After nearly three years spent of constant performances around Texas and festivals around the country ferociously banging out an authentic Rock n' Roll repertoire , The Blind Owls (featuring DYLAN ROMEL: Drums/Vocals; JESSE DE LOS SANTOS: Guitar/Vocals; CARLOS GARCIA: Bass Guitar/Vocals and JOSH DE LEON: Guitar/Vocals) from Corpus Christi, Texas released their debut full length "All Day And Night".
Yours truly had a nice chat with the guys who reveal everything you ever wanted to know about this 4-piece outfit.
1) What can you tell about The Blind Owls? How long are you guys together as a band? Were you in other bands previously?
We have been a band since 2012, it started out as something to do for fun, just playing cover songs by various artists and it eventually spawned into what we are now. It is all of our first band... Well at least our first serious band. Although, all of us have been playing music since we were much younger.
2) To what kind of music did you listen to as a teenager and does it still influence your today work? What was your favorite band as a teenager? Name 3 bands that you consider still have a influence on your own work today.
We all grew up listening to various different things through our teenage years, so it really depends on what part of them we are talking about. However, when we started the band we were very into bands like
Pink Floyd, the
Beatles, the
Who and
Led Zeppelin. We then started getting really into the roots of rock n' roll groups and music and began delving deeper into music of the 50's and 60's that have a big influence on us today. 3 artists that we would say have the most influence on us till this day would probably be
1.
The Easybeats, for their energy and songwriting abilities and creativity in their music.
2.
The Beatles for just about every aspect, and the hard work and dedication that they put into their music.
3.
The kinks, for their aggressiveness and the distinctive qualities that they brought to Each of their songs.
3) Is there a main composer in the band or is everybody involved in one way or another?
Our main composer is guitarist/singer
Jesse De Los Santos for most of our songs. However, every song is put together with Each other so everyone has something to bring to every song. And each person has their own songs that they write that we perform as well.
4) About the new record "All Day And Night", can you explain the title? And what's the connection with the artwork on the front cover?
The title is the same as our title track "All Day & Night" the song was one of our very first songs we wrote and has always proved to be one of our most exciting songs to play and especially close out our shows with. So we thought changing it around and opening up the album with it would be a change of pace and kick things off right away! And thought the title would be a perfect title for the album as well. The cover photo was taken by
Vic Daniels and we had many photos to choose from, however when it came to choosing which one had the best look and was eye catching, we went with the final product.
5) The Blind Owls are described by some people as a 60's garage band. Do you agree with this label or do you consider there is way more than that?
We agree to a certain extent. We feel that a lot of our music has a variety of everything. We don't like to be stuck to one genre or label. We write songs that we write, so One of our songs could have a real garage sound to it, and the next song you hear by us might be a very slow more intimate song, or an upbeat poppy song. It's just however we feel when we're writing our music. And we feel that their is no restrictions as to what our sound should be and what our songs should sound like.
6) Do you have a new video on you tube featuring a track from the new LP??
As of now, we do not. Although we are currently working on it and you can check it out as soon as we do on our Facebook page or our website.
7) What can concert goers expect at a The Blind howls gig? Are you playing any famous cover songs?
Many people often compliment us for our highly energetic stage presence. We like to bring a very high energy to our music and let it flow into our audience and let them know how much we enjoy playing our music for them. We also try and perform all originals, although from time to time we will insert a cover song here and their by some of our influences.
8) Does Corpus Christi, Texas have a long history of garage bands, that goes way back to the 60's?
It certainly does.
The Zakary Thaks were from Corpus Christi in the mid 60's and are another influence on us. They had some success and played with bands such as the 13th floor elevators at the time. Another group were
The Bad Seeds, who from Corpus Christi as well in the 1960's. There's a very deep history with music in Corpus Christi that not a lot of people may know about.
