{"id":10663,"date":"2015-03-12T12:19:07","date_gmt":"2015-03-12T16:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/?p=10663"},"modified":"2018-08-09T17:13:06","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T21:13:06","slug":"artist-interview-sam-owens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/artist-interview-sam-owens\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW: Sam Owens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"sam\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Celestial Shore<\/a> is a Brooklyn trio that cites bands like the Zombies and the Pixies as influences, but whose sound has never been anything but\u00a0their own- spacey, floaty, always-shifting rock. When we talked to the band’s guitarist\/vocalist, Sam Owens, they were\u00a0preparing to book it\u00a0to Austin for SXSW. We chatted about the early and last days\u00a0of Glasslands, the drawbacks of email, and the time Deerhoof insisted on opening for Celestial Shore in a Syracuse basement.<\/p>\n

AF: I really liked Enter Ghost <\/i><\/a>as an album name. What inspired that?<\/span><\/p>\n

SO: It happened one night when I was in Brooklyn, and I was driving in a cab through all these parts of town, going back to my apartment in Ridgewood. I was thinking about how all the corners I was passing- I was with my girlfriend, Cassandra, and it was very late one night- and we were thinking about how we were driving through all these areas that we had inhabited, or had moments in, and how they were kinda like ghosts. And also, it\u2019s from when Hamlet<\/a>\u2019s father, when he enters- he\u2019s dead- anytime he enters the stage, it says \u201cEnter Ghost.\u201d He always like, proclaims this evil, revenge plot that Hamlet gets obsessed with, so I kinda thought that was interesting too.<\/span><\/p>\n

AF: Is Celestial Shore planning any new albums?<\/span><\/p>\n

SO: Definitely. We\u2019re going to SXSW<\/a> in March, and then immediately after that I think we\u2019ll record a third album. We\u2019ve been writing and getting songs together, and we\u2019ll test them out on our tour, then just hopefully jump right into the studio in April or May. <\/span><\/p>\n

AF: Who are you touring with?<\/span><\/p>\n

SO: For the first four shows we\u2019re playing with Rubblebucket<\/a>. They\u2019re funny, and I\u2019ve known them for a\u00a0 <\/span>long time. It\u2019s a new crowd for us, so that\u2019ll be fun.<\/span><\/p>\n

AF: You played one of Glasslands\u2019s<\/a> final shows. How do you think the closing of that venue, and others like Death By Audio and Goodbye Blue Monday, have affected our local music scene? <\/span><\/p>\n

SO: Oh man, that\u2019s a big question. I had a \u201cso be it\u201d attitude about Vice<\/em> buying up that corner, and Glasslands going away, and 285 Kent going away, and everything going away. I was driving down Kent avenue two weeks ago and basically, every area of this place, in NYC, in Brooklyn, is going to be void of any young, spirited, artistic culture. Forever. Which is terrible. Despite its irregularity, Glasslands- and Death By Audio- all these places were huge for so many people. I slept in a couch in the back of Glasslands the first couple of weeks I moved to New York, and my band had a practice space there, and [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][the owners] Jake and Rami are really sweet. It\u2019s sad to see them go, but it\u2019s also the way things go. The sad thing is that what\u2019s there now is going to be void of anything valuable except for financial, corporate interests. Which is a very small example of what\u2019s happening in the whole country. This subject totally barrels out of control and anyone who talks about it for more than five minutes sounds like a huge asshole. (Laughs) Ultimately, I feel really sad about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

I guess the reason I moved to New York is that I put out the first Bandcamp EP in 2011, and I got an email six hours later from these guys in London that said, \u201cHey, we want to put out your record\u201d and my mind was totally blown. Then Jake and Rami emailed me, \u201cHey, we want to book a show in New York,\u201d and I was like, but I don\u2019t even live in New York yet- I guess I should move. So… I moved to New York, because we had a show on August 3rd, 2011 at Glasslands. Now I feel old.<\/span><\/p>\n

AF: Can I ask how old you are?<\/span><\/p>\n

SO: I\u2019m 25.<\/span><\/p>\n

AF: Yeah, that\u2019s not old.<\/span><\/p>\n

SO: No wait- did I tell you I\u2019m 25? I\u2019m totally 26. Holy shit. Yeah, I am old.<\/span><\/p>\n

AF: You must be, since you\u2019re starting to forget things!<\/span><\/p>\n

SO: That\u2019s from smoking too much pot in college.<\/span><\/p>\n

AF: Yeah, that\u2019ll do it\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

SO: I can\u2019t tell you how much I appreciate a phone call versus another-<\/span><\/p>\n

AF: Email?<\/span><\/p>\n

SO: Email thing. Cuz you know, your PR person sets up these interviews, so you get an email from someone you\u2019ve never met with these really basic questions: \u201cHow did Celestial Shore meet? Why do you guys play music? Tell us about your sound.\u201d Why I appreciate of course, the idea of being interviewed in the first place, which is a crazy, strange idea, I think a phone call is way cooler. <\/span><\/p>\n

AF: You probably sound way different now than you would in an email.<\/span><\/p>\n

SO: I could be the worst person in the world on an email. Because maybe, I was writing it on my cellphone in the subway with my thumbs. I\u2019m so tired of emailing. Ready for my rant? My life goal, as a human being on earth- and this is going to make me sound like a huge asshole, but I don\u2019t care- is to get a landline, and never have a cellphone, and to not be accountable on my email account. It\u2019s incredible how accountable we\u2019re expected to be throughout the day. If you don\u2019t respond, then you\u2019re the worst person ever.<\/span><\/p>\n

You read all these great accounts\u2026 Lou Reed<\/a> wrote a song about it- I mean I guess he was waiting for his drug dealer- his frustration about waiting for someone. I think it\u2019s way more mystical, and magical, and sweet and romantic if you can just make a plan and try to do it. That\u2019s my rant. Everyone\u2019s email tone has become so camouflaged\u2026 Everybody is like a chameleon. Including myself.<\/span><\/p>\n

AF: I\u2019m glad I got you on the phone then, so I\u2019m interviewing the real Sam.<\/span><\/p>\n

SO: Yeah, maybe. Totally. I don\u2019t know, I\u2019m feeling pretty nostalgic tonight.<\/span><\/p>\n

AF: What\u2019s your source for finding new music?<\/span><\/p>\n

SO: My source would be my friends, and the people I admire.\u00a0<\/span>I\u2019ve been doing this thing with a couple of close friends where you just write down 30 artists, or songs, or videos, any kind of content you want to share. Not a link, just the name or whatever, on a sticky note. Then you have 30 of these sticky notes, and you give them to your friends. It\u2019s really neat, because you have this physical thing that you can put next to your bed, and wake up in the morning and be like “Oh, yeah, I haven\u2019t checked him out.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been listening a lot to country music from the 1950\u2019s, particularly Ernest Tubb. I keep coming back to it. I\u2019m in one of those full circle periods, where I\u2019m going back to 50\u2019s country. The Carter Family, Johnny Cash, all these people. Ernest Tubb, yeah. Listen to his song \u201cThanks A Lot.”<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Also, I\u2019ve been mixing a lot of records, so I end up listening to the records I\u2019m mixing a lot, out of necessity. I\u2019m mixing an old time band right now. The week before that I was mixing this band called Friend Roulette<\/a>. They\u2019re from Brooklyn and they\u2019re like, chamber pop. My ears are kind of all over the place.<\/span><\/p>\n

AF: This is a typical interview question you\u2019ve probably heard before, but\u2014 <\/span><\/p>\n

SO: \u201cHow did your band meet?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

AF: Do you have a favorite venue to play at?<\/span><\/p>\n

SO: You\u2019ll have to let me think about this one for a minute\u2026 Can I tell you my favorite show I\u2019ve ever played?<\/span><\/p>\n

AF: Yeah, that\u2019s a way better question. <\/span><\/p>\n

SO: OK. So in April, we were fortunate enough to go on tour with Deerhoof<\/a>, and they\u2019re really dear to me. (Laughs) Oops. I\u2019m not into puns, that much\u2026 I can\u2019t say enough about Deerhoof, they totally changed the way I think about music. We had a day off, and this kid- his name is Phil Steiger, and he was going to school at Syracuse University at the time- had contacted us about playing a show in his basement. And we were like \u201cYeah, of course.\u201d We were having Thai food with Deerhoof in Pittsburgh, and they were like, \u201cHey, what are you doing with your day off?\u201d And I was just like, \u201cWe\u2019re playing a show tomorrow.\u201d And they were like, \u201cOh, Where\u2019s the show?\u201d And I said, \u201cIt\u2019s in a basement in Syracuse. Do you guys want to play?\u201d and they were like, \u201cYeah. We\u2019ll talk about it and let you know tomorrow.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>So we were driving and I get a call from John, and he was like, \u201cYeah, so we\u2019re down to play the show with you. We\u2019ll play as long as we can open for you.\u201d Because we\u2019d been opening for them every night. Which was, surreal and hilarious. That\u2019s Deerhoof. So I called this kid Phil and I was like, \u201cPhil. Deerhoof\u2019s coming with us. They\u2019re going to play. They\u2019re going to open for Celestial Shore.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Phil\u2019s a film student, by the way, and has since moved to L.A. and will shortly be premiering the video he made for us.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

And then I fell asleep on the floor of the basement, Satomi ran off to find a tire swing, John was playing soccer in the street, it was such as wholesome experience. And since then, Deerhoof has told me that they mixed their last album with that concert experience in mind\u2026I think it drummed up some old feelings of DIY shows they used to do. So anyway, that\u2019s my favorite experience. So far.<\/span><\/p>\n

AF: So far.<\/span><\/p>\n

SO: Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n