By Lauren Silvestri
The last time I spoke with Adam Weiner, frontman of Low Cut Connie, we were sipping coffee in the Italian Market, chatting about LCC’s then-latest release Dirty Pictures Part II. Both of us never could have imagined that meeting in an intimate coffee shop would become a luxury not available in 2020. Not only has so much happened in the world in the past few years, but Weiner’s life has also transformed: there have been multiple lineup changes in Low Cut Connie (“a revolving door” as he calls it), he experienced mental health crises and injuries, and created a new double album, Private Lives, the first one that he completely produced himself.
Private Lives was nearly finished by the time the pandemic hit the States, but it feels like some of the songs were written in the midst of this unprecedented time. “Even just the whole concept of private lives and this discussion of isolation. We’ve all suddenly been forced to think about these issues, but I was writing about them before all this happened,” he says. One of the songs, “Quiet Time,” was inspired by his grandmother’s experience living in a nursing home and her romantic relationships there. “I wrote this poem about what is love at the end of life, and suddenly we’re in this situation where we’ve tragically lost so many lives in these nursing homes. In addition to that, so many of our seniors can’t physically touch or be around anybody and you start to wonder if they will ever get to hug anybody again?”
Weiner also penned a song titled “Look What They Did,” which references Donald Trump’s corruption in Atlantic City. “They built casinos in 1981 / They said the whole freakin city’s gonna grow / Donald Trump made half a billion / What have we got to show?” he sings.
“I have never shied away from talking about issues and truth, but I don’t consider myself specifically a political artist. Bob Dylan didn’t consider himself a political songwriter either. He has a song called ‘Everything Is Broken.’ That song could have been written 5,000 years ago or it could have been written yesterday. It’s just a sort of universal truth,” Weiner says. “And so with a song like ‘Look What They Did,’ as much as it is about Donald Trump’s corruption in Atlantic City and how it played a role in creating even more urban blight and racism and poverty there, it’s also more universal than that. I just simply asked the question, will things ever change?”
The 17-track album is filled with these observant gems. “Charyse” is a character study of a woman who has fallen on tough times, not unlike the track “Beverly” on Dirty Pictures Part II. “I’m always fascinated by how people, but especially women, live in this country,” says Weiner.
“If I Die” is a sexy, honky-tonk ditty, while the opening title track “Private Lives” is the up-tempo anthem we all need right now. Weiner’s personal favorites are “Wild Ride” – “that one had to sit in the oven for many years before it was ready. I allowed myself to go places with the song that I’d never gone before,” he says – and closer track “Stay As Long As You Like,” of which he says, “I put a lot of myself into that song and everything I’ve learned over these years of making music.”
We live in an era where people show more of their “private lives” than ever before thanks to social media, but paradoxically we carefully curate the media we present to the outside world, often not showing our true private life but how we want others to think our private life appears. “I think there’s good and bad aspects of social media, and we haven’t yet gotten a handle culturally on how it’s affecting us. But I find these subjects very interesting and they’re in my songs, how people curate their public persona. My fascination is to look behind the curtain, to how they really live and how they really are,” Weiner says.
Weiner also observes how social media has changed the music industry and music fandom. “Now people are a little more focused on cultivating followers than fans. They’re not exactly the same thing. I feel very strongly that my job is simply to try and make performances and songs and art and images that resonate with people that stir their emotions that move them.”
Weiner is known for his exuberant persona during LCC’s live shows, so having to postpone a tour has been very challenging for him. However, he created a bi-weekly live stream series on YouTube, Tough Cookies, which he calls the “sort of tour for the album.” Tough Cookies features Weiner performing music, doing monologues, interviewing guests, sometimes stripping and more in his virtual variety show. “By the end of the hour, we’ve had some emotional release, and during these times we need that kind of release. I would like to be on stage in front of thousands of people and hug and slap fives. I’m having to just find another way to touch people and I’m enjoying the challenge,” he says.
Weiner and I reminisce on that day in the coffee shop, and he contemplates how he has changed in the past few years. “I have a much deeper appreciation for art and the role that it can play in people’s lives, including mine,” he says. “There’s a therapeutic aspect to art that is so important, but also there’s a truth telling aspect to art that is important these days because of all the changes that are going on politically and in our culture, some of which are deeply concerning. We are losing a sense of what’s true and what’s pure. What I aspire to do with my songs and performances is to tell the truth. Like John Lennon said, ‘Just give me some truth.’ All I want is some truth.”
Private Lives is now available worldwide on streaming services and available for purchase, including on vinyl.
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About the author: Lauren Silvestri has been a music journalist for the past 10 years. She has a huge passion for rock n' roll, the Philly music scene and independent music venues. Email | Twitter
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