CRITICAL MASS HYSTERIA! (1978-)

Busy-ness. Or, if I must spell it as such, business. That’s my excuse for the lapse in communication. And admittedly, I’ve written and re-written this blog over the course of several weeks as my thoughts and scenarios change. I do understand that these writings are supposed to be a bit more “from-the-hip” than that, but indeed, my neurosis knows no bounds.

Even so, not writing to you all for extended periods of time makes me feel like I’m being reclusive, or hiding — which is not the case, and is absolutely unintentional. Apologies, avec sincerité.

Things are good. Life is creatively exciting and brisk. Last month was a reflective one, with my birthday coming again which coincided with the one-year anniversary of The Elms’ final show. Today, l’m just super appreciative of the moments when I can simply be within arms’ length of my closest friends and family. And to those of you who sent such warm birthday wishes, thank you.

I put the “owe” in Owen.
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Ok, first things first. Smalltalk.

I’ve been getting healthy. I got a trainer, started running 3-5 miles a day, lost fifteen pounds, changed what I eat (quite dramatically). I feel good, better than I can ever remember feeling physically. My chosen work and subsequent schedule made it hard to find time for this kind of regimen for years, but I just resolved to commit to it all now.    

Plus, I had to be prepared just in case my creative endeavors split into Calvin Klein modeling. Those relentless agencies have been pestering me for years: “Oh Owen, Tyson Beckford just isn’t as cool as you, nor as ripped…” So, I’m trying to be considerate and accommodating. Underwear, likely. Times Square ad. I know, you’ve all expected this for years. Sssss.
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Secondly, more things. Still sorta smalltalk-y.

If you’ve been in touch or observing my life at all, you know now that I’ve been working creatively with other artists, some independent and some label-based, doing aesthetic direction, film direction, photo, and more. I’ve always got extra OCD to dole out to anyone else who asks for a hand. It’s pulling ideas outta the sky, which is what I do. 

Film has indeed captured my creative heart, in addition to music. My friend and visual collaborator Christopher John Ude (whom you can call Kip, as I shall mention him as such from here forward, should his name be mentioned from here forward) and I have been working non-stop, and are now also courting feature film and creative campaigns which have kind of effortlessly presented themselves. We’re working extremely hard on multiple tasks, both for our own creative necessities, and for those of other great artists/bands/singers. We’re building cool things every day, and we’re grateful.  

We’re pretty obsessed with the possibilities of digital filmmaking (which is nothing new, but nevertheless), and find ourselves to be visually influenced products of Boyle, Noe, Akerlund, Fincher, Romanek, Atkyns, and Kaye. The point is just to do cool stuff, excellent work that I’m proud of, and to work with other artists who have use for a director obsessed with symmetry, raw energy, and bold imagery and type.

With my aforementioned hombre, I’m in the process of building a new creative house called Absorb. Not, you know, a house like bricks and tiles and vinyl siding. But a little dreamworld laboratory with which we’ll imagine, create, and release music, film, and otherwise at will. We’ve decided not to do things like Mattress Man commercials or silly wedding portraits, or work with artists we don’t like. So, we’ll see how well that treats us. We’ve got a very tidy screenplay and a series of short films in development, and of course… there’s music. We’ll ultimately start releasing a steady stream of things we dream up, beginning with “The Last Band On Earth”, the documentary concert film about The Elms’ final show.

(*NOTE: We’re sitting in front of The Elms’ film footage daily. A bit of breaking luck and much perseverance and we should be able to quite wonderfully put this film into your hands by Thanksgiving. I will tell you that there are going to be somewhere between 18-22 songs from the final show in the film.

Initially, the idea for the was to make a retrospective documentary about the band’s life with live footage mixed in. Now, after seeing/hearing/feeling the energy of the final show, we’ve decided to make it a documentary film solely about that evening. There will be these wild photo vignettes throughout the movie, all using images sent in by audience members at the show. It’s gonna be great, very visceral and loud.)

More on these matters very soon. 
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Thirdly, a man with songs.

In proper time, and “soon” (as I define the word “soon”), I’ll be bringing music back into my atmosphere (and hopefully yours, if you’re interested). My blood is pumping in time. Guitars and pens are back in my hands. Well, not pens. Macs. But, “pens”. Ugh.

I never intended to, or was interested in, recording any kind of solo album. But I’ve written 150 tunes in the last year, and have begun the process of distilling them, finding the best and brightest, because they keep me awake at night and I need to purge them. These are very intimate songs, written in realtime as monumental things were happening in my life… writing songs like this is mostly new operational mode for me, as I usually finish songs after months of reflection. So, I believe the new tunes are very transparent and connected to specific moments, ideals, and changes that we all share, or at least ponder with reasonable frequency.

And, I’m just not very good at denying my impulses. I follow them. So, I’ll follow these. To be honest, I’m verrry keen to record songs which would be accompanied in total by visuals, little movies. So I suppose I’ll have to do that, too.

I’m not in a rock band anymore, and will never be again. So, these songs are not meant to faceblast you with ferocious electrified thunderous rockhammering. They’ll be rhythmic, very melodic, and — well, you’ll be able to move to them. They’ll just have a sort of interesting motion. (Or, maybe they won’t. Maybe I’ll just listen to Nick Drake.)

I like rhythm that feels like a heartbeat, so I hope these songs will feel like that. And, I hope that people who know me (closely or peripherally) will think to themselves, “Yes, this music totally represents the worldview, passions, and humor of the Owen I know.”     

I expect to have to introduce and prove myself, and my songs, anew. I’ve already discussed all these matters with Christopher, Thomas, and Nathan, and all are supportive and have availed themselves to me musically regarding my next musical move. I am excited about the songs. After “The Last Band…” is released, I’ll shift my painfully task-oriented efforts into getting these tunes recorded and released. Thom has always been a unique and wonderful musical companion to me. He will be an integral part of the documentation of these songs. And, we’ve decided to spend time in the studio together without months of planning first… to let the songs just take shape as they will in a very instinctive way. 

I’m very excited about this.    
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Fourth of five… have a seat. (And, a lot of words with “re-” as a prefix.)

The last year was an absolutely life-changing one for me, one I’m all-the-wiser for having lived. The ending of The Elms had enormous impact on my heart and mind. It was difficult. I moved directly from the band experience into multiple other experiences — some wonderful and some terrifying — and feel like the last year flew by. 

So, I’ve experienced it all in the past 12 calendar months: re-building, re-dreaming, re-identifying, re-constructing… and even a bit of love unrequited, family tragedy, and surprise relational re-emergences made appearances in my life in the last year. Songs bled out of me. Heartbreak ensued, and then redemption came.  

It’s an extraordinary thing, life. If not only for it’s capability to surprise us, then also for it’s capability to refine us. And in your life, you are going to experience burnout, infidelities, disappointment… but from those things will come beautiful and unexpected triumph, blessing, and opportunity you don’t deserve. And in all of these matters, the chances we have to redeem our tragedies are endless. This is the great human economy, by God’s design: that all things and all hearts can be made new. 

And in the last year, the principles that I live by and the intrinsic parts of my identity have been re-articulated to me. I had to ask myself, “Owen, who are you?”

I was born to create. To love deeply. To be resilient and steadfast for those close to me. To believe in possibilities where there seem to be none. These things I know. These things have been tested. 

If I can tell you one thing, it is this: YOU are precious, YOU have great value. To your Creator, to those you keep in your heart, to the hearts you’ve been entrusted to care for. To me. You are my friends, and I’m so thankful for you.

Know who you are. Know your principles, your distinct uniqueness… your truths. Then, love well. Be disciplined, loyal, and honest. Concern yourself not with being right, but with being righteous.                       
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Fifthly, I’m gonna close this up.

My brother Chris got engaged to an incredible girl with whom he shares every trust and respect. This will be a beautiful and blessed addition to our family. So, a September 10 wedding is in the cards, and I’ll be in celebration mode. I’ll be playing a song in the ceremony. 

So, anyhow, I’m kickin’. I’m simply enamored by The Vaccines, Foster The People, and The Dead Hearts. I’ve got a new found obsession with whole grains. I’m ready for autumn. I’ve been getting my hair cut once every ten days. I hope you’ll come follow me on Twitter too, so we can keep in touch.   
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I think of you all often, with enormous fondness and gratitude.

Somebody asked me the other day, “Owen, so what is it you want to do from here on out?”

“Just to keep creating whatever I dream up.”

K.O.K.O.
Owen

Compadres,

I miss you all, and the experience of blogging frequently. Much creative work is in the air, which means that deadlines and plans (both self-imposed and otherwise) loom daily. At the first chance I get, I’ll sit down and write out a hearty, righteous note that we can all discuss at length. Word.

Until then, there’s this little interview that I did with NUVO Newsweekly last week, posted below, which you can read for a surface clue-in. I know, it’s a little bit of a silly “two birds, one stone” kinda idea, but bear with me.

Also, if you haven’t visited TheElms.net recently, please do. I have several tasks that are consuming my mind and heart these days. This is among the most important. There is also more music to be made. But, a time and place for all things…

If you haven’t already, find me on Twitter. Conversation abounds with more frequency.

I’ll be back soon.
Owen
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ROOTS/ROCK: Catching Up With Owen Thomas.
By Rob Nichols, NUVO Newsweekly. Issued Tuesday, May 24 2011.

When we most recently saw Owen Thomas, The Elms’ singer/songwriter/guitarist was ending the show (and life) of the band during a four-hour farewell concert at Radio Radio last July. Mixing on-the-sleeve emotions, inspired bandplay and a full setlist of Elms music, Thomas told the crowd of his appreciation for their years of support, that the show was being videotaped, the audio digitally recorded, and that he would be back. In what form, neither he nor the crowd seemed to know.

Almost a year removed from that show, the earnest Thomas has put away his live music for the moment (though he says he has been writing songs), and jumped into film; heartland rock replaced by following the creative pull of his heart. He’s started to focus his efforts on moving images rather than playing a Telecaster and writing American rock. While former bandmate and guitarist Thom Daugherty jumped back into live performing, touring with rising country group The Band Perry, Thomas has stayed behind-the-scenes so far. We caught up with Thomas to see what the Petty-esque rocker was doing to fill his desire to create.

NUVO: We haven’t really seen much of you since the farewell Elms show last July, what have you been up to?

OWEN THOMAS: It turns out there were other artists out there who were fans of The Elms’ aesthetic neurosis, which was always one of my obsessive duties for the band. So, I’ve been working with other bands and artists, both major label and independent, doing creative direction, filmmaking, photography. I’m preparing to launch a new creative house called Absorb. It will primarily endeavor in modern digital films, but will also serve as the outlet for music and other projects I’ll be working on, anything that pops into my brain. Absorb will release the DVD of The Elms’ final show. My overt contributions to the creative world have been a bit quiet lately, I’ve been more behind-the-curtain. But I’m interested in changing that soon.

NUVO: Is there a new band in the future for you or did you step completely away from music?

OT: I’ll never play in another rock band, I’m not really interested in performing with any other combination of people in that context. I do have about 100 new songs written, mostly from the last year and a half. Last summer, while we were preparing for The Elms’ final show, I was very affected the entire time. So, a lot of very honest material emerged. I’ll probably start recording it soon, and will let it evolve ‘til it’s ready to put out. With The Elms, we always played straight from the guts, which is how I think it’s meant to be for a rock band. With anything I’ll record from here on out, it will be a bit more from the brain. But I’ll still ask the boys in the band to play on my recordings.

NUVO: If not music, what would you like to do?

OT: I’d like to direct a feature film by the time I’m 40, so that gives me eight years to really find an extraordinary story. It’ll happen sooner. I’ve got cool scripts and ideas floating around. I’d also like to write a record that is entirely accompanied by visuals that I’ll direct myself. So, it would be like making a film, or a series of short films, that my songs will be the soundtrack for.

NUVO: What about that DVD of the final show? What’s it look like in the raw version and do you have a timetable for getting it released?

OT: We’re all working on it, slowly. We decided to edit and mix the whole thing ourselves, really interpret our final night exactly how we want it to be perceived. We’ve still got to shoot some conversational bits with the guys in the band, and we’ve decided to make it both a concert film and a documentary piece about The Elms’ lifetime. It’s an enormous undertaking. The raw live footage is really great, and I know it will be a beautiful presentation once it’s ready. Timetable? Hopefully it will come out in the next hundred years.

NUVO: You made your best album (The Great American Midrange) as your last. You built a good base of fans in Indianapolis. How do you look back on those days?

OT: We had been a band since 2000, but didn’t really find Indianapolis as an adopted hometown until about 2006, when our album “The Chess Hotel” came out. It was our first major-label album, and so there was more interest in it than there was in our first two records. I think the scene in Indianapolis is not particularly different from many midwestern towns, which is to say that you can grow your band with equal parts hustle and restraint. You have to value what you’re doing. If you’re playing the same cities and venues twice a month, or more, it’s too much.

NUVO: What have you been listening to lately?
    OT: Music has really taken a bit of a back seat to filmmaking at the moment, if you can’t tell. So, I’m more likely to tell you about my affinity for Romanek, Kaye, Akerlund, and Anderson these days. When I listen to music, it’s always Bruce or The Kinks or Wilco, like it always has been. I like all the staple popular stuff that’s really great too, like Kanye, Strokes, Arcade Fire.

NUVO: So what are the plans for you?
    OT: Creating. Still adjusting to life after being in a rock band. Keeping my mind and hands busy. All is good. I’ll be around.

(*See original article at Nuvo.net HERE.)