Article published in Bananas magazine, No.16, Spring 2018
The Blind Owls: Garage Beat Vibes from Texas | Look out Bananas readers! There’s a new group in town and they are ready for your cheers and cold hard cash. I present to you, The Blind Owls! Hailing from Corpus Christi, Texas, they are one of the top beat style groups out there. I saw these guys at the recent Field Trip South 2018 in Orlando, and boy was I floored.
They aren’t your typical head shakers playing cutesy Macca style Merseybeat cos they’ve got a garage edge to ’em similar to the Easybeats. They just released a fantastic new EP on Hidden Volume that you need immediately. I sat down with the guys and we had a bit of a chat, so take a load off and tune in to these new cats on the block!
Getting started
Tell me about yourselves! Who are you? Josh: I play guitar in the band
Carlos: Hello! I am Carlos, I play bass in the band.
Dylan: We are a band from Corpus Christi Texas, that love to play Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Jesse: My name is Jesse and I play the guitar, all four of us form The Blind Owls. A rock ‘n’ roll group who love to play music and have fun!
Now did this band start?
Josh: Jesse, Carlos, and I jammed around for a bit with another guitarist and me on drums playing mostly covers but started throwing some of Jesse’s originals in the mix. Once we got Dylan on drums and I moved to guitar is when the focus switched to writing our own songs, playing more shows, playing out of town, recording our music. To me that’s when we really became the Blind Owls.
Carlos: I asked my brother if he wanted to start a band and he said “no” and I asked why and he didn’t have a good a enough reason to say no so we did.
Dylan: Four friends that shared the same taste in listening and playing music.
Jesse: Me and my brother (Carlos) grew up around music and playing music together. Our father, started us very early on rock ‘n’ roll and was always playing and listening to music around us, which influenced us a lot while we were younger.
As we grew up together, Carlos wanted to start a band, I said no at first cause I was a big dummy, but came around to the idea eventually and asked some of my closest friends to join the band with us. Eventually it all came down to us four, and I could not be any happier with the outcome.
The Blind Owls: Garage Beat Vibes from Texas
Who are your primary influences?
Josh: I really dig the Creation, the Monks, the Wailers, Them.
Dylan: I’ve been finding myself listening to surf rock lately and have been incorporating it into my drum style.
Jesse: The late Stevie Wright of The Easybeats has always been a huge inspiration when it comes to the way I sing, I also love the vocal style of Little Richard and many of those early rock ‘n’ roll artists. Of all bands and artists, the Easybeats with George Young and Harry Vanda, whose songwriting and craftsmanship I just absolutely adore. And The Beatles with John and Paul, being such big influences on the way that I approach my songs.
What was it like to finally get a record out in public?
Josh: Our first EP was released through a small label, Cliffhouse Records, our friends in our hometown started, which at the time was huge for us because we had only previously released one demo CD. Our first full length was released with Soundflat and was another big moment for us. Hidden Volume has been amazing to us and I’m so excited to finally have four out! It’s our first 45 and also coloured vinyl release so it’s really special to me.
First 45rpm
Carlos: It’s awesome to see it come out and physically hold it in your hand. I’ve always wanted a 45 for our music so we got in touch with Scott and bugged him for about two years and we finally made it happen.
Dylan: Whenever I saw our first record printed, it was such a surreal moment. To know that our music will now be around longer that we are is such an amazing feeling. Who knows, some kids might pick us up in 50 years and want to start a band with his friends.
Jesse: Its been amazing! I have always wanted to have a 45 record. I have always found collecting 45s to be a lot more interesting to me than collecting 12″ records. Finally getting to release one and see and hold it physically was one of the best feelings I have had and it is very rewarding.
The Blind Owls: Garage Beat Vibes from Texas
What is the scene like in Texas? Any other bands to look out for?
Josh: The scene in Corpus is in a bit of a rut, there aren’t too many new bands starting up. I also work weekends a lot and don’t get to go out and discover bands as much as I’d like to.
Carlos: Its good in the bigger cities that we have visited.
Dylan: With Austin and San Antonio only a short drive away there are so many bands around, but for the scene in Corpus Christi it is a very small group of really talented bands (Thom Becket & The Consolation, Shayna Sands, and Denim Hares) Just to name a few.
Jesse: I hate to admit, but I am a very competitive person, so it’s very tough for me to find bands and other artists around that really impress me. However, there is a lot of talent in the state of Texas and many artists from my hometown of Corpus (like Dylan stated) that I enjoy listening to.
The Red Room
Do you guys do your own recordings? How does this work?
Jesse: Josh is a sound technology major, so we have him set up most of the mics and levels. Though everything is produced by us four, setting the music up and throwing out new ideas to each other.
Josh: Both of our EPs have been recorded by us in our practice space, the Red Room. It’s a decent sized space made from a converted garage and office in Jesse and Carlos’ parents house. The room isn’t set up for recording but somehow it sounds great!
I think we just feel our most comfortable in there and so it’s easier not to get caught up in our own heads versus when we’re in an actual studio.
Jesse has an 24-track Tascam porta-studio that we record into and we all have a few budget mics that we bring together and figure out who will use what. For drums I’ll either use Glyn Johns’ method or just one overhead with kick and snare.
Jess and I will put our guitar amps on opposite sides and have them as loud as we can without bleeding. Bass is usually DI. I’ll go over the levels and make sure nobody is clipping/bleeding and we just hit record!
Hidden Volume Show
Carlos: For the LP (All Day And Night) we had it professionally done.
Dylan: It was recorded by Dylan Ely at a local studio The Loop Records. We went back to our home recording with the latest EP “4”. It’s always nice to record at home because it is all of us working together and taking our time with our music without having a real timeline and when we need to finish.
You just completed a south-eastern tour and played at the Hidden Volume Festival in Orlando, this past February. Any memorable or terrible experiences?
Josh: The Field Trip was definitely the most memorable for me! Jesse and Carlos had done all the communication with the Hidden Volume family so it was cool to meet finally everyone in person. Everybody was very welcoming of us and couldn’t have asked for a better show!
Carlos: Not a single terrible experience, it was a fun and amazing trip. We met so many amazing and nice people and that were very helpful and that we will remember for the rest of our lives. The bands were amazing, the festival was amazing, it was all around perfect.
Dylan: Definitely our van breaking down the day of the Hidden Volume show and having to take a 45 minute Uber to the venue with all our gear in this driver’s small car was the worst part of it.
Future Plans
Jesse: I loved every second of it. It’s always an amazing experience to be on the road, seeing so many new places and meeting so many new faces. Not a single moment was a bad one. Being able to experience these amazing journeys together pretty much like brothers will always be a surreal experience.
What are your plans for the rest 2018? Where do you see yourselves in 2019?
Josh: We’re almost halfway through 2018 and I’m still trying to figure what I’m doing! I just started working a couple new jobs within the last few months so I’m just trying to get settled but I hope to write and record more this year. I started chipping in on a diy venue turned studio space so I’m hoping more will come out from there once I get my ducks in a row.
Carlos: I am not sure yet, we have a release show for the EP and then we will see!
Dylan: For 2018 we’ve already been working on new songs with a new sounds, so I’m sure by the end of the year we should be back recording something new for everyone to enjoy.
Jesse: I’m very excited to finish the year, we have all been writing a lot of new material and are ready to get back in the studio and work on some more of that. I don’t know if there will be much touring anytime soon, due to funds. But we hope to get back on the road sometime in 2019!
Blind Owls – Four – Hidden Volume
They hail from Corpus Christi in Texas, USA but their spiritual home is Liverpool, England. If you’re looking for comparisons or whatever, then the sound and creative zeal they possess is like the Beatles as they approach their classic Mid-period albums of “Help” and “Rubber Soul”! Raw and sprightly, the R’n’B daubings peppered with stomping rock ‘n’ roll and garage flavours which coat almost everything on offer here.
Great rousing vocals and drums offset terrific George Harrison-like guitar flourishes helping the Blind Owls reach into the realms of really gear. Thumpingly insistent from the word go, ‘Make Up Your Mind’ shakes us wide awake, and on, through ‘I’ll Be There’. . . . until we’re too pooped to pop after the slightly comedic ‘Alright’ comes to an end.
Make with the cappuccinos already, or, alternately, get those feet pointed ten-to-two Harrison-style, crank up the volume dial and shake once more to these cool ‘n crazy beat sounds.
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