Bill Owens Interview
Q: Can you talk about your musical history?
A: I moved to Tucson in the early ’70s, and began writing songs regularly. But it wasn't until 1976 when I moved to Minneapolis and started a band called ME that I had any experience performing live with fellow musicians. That started as a club band playing covers, but as the alt/punk scene began to take shape, evolved to playing our own songs in a 45-minute set. Moved to San Francisco in 1978 and gathered another group of musicians to perform and record (the band name also ME). We played a few times at Mabuhay Gardens, fronting for some of the local acts of the era, and recorded about 20 songs at Peter Miller Studios. In 1980, the band called it quits, and I acquired an early version of the portastudio (4-track cassette), and began recording with my then-wife, Diana. We recorded a bunch of stuff, and released a single that has become quite collectible; some of it still survives, and has been remixed/mastered with modern tools in 2021, released as “Deo Toy – Time Machine” in April 2022. That project eventually wound down about 1986, whereupon I disappeared down the corporate rabbit hole for about 35 years. Most of the songs from that era were love songs.
Along with, I'm sure, many many others, when the pandemic hit and I realized I'd be pretty isolated for awhile, I began exploring music-making again with some simple (but gloriously multi-tracked) equipment in March 2020. The themes, in contrast with my earlier work, dealt more with observing life around me, exploring the vast empty of loneliness, aging and end-of-life sorts of recognition, and social/political commentary. This project is known as Blunt Objects.
In 2021, I began to recognize that my limited knowledge in working with the set of tools I had --- particularly in mixing and mastering --- would continue to be a limiting factor in the quality of the music. I began working (remotely) with Jim Waters at Waterworks West, and he has proved to be an invaluable partner with a great set of ears and an instinct for the right mix. Jim Waters, probably more than me, is responsible for my “sound,” if there is such a thing. I ship him off my raw files (many times an electric jugband stew of sounds), and they come back to me as fully realized pieces. In 2022, I released five Blunt Objects albums: Safe at Home? (2020), Sharper Than Some (2021), Round Points (2022), Pointy Rounds (2022), and Call It Sex (2022). Shady Shadows was early 2023 work, and Blobjects is nearly ready for release --- the last files are being mastered as I write. Jim and I also collaborated on a project called The Spice Lads --- he devises beat tracks out of found sounds, and I made music to them. That album, with a working title of Minor Miners, should be released by summertime in 2023. Jim made a video of a song called “Icy Fingers” that we mounted on YouTube last week. It is a bit more experimental than the Blunt Objects material, but I think the voice and melody sensibility would be familiar to anyone who has heard my other stuff.
In 2022, I also met Matt Rendon of Midtown Island Studios, and began recording with him a couple times a week. My main interest with Matt was to memorialize those early ’70s songs, since there were no good recordings of those songs. Matt has a ’60s era studio stocked with gear from that era, and he specializes in making music that sounds like it cam right out of 1968. Matt plays almost everything (he's a drummer at heart, but also plays terrific bass and guitar). Me, I don't play anything very well --- I am probably more a singer/songwriter and recording artist than musician --- Matt made these songs come to life better than I ever could have myself. That music resulted in a project called DID NOT!, with three albums released in 2022, and another due shortly.
I have learned so much from both Jim and Matt over the past 18 months, and feel like the music started getting noticeably better with the 2022 recordings/releases --- the songwriting is more nuanced and complex than the earlier stuff, and I've learned to record things better as I've gone along.
Q: What are some of topics and themes you explore on some of your recent releases Shady Shadows?
A: My mortality (I turn 70 in six weeks) has become an over-arching theme in my lyrics, along with my alarm at the way I see the country headed, and regrets at how I've spent my life. This album is a bit more theme-mixed than the prior ones --- about half of these songs use image-laden lyrics I wrote 50 years ago that never ended up with a corresponding tune (or if they had a tune assigned, I'd forgotten it). I'm glad they've finally found a home!
Q: How do you approach songwriting?
A: I am retired so I have more time than many. I work five-six hours each day trying out various chord changes, exploring different sounds, tonal colors and textures until an intelligible melody emerges. About 90% of what I do in these sessions hits the “cutting room” floor, but I almost always learn something new in the process. These days, the music almost always comes first, finding and fitting lyrics as the tune matures. Every so often, I'll have a song pop out almost fully formed, transcribing from what I hear in my head to the recording device, but those are pretty rare (but they tend to be the most memorable songs, at least to me). I have scraps of paper all over the house, and when a lyric line strikes me, I write it down and put it in a box with other scraps. Once I have a melody or rhythm driving things, I then start to piece the lyrics together --- sorta like dumping two jigsaw puzzles on the table, and figuring how to trim or mold pieces to fit an overall picture. Usually doesn't take too long to match things up. In the old days, I'd sit and bang on a guitar until a song emerged. These days, I look more to find an interesting composite of sounds and textures, and work it (primarily with a consumer-grade Casio keyboard or a feature in Cubase called Chord Pads --- sort of similar to using a Magnus Chord organ to chart out a song). But the main thing is that I “go to work” almost every day at home to write and record music --- as with anything, a lot of what gets produced ends up as scrap --- but I had to get through the pile of stuff in order to find what I wanted. And sometimes some of the scraps get revived and recycled.
Q: Have you played this music live and if so how does it translate with an audience?
A: I began playing live again recently (the last show I did previously was in 1978), playing some open mics and a couple of solo gigs, essentially singing karaoke-style against my backing tracks. I've been pleasantly surprised at the reception I've had, and folks are telling me it gets better every time. My music is quite different than what folks are used to hearing here in Tucson, especially live, and I've been gratified to see almost everyone in the rooms I've played tapping feet, clapping hands, even dancing and most are pleasantly surprised! So I'd say that the audience receives it all pretty well, despite it being quite different than what they may have expected. Many of my songs could be played on an acoustic guitar in simple arrangements, but I lack the chops/confidence to pull that off consistently (and I have written so much stuff in the past couple of years that it is hard to remember the lyrics all the time). As I've played out, I've also changed up what songs I perform --- some of these lend themselves well to this type of performance, some are more difficult pace/phrasing --- so I've studied how the crowd has responded, and culled the list until I have now about two hours of ready material from both Blunt Objects and DID NOT!
Q: What else should we know about your music?
A: I am pretty prolific largely because I have the time. My music probably reflects bits and pieces of almost everyone and everything I've ever heard, and moves comfortably (if perhaps not particularly skillfully) between country, jazz, rock and pop influences. I tend to have a twisted sense of humor that communicates well through the songs, and many times the mood of the music is somewhat different than the tone of the lyrical message --- might be an upbeat sort of melody that has unhappy or distressing lyrics, or vice versa. I worry sometimes about stuff that might feel too familiar, but I'm finding that worry is generally not supported in the end --- many times, lacking another starting point, I'll set out to record a cover of a song I admire, and I am sooo bad at it that the resulting music doesn't resemble anything like what I intended – so voila --- new song! I am a song-based guy --- to me, a song is like a piece of art --- a little self-contained universe of its own. I've never really thought in terms of a “concept” album, though my writing tends to favor one theme or another over several months, so the collection of songs on each album do have a general connectivity. It is probably fortunate that my sequence selection on each album has worked thus far --- I find that I am utterly unable to predict what folks will respond to. Sometimes songs I'd consider junk, throw-away songs garner the most visible response…
I have also begun (slowly) to invite other musicians I've met to play with me, typically virtually, where we do some file exchange. I divorced and moved downtown in 2021, and with pandemic restrictions, found it hard to meet people initially. I am starting to meet more people, and as I am playing around, starting to attract some like-minded folks to make music with.
Q: Can you talk about your musical history?
A: I moved to Tucson in the early ’70s, and began writing songs regularly. But it wasn't until 1976 when I moved to Minneapolis and started a band called ME that I had any experience performing live with fellow musicians. That started as a club band playing covers, but as the alt/punk scene began to take shape, evolved to playing our own songs in a 45-minute set. Moved to San Francisco in 1978 and gathered another group of musicians to perform and record (the band name also ME). We played a few times at Mabuhay Gardens, fronting for some of the local acts of the era, and recorded about 20 songs at Peter Miller Studios. In 1980, the band called it quits, and I acquired an early version of the portastudio (4-track cassette), and began recording with my then-wife, Diana. We recorded a bunch of stuff, and released a single that has become quite collectible; some of it still survives, and has been remixed/mastered with modern tools in 2021, released as “Deo Toy – Time Machine” in April 2022. That project eventually wound down about 1986, whereupon I disappeared down the corporate rabbit hole for about 35 years. Most of the songs from that era were love songs.
Along with, I'm sure, many many others, when the pandemic hit and I realized I'd be pretty isolated for awhile, I began exploring music-making again with some simple (but gloriously multi-tracked) equipment in March 2020. The themes, in contrast with my earlier work, dealt more with observing life around me, exploring the vast empty of loneliness, aging and end-of-life sorts of recognition, and social/political commentary. This project is known as Blunt Objects.
In 2021, I began to recognize that my limited knowledge in working with the set of tools I had --- particularly in mixing and mastering --- would continue to be a limiting factor in the quality of the music. I began working (remotely) with Jim Waters at Waterworks West, and he has proved to be an invaluable partner with a great set of ears and an instinct for the right mix. Jim Waters, probably more than me, is responsible for my “sound,” if there is such a thing. I ship him off my raw files (many times an electric jugband stew of sounds), and they come back to me as fully realized pieces. In 2022, I released five Blunt Objects albums: Safe at Home? (2020), Sharper Than Some (2021), Round Points (2022), Pointy Rounds (2022), and Call It Sex (2022). Shady Shadows was early 2023 work, and Blobjects is nearly ready for release --- the last files are being mastered as I write. Jim and I also collaborated on a project called The Spice Lads --- he devises beat tracks out of found sounds, and I made music to them. That album, with a working title of Minor Miners, should be released by summertime in 2023. Jim made a video of a song called “Icy Fingers” that we mounted on YouTube last week. It is a bit more experimental than the Blunt Objects material, but I think the voice and melody sensibility would be familiar to anyone who has heard my other stuff.
In 2022, I also met Matt Rendon of Midtown Island Studios, and began recording with him a couple times a week. My main interest with Matt was to memorialize those early ’70s songs, since there were no good recordings of those songs. Matt has a ’60s era studio stocked with gear from that era, and he specializes in making music that sounds like it cam right out of 1968. Matt plays almost everything (he's a drummer at heart, but also plays terrific bass and guitar). Me, I don't play anything very well --- I am probably more a singer/songwriter and recording artist than musician --- Matt made these songs come to life better than I ever could have myself. That music resulted in a project called DID NOT!, with three albums released in 2022, and another due shortly.
I have learned so much from both Jim and Matt over the past 18 months, and feel like the music started getting noticeably better with the 2022 recordings/releases --- the songwriting is more nuanced and complex than the earlier stuff, and I've learned to record things better as I've gone along.
Q: What are some of topics and themes you explore on some of your recent releases Shady Shadows?
A: My mortality (I turn 70 in six weeks) has become an over-arching theme in my lyrics, along with my alarm at the way I see the country headed, and regrets at how I've spent my life. This album is a bit more theme-mixed than the prior ones --- about half of these songs use image-laden lyrics I wrote 50 years ago that never ended up with a corresponding tune (or if they had a tune assigned, I'd forgotten it). I'm glad they've finally found a home!
Q: How do you approach songwriting?
A: I am retired so I have more time than many. I work five-six hours each day trying out various chord changes, exploring different sounds, tonal colors and textures until an intelligible melody emerges. About 90% of what I do in these sessions hits the “cutting room” floor, but I almost always learn something new in the process. These days, the music almost always comes first, finding and fitting lyrics as the tune matures. Every so often, I'll have a song pop out almost fully formed, transcribing from what I hear in my head to the recording device, but those are pretty rare (but they tend to be the most memorable songs, at least to me). I have scraps of paper all over the house, and when a lyric line strikes me, I write it down and put it in a box with other scraps. Once I have a melody or rhythm driving things, I then start to piece the lyrics together --- sorta like dumping two jigsaw puzzles on the table, and figuring how to trim or mold pieces to fit an overall picture. Usually doesn't take too long to match things up. In the old days, I'd sit and bang on a guitar until a song emerged. These days, I look more to find an interesting composite of sounds and textures, and work it (primarily with a consumer-grade Casio keyboard or a feature in Cubase called Chord Pads --- sort of similar to using a Magnus Chord organ to chart out a song). But the main thing is that I “go to work” almost every day at home to write and record music --- as with anything, a lot of what gets produced ends up as scrap --- but I had to get through the pile of stuff in order to find what I wanted. And sometimes some of the scraps get revived and recycled.
Q: Have you played this music live and if so how does it translate with an audience?
A: I began playing live again recently (the last show I did previously was in 1978), playing some open mics and a couple of solo gigs, essentially singing karaoke-style against my backing tracks. I've been pleasantly surprised at the reception I've had, and folks are telling me it gets better every time. My music is quite different than what folks are used to hearing here in Tucson, especially live, and I've been gratified to see almost everyone in the rooms I've played tapping feet, clapping hands, even dancing and most are pleasantly surprised! So I'd say that the audience receives it all pretty well, despite it being quite different than what they may have expected. Many of my songs could be played on an acoustic guitar in simple arrangements, but I lack the chops/confidence to pull that off consistently (and I have written so much stuff in the past couple of years that it is hard to remember the lyrics all the time). As I've played out, I've also changed up what songs I perform --- some of these lend themselves well to this type of performance, some are more difficult pace/phrasing --- so I've studied how the crowd has responded, and culled the list until I have now about two hours of ready material from both Blunt Objects and DID NOT!
Q: What else should we know about your music?
A: I am pretty prolific largely because I have the time. My music probably reflects bits and pieces of almost everyone and everything I've ever heard, and moves comfortably (if perhaps not particularly skillfully) between country, jazz, rock and pop influences. I tend to have a twisted sense of humor that communicates well through the songs, and many times the mood of the music is somewhat different than the tone of the lyrical message --- might be an upbeat sort of melody that has unhappy or distressing lyrics, or vice versa. I worry sometimes about stuff that might feel too familiar, but I'm finding that worry is generally not supported in the end --- many times, lacking another starting point, I'll set out to record a cover of a song I admire, and I am sooo bad at it that the resulting music doesn't resemble anything like what I intended – so voila --- new song! I am a song-based guy --- to me, a song is like a piece of art --- a little self-contained universe of its own. I've never really thought in terms of a “concept” album, though my writing tends to favor one theme or another over several months, so the collection of songs on each album do have a general connectivity. It is probably fortunate that my sequence selection on each album has worked thus far --- I find that I am utterly unable to predict what folks will respond to. Sometimes songs I'd consider junk, throw-away songs garner the most visible response…
I have also begun (slowly) to invite other musicians I've met to play with me, typically virtually, where we do some file exchange. I divorced and moved downtown in 2021, and with pandemic restrictions, found it hard to meet people initially. I am starting to meet more people, and as I am playing around, starting to attract some like-minded folks to make music with.