Low vs. Diamond

Features • Friday January 23rd, 2009 • 12:00 am

They began as a jam band and ended up named after an argument with someone’s girlfriend. When all is said and done, they also released one of 2008’s greatest debut albums. Low vs. Diamond added members and changed styles until finally settling on the five-piece epic rock sound, but all the back and forth forged something worth hearing.

The current band only two years old, Low vs. Diamond has already played the late night Big Four and Rolling Stone named them as “one of six acts who are defining rock and pop.” We spoke with Tad Moore about the buzz, the quick spotlight and the grandiose nature of their music in an effort to get to know the L.A. band a bit better.

SSv: The anthemic, epic sort of sound is so prevalent all over the disc and much is made of that being the defined genre of LVD. I wondered if that’s something that comes naturally to you or is something you really work hard to strive toward?

Tad Moore: I think it’s a little of both. We naturally strive for it but we also spend a lot of time reaching for it with different arrangements or not overusing it. There’s no definite formula for it, but it is definitely our goal, I would say.

SSv: Is that what you guys find yourselves attracted to the most?

Tad: I don’t know. I think so. But I also listen to a lot of mellow stuff, too. There’s a lot of common ground in the band with David Bowie and other high energy music.

SSv: Let’s go back a bit to when Dominic Hardisty finds you guys.

Tad: We sort of knew he was interested through our lawyer, who found us a long time ago. Three of us were in a band that was a lot different than this band. Dominic showed interest, and he was the Killers’ manager, through our lawyer Robert Reynolds. We had a showcase and flew him out, because we wanted to get it going. Then we had a deal.

SSv: Did you know at that point what would happen?

Tad: We had no idea, no idea at all. We knew he was interested, but I had no prediction what would happen then. But we went into the studio right after that and then we went to England. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs, but we signed with Epic soon after that. We brought Anthony [Polcino] and Jon [Pancoast] in after that. But I had no idea where it would take us and it’s been an interesting two years.

SSv: I wanted to ask about Anthony and Jon and bringing them in. If you guys were already set with a chemistry…

Tad: Man, that was really easy. They had a lot of help with what we were trying to do because we’d just lost a member from our previous band and we wanted to go a different route and they were also just ready to get in there and go. They are great musicians and they have a lot to offer creatively, aside from being great, great friends of ours pretty quickly. We all became fast friends. So that wasn’t difficult at all. I’ve heard that it could be very difficult at times, so we were pretty lucky.

SSv: So you didn’t have to worry about protecting the band at all?

Tad: No, because they had so much to do with shaping it. It wasn’t Low vs. Diamond until they came in, so there was really nothing to protect at that point. They’re full-fledged members. They’re as much founders as the three of us are. They came in and then we picked the name and it’s worked out really well.

SSv: You’ve played Letterman and Leno in such a short amount of time. I’m just wondering about moments like that and the surreal feeling that must come with it.

Tad: Yeah, well, the Pemberton Festival was definitely an amazing moment as well. There were thousands of people there in that beautiful landscape. That was one of those moments. Then meeting and shaking Letterman’s hand. The first one we did was Letterman. We’ve done Kimmel and Ferguson since then. But doing the first one, you’re out there on stage and on the show, that was definitely one of those moments that you’re talking about. I’d watched the show growing up and stuff, but I had no idea what to expect. [Laughs] I’d heard a bit from other bands I’d known that had done it, but the whole thing was surprising.

SSv: After playing the big late night four, you’re also featured in Rolling Stone among other outlets that hail you as this next big thing. So I wonder what you do with that mentally, as a young artist?

Tad: It’s all a great honor to be a part of those things. We really just want to do this so we can make a living off of it. Those things are all good and wonderful, but we still have a lot of work to do in terms of building our fan base to keep this going the way that we want to. We have a lot more albums to make to do what we want to do and there’s a lot of work ahead to get to the future that we want to get to. And then of course, we have expectations of writing a lot of great songs and playing better shows and things like that.

SSv: Tell us about the new year for you guys.

Tad: Well, we went down to Miami to play the BCS bowl and then we begin a tour with Nikolai, the bass player for the Strokes. We’re playing with his band, South. Then we’re heading out West, which should be awesome, and we’ll start in San Francisco. Then we’ll head to England in March and from there I’m not sure. We’ll be on the road the entire year to where we can play as many shows and see as many people as possible.