Low Culture

In 2011, musicians drawn from Marked Men, Total Jock, and Shang-A-Lang assembled in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to launch the garage punk-pop outfit Low Culture. After Shang-A-Lang disbanded, guitarist/vocalist Chris Mason recruited the rhythm section from Total Jock—bassist Cade Shoulders and drummer Sam George—to form a new project, which guitarist/vocalist Joe Ayoub of Marked Men joined within a few weeks. Their initial demo tape, cut in a deliberately unpolished style and shaped by the sound of 1970s punk acts such as the Dickies and the Ramones, appeared on Dirt Cult Records. Low Culture moved to Dirtnap in 2013 to issue their first proper album, Screens. Ahead of the follow-up, all members except Ayoub relocated to Portland, where they brought in bassist Jay Castaldi, worked up fresh material as a trio, and later rehearsed briefly with Ayoub before entering the studio; that effort yielded 2016’s Places to Hide.