Splitting the Atom

Divergence Part Deux

Ok it's  been a crazy few weeks and what I thought was one project has turned most definitely into two parallel streams of consciousness.

It started as Owls That Talk, an Indie Rock band sound project with collaboration from the aforementioned awesome musicians (see previous articles). We’ve been recording, mixing and mastering the album tracks over the past year and as this article lands on the Substack coffee table we will be recording a live session for our youtube channel. We’ll be playing 5 of the 9 (or10) songs from the album Owl Theory in front of a select group of musical friends, non musical friends, family and industry friends. 

While this has been going on, I've found myself immersing my audio receptors in other music genres some of which I've not listened to for quite literally decades. Ok, come with me on a journey through time and space…. (Yes I did lift that directly from the intro to the British comedy The Mighty Boosh, my dog is called Howard Moon, what can I say). It's the early 80s, me and my friends are on the 101 bus to Manchester and we are so excited, and probably being a pain in the arse to the other bus passengers because we're going to be hitting Spin Inn records, Piccadilly Records, Affleck’s Palace, the underground market just off market street. Basically it was an adventure. What were we crate digging for in these Alladin’s caves? Street Sounds albums, so Hip Hop, Electro and related imported music. The Street Sounds Electro albums, of which I'm pretty sure I ended up owning 1-15, introduced me to the magical sounds of Captain Rock, Run DMC, Aleem, Doug E. Fresh, Mantronix and so many more.

Time warp back to the present, and not only have I been listening to them but on my travels to vinyl emporiums I've been connecting, reminiscing with others still connected to that music as well as the music that followed and was influenced by those early pioneers. It started bending my musical ear and gave me a craving to start experimenting with new sounds. I've shared some of those tracks previously and I think I've sited some of the later Trip Hop music artists who have also had a profound influence on me and were already on rotation in my vinyl playlists. I thought it was worth, even if only for my own record, to acknowledge the catalyst to all this was that craving for those early audible discoveries that excited me so much in my early teens.

…And so now the atom has been spliced and the fallout from the reaction has left me with “Owls Are Electro”. The tracks were meant to be part of Owl Theory when I just had a couple, but now I have four, soon to be five, it has become it's own EP and as such will be getting it's own Artcore page. As I prepare to perform live for the first time in 10 years, it means there will be a change of wardrobe once the band setlist has been recorded and I'll be performing the Owls Are Electro tracks without a safety net and fully recorded as a live session. I'll wear my brown pants.

So welcome to the official birth of “Owls Are Electro”…

Are you ready for ‘The Weekend’?

Thanks for hanging with us and look after each other.