#windian

Eighteen-year-old Drew Owen is the man behind Baltimore's Sick Thoughts. Sick Thoughts began as a home recording project in 2013. Never one for subtlety, Owen hit the ground running, releasing a couple of singles and a full-length (Terminal Teenage) by year's end. Influenced by The Reatards and the Oblivians, Owen recorded and played all the instruments on his releases. His lyrics covered the themes you'd expect from a precocious high schooler hopped-up on punk rock: disaffection, boredom and frustration.

           Drew was beyond prolific last year, releasing no less than eleven singles and a long player (My Mess My Life). Owen had the privilege of putting a single out on Goner; he also played 2014's Goner Fest.

           Drew started 2015 off on a good note, debuting DD Owen with a single on Windian Records. He also recently graduated high school, allowing him to tour extensively for the first time (that'll be kicked off by a late September/early October tour of Scandinavia with the Achtungs). A Sick Thoughts single on No Front Teeth and a small American tour should round out the year.    

Interview by Ryan Leach

Photos by Josh Miller

This interview originally appeared in Maximum Rocknroll issue #389.

MRR: You're originally from Hanover, Pennsylvania?

Drew: Yeah.

MRR: You moved to Baltimore when you were still pretty young, right?

Drew: Yeah. I lived in Hanover for the first seven or eight years of my life. We then moved to Baltimore County. I've lived in Carroll County as well.

MRR: You were a precocious kid. Your musical tastes—Oblivians, Reatards, Carbonas—were pretty advanced considering you were only sixteen.

Drew: Well, I had the internet.    

MRR: You didn't have an older brother?

Drew: No. It was all stuff I stumbled upon. I've heard people say that kids like me don't work to find shit—y'know, because I have the internet. But there are a lot of people my age who don't know shit about music. It does take some time and effort to look this stuff up and get into it. But then again, it's not that much work.  

MRR: You still have to be driven to discover underground music. You're right: the internet has cut down on some of the heavy lifting, but that doesn't mean it's all right there for you.

Drew: That's right.

MRR: Did you start playing guitar and then get into punk or was it vice versa?    

Drew: I started playing guitar when I was nine. My parents took me to lessons. This guy taught me all these religious songs. I was like, "Man, this really sucks." So I stopped playing guitar. After that I started listening to stupid punk records. I thought, "Man, these people are idiots. I can probably do this." (laughs) So then I started doing it.

MRR: Was there any sort of small group of kids at your high school into punk rock? Or where you operating in your own little vacuum?

Drew: Nobody I knew in high school listened to this shit. The two of three friends that I had—I tried to show them shit—and they'd just sort of say, "That's cool." That was about the extent of it. I tried to get them into punk, but I gave up. Top 40 radio and rap were big at my school. I was pretty much the only white kid there. People thought I worshipped the devil. They'd hear me listening to the Ramones on my headphones and would seriously ask, "What's that devil music you're listening to?"  

MRR: You've worked with a lot of older people—I know Rob (Fales) at Southpaw Records and Eric (Brady) at Windian have played with you. They're at least ten years older than you.  

Drew: Yeah. It's kind of weird. I've just hung out with older people. Rob and Eric were both super nice and helped me out.

MRR: In the liner notes to My Mess My Life (2014), you mention being hospitalized after a suicide attempt. Did Sick Thoughts help you work your way out of a depression spell?

Drew: I guess so. I did all of those first demo tapes a week after I got out of the psych ward. I remember being in therapy one day, and they asked, "Drew, what do you do in your free time? What is your coping mechanism?" I said, "Uh, I make music." I really didn't know what to say. I was lying. When I got back home from the hospital, I figured I might as well live up to that bullshit lie I told. I started making shitty music in my basement. I was also really bored.    

MRR: Sick Thoughts hit hard. It seemed like you had a new single out every month last year (2014). And with good labels: Goodbye Boozy, Zaxxon and Goner to name a few.

Drew: Yeah. Gabriele (Di Gregorio) wrote me: "Let's do a record." It was crazy. I was fifteen and losing my mind—and then I get an e-mail from a guy in Italy wanting to do a record with me. The rest of the shit just happened naturally. People e-mailing me, I'd e-mail them. We'd trade records, and then they'd want to do a 45.

MRR: You really took advantage of music hosting sites.

Drew: Bandcamp did help out a lot. I don't really have anything bad to say about the site. But I don't like using it anymore. I'd prefer it if people bought records. I'd rather sell a record for five dollars than get five dollars through digital sales.  

MRR: You're sort of a throwback. Nowadays, licensing deals appear more important than ever for some. But I always appreciated people like Billy Childish, Roy Vucino and Dan Melchior. Their emphasis always seemed to be on getting work out.  

Drew: I don't know anything about the business side of music. ASCAP and BMI? Whatever. Nobody is going to put a Sick Thoughts song in a commercial, so I don't really see the point in trying. I put a little "c" with a circle on my record. I don't know what that does.

MRR: Like Jay Reatard, you sort of learned as you went along—both how to play and record.

Drew: We also played all of the instruments (on our records). I went on Craigslist and bought a drum kit for twenty-five dollars. That's what I learned how to play on.

MRR: My Mess My Life...

Drew: That shitty record.

MRR: You don't like it? How about Terminal Teenage?

Drew: I don't like any of them. I think both of those LPs suck. I want to buy the remaining stock of both of those records and throw them off a fucking bridge. I want to throw them into the Chesapeake Bay.

MRR: You're not so fond of your back catalog. Why the disgust?

Drew: They're fine records. I just don't like them. Deadbeat Records hit me up said, "Let's do a record." I said, "Yeah, blah, blah, blah." I was stupid and young. I didn't know what I know now. If I could do it all over again, I'd stagger my releases. I just had a huge overflow. I was constantly writing, constantly releasing records. I didn't know when to stop and pause. I blame it on my immaturity and naiveté. I do hate both of the covers of those records.

MRR: The first one had a great cover. It was sort of a homage to the Oblivians. You were thin then too. How old were you? Sixteen?

Drew: I'm fucking fat now. I'm going to be living on my own soon, so I'll be thin again. I'm not going to eat as much to save money, so I'll be that cool, 150 pounds again. You mentioned the Oblivians. People don't get that—sure, I love the Reatards but I also love the Oblivians and a million fucking other bands from that scene. People are so quick to say, "Oh, you're a copycat of Jay Reatard. You're not original at all." But that's the same thing Jay did. He loved the Oblivians and said, "Shit, I want to do something just like that." And he did it. I guess because I'm the third in line, people feel the need to talk shit.  

MRR: At the same time, you've got to have thick skin. People claiming you're a Jay Lindsey clone are making a real oversimplification. But then again, Jay was great and he's an influence in what you do.    

Drew: Anybody who says I'm a Jay Reatard clone can fuck off. Goner Records released one of my 7"s. They wouldn't give a fuck if they thought I was a rip-off artist.

MRR: How many kids from Baltimore were doing what you were doing? There was a sincerity and openness to those records—the bullshit of high school and the boredom of being a teenager. I can't think of too many people who've had the second half of their high school years documented so well on vinyl.

Drew: I don't know.

MRR: You're aiming to stagger your releases more?

Drew: I want to release everything I record. I always make sure it's good and that people will like it. I just want to slow it down. I feel like when you slow down, people are waiting for your next release more. Touring is going to help, especially with selling records. I've never been on tour. The furthest out I've been is Memphis.

MRR: You've never been on the West Coast or gone further south than Tennessee, huh?

Drew: Yeah. So far I've played Baltimore, New York City, Memphis, Orlando and Richmond. So not a lot of people know about Sick Thoughts. The internet bump helped. But people want to see that shit live.

MRR: You were getting the internet bump for a while, on sites you're likely not a fan of.

Drew: Oh, yeah. That was all thanks to my Hollywood PR team. I was making a million bucks a month. The internet buzz wore off quick. Beneath one of those articles some kid commented, "His dad must have a huge PR budget set aside for him. He sucks." My PR team is my Gmail account, piece of shit.

MRR: For a while there you had about four bands going: Timecop, Caught...

Drew: Those were just home-recording projects.

MRR: Sure, but you were putting time into them. On past e-mails, you told me you were thinking of ending Sick Thoughts. Everything seemed really manic.

Drew: I was kind of schizophrenic with all of those bands.

MRR: The workload helped keep you busy and sane?

Drew: I would think so.

MRR: I really liked the DD Owen single.

Drew: Thanks.

MRR: Are you going to be pursuing DD Owen in the future? I think that's the only other project you've released a record with outside of Sick Thoughts.  

Drew: I did release the Chicken Chain LP. That one is good. That DD Owen single is really fucking good. I listened to it again recently and I'm really proud of it. I'm actually having the first DD Owen practice this Saturday. Then we're doing a show in two weeks. I think we're going to take it in a more rock direction.

MRR: How has your recording gear and recording knowledge evolved? Obviously, everything you cut is really hot.

Drew: When I bought that drum set, I also bought a 4-track because I knew I was going to want to record shit. I started recording a ton of music. I worked off that 4-track for a while. Every 7" I released up until DD Owen, I recorded on that 4-track. Every Sick Thoughts LP was done on that Tascam. Actually, that's not true: Beat on Beat was recorded on a broken 8-track recorder. It only had three tracks. It sucked to record on. Right now, I'm just using my computer. Everything sounds so good. People like analog technology. But the simple fact is: if you suck, you suck. It doesn't matter what you record on. It's so much easier to work on my computer. I can add a million overdubs. If I want it to sound warmer, I can just dump songs onto my 4-track and then rip it from a tape. I've just picked up on recording techniques along the way and found out what worked best. I'm going to record a couple of bands soon and get paid for it.

MRR: What's on the horizon for Sick Thoughts?

Drew: I just got this new band together. The lineup I have now—they're like my stable lineup for Baltimore. If we ever do a weekender, they can do it. Whenever I go on an out-of-state tour, I want to tour with another band and just have them back me. It just makes sense to do that. Some people might not like that the same four people aren't constantly playing in Sick Thoughts.

MRR: I think if you played all of the instruments on the record, you're entitled to do that.

Drew: Yeah. I'm obviously the best player on the record.

MRR: And also the worst!

Drew: Yeah.

MRR: What's coming out on vinyl?      

Drew: In September, a Sick Thoughts 7" will be out on a label called No Front Teeth. They're a label out of the United Kingdom. It's a solid record. I hope it does well. That'll support my tour to Finland. I hope to sell every copy before I come home.

MRR: You're touring Finland and Sweden with the Achtungs, correct?

Drew: Yeah. We'll be on tour from September 15 till October 4. I'm not sure of the show dates yet, but it'll be seven or eight shows. Only one or two dates will be in Sweden, the rest in Finland.

MRR: You've been doing this for three years and you're still only eighteen. What lessons have you learned?

the BIZARROS “Ice Age”  BIZARROS/RUBBER CITY REBELS   From Akron LP (Clone - 1977) 

Speaking of Akron, the turn this Bizarros song takes at 1′19″ might just be one of Fuckin’ Record Reviews’ most cherished musical moments. A song within a song, it cuts through a deep rust punk trench (”well he’s been thinkin’ thinkin’ thinkin’ thinkin’ oaoaoaww”) with perfectly rendered cross talk hustle. 

While I was aware of the Bizarros going way back, the greatness of this band did not reveal itself until Windian issued the Complete Collection 1976-1980 double long player in 2012, compiling their sevens, comp appearances and Bizarros LP (Mercury Records - 1979). Don’t know about you, but I’d include their avant pollution belt menace in the same tier as that of Pere Ubu, Electric Eels, Mike Rep, Numbers Band, Styrenes, Tripod Jimmie, Easter Monkeys, et al. I would do that.

BIZARROS updated site: everything you could possibly wanna know