too seriously. Their upcoming EP shares its name with one of the Garden State's most famous exports. They've decided to call it Born To Run.
"We've got a certain kind of sense of humor within this band" says Maskin. "We were sort of joking around that it would be completely ridiculous to call the record Born To Run. The more we thought about it the more we were like, let's just do this."
"The reaction has been everything from, oh hey that's really great we can't believe you did that, to oh my god you can not do this how dare you. We're like, well we're doing it."
Famous phrases aside, you can hear Lowlight this Saturday at the Tower Theater when they open for The Pretenders. To hear more from the band, listen to the full interview above or click here.
