Interview - I'll have a round of Electro_Nomibrews with Owen from Electro_Nomicon

Electro_Nomicon Interview

Date Of Interview – 15^th August 2011

Interviewer  - Phill Bruce

Electro_Nomicon is an amazing band to say the least.  They have so many different elements of rock and metal mingled into their superb sound.  They are from various parts of North and South America which helps to add to their unique sound.  I got a chance to catch up with Owen Bryant of Electro_Nomicon and here’s how it went.

Electro_Nomicon are David Jackson, Owen Byrant, Diago Valdez and Juan Jose Fornes 

Phill – Thank you for giving Grave Concerns Ezine this interview Owen, would you tell our readers a little bit of background about yourself and where in this beautiful world you are from?

Owen –  I’m Owen Bryant, drummer for Electro_Nomicon and part of my musical background goes like this.  I was raised on 70s hard rock stuff from Boston, Ted Nugent, Nazareth, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Kiss, and all those types of bands.  The eighties bands too, like Iron Maiden, also Judas Priest who is actually a band from the seventies and eighties etc.  Up to Metallica, Black Label Society and even some of the heavier stuff  in the eighties.  I started playing drums at the age of 12 and just pursued playing the heavy metal style of music.   I’ve played in quite a few bands throughout my life and finally got to the point where Electro_Nomicon got formed about 4  years ago (2007) and it’s done quite well so far.  E_N is better than all of the other bands I’ve been in so I’m pretty excited about this group. 

Phill – At what point in your life did you decide to form a band and why?

Owen – I started to perform in high school and the reason being is this, in junior high I wasn’t good enough to be in a band and I probably wasn’t good enough in high school either, but I thought I was (lol).  But really what got me  inspired was I heard KISS, and I saw KISS, and I had a poster of the band KISS. and I was like “WOW!, I want to do that” .  I was very infatuated with the make-up and the music and that's what  got me interested in the band life.

Phill – What made you decide to play drums?

Owen – Well actually I started playing piano and was playing recitals when I was 6 years old but I really never pursued that.  Then  at 9 years old I got an electric guitar. There were some acoustic guitars lying around the house but I really wanted an electric one so my mom and dad got me one.   I just couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t get the 2 bottom strings to sound right.  I understood the top 4 strings, but as I got older I learned the idea of all six strings.  Anyways, we had a set of bongos in the house and I started beating on those and hitting everything in the house which was driving my parents crazy.  So one Christmas morning I woke up and there was a drum kit sitting there.  I guess Santa Clause brought it and somehow he got the drum set from Sears (lol).  That just about did it for me.  Now I had the drum kit and the KISS posters and from that point I really never looked back.

 Phill – Who else besides yourself is in Electro_Nomicon and what background are they from?

Owen – Ah ,well a very good friend of mine plays bass and his name is David Jackson and I’ve known him since the mid-eighties.  We had played together back in the mid-eighties and we have been very good friends ever since then.  We both played in several bands since then and we reunited a few years ago to do this band.  David is influenced by similar bands like Black Sabbath ,but Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio also Judas Priest and Iron Maiden.  Those are his favorite bands.  He likes Slipknot as well.  We all like Dream Theatre and progressive metal but we like the straight forward metal as well.  I have a great friend, Diego Valdez, who is the vocalist and another great friend of mine ,Juan Jose Fornes, the E_N guitarist.

 Phill – Who would you say is your main musical influence?

Owen – We are influenced by all kinds of music from Queen to once again Black Sabbath,  Judas Priest, Iron Maiden.  Our singer is very influenced by Ronnie James Dio.  You can kind of hear what he got (learned) from Dio in his (Diego) voice.  You can tell he likes him.  Diego also likes Freddy Mercury a lot, Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford and he’s a very big Geoff Tate fan.  We all love Queensryche and they  have influenced us all.

 Phill – Where do you see Electro_Nomicon in five years and what are your hopes for the future?

Owen – Well things have been going really well for us.  We just finished our EP which also includes a DVD biography.  We are shopping it right now.  We are shopping it to some serious labels, so we hope we will be picked up by someone who will back us and do something serious with us.  So in five years the hope and dream ,which I seriously think can happen, is to be touring the world and maybe at that time be playing the bigger venues.  Of course we all dream of the coliseums of the world,  that would be fantastic.  At this point I hope we are an opening act on some major tours.   We definitely have the intention of staying around for the next five years, actually, the real intention is to do this until we are gone (deceased).  We (E_N) have the right line up with these guys and we have a chemistry and a bond which is fantastic.   We are shooting for the stars, going for the gold and we would love to be playing the arenas  around the world one day, festivals and so forth.  Hopefully we’ll be fortunate enough to be one of those bands, you never know, but you gotta keep trying.

 Phill – Is there any venue that you have played that holds memories good or bad?

Owen – Well, we have 2 band members that live in Buenos Aires, Argentina and two of us that live in Seattle USA.  The band ,as Electro_Nomicon, has only done one show and that was at a festival in Oklahoma in the United States (Rocklohoma 2009).  There was nothing bad about it other than the heat.  But of course every member of the band has played large venues.  The guys in Argentina have other projects going on and they are constantly playing shows.  I don’t know about any bad shows for them, but for me in this band, only having performed one show with E_N, I have nothing bad to reflect on.  Of course in prior bands the only bad thing was a small crowd. Lets see, also being a drummer wasn't fun because nobody helped me pack my gear up. That type of thing is my only negative memory.  But that’s one of the rules of being  a drummer in a band, I guess ? (lol)

Phill – Is there any venue of festival that you would like to play?

Owen – Yeah, all of the metal ones.  To answer your question more directly, The Wacken Festival in Germany; I dream of playing there.  Even on a smaller stage as an opening act.  I would just love to play there.

Phill – Is there any instrument or program that any member of Electro_Nomicon use that they would not be without?

Owen – Really, just these four guys in the band.  If these four guys weren’t in the band, I don’t know if the band would continue.  Other than that, band equipment, money, materialistic things aren't as important.  We just seem to have a real kind of magic that I have never experienced in a band.

Phill – What is the idea behind the name Electro_Nomicon?

Owen – Well ,  we were tossing around some names and that’s a name that came up (Electro_Nomicon).   I did a little research on it and we decided to go with that name.  We did a little more research after we named the band and I had no idea what the name meant.  The main thing I found out about it was,  that it had something to so with the mystical writings of The Mystical-Kabbalah of Abraham Elim.  Which is kind of like a poor man’s astrology.  These writings claim to  have the influence of planets on our lives ,but it’s nothing the band follows.  It’s just interesting that after we decided on the name, I googled the name and this information came up.  I noticed a few bands had albums with the name too.  Then there is the book “Necronomicon” which H.P. Lovecraft wrote sometime back in the 1920’s.  There’s a lot of  history to the name but it really became the official  band name because we just thought it sounded cool .  So we ended up getting it trademarked, registered and so forth and we have just gone with it.

Phill – How would you choose to define the style of music that you play?

Owen – I like to call it old school metal with a modern twist or maybe a type of power metal. I guess more of an old school metal that’s been modernized.

Take a listen to the band now:

Phill – Have you ever thought about doing covers or is it purely original stuff that you are doing?

Owen – I’m sure we’re going to do covers.  When we were in Buenos Aires Argentina we did a few cover songs down there.  We played Heaven & Hell, obviously by Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio.   I personally would love to do Kill The King by Rainbow, that would be my favorite song to do as a remake, if we decided to do something like that.  We are not opposed to doing cover songs especially in a live setting and so forth.  As far as recording, if the band agrees on a song that we all love and if the label says that we can do it, I’m all for it!

Phill – What is a rehearsal session for Electro_Nomicon like and how do new songs get life?

Owen – Well , the bass player and myself  rehearse in Seattle, Washington. We get all the rhythm sections down and record the ideas we have.  Then of course, the vocalist Diego Valdez and the guitarist Juan Jose Fornes do their thing in Buenos Aires. They do the same thing down there as we do up here.  Then we use the internet for sharing ideas and so forth.  At this point right now, like for the last EP (the new EP), Juan is really the main writer on that.   He sends ideas and we send them back and forth.  Juan takes everything, puts it together and you have a song. Juan is also an audio engineer.  So it works out pretty well for Electro_Nomicon having Juan also mix and master for us.  Really as far as  rehearsal sessions go, they really don’t exist, other than those guys do it down there and we do it up here in the North part of the United States.  When we get together we just let the magic happen.

Phill – Have you any advice for aspiring musicians that are trying to a band to get together or a band that has just recently got together?

Owen – I think the most important thing is the line-up and the chemistry you have.  If you have four or five guys, or even six, just make sure you are all on the same page.  Keep all the flakey people out of your band, that’s just my opinion.  It’s kind of like a garden , when you have a garden, you have to pull the weeds and that’s just the way it goes sometimes.  I also would suggest that you never quit, practice your instrument a lot and follow your dream.  You never know what level of success you will have, but if you quit, you won’t succeed.  If you keep on trying you never know what’s going to happen.  I’ve been at this for a few decades now and I have no intentions of quitting, I’m still going full force.  I think if it’s really in your heart and you love it, it’s just something that you are.  If the music is who you are ,you really can’t quit.  For young musicians I say  this, if it’s really what you want then have a goal, focus on it, and shoot for your target.

Owen Byrant the creator of Electro_Nomibrew

Phill – Your new EP, when is it going to be released, what sort of things can we expect to hear on it and is it just available in America or will we be able to hear it worldwide?

Owen – It’s a new EP and it was released August 1^st 2011. The EP has 4 songs on it and the hard copy set is a CD/DVD set.  The DVD has biographies, pictures of the band in English and in Spanish.  You can get it at reynapromotions.com ,our promotion company. You can get it online there and yes, it is available worldwide.  Just order it,  it’s $9.99,  and of course the shipping and handling fees that go with it, which is out of our control.  But that's kind of the game that goes with shipping  things.  As far as the music is concerned,  it’s kind of reminiscent and/or a combination of Rainbow, the later Black Sabbath when Dio was in the band.  Maybe a hint of some  Dio solo stuff as well. Oh, and a little twist of  Queensryche and Iron Maiden.  Some people have said we sound like the Scorpions, I do not hear that in the music, but I do hear some of the Rainbow, Dio and Maiden influence.

 Phill – Do you currently have a tour planned?

Owen – Well no shows right now.  Where we are at right now is  we have released the EP and we are shopping it to the labels.  The members of the band that are in Argentina are working with  the US government so they can come up here.  We are going to record a full length album at that time.  Hopefully that will be in the next few months. When we start doing that(recording the 2012 cd)  we hope to be picked up by a label that really likes our music.  We will be ready to go on the road as soon as a label wants to work with us.  It’s a pretty simple thing, we are just waiting for someone to come along and say HEY!, can you do this, and we’ll be like, ok ,Let’s go!

 Phill – If you could plan the ultimate gig with you playing headline, who would be on the bill?

 Owen – Wow ,how many bands do I get to pick, 4?   OK let’s see, for me personally I would pick where I started, which would have to be Kiss, but it would have to be the 1976/1977 Kiss.  Definitely Iron Maiden with the line-up that’s on Number Of The Beast album because I was so influenced by Clive Burr, but I would sure like to have Nicko McBrain around too (lol).  Then I would go for Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio on vocals.  I would also pick Queensryche from their Rage For Order era.  I’d love that.

Phill – Is there any person that inspires you and why?

Owen –  I guess the biggest inspiration I’ve had is recent.  A person that’s been in my life forever, my dad of course.  He passed away back in December in my home.  I was holding his hand when he was dying and he said  go for your dreams, don’t give up and shoot for the stars.  That really inspired me and really drives me tenfold on what I am doing with E_N.  It did something special to me, something that confirmed what I’ve always said, “I’m not stopping no matter what”.  And of course my mother because  they (mom and dad) were one.

Phill – What’s your favourite alcoholic beverage?

 Owen – I love lager beer, I’m trying to pick which brand.  I go back and forth between a couple of brands but I like Heineken.  I love German beer as well ,I know Heineken is from Holland but that’s close enough to Germany.  I also like a good Mexican lager, it’s called Dos Equis  XX.

Phill – If you were to make a drink either alcoholic or non-alcoholic that would describe Electro_Nomicon what would it be, what would it have in it and what would you call it?

Owen – I think I wouldn’t want to go too heavy.  The name of the beer would be Electro_Nomibrew and I would want to make a lager.  Really something that tastes great but not get you too wasted.  I wouldn’t have the alcohol content too high because they would have to buy a bunch more to get buzzed (lol).  In any event, I would go with a beer and I would go with the name, Electro_Nomibrew.

Phill – Simpsons characters, who’s your favourite?

Owen – Um man, probably Homer.  Just cause he’s a goofy dad kinda guy. For being a cartoon type character, he’s a pretty cool dad.  He’s a pretty cool guy and a really decent dad,(lol) pretty funny too.

Phill – Thank you so much for giving us this interview, is there anything you would like to add?

Owen – Thank you for having me and I speak for all the band, we are all privileged that you would speak with us.  It’s an honor to do this interview with you.  And I’d like to give a shout out to my band mates Diego Valdez , Juan Jose Fornes and of course David Jackson.  Also,  hats off to our promotion company Reyna Promotions and our dear friend Omar.  There’s another great band in Seattle, you might want to check them out, they are called MECHANISM and I’d like to give them a shout out as well.

https://www.electronomiconmusic.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Electro_Nomicon/362170388282

https://www.myspace.com/dreamensemble

https://www.reverbnation.com/electronomicon

https://www.reynapromotons.com