Owen Bones is a Chicago producer trying to inspire awe.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do. I am a young musician interested in creating and sharing hyperreal experiences with an audience. I am currently exploring the intersection of both audio and visual technology through live performance.
How did your interest with music begin? I grew up exposed to music constantly. My father played in bands for about 30 years, so he taught me the basics of playing drums at a young age. I was also fortunate enough to toy with applications like Garageband as a small child. While growing up, I was expressing myself both through digital music and by physically playing in a band for six years during my adolescence.
What are some recent, upcoming, or current projects you are working on? I’ve got a new EP coming out at the end of the month (April), and I’m continually expanding my new live show. I’m currently working on linking live percussion with visual triggers on top of the depth sensing visuals I am already controlling during my performances!
What kinds of things are influencing your music right now? Currently, I’m very fascinated by “Big Government”. Surveillance, information security, occult imagery, military patches/emblems for nefarious programs…I’m pulling inspiration from the representation of these sorts of things in the real world, as well as using them to create worlds and imagery of my own that I invite people to explore.
Who would you ideally like to collaborate with? I am very interested in collaborating with visual artists and programmers to expand my live performances even more. Ideally, I would like my performances to become collaborative, with room for other artists and musicians to spontaneously collaborate on stage.
What were you like in high school? In high school, I was totally incognito. Until I started getting attention for playing in a band close to graduation, I would silently slink through the school day with earbuds in. I was also pretty bad at doing my homework…I played World of Warcraft instead. I was a generally undeveloped person that didn’t know how to properly express myself.
What do you want a viewer to walk away with after hearing your music? After hearing my music, I would like the viewer to reflect on what they’re being sold. What kind of imagery or ideas or ideologies are you being shopped by art and music? Are these things good or bad? How are you supposed to judge? Owen Bones as a project is supposed to cause people to interrogate what they consume.
