Interview with Owl
Owl are a California based proto-metal/doom band , all answers by Clint
Photo credit: Amber Lynch
Alicia
Can you Introduce the band?
Clint
Hello! This is Clint the drummer here, and on Guitar and vocals we have my younger brother Alexander, and also on guitar and vocals, we have my even younger brother Axell! Our bass player is not a family member, but he might as well be at this point: His name is Magic Spiegel.
Alicia
Where did the name come from?
Clint
I think Axell told me this, he invented the band and picked the name. It was inspired by the album cover of Rush: “Fly By Night.” He wanted to have a band that sounded like that, and the imagery was powerful. Plus Owls are badass, mysterious, nocturnal, and have a lot of different associations in cultures around the world: Everything from wisdom, to good luck, to death, so take your pick!
Alicia
You have an album coming out can you tell us about the recording process?
Clint
“Geomancy” was very much our ‘studio’ album, even though every album was recorded in a studio obviously. What I’m trying to say is, we really used the studio to it’s full capacity: lots of overdubs, experimentation, guest musicians, unusual instruments, stuff we would never be able to fully recreate live. Whereas, the first two albums, the songs are basically just the live version of the song played in the studio. With “Geomancy,” we’ve played most of the songs live, but some never, and we are currently trying to figure out how to play the whole album live for the album release show!
As the drummer, I can’t say as much about the recording process as the other members. I only spent a few days recording the drums. The others were in the studio much longer. It was many days, not in sequence, dragged out over several months. There were many disagreements. It was not a smooth process. I honestly don’t know why it took so long to record, it was a long time ago now! Then it turned out actually getting the album released was even more difficult than the recording process!
Album art
Alicia
Do you have plans to tour this release?
Clint
We plan to do, at minimum, a tour of the west coast of the United States this summer.
Alicia
Can you tell us about the music scene where you’re from?
Clint
The music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area is in trouble, but I see hope for it. Considering that we had an internationally known Mecca here that was an epicenter of psychedelic rock and thrash metal, among other things, I think it’s worth fighting for, and that’s why I stay. The Bay Area has fallen victim to what every city around the world is going through: gentrification. The rich move back downtown, they think are entitled to peace and quiet at night, and then the music venues have to go! Everything is expensive, it’s been very hard to be a musician and afford to live here for quite some time. And THEN: Covid! We lost even more music venues, and many musicians simply moved away to cheaper cities like Portland and Pittsburgh. But there seems to be a resurgence in the scene right now, especially the underground punk scene, which is encouraging. Kids have the energy to start something new and build a scene all over again. It seems like the Bay Area scene is in a transitional phase right now, there are a lot of bands, and almost enough venues, but not enough people who want to go see them play.
Alicia
Was music something you’ve always wanted to do?
Clint
Yes, music was something I’ve always wanted to do since as early as I can remember. My brother Alexander and I are only two years apart in age, so we grew up together. We were starting fake bands and writing songs (lyrics) before we even knew how to play instruments, and we would perform “concerts” for our parents. The desire to be in a band, to make music, to be onstage came before we showed any sign of actual talent! Eventually of course, he learned to play guitar, and I learned to play drums, but we were in a small town, and there weren’t a lot of other people to play with, so we kept writing music together.
Alicia
Is there anything in the works you can tell us about?
Clint
Sure! Our new album Geomancy was recorded back in 2016 or something (I can’t even remember), and there were so many delays that it’s not coming out until now. During the pandemic, we were still waiting for Geomancy to come out, and we had a lot of spare time, so we wrote ANOTHER album, and then recorded it, in March of 2022. We will probably release that album next year. If Geomancy is our epic progressive rock album, the next one will be a counterpart to that: very heavy metal, rock and roll, not pretentious. Well, maybe a little.
Alicia
Is there anything you want to share or promote?
Clint
Come see us play the Geomancy record release show, February 17 at The Stork Club in Oakland, California! And hopefully come see us touring the west coast in June.
You can check out the bands music and social media links below