An Interview with Craig Owens

                               

Sonia Karas: How are you? Are you excited to be in New York City tonight?
Craig Owens: Umm, yes! Yeah, of course I am, I love New York City. Ok, let me rephrase that. I love playing shows in New York City. I love the hustle and bustle of the city, walking around enjoying the chaos. It’s just not something I could wake up to every single morning.

Do you have any favorite places to go in the city after a show?
I’m a non-partying dude. I’m the guy that’s either reading a book, in my bunk, or on the telephone, or with my acoustic guitar doing something like that. So I don’t really go out after a show, you know the only place you’ll really catch me is a diner or a friends house.

Are you reading anything in particular right now?
Yeah, actually, I’m reading a book called Pygmy. It’s a Chuck Palahniuk book. I’m a few books behind right now, but I just bought Pygmy and he just released a new one that I’m waiting to get in the mail in a week and it’s all about the devil, but I can’t remember the name of it (laughs). But yeah, Chucky P is what I call him.

                                       

I wanted to rewind a little bit to the summer.  How was it being on Warped Tour? You guys are a pretty new band and you were playing the main stage already. Was that kind of surreal?
You know, it’s exactly what I said when I walked in today. I remember headlining this venue maybe 3 years ago, and I remember how long it took me to get there. The fact that we have not even been touring for a year yet in this band, we’ve had music released for only 7 months, and the fact that we’re already playing at Roseland is massive. I watched a video the other day, prepping myself, I’m from Detroit so for the Detroit hometown show and I watched a video of it and it was like I never left the stage. I’m just so thankful and in such a great place and so lucky to be able to continue to do what it is that I love, and most importantly, to continue to have people that have supported me through thick and thin be there for me each and every step that I take. So, yeah, it’s pretty amazing.

Did it ever surprise you that the band took off as quickly as it did?
I’m a really big believer in pre-determined destiny, and I think that wherever you see yourself is where you’ll end up. I’ve never saw myself sulking becoming the bitter old band guy that wished I had what I used to have. I know what it takes to get ahead and sometimes that a lot of sacrifice, including your own ego, and I’m still doing what’s necessary, I’m still paying my dues. You know, showing up today, like I said, I remember being in a band where we sold this place out, and not one part of me is angry about it. The fact that we’re opening right now, I’m thankful, I’m thankful that I’m still here and doing this, and I’m aware of what it takes to get to the top and nothing’s going to stop me.

So you mentioned paying your dues. Are there any that are really tough for you to come back to?
Not really, I mean maybe the lack of sleep but that’s about it. Everybody on this tour is in a bus, we’re the only ones in a RV. I wanted to do it in a van but I couldn’t convince my guys (laughs). So if anything, what it is, is a great slap in the face, you know what I mean? If you’ve ever watched the Metallica DVD, Some Kind of Monster, you watch them and you’re like, “Oh, you’re being bitches!”, do you know what I mean? I was one of those bitches at one point, and it feels really good because not very many people get the second opportunity that all the musicians in this band have gotten. And like I said, this isn’t something I’m going to take for granted, and this time around we’re going to do it the right way. It feels amazing to go out on that stage with something to prove.

Do you think that feeling like you have something to prove helps you as a musician? During your live show, maybe it sometimes feels like some people have a preconceived notion as to what your band is. Does it drive you more?

It really depends. It’s a good segue, I was reading a Facebook comment about the AP tour that we did when we played in Philadelphia at the Troc. Some kid was talking about how messed up I was, like “Oh he was so strung out”, and I was definitely sober at that time. And that’s the perfect example of it, I get so into the moment of what it is that I created. I mean each song is like a tattoo, a piece of time, a piece of history. What it is, is it’s a picture, a movie, it’s a freeze frame in time, and when you play those songs I’m very aware of what you need to do to win over a crowd, that’s what makes a good frontman, but, the emotions that I feel when I sing the words that I’m singing and when I perform with the 4 dudes that are around me all for the same reason takes over, and that takes precedence over all, you know?

So kind of on the same note. When you’re playing as an opener as opposed to a headliner as you were used to, do you approach a crowd differently or is it all just the same?
It’s the same, you know on this tour it’s been half to at least three quarters of the people know the words anyways, so it might as well be a headlining show. You know, it’s like we may not have to play as long or get all of the extra little foot massage benefits, but it’s music, and we get to do it for a living. Every time I go out there I play it, especially in this band, like I deserve to be there and like I may never have a chance to do it again. Each time it’s kind of like the “live each day to the fullest”, each time I walk out onto that stage, and I know my guys are the same way.

I do want to talk about new music. I know you guys have 2 new songs coming out in December. Can you tell me a little but about how those songs came together?
Yeah, so what happened was I just did a movie that I acted in called K-11, completely random chain of events that all of a sudden put me on a movie set. Jules Stewart became one of my best friends, who created the movie, she’s the producer, and she asked me to write music for the movie. So I said, “hell yeah, of course I will”, why wouldn’t I? I could relate to the character a lot, I could relate to the story a lot, and I’ve been the biggest movie fan forever. Danny Elfman is a huge influence, you know all that stuff, so writing for a movie has always been a dream, you know, these songs. I’m not talking Mortal Kombat type music, I’m talking like some actual good, solid music. So for the movie we recorded two songs, and she decided to go with two tracks that are already actually released on the record. So that left us with two songs that we basically have to do whatever it is that we like. One of them was a song that we revisited that almost made the record awhile ago, we completely changed it up. Another one is a brand new one, but both were finished and recorded in one day, and both are very great songs and I really can’t wait for the world to hear them.

That’s lucky for the fans that you got to write those two new songs, now we get to hear them!
Right, and I think it’s lucky for us even. Yeah, yeah and not because we get something to sell but because we love our music, we make music that we love.

Do those songs at all hint at what your upcoming EP is going to sound like?
No, those songs don’t represent anything other than the moment in time when they were written. I don’t think that it shows the progress that you’re going to hear. With the EP we were planning on going really heavy, and you know, a bit more with the “Mr. Own Ate My Metal Worm” vibe for the new EP. That doesn’t mean breakdown after breakdown, it means great songs with that heavy edge. So the two songs do not represent what it is that the EP will sound like, but they are two songs that the fans will enjoy.

I was reading your recent interview with Alternative Press and you talked a lot about story telling as a big part of your writing process. So what kind of stories are you looking to tell, not only with these two new songs, but with the upcoming EP as well?
It really depends. I haven’t really decided what exactly it is that I want to tell yet, I’m gonna dive in right after this tour is done, we’ve got about two weeks left. But I feel that I’ve grown a lot as a person and I think it’s going to be a lot of life lessons but it’s going to be a lot less forward, it’s going to be a bit more intelligent and it’s going to be less, “here’s my heart on my sleeve” and it’s gonna be more storytelling, more dive in deep and really find the intelligence hidden within, almost like my earlier stuff with Chiodos.

Do you find that that kind of music is more fun to write, when it’s a little less obvious?
You know, I don’t think so. I think music is just so awesome in and of itself that it doesn’t really matter, you know? Actually I think sometimes if you try and write too intelligent it can be daunting. It’s almost like sitting down and writing a paper and being like, “I didn’t use enough syllables in my words”, you know what I mean? It’s like, “I didn’t even use a word that had three syllables! This is not a good paper!”. You know, it’s all about honesty, and truth and the message, and inspiring the listener and making someone feel. And as long as I can accomplish that, I have succeeded at what it is that I am doing.

I think that’s really important. So besides DRUGS I know you’ve been really busy, I know you recently released a song with In Fear and Faith. How did you end up in that production role?
I’ve actually been doing the production thing for about two and a half years now. I did a ton of bands, but mostly locally. I wanted to help out these local bands that have been struggling and wanted to see the bigger picture, I wanted to give them the insight. It’s really cool because the production thing has been taking off, there’s talks of working with Sparks The Rescue and Sleeping With Sirens, all these upcoming bands. Bottom line, I’m a workaholic, when you go on tour for as long as we have, you go home and it’s almost like a prison, and you’re like, required to sit there for two weeks and do nothing. So one of my favorite things in the entire world is the studio atmosphere so I decided that that’s somewhere that I wanted to be. It’s two miles from my house, called 37 Studios, I work with a guy named Matt Dalton and Nick Samson and together we make some beautiful music! Music is just a major part of my life, as it always has been and always will be, and that’s not gonna change. So if I can continue to produce while I’m home during my off time so it’s not going to interfere with anything; in fact, there’s a band in the studio right now that I’m producing. They email me tracks and we go back and forth and I have engineers working on it. And yeah, it’s just something that I love to do. I love nothing better than getting together with a group on individuals, especially even outside, you know, creating your own music is amazing, but there’s some sort of personal pressure that you put on yourself, almost like dressing up and looking in the mirror. But it’s almost like you get to give your friends a makeover or something (laughs). So you get to help these people reach their dreams, and it’s really amazing to be able to give them the keys and the pieces missing to help them realize their potential.

Do you feel that your role as a producer will carry over into future DRUGS recordings?
Um, I’m not really sure about that. You know, I don’t think I’d want to do that because I’m already too controlling as it is probably. Will we use the studio, absolutely, why wouldn’t we since it’s free. Not free for everybody, but free for us! And it’s right down the street from my house so why wouldn’t we use it? But as far as me producing the DRUGS stuff, probably not because there’s no reason for me to control it more than I already do.

So with all these other creative outlets, do you feel like it exhausts your creativity or enhances it?
It used to, it used to exhaust my creativity, but now I’ve narrowed it down to producing, doing the DRUGS thing and acting, and that’s it. So I mean I write songs all the time; I grab my guitar and I do that for fun, I mean it’s a hobby. It’s a job but it’s also my hobby, and in doing that I’ve learned to love music again. And I haven’t spread myself thin by doing 72 bands and you know it’s just really amazing because each part is a different outlet for me and I’m not wearing myself thin by having to split it up. I remember before when I was doing Chiodos and Cinematic [Sunrise], every time I wrote something it almost went into a mental folder. It was like “This is too happy to be a Chiodos song so it’s going to be Cinematic. Or, this has to be a Chiodos lyric and now I don’t have to do that! I save the best for DRUGS and that’s why we have  an abundance of a good 50 extra songs that no one has ever heard.

To touch on the acting you’ve been doing, do you think that will translate into your live performance with DRUGS becoming more theatrical or produced?
I think it already has, I think it’s helped me a lot. You know, I go to school, right after this tour I go go to a school called Howard Fine in LA for acting classes with Will Smith and Brad Pitt, all those dudes, and all those small guys that you’ve probably never heard of. And their job is to show me a different perception of the world. Any time that I can learn and grow and mature as a human being it helps me out in ever single aspect of my life. I think it’s going to help me with my personal life, my relationship, and definitely my playing live.

So to bring things full circle and wrap up, what’s one of your favorite moments from 2011, and what are you most looking forward to in 2012?
2011 was proof that I’m not going anywhere, and that’s my favorite part. It was really scary there for the year that I had to take off and focus on myself. 2011 was proof that DRUGS is the real thing, that we’re not going anywhere, and it really helps me to tie into 2012 because whether you want to accept it or not, we are not going anywhere except up. We have a lot to prove and we’re going to continue to do it, so 2011, the release of the DRUGS CD, the way we’ve bonded and the way that we’ve grown as individuals and together. And 2012, I really look forward to continue to see the growth in every way, musicianship, friendship, personal lives. I just couldn’t be more proud of the individuals around me or myself for standing up and accomplishing what it is that we have accomplished when we thought that everything was over for ourselves.