As most of our readers know, RockRevolt has a love affair with music. We love it even more when that music is earth shatteringly wonderful, as it is in the case of Owl.
Featuring The Cult‘s Chris Wyse on bass and vocals, Dan Dinsmore on drums, and Jason Achilles Mezilis on guitar, Owl explores spaces and nuances often ignored by other artists. They pull in musical elements that hit effectively, but also bring to light the talent and passion that lies at the core of this trio. Owl is raw, unbridled, and because of the unmistakable skill of its members, their execution and delivery is immaculate. If you want to find true music, this is where you will find it.
Read on to see the intriguing conversation we had with Chris, in which we touch on many subjects, from the deep to superficial, and just enjoy picking at the mind of a modern musical master.
Hi Chris!
Hey, nice to hear from you.
Thank you for accepting interview today.
My pleasure. I’m in New York now. We have some shows coming up this weekend.
I wish I could be there. I hear you’re going to be playing with The Cult in North Carolina shortly, but tell me more about Owl.
Yeah, there are quite a few dates there with them. Owl is a natural thing that developed: the way I play bass, my own writing and singing style. I wouldn’t be able to express this in any other way unless I created it, you know? Playing upright bass with a bow and actually writing songs and screaming in the middle of it all, and not having any rules. You know what I mean?
Yes, without constraints. It’s great. I know I’m digging it. It’s now on current rotation in my car.
Oh nice! There’s a lot there. I think that if you’re a heavy metal kind of a person (we are not metal per se) there is enough energy and explosive moments where you can relate to it. It’s just a singer-songwriter kind of thing. I basically just do all this because I feel like we really need some real artistic stuff out there again.
Oh yeah. I get bombarded with music to review. I was a classically trained musician, and it’s hard for me to start dissecting stuff, especially when it really is bad. When I got your album, I said to myself, “this is really really good. I like this!”
It’s all from the heart. The songs are things that I hear in my head, and that allows me to make it something real instead of some science fiction thing or something I’m shooting for. The concepts all start from real life experiences.
Chris Wyse, vocals and bassI think it’s interesting, being in the thick of the music business and having played with so many bands (I’ve now been 7+ years straight with The Cult. I was with them even before that one stint I did with Beyond Good and Evil, Bob Rock, Ozzy, Jerry Cantrell). This is all big stuff. These guys were daring! You know what I mean? These guys were scaring people. When Black Sabbath came out, people were like, “Oh my God. Is this okay?” Even The Beatles did it. If you look back, with their long hair and stuff like that, they freaked everyone out. I feel like it’s my obligation to push the boundaries and do interesting things.
I agree. I feel that it would be a disservice if you didn’t. At this point in time, it’s almost becoming the norm to do so. Whereas like you said The Beatles had long hair, and it was controversial, now it is commonplace to see folks in the workplace with long hair and sporting tats.
Where do we go from that right? I’m not the biggest Madonna fan or anything, but I’m just going to use her as an example. Madonna has done everything in the music business (actress, entertainer), but the one thing she hasn’t done – and if she wants to get mad at me she can – she hasn’t gotten really musical. (laughs) You know what I mean? I appreciate how she cracked it open for women, liberation, and all that stuff. Do we refer to her as the great musician, or songwriter, or anything? No. She’s a great entertainer. We’ve done everything to shock everyone: “Here are my tattoos. Here’s my long hair. Oh my God, I look like a Viking. I’m so shocking!” Who cares? Who’s coming up with the cutting-edge innovative music these days? All that stuff is just for show! I know people that are tattooed and have long hair, and look like they’re in some rock band, but they are construction workers.
Like you said, with Madonna, she’s an entertainer. I couldn’t name an album she’s had within the last 10 years, because it’s not memorable. What she is memorable for are shows and her persona.
You remember her shocking performance on the music awards, when she came out and decided to do “Like a Virgin”, jumped around in a wedding dress and humped the stage. Everyone was shocked. Back then, no one did that. Unfortunately, that’s just entertainment. That’s just the beginning of the end, from my musical point of view. I play upright bass. I play about 1 million hours a day. This is all discipline in me. If it was just about me shaking my ass and jumping around, there’s a big difference there. What’s left in music today? There’s nothing left to be done. How about the music again? That’s what I say.
Right.
People don’t even know what instrument I’m playing, and it shocks me. It only happens in the United States too. In South America, people are like, “Oh! I love the upright bass! It’s so cool that you do all that!” Here, they don’t even understand what they’re hearing. I’m seeing the United States, going across the country, and obviously we’ve been in a recession, but they’ve been cutting music from programs in schools. Instead of being insulted like I was when I was younger, now that I’m a little bit more mature, I’m like, “Wow! What happened to our country? People don’t even know I’m playing the upright bass. There are only four strings in the strings family. What has happened to us?” But we know Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl”! All that is “cheeky-shocking-trying to taunt us with entertainment-Justin Bieber level”mentality. What Owl does is go back to the Zeppelin and the Sabbath. We are not trying to mimic them. We are inspired by them.
I can sense the inspiration in there, but I wouldn’t even put them in the same category. They are so different.
Yeah. At the same time, these are the things that are leading our kids, and they don’t even know classical instruments anymore. All they know are their iPads. I’m proud that Owl evokes people to sometimes go, “I can’t do that on the bass,” and I’m like, “Oh really? Watch me!” (Laughs)
It’s just changing times. I’m a big supporter of the music programs in schools as well, but people are moving into a different age.
Yeah. Just because you can do a little beat and insert a couple of synthesizer sounds on top of it, and play other people’s loops and patterns together – that’s just kid stuff! It can be a tool, and I believe in it as a tool. People have made it their thing. Right now, there are less and less magazines in the magazine stands, but they are there, and you see “World’s Best DJ,” and I am like, “What does that mean? You are the world’s best at spinning records and blending things together?” These guys are becoming bigger than rock bands. It’s a shame, because technology has taken it away from us. There are some really great DJs, don’t get me wrong. There is an imbalance though. When someone pays a DJ 100 grand to have a bunch of kids jump around and do ‘E’ in front of them, and that’s your priority, I think we’ve gotten off-track. I don’t think that guy is worth the 100 grand he’s getting paid. I don’t think they are that talented above the musician that actually created those loops.
When I played French Horn in an ensemble, at one point we removed all the slides, and played a song by adjusting the embouchure and hand position. You couldn’t tell a big difference, but it was visually impressive, but you can only do that for one or two songs. You can’t make that kind of a thing a gimmick and then sustain it throughout.
Yeah. I think there is a reason why there is a tried and truth to drums, bass, and guitar. There is a reason why that works. It’s an amazing thing. It’s simple, but it covers a lot of ground. I’m all about getting down with where people are at and what inspires them. I’m into adding more meaningful stuff to it, and shedding light on things. I’m not here to bring anyone down. It’s all in good fun for us. We are not spiteful about anything. We are a very fortunate band that gets so much attention for being a little different – it’s wonderful. Maybe we can help bring some things back.
I think you are well on your way! In reading over your press releases and bios, it seems that with your latest album, you were asking yourselves a question about “The Right Thing.” So, have you figured out whether or not you are doing the right thing yet? In contrast, how would you know that you are doing the wrong thing?
(laughs) Well, I think one of my biggest life lessons is that I’m happy to share, and even remind myself of, is that you have to trust your gut instinct and your intuition. How many times have you said, “I knew that, but I second guessed myself”? There are a lot of levels of emotion and things I feel when I do that song. There is a bit of anger in there. Obviously, I’m screaming like a crazy banshee in the middle of the song when I’m singing the power trip. There is an internal struggle that we go through, or we go through in our relationships. You have to know in your soul, your gut, and in your heart that you are doing the right thing. Funny enough, it comes across as a punky, crazy, kind of a wild song. It actually brings to light some very positive things.
On the press release for this latest album, Dinsmore describes it as “engaging and exhilarating on various levels, further than the first Owl album.” Do you feel that is an accurate statement?
I thought we did really good on the first Owl album. There are some really great moments on there. I think some of the song writing is excellent as well. I feel that we hit a new stride on this new record. We did it in a slightly different manner. It was done over the course of a couple of years. We really go to develop our songs. They naturally kind of developed. I wrote the first record. At the end of the day, the jamming and the time we had in the studio helped us to have a little more spontaneity. I think what you’re hearing on this record is that we are more focused. We cut to the chase quicker, and really developed the songs. Much like the first record, we left room for spontaneity and jamming, and advanced drumming. We didn’t even communicate. I just played the basic song idea with a couple of parts. Dan would just jump on a beat, and it just came to life. So, I think you are hearing the band live and breathe more together. This is sort of the culmination of all that coming together. This product really capped it off nicely. We can see that in this record, we just naturally developed because we worked so hard together. We stuck it out. We could have given up after going through all these egoic emotional things, like “We kick ass! Why aren’t we bigger?” We didn’t care. We just said that we were going to keep going and make the best stuff we can make. We had something to live up to, because the first record was well-received, and kind of a bold move in this generic world of pop, and people dug it. That was the first encouragement we got: when people were singing the songs back. We are very lucky to have had the opportunity to make another record, and have it all come together like this, because it may not have. There are a million things to discourage you out there. I’m already in The Cult, and I’m already working with many famous people. I don’t need to put my ass on the line. Something told me that I had to do this. My team has a lot to do with that (Jason and Dan); the way we work together brings us back to our roots, and why we do it to begin with. Dan is very accurate to say that.
(laughs) Jason also stated in the same press release, that your approach to music is slightly unorthodox, but that your aim has been to take listeners to places they’ve never been before. Can you expound on the unorthodoxy and also tell us what journey and destination your music will take us on?
Well, like we mentioned with “The Right Thing”, there is lyrical content that goes into a deeper level that hopefully, without using big words or anything fancy like that, gets you to an emotional place. That is part of the journey. The musical part of it colors it: big nasty distorted bass riffs, letting the drums be so tribal, and Jason’s spacious sounds that compliment everything. All of these that we are doing are probably a little off the beaten path. Some people don’t even know what instrument I’m playing when I’m playing the upright bass. We are definitely different. Sometimes the guitar takes an almost keyboard atmospheric space, while the bass is moving. Sometimes the bass will go into sound effects while the guitar is holding it down. We play around with our roles. In some bands, the bass is just thumping away as a supportive thing, and its important, but maybe less expressive. We are allowing ourselves on our instruments. We have all our guns out. We are not trying to overwhelm you with riffs and things. It’s just that we use that stuff to color that journey, experience the lyrics, and where we take you emotionally.
Right. There is a little give and take here and there between the musicians and the audience?
I always believed if you can’t sing a song back, you haven’t done your job. I’ve seen so many bands where the audience says, “You guys are amazing!” These kids in Brooklyn, they stare at their shoes, and act like they don’t care, and they are droning all these chords all night and bantering on the mic. I spend the whole night rocking with these bands, and I go home, and I can’t remember one song. To me, that doesn’t cut it. It’s great that you got a nice new haircut, and you act like you don’t care. That doesn’t work for me. You’ve got to be able to sing it back, even though it could be very musical.
I watched the video for the title track. You’ve also likened it to a personal therapy session. So, how often do you have to watch this video to keep yourself grounded?
(laughs) Well, we are going to rehearse tonight for our show this weekend. We are opening for 10 Years on Friday, and we are playing at the Bowery Electric in Manhattan on Sunday. I’m going to play “The Right Thing” tonight, I guarantee it. Every time I get to the power trip in the middle when I scream, it’s like a therapy session. I liken it to being an actor. When you scream like that, it’s not really technical. All my other vocal stuff, I’m conscious of my pitch. When you have to just emote all that stuff out of you, it’s got to be real. So – every time I perform that song, I’m like, “Here it comes. You gotta be mad right now man!” You gotta become that character. I liken being a lead singer to acting because you are representing the lyrics in the story. That song is definitely a little journey every time I do it. (laughs)
Watch “The Right Thing”
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So, you walk away a better man every night.
It’s funny that people don’t get what you are doing. I read a review recently where someone was like, “I really like the Owl stuff. It’s really different. It’s interesting when they go into different styles, and they are catchy, but once in a while Chris screams, and it sounds like he’s actually screaming.” I’m like, “Yeah, that’s the point!” It’s supposed to be that way. It’s okay to capture some wild raw emotion on a record. I always loved that Jim Morrison would do things like that.
It kept it real – kept it raw.
There is this wild banshee scream at the end of “Back Door Man” at the end of their Absolutely Live record. That inspired me, because it sounded like he lost control. I was like, “Wow! That sounded amazing!” If you are sitting back trying to figure out what his pitch was while he was doing that, you missed the point! Morrison just screamed this thing out of emotion, and you are looking at it like that? I remember listening as a kid to Jim Morrison on the radio and was like, “Wow, you can do that?”
How does the crowd react when you let it go?
I think they feel it. I think they are a little taken back by the bombastic riffs and stuff as well. It’s great. We opened with In This Moment last month, and it was a sold out show (1300 kids) and about 10% of the crowd knew who we were. It kind of shocked them. It was like pyro at a show, without the pyro. It’s one thing to hear it on the record, but when you see a human being throwing down the drums, guitar, screaming, and playing the upright bass, I think it connects the dots.
You are a jack of all trades. You are a master at the bass. You are a producer, songwriter, and vocalist. If you had to strip it down to the core, how do you define yourself?
If I had to strip it down, I would say I’m a singer/songwriter/bassist. (laughs) Primarily, I’m a singer songwriter, which allows me to come up with this interesting bass stuff. As far as solos, and getting into that kind of thing, I will sit and focus on bass for that maybe. I’m always starting with a song, and then going, “What would be a cool bass line?” It’s always coming from a song mentality.
When you start writing, are you focusing on the bass and then everything comes off of that?
It can be different. Like “All Day” on the record; that kept coming to me driving around in the car. I was like, “What the heck key am I singing in?” Then I get technical and apply myself. Then I use the math side of my brain, but it all comes from a raw emotional place.
You described your song “Perfect” as special moments in which everything feels perfect, and you get a flash of clarity where you are able to reach another level. Would you mind telling us about one of these special and perfect moments for you?
This song isn’t about flash or Rock and Roll stories or anything. It relates to everybody. For example, I remember going shopping one morning in Hollywood and picking up some groceries at Rock and Roll Ralphs on Sunset. I went in, and for some reason I was stopped dead in my tracks. We can all stop and whine and complain about our luxury problems (Oh my God, I have to be over here by this time, and I have to deal with this today. Oh boy, it’s so hectic). I was stopped in my tracks by this older couple. They were getting a little bit of this and they worked together, picking things out, and they were so sweet. It put all my luxury bullshit problems into perspective. They were old, and they were helping each other walk around, and helping each other through the aisles. I just thought to myself, “My God!” They were old, but they were really sweet and well dressed. (laughs) I bet they had an amazing amount of stories about living in Hollywood. You know what I mean? That is what struck me. That is absolutely just perfect, looking at them and seeing what life is all about. Of course, there is no such thing as perfect, but hopefully you can fall into a higher consciousness sometimes, and you get enlightened and see things. The world is not perfect. People aren’t perfect. You have to strive beyond our physical realm. I saw something different with those two; the magic they had together, that was perfect.
Out of your body of work, what’s been your crowning achievement?
The Right Thing is probably the crown jewel right now. This is the culmination of all my years at work. All these different artists have affected me. When people asked me, “Did Ozzy influence you? Did Jerry Cantrell influence you? Did Scott Weiland influence you?” Hell yeah they did. At first I used to be, “No No No! I am me.” I’ve been influenced by all these guys. They are heroes of mine. You have to figure, I play with them. I was with them day-to-day, organically, working with them on music. I am proud that I have all those accomplishments and big names. I’ve rubbed elbows and worked with some of the biggest and best, but this truly, as far as my work is concerned, is probably the most intense, thought out, and raw emotive work I’ve ever done. I believe it’s because of the songwriting and I believe it’s because of the performances, and the honesty. There’s no faking it. There’s no faking on this record. There is no, “I’m going to shoot for this kind of sound.” We own our thing now; it happened very naturally.
I love the fact that you worked with all these big artists, but the closest thing to perfect scenario you are able to come up with was watching an elderly couple go shopping, and appreciating each other. That’s interesting to me.
That is where the heart and soul comes into our music. We try and find real deal stuff. I mean, singing about some chick that broke your heart, and stuff like that, everyone does that! There needs to be more.
I don’t know. I’ve broken some hearts, and it’s pretty bad.
(laughs) Well, that’s part of life too. You need to be rounded. I’m a grown man. I’m not 18 and trying to find my way with my guitar, or bass, for the first time. Obviously, I’ve done all this. I’ve had some experiences. I like having a rounded gamut of things when I write. Some people say, “Wow! You are so diverse! Some of your music can be all over the place.” I’m like, “What are you talking about?” All these bands that I grew up listening to did whatever they wanted. They held their own style. Like Pink Floyd. Nobody says, “You can’t do that Pink Floyd! That’s crazy!” Nobody did that back then. I learned from my heroes. I want to continue to be rounded and have a ballad and a really heavy song. You know it’s us. I feel that we can get away with it and you go, “Oh! That’s Owl.” We’re not lost when we’re doing it. We’re not getting off track. I try to keep a round view of the world with many different things in my artistic palette, you know?
I watched for interview YouTube videos that were on your site. At the end of the fourth, Jason said that he was the organic piece, whereas Dinsmore and yourself were the technical pieces to Owl. What are your thoughts on that?
Jason Achilles Mezilis, guitar(laughs) We are technical. I had different visions of Owl going on in the beginning. Dan and I have our roots. Jason is very organic, but he is technical too. Jason is a very musical guy. He plays classical piano. There was a bit of joking and joshing in there. I’m singing and I’m coming up with what I’m singing about. That’s as organic as they get. We play off each other and complement each other. Sometimes I think he is a little technical. He comes from an organic background. He has a studio where he insists on using tape, and he has a T-shirt that says, “Fuck Pro-tools.” There are certain elements that he believes in. We’re all very similar in that regard. We like live performances. I’m definitely not thinking about what notes or what key I’m in. It’s all about the concept. I think what he means is that we keep each other balanced. We have a little bit of each side that.
He also said that he was better looking. What is your opinion on that?
I’m going to say no comment on that one. (laughs) Jason had an interesting sort of position. I think he’s comfortable in his seat now in the band. Dan and I went to high school together. We were in our first bands together. You have to understand, he was put into a “little brother” position. He has a playfulness about him that keeps Dan and me down to Earth, and vice versa. We wanted to unveil our personalities a little bit with the videos.
He seemed rather lighthearted and jovial.
Personality-wise, we bounce off each other really well.
Dan Dinsmore, drumsDinsmore seems like a hoot!?
Yeah. These are very unique guys that are also very talented. I don’t know anyone like Dan. I mean, Dan is probably one of the best drummers I’ve ever played with, and I’ve played with a lot of them. Jason is unique as well. He has the studio downtown and other project that he’s involved in. I saw the value in all this. Dan owns a Roman Catholic Church that he converted into his media company. I don’t know anybody like these guys, and I know some really big celebrities and stars, and these guys still rank as some of the most talented and unique. Even though I spearheaded the band, I’m not solely responsible. These guys have been awesome to work with. They helped me a lot to keep me on track. I’ve been asked, “What is your side project Owl like?” I don’t know. It’s more of a real band than a lot of the bands out there. (laughs) It’s not really a side project, you know? (laughs) I’ve known these guys basically since we had pubic hair.
Nice analogy. Very nice! (laughs)
(laughs) That’s when Dan and I met each other, when we first started getting pubes. (laughs) I’m just saying. (laughs) This is a real band.
A real band with pubic hair. That’s great! (laughs)
Well, Jason we met a little later on. Jason is one of my oldest friends in LA since I left New York in my early 20s. I ventured off to LA for bigger and better things, or whatever. We go back a bit.
So, it’s questionable whether or not Jason actually has pubic hair. Duly noted.
When we met Jason, he already had pubic hair. I think. I never checked. I never wanted to check!
(laughs) One of our staff members had a question for you. He wanted to know if you could dust off any The Cult song to play as Owl, which would it be and why?
Oh! That’s interesting. I have thought about this because I sing with Ian all the time, and I know what things would work for me that he has written. People have told me, “I think he has influenced your voice,” and I’m like, “Ya think? I’ve been singing every night with him for the last I don’t know how many years. He probably has.” I don’t think about any that stuff anymore. He must’ve influenced me. I try to shape my voice with his every night. I need to blend with Ian, so that’s what I do. That question is interesting because I remember back in 2006 we did a song called “Brother Wolf Sister Moon”. It’s on the Love record. It’s a lot lesser known than “Sanctuary” or “Love”, or any of those. It’s a really cool song. It has a mystical quality. I played bass on it with a bow, and people were like, “Whoa!” I think that would be a fun song to cover as Owl. I think that is way up our alley. In fact, it’s come to mind a couple of times. And it’ll be special with a bow, you know what I mean? It would just take on an Owl presentation. It would be done with much respect, because it’s their song. They wrote it before I even met them. I think we do a great job on it.
