Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

What´s the name of your band? Toner Low, we are a doomstoner band from the Netherlands.

How was the band formed? We did our first rehearsal in March 1998. Toner Low had a slightly different line-up back then, but (as is still today) consisted of band members that (mostly) had played in different bands with one or more of the others before we started. So in 1998 we all knew each other already for a long time musically and personally and it wasn’t very difficult to get the first line-up together.

Can you tell about your band? We released three full-length studio albums so far, in 2005, 2008 and 2013. Until 2005 we played many gigs in the Netherlands, with an occasional gig in Belgium, Germany or Luxembourg and started doing more gigs outside of our own country up from 2006. Since 2007 we do more gigs abroad than in the Netherlands. I have to add that we more or less stopped to actively looking for gigs in the Netherlands not long after we played the Roadburn Festival in 2006 and in 2009 decided not to play too much in the Netherlands anymore altogether.

Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band? All band member are from the area of Leiden, a city near the west-coast of the Netherlands. We have the following personal: Jack (drums), Miranda (bass) and  me, Daan (guitar, microphone). For our gigs we have a sample-man named Dirk. When he doesn’t have time because of his job, we can rely on our former (2011-2012) sample-man Dennis.

What was the ambitions of the band when you started? I don’t think we had any ambitions when we started, we just wanted to play stoner rock. In 2002 we decided for a more doom-like approach of our music and our songs became longer and heavier. Our ambition then became releasing the heaviest stoner doom album from the Netherlands.

Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? It’s mainly long and slow riffing, only a few lines of vocals per 10-minutes song and we use sounds and effects as samples when they fit the riff.

Where was your first gig? Our first gig was at the open-air Vlietpop Festival in Leidschendam, the Netherlands, on Saturday August 22nd, 1998. We opened the festival at around 13:00 hrs and replaced Mighty Brow, a (non-stoner) band our singer Deef was in at the time but that had split up shortly before the gig.
Where was the latest gig? The most recent gig was on August 16, 2014, at the Misty Mountain Festival near Nürnberg, Germany.

Who writes your songs?/Who writes the music who writes lyrics? The music is mainly written by our drummer Jack, with some riffs and ideas of the other band members as well. Some lyrics have been written by Jack, some by me and the words for the album II-song One have been written by all three of us. Those for the songs of our first album were written by our then vocalist and bass player Deef by the way.

What's good/bad with the band?/What genre do you feel you are? We have fragmentary distribution, but people can always just get the music directly from us. As for the genre, we are in the doom and stoner scene.

Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about? We started in a time in which there were not that many stoner bands in the Netherlands. There was Celestial Season, 35007, 7Zuma7, Beaver, Candybar Planet and a few others. When in 2000-2001 Queens of the Stone Age got popular a lot of other stoner rock bands formed, and it became harder to have a sound of your own. In 2002 we decided to change to a more doomy style, because we weren’t satisfied with most of our old songs anymore and probably also because of the amount of stoner bands that had started in the wake of QotSA’s popularity. Apart from the first album the lyrics to our songs are about nothing in particular.

Do you write your own material or mainly covers? Since the beginning in March 1998 we’ve only played songs of our own. In June 2008 we recorded Venus In Furs, originally done by The Velvet Underground, but we didn’t think it was a good enough version to release it.

Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they? Yes, we’ve made three full-length albums so far and two vinyl split 7-inches. The albums are released on double vinyl, on cd and as digital download on Bandcamp. Some of them also got a release on audio cassette.

Do you have any clips on YouTube? Yes, but mostly live stuff, and of course some people have uploaded the album songs. There’s also a clip that our first vocalist Deef and 2004-2007 sample-man Thuur made with a camera. This one is for the 2002-demo version of the song Devilbot (aka Evil Machinery on the Rise), and as in filming stuff especially for the clip is the only official real Toner Low video that was produced by the band (or part of the band actually). It’s only half of the song by the way, ‘cause they didn’t  finish making the clip for some reason.

How old are you?/What got you started in music? I was born in 1969 and started playing in a playback band with a cardboard guitar in 1978-1979, hehe. We called ourselves The Kids ‘cause well…we still were kids. We fake-played along with the louder radio hits such as The Stranglers, Ram Jam, Iggy Pop and Blondie, and maybe with some Status Quo and AC/DC 7-inches too. Friday September 5th, 1980, was the first time i went to a live gig. This was one by the local rock band Spirit Licence, and i think seeing a band on stage got me interested in starting to playing the guitar for real. I had a toy drumkit since 1977 though, so eventually i became more of a rhythm guitarist, hehe.

At what age did you start playing? When i was 14 i played in my first real band, a speed metal band called Red Blaze. My first gig i did when i was 15. This was April 30, 1985, at the infamous Scum-club in Katwijk, the Netherlands, were we opened at a small festival with the Dutch heavy metal band Helloïse headlining. We were not so good a band, to put it nicely, so we didn’t get any other gigs but we had quite some friends and others that nonetheless supported us at that one and only gig.

How old were you guys when you first stood on stage? Like stated above i was 15. The other band members i am not sure, but i think they were 18 or 19 when they did their first gig with their bands at the time (late 80s).

What year was the band started? In March 1998, but our first vocalist Deef got the original idea to form a stoner rock band in the early Autumn of 1997. Back in 1991 or 1992, after listening to Monster Magnet’s Spine of God, our drummer Jack and me already talked about the plan of starting a jam/space-rockband when we would be around 30 years old.

What places will you be playing in in the immediate future? Late August we have a gig in Kiel, Germany, and return to Berlin for the first time since April 2012.
Where have you played from then till now? After two dates in Germany with Conan (UK-doom) in April 2012, we played in the Netherlands , amongst others with Acid King (USA-stonerdoom) in June, and did gigs in Germany and the Czech Republic in July 2012. We only started playing live again nine months later, when our album III came out. Up from April 2013 we played gigs in Belgium, the UK, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Duna Jam on the isle of Sardinia (also Italy), Greece, Switzerland and France.
Is it always the same songs live? Sometimes it is, but when we play in the same place or same area we try to have at least two other songs on the set list compared to the last time that we did a gig there.
Have you had any bigger tours from start to now? Our longest tours were 10 gigs, so not that long. We did tours as such amongst others to Croatia and Greece. In the future we will only do tours consisting of a few gigs, ‘cause my tinnitus prevents me from doing too many gigs in a short period of time.

How big crowds do you usually play for? That differs a lot, but i would say mostly 200-500 at festivals and 50-125 when we are on a ‘headlining’ tour. In general we draw the most people in the upper half of Germany.

Where do you usually play? In all sorts of venues, but mostly the underground ones.

What's the first step when making a new song? Hearing a riff in your head and reproducing it.

Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? I listen to our own albums only once, which is in the days after i get a copy of a new album when it’s been released. As for other music all band members listen to many different genres and bands, from neoclassical and sound-scape music to punk and metal.

What songs and what years were they released?
I thought i just post here the one and only list on the internet with ALL our songs since 1998. Because not all of them were released, i give the month(s) or season(s) and year(s) in which they were composed:
Tonerlow (March-April 1998)
Oneliner (May 1998)
Transition (May-June 1998)
Ahi (June-July 1998)
Radiant (July-August 1998)
Ramoc (September 1998)
Movignon (October 1998)
Supergroover (aka Subgroover) (February-March 1999)
Slightly (Summer 1999)
Chillage (Autumn 1999)
Ambassador (Winter 1999-2000)
Mug (May 2000)
Fuel (July 2000)
Onslow (aka Mezzo) (September 2000)
Tubeglue (aka Bloozer) (March 2001)
Devilbot (Summer-Autumn 2001)
Careerist (March 2002)
Grass (November 2002-April 2003)
Sundowner (September 2003)
Murphy (October 2003) (ex-Slightly, Summer 1999)
Nymrod (March-April 2004)
Duster (May 2004)
One (aka Jonas) (October 2005-December 2007)
Two (March 2007-February 2008)
Three (Summer-Autumn 2007)
Four (November-December 2007)
Five (Autumn 2007-Summer 2008)
Radiant II (Spring 2008) (ex-Radiant, July-August 1998)
Jam (May 2008)
Phase Eight (November 2010-February 2012)
Phase Seven (March 2011-December 2012)
Phase Six (March 2012-December 2012)
Phase Nine (November 2012-January 2013)
Because the track listing of our 2013-album got changed the night before mastering, the correct title for Phase Eight actually would be Phase Six and vice versa. We had planned to begin the album with what now is the third song, but thought the other song had more of a Sudden Impact and so it became the opening track. The unreleased Toner Low songs are Supergroover, Chillage, Ambassador, Mug, Four, Radiant II and Jam. In the past the unreleased 1999-2000 songs and the Jam-song have been played live on several occasions, by the way.

Have you been in any other bands? Yes, we all play in other bands, such as Kru$h (crustgrindpunk) and Danny Ramirez (acoustic murderballads).

What would you do if there was no music? I guess i would have been drawn to a scene of bohemians, drunk writers and artistic drug users or something.

How important are your fans? I don’t care for the word ‘fan’, but the people that like your music, come to your gigs and buy your records are the most important people to have as a band. So if you read this: Thanks!!

Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment? Now that our most recent album is one-and-a-half years out and we’ve done quite some gigs with it, i can say that i like the song Phase Eight a lot to play live. And i always like playing Devilbot, from the first album.

What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? Hardly any band in the doom scene can make a living of it, or can expect to do so in the near future. So the playing live, being able to tour, living the life on the road, meeting like-minded people, seeing other countries more or less for free and so on is what probably drives most bands.

Do you have any webpages? Yes, check tonerlow.webs.com/linksandwebsites.htm for an overview of all our websites.

Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there? Play less songs when you play live, ‘cause at the end of the night it is better to have time left, than to run out of time and have the final band forced to cut their set short.

Describe your show, visually and musically We get the stage as dark as possible, project visuals based on the cover of our most recent album on a backdrop-screen and have fluid projections on the front skin of our bass drum. Musically we try to get a loud and heavy sound, but sometimes the limitations of the venue get in the way.

Tell us about upcoming gigs and why we should be at them? Late August 2014 we have a gig in Kiel, Germany, and return to Berlin for the first time since April 2012. In October we play in Antwerpen at Desertfest Belgium and there’s gonna be a lot of great bands there, such as Electric Wizard, YOB, SardoniS, Your Highness, Fu Manchu and Brant Bjork. Early November we will play some gigs in Austria, and return for our first gig in Vienna since December 2008.

What was one of the most quarrelsome times for you in the band? Probably the time when we were with five band members. It’s a lot of riffs, ideas and influences you get then, but on the other hand also a lot of opinions. I can’t remember we had real arguments or something at any point in our existence, by the way.

What’s your pre-show ritual? For the most part we are busy setting up our gear right before the gig and making sure that everything works. So i never found the time really to start something that could evolve into a ritual. I always get two beers though, be it from the backstage, from the bar or from wherever the free beers are. But getting beer is not really a ritual, it’s just something natural, hehe.

Do you have anything to add? No, I think it’s all been covered.