Meet Mo Lowda & the Humble: The Philly Band That Just Keeps Rocking
Philadelphia-based indie rock band Mo Lowda & the Humble, made up of Jordan Caiola, Shane Woods, Jeff Lucci and Kirby Sybert, is gearing up for a big summer. With their fifth studio album Tailing the Ghost on the way and a tour on the horizon, Pleaser caught up with the band to talk about writing on the road, the meaning behind the record, and what fans can expect from their upcoming shows.
PHOTOS BY LINDSEY DADOURIAN
PLEASER: How did you all meet and form the band?
Jordan Caiola: So Shane and I met in ninth grade and started jamming together, either our junior or senior year of high school. Then, 15 years ago, we both went to Temple University and started playing more shows, graduated, and didn’t get a real job. Jeff joined the band nine years ago now, which is insane. And then Kirby, like six years ago, but had been out on the road with us for months.
Where did the name Mo Lowda & the Humble come from?
JC: Being goofy. I think picking a band name is the hardest thing and we didn’t nail it, but we were 18 and thought, “this sounds cool.”
Shane Woods: And it’s our name now.
Who are some of your biggest music inspirations?
JC: I really love My Morning Jacket. That’s one I always go back to. I think we all collectively love Radiohead and Local Natives.
SW: We like your classics too, like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.
JC: We like to reference Foals a lot.
Jeff Lucci: Strokes, Tame Impala, Interpol, that kind of stuff.
Kirby Sybert: Grizzly Bear, Dr. Dog.
JC: Grizzly Bear is definitely a big one in the studio. They have a lot of moves that we love to take a little page out of their book.
How would you characterize or explain your sound to someone who hasn't heard of you?
JL: We’re really still learning how to do that.
JC: It’s tough, but I think fat grooves. Just about every song has some sort of groove, like rhythm sections on it are really locked, and then sort of like painting over top with the light guitars and soulful vocals.
So your new album Tailing the Ghost is coming out June 20th, and was recorded entirely on the road. What was that experience like?
SW: We had shows Wednesday through Saturday and would rent an Airbnb and work on tunes, bring up demos, share ideas and try to get as close to three or four finished songs at a time. Then at some point the next week, we’d either go lay it down or work on more, and we kind of did that for six months, maybe.
Who or what did you draw inspiration from for the sound and meaning of this album?
SW: Definitely a lot of nature, we were in it a lot. But, also inspired just by playing and hearing each other, what we come up with while looking out the window at pretty trees or mountains or anything like that.
JL: There’s a lot of responding to each other. Each person probably had their own influences, but we were responding to each other in the moment.
JC: It was also the first time in five albums that all four of us just set up and wrote together, hashed out all our parts, kind of in real time for the most part. This is the first album that Kirby is on. I think that definitely influenced it, kind of everybody filling in like puzzle pieces around the other parts, rather than just recording a bunch of stuff and hoping it works.
How did you come up with the name for this album?
JC: Jeff has a story about the actual phrasing of Tailing.
JL: I’m pretty sure we were in Milwaukee, in a thunderstorm, like torrential rain. We were under an awning at a bar waiting to leave, and we were talking about a tailing on a bike, or we were talking about following the ghost, or getting something to catch up to a ghost, which was a concept. And I don't know if one of us just suggested tailing there, and there was a biker that went by, or something, but it was kind of simultaneous and made the connection of that was kinda how they were tailing the storm.
JC: The meaning for that phrase is also the intangible that is in all of our lives and tailing it as [in] you’re usually right behind it, but never quite get there. I think there are a lot of songs on the album about that process, that journey, and the stops along the way. Just because something is a goal really far down the road, or maybe something that’s not even attainable, doesn’t mean that all the things along the way don't have their own meaning. I think it’s about finding those and celebrating them.
Your tour starts this summer. How are you feeling about getting back on the road?
JC: Amazing. We’re hashing out these new songs and there’s enough material at this point to learn or relearn when you’re going out on the road, that I think we just kind of separate the touring and the recording. We’ve been rehearsing our butts off and getting all these new songs ready. With the new material, you’re truly just coming out fresh and it’s inherently going to excite you far more than the song you’ve played 800 times.
KS: I’m stoked. We’re playing a bunch of new venues, and in some new towns. The band that we’re playing with in the fall, French Cassettes, we’re really stoked to be out with them, and they make some really great music. Very excited to see friends that we see in cities that we’ve been to a bunch, and it’s just always nice to kind of get out of your comfort zone at home and go out and share what we’ve been working on, and then go back to the old stuff.
Any songs you’re particularly excited to perform live?
JC: I think once we nail Tailing the Ghost it’ll be really cool to play live.
JL: It’s like 80% there.
JC: I’m ready for sing-along moments, for sure. I think with “Sarah,” and some of these other songs, they will definitely have their moments, so I’m excited for that.
KS: The fans will have enough time with the record too, to be comfortable, and as comfortable as we are with it, by the time we get out there.
Do you have any pre- or post-show rituals?
JC: We have one that probably just started in the last year or so, but we’ll huddle up and somebody says something silly. It’s never like “alright come on,” it’s whatever, the dumbest thing they say, and that dumb thing, you just take that and someone goes, “that thing on seven.” You’re basically yelling nonsense to each other just before going out there. But there are definitely benchmarks, and I, you know, often feel it’s necessary to express how grateful I am for where we're at.
KS: Yeah, some of them are silly, but we have our moments, especially when we get towards the end of a tour, it’s kind of like the wrap-up feeling.
JC: It’s insane that we’ve gone this long, and it’s insane that this many people buy tickets to come see us and sing along. It’s not lost on me how many artists ever even get to this point, or even like eight years ago. So I feel very lucky, and I usually try to throw that in and just say, “now let’s go give them the best show that we possibly can”.
Before we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like the fans to know about?
JL: Oh yeah, we made a book about the record. It’s this 60-page book that Kirby compiled, and it looks awesome. Every song has a description from each one of us talking about it. The lyrics are in there, and pictures from either Airbnbs or studios when we were making the album.
KS: It was really fun to go through all the photos I had everyone send me. I had a bunch of stuff too, so it was cool to kind of relive those moments. And I kind of tried to do it based on the songs, but it was more just kind of like a memory book of the whole record.
JC: It’s really cool for us to have this, you know, 25 years down the road as a little keepsake. But also, I started to realize, I love when my favorite artists do stuff like, I love when they do Q&A’s. I love when they just give a little insight into what they do. I think it is fun for us to share that with the fans.
Be sure to check out Tailing the Ghost on June 20th, and catch Mo Lowda & the Humble on tour starting May 23 in Amagansett, NY, with stops across the country!
