The Order of Owls is an alternative metal band from Melbourne, Australia. We had the opportunity to interview them and learn more about their latest single “What Becomes” and their future plans.
"What Becomes" is your latest single. What was the inspiration behind it?
That's a good question! All of our songs follow a loose narrative. It's not always linear or even clear, but a good way to think about it is as an amalgamation of our experiences of the human condition. The difficulties we have faced and, without proper guidance, how we chose to deal with those experiences. Where 'Freedom(ination)' was a groggy awakening and 'Speak Up' was the other side of that coin, 'What Becomes' poses the question of where do we go from here and how do we ensure that we are meeting our needs.
The lyrics of the song are dealing with mental health. What message do you hope your fans will take out of this song?
When it comes to music, interpretation is in the eye of the beholder. I would just like to hope that if someone listens to our music, they get something from it. Whatever it might be that they need really. It would be folley to set an expectation of what a listener may want and only serve that, so we make the music we want to hear and pair it with a message that we'd like to hear. Outside of that, the songs taste in their own life and meaning depending on the context in which they're listened to.
It's less a question of what do I HOPE that people get from it and more than I HOPE people get something they need from it.
The "What Becomes" music video was filmed at Aradale Lunatic Asylum. What sparked that decision?
Oh yes, the lunatic asylum! It is a beautiful place and there's a lot of energy in those walls. I'm certain they the patients would have seen it differently though.
The asylum tied into what we are doing as, typically speaking, a mental hospital is a place for sick minds. We thought it a great location to portray that part of the story, out the segment we were discussing in 'What Becomes'.
I also feel that it's important that as a band, you should engage in strange activities to make things exciting and there's little more fun than playing with a body fridge in a near abandoned mental asylum!
"What Becomes" features the guitarist Jake Webber. How did this collaboration come about?
While I'm capable of playing lead guitar and played solos on 'Freedom(ination)' and 'Speak Up', I only have so much of a lead vocabulary.
I've known Jake for a long time and wanted to hear how he might approach a lead in Owls. What he ended up contributing was far more shreddy than I normally go for but it was excellent! Learning how to play it for shows also expanded my vocabulary quite a lot which is helpful for future tunes.
It's just good to see things from the outside from time to time and not eat your own dog food all the time, you feel?
Up until now, you have released three singles. Is there an album on the horizon for Order of Owls?
Not anytime soon. We're simply not interested in a long form release right now. I mean, we've been publicly on the scene for around and a year now and have carefully tested the waters with what works for us.
What we've found is consistency is key. Keep writing, keep recording. I've personally been a part of bands that make albums containing songs that were known to be filler and I just don't what the point of that is.
Also why would we want to spend ages to push an album out, record it, market it and then have everything to do with the release window done in less than a month. It's just irresponsible to expect it would be successful for us at this stage and releasing singles consistently every few months allows us to properly understand what works and what doesn't.
All that being said, we have a LOT of material in the pipeline and could easily release an album if we wanted to. But the truth is, some of those songs will never see the light of day and others aren't ready to be creatively abandoned just yet.
Are there any upcoming gigs for Order of Owls this year?
Yeah man! This Saturday we are playing in Geelong as part of the Melted festival and we're also organising a few of our own shows as well.
That's another front that we're looking into, how to make gigs more exciting and novel. One idea we were tossing around was setting up a space to have someone paint something throughout the event. I'd personally like to do a gig in a laser tag centre or paintball field because that would be rad af!
If you could teleport your fans into one moment that has defined the band, what would it be?
We are in a constant state of defining ourselves to be honest so seeing us now would be best. I'll tell you some things we haven't revealed anywhere else just yet, without naming names except for myself: I, a former agoraphobe, have developed myself into someone that does PR and Booking for Owls. I was never a great talker, delegator or leader though in this band I had to learn to become those things. One of us decided to take his career and life into his own hands and took on a sole trader business which is doing INCREDIBLY well! I don't think his family has ever been so well looked after and he's a testament to what a person can become when they apply themselves.
One of us quit hard drugs in the past year and has spent the whole time learning how to feel happiness again. He's come leaps and bounds to a point where his positivity has become infectious.
The last of us has a lot going on in his life. He has kids, learning how to be a single dad, putting in time for his romantic relationship and relearning his values.
Every few months, our paradigms shift and with it, we become stronger. That strength often comes with frustration, bitching and winging, particularly from me, but ultimately, everyone keeps stepping up and we bring that back to each other.
Follow the band:
Website: https://bio.to/orderofowls
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OrderOfOwlsBand
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/order.of.owls/
Bandcamp: https://orderofowls.bandcamp.com/
Interview by Stella Goulinoudi