Seb Lowe is a man armed with his politics, passion and guitar and hoping to change the face of modern indie music in the UK.
The Oldham-born artist is currently on a nationwide tour blasting out his smash hits like Ode to Britannia and Kill Him (He’s a Socialist) that have taken social media by storm.
The 20-year-old explains to Quays News how he became a ‘TikTok’ pioneer and how his success grew from there.
“My parents were huge influences on my music taste,” he said. “I get Bowie from my Mum and Zeppelin from my Dad. That’s sort of where I aim to be, somewhere in between those great powers.”
Growing up, school hadn’t done much to develop his creativity. Seb attended the Oldham Theatre Workshop which was vital in nurturing his interest in theatre and the arts.
He added: “It’s an amazing place. I attended from around age 10 – and you can go and create pieces of musical theatre, which would always involve a deep discussion of issues facing society.”
Having been part of the group during Brexit, Lowe reflects on how those creative discussions inevitably became political. In his music, he sometimes takes on a character which adds a theatrical level to his music.
“The entire time we were creating, we would be having these open talks – and at the age I was, I didn’t know what was going on with Brexit,” he said. “This place was making me think about it. So, I’d say, that was the point where politics and art met for me. It was huge.”
Lowe was one of the first musicians to see the potential of TikTok to gain rapid exposure and he now sits with nearly half a million followers on the platform.
He added: “I don’t really know how it happened. People told me I should start sharing my songs. As I put them on – people started to share them and it sort of blew up from there.”
“I think my music reflects how a lot of people think and feel already. You find that within people, the feelings are already there.”
“I thought I was going to come into this, chatting all this s***, and either I’d face a huge backlash, or no one would be behind it – and it turned out that people were! There is something about the COVID generation – where we’ve continued to keep this attention on the government. I think that’s why people are so interested in the music.”
He thinks that young people should have the same sort of physical spaces where they are encouraged to create content with freedom of expression.
“I’ll speak to anyone, even members of (our) band, and they all say that they wish there was a platform like TikTok when they were growing up or a space like Oldham Theatre Workshop,” he said. “It does so much for confidence to be able to create something and perform it to an audience.”
Lowe released his debut album Half-Decent in 2021 and has followed up with singles such as Ode to Britannia, a song about the decline of Britain, gaining millions of views. His new single, the Royal Family, raises questions over the monarchy and shines a light on what he believes are the pitfalls of the institution. It was released on March 6 this year.
He is currently on a headline tour across the UK, and will be paying his home county a visit on the April 12 playing at the O2 Ritz in Manchester. You can get tickets here – Seb Lowe Tour Dates.