An alt-rock group who declare they're "too heavy to be a rock band and too soft to be metal", Melbourne-based Order Of Owls create music lyrically focused on fostering a positive mindset to remove the societal stigma of discussing mental health.
Influenced by the likes of Alive In Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Periphery, the members of Order Of Owls bring plenty of experience having played in other bands where they've supported the likes of At The Gates, Soilwork, Tyr, Trivium, Insomnium, Omnium Gatherum, Scar Symmetry, Elvueitie, The Haunted, Wintersun and Psycroptic.After the release of their debut single 'Freedom(nation)' in October, Order Of Owls last week dropped their sophomore single 'Speak Up' – a track highlighting the depths of despair depression can harvest within individuals.
"'Speak Up' revolves around the distress experienced when coping with depression," guitarist Nathan M says. "In one form or another, everyone in the band has endured a struggle with it and has an intimate understanding of how it can affect a person day to day and in the big picture.
"Depression isn't just feeling bad, it's an exhausting cycle of dis-regulation. Feeling fine or even euphoric at one point and utterly hollow at another. Vacillating between these extremes in a debilitating parade of moments towards an erosion to the sense of self."
Adds vocalist Tim L: "My goal is to put into words what others struggle to articulate. Help them realise they are not alone in the way they feel and encourage them that it's okay to seek help so they can become their best selves.
"The amount of time and work that might be required will seem like a small trade for the reward of happiness, and finding mechanisms towards those ends is the strongest thing a person can do. Doing so myself provided a mechanism that has vastly improved handling my day to day."
We get to know Order Of Owls better, with Nathan sharing some insights behind the group as well as number of humorous stories from band lyf.
"My role in the band is as leader, though I take cues from what results the guys want to see and marry that up with the experience I have in order to aim for the most achievable outcome. I don't really see myself as a 'boss' though, more as the person that happens to know how to read a compass so to speak."
Who is... Order Of Owls is a collective of gentlemen that have thrown what we know up against an unsuspecting wall to see what sticks.
On a baser level, it started off as a polite conversation between a few friends in a dingy pool hall that snowballed into an exploration of ourselves, our abilities, and ultimately a desire for connection that we all recognised we're able to get from the performing arts.
We sound like... This is a subjective question, but in my opinion I'd say we follow a branch of the grunge movement of the early '90s. Probably the Alice In Chains/Soundgarden route. But that's where we're at right now.
The stuff we've been writing is different. We don't particularly believe that we're limited to any one particular genre. Too heavy to be a rock band and too soft to be metal one. A whisper in either direction could blow us into either camp.
From a production standpoint; our songs sound like a band in a room. We don't use triggers or sample replacement on drums, no AutoTune etc. When we present a recording publicly, we want you to hear what's come from our fingers and hearts.
Our first gig was... At Stay Gold supporting a bunch of lads named Mailey. I mixed most of their first EP actually. It was an interesting set as we didn't quite have enough material at the time to play a 45-minute set, so we kinda did everything we could to clown around a bit. That involved playing an impromptu version of 'Gangsta's Paradise' and some weird Primus-like jam tune while I christened the band with a shoey.
When did you settle on the group's name, and was it a unanimous decision... Picking a name was one of those things were we simply had to agree on something to move on.
The 'Order Of Owls' is a real life fraternity of people who: "Assist each other in business, to help each other in obtaining employment, to assist the widows and orphans of our brothers, to give aid to our brother in any way that they may need, and assemble for mutual pleasure and entertainment."
When it was suggested by our singer, Tim, we felt as though their mission statement eloquently described what we set out to do amongst ourselves and for those were connect with. I'd like to say that while the fraternity is seemingly focused on males, we aim to connect with and empower anyone who enjoys what we do. Again, musical kintsugi.
In the studio we usually... When it comes to studio, we don't do what most bands typically would. If there's a room that sounds good with drums in it, that's were we set up our recording gear. Ramon and I have mobile recording rigs based off Midas consoles and we use them all the time for all sorts of things.
For everything else, recording is usually conducted at my house. I suppose it could be called a studio but I prefer to think of it as a living, breathing explosion of gear/workspace. I usually hold the role of producer in a recording environment and most of the time everyone is pretty tame.
Non-musicians might not know this, but a recording environment tends to be a little oppressive. There's always this weird sense that you have to apologise for goofed takes or having to tell someone that they can do better. So we try to get things done as effectively and good as we've prepared for, so we don't have to spend too much time in that situation. It's a fine line between fun and responsibility.
If we could tour with anyone... The honest answer is anyone we can connect with. One of the most fun tours I've been on, though I should mention it was with another band Chasing Lana, was with a Nirvana tribute band from the UK.
They were legit and sounded amazing, but what I enjoyed was chatting about AEW wrestlers with John and cheering him up in Melbourne while dressed in an inflatable cat costume, running onstage while they were performing 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and dancing like an idiot.
As Order Of Owls, we've only had a handful of shows but we all come from experienced backgrounds and have made some amazing connections that we'd love to expand on.
Social media is... A philosophical question hey!? It is whatever one makes of it. It can be used as a tool to connect and share, which I think was the intention. But I feel as though it's somewhat flawed in the sense that it's kinda free.
Well, free by way of the user becoming the product sold. That, married to the adage 'everyone had the right to their own opinion' is a strange mix. It creates echo chambers where people feel the need to take sides in things and it divides us. There's so much more I could dive into here but the short version is; I'm not the biggest fan, though I'll do my best to encourage healthy connection through my use of it.
My favourite app at the moment is... Facebook. No, it'd have to be Parsec by far. It's a remote desktop programmme that is designed for gaming but as a creative, it's invaluable.
It allows me to edit audio, video or images anywhere at any time while still using my studio PC. It's kinda awesome to have a Galaxy Tab with a mouse on it that's pumping out the graphics of a RTX 4080.
To date, my most embarrassing moment was the time... Ok, so this is gross. I was on tour with my old band supporting Lacuna Coil. While in Sydney, I copped food poisoning and ended up regurgitating for several hours before the next and final show in Queensland.
I almost didn't play that show, but went on anyway and ended up puking on stage into a garbage bin over and over, I didn't stop playing or mess up any notes though so I'm a bit proud of that. I HIGHLY don't recommend it though.
Life on the road can be... Stinky and uncomfortable. Unless people buy your merch, it's rough and you gotta balance the books as much as possible. That usually means that you take a shower where you find one, pick up the 6am flights in the middle of the cabin, sleep on floors or in single room family accommodation.
You gotta make it work. That doesn't mean it's bad by any means, it's actually exhilarating! But expect to be banged up and gain a strange appreciation for generic tiny bottles of shampoo.
If you'll have us on your bill, all we ask is that our rider contains... Oh man, the guys may or may not agree but just cold mineral water. It doesn't matter what brand or anything but something to keep the fluids up. After the food poisoning incident, I'm pretty careful about these things.
The most scary scenario I've found myself in, was... I have a great one for this. Again, previous band going to play a show in Hong Kong and travelling from Shenzhen. Our passports were taken at the border and we were instructed to go park next to a white building with the doors of our van open.
Next minute, a bunch of officers in military-like garb escort all of us into detention. I should point out, we weren't locked up, but my knee was touching the bars to one of the cells they had. The way we understood it, Hong Kong is part of China and we had Chinese visas. That explanation didn't go over very well with immigration.
Anyway, we were detained for three hours, they made us identify our tour poster and granted us a holiday visa. The catch is, we had to hand write and sign that we wouldn't attend the venue, perform or conduct any business of any sort. The best part was; the sound guy and touring guitarist of the other band we were with WEREN'T pulled into detention. Only us, by name and official affiliation with our bands.
TLDR: Wanted by the Hong Kong government.
What celebrity/ famous person would you love to be spokesperson of the band... I think I'll go with Greg Davies here. His ability to be mean and hilarious is an excellent conduit for connection.
If you had to live in a city abroad, where would you choose and why? Osaka. I was escorted back to my hotel at 3am by a gang of local youths chanting "titty sex" in Japanese. The entire place is a glorious mess and I absolutely ADORE it.
Three people you'd like to invite around for a dinner party... I think I'd go with Dave Grohl, Corey Taylor and, though it's an impossibility, Karen Carpenter.
Dave and Corey because anyone who's had lives as intense as theirs while remaining hungry for connection with others are definitely worth listening to, and Karen because she just seemed like such a lovely soul. She deserved so much more joy in her life and I would have loved the opportunity to talk with her.
If we were coming over to your place, what would you cook us? I suppose that would depend on what you'd like to have. But if the question is what would my speciality be, let's just say I take the Breath of the Wild-Link approach. Grab five items, throw them into a pot, enjoy the little cooking jingle that plays and hope to heck that it plays the version where you know something GOOD is coming.
When it comes to pets are you a lover or hater of our furry friends? I'm a director of a cat rescue, which explains my previous mention of owning an inflatable cat costume. But yeah I most certainly am. We usually take care of desexing and finding foster carers where we can. The most rewarding part is turning the spicy ones into lap-cats.
One of my favourite cases was a little guy named Vorby. He was a street cat that we caught that was the angriest little dingus ever until we started giving him these squishy cat treats. Indeed a few months later, he became a little marshmallow and the foster carer we found has pretty much taken him as her own.
No matter the expense, send me a case of... Red Eye energy drink. And don't stop them coming. Maybe mineral water as well.
The last time I saw the inside of a gym was... Gyms aren't my scene, but I like to swim often. There's a calmness I find in water that just isn't anywhere else. This might date me a little, but I have an iPod with a swimming kit and I love listening to albums underwater. Sometimes with a snorkel.
What's the one chore you dislike the most? Waking up or going to bed. But I LOVE sleep! Go figure that one out.
Do you have any phobias... Not particularly. Actually, reality tv. It scares the crap out of me!
Would you ever partake in a reality show? I swear I did not read this in advance so I'm actually laughing right now! It depends, maybe? If we're talking 'Jersey Shore' or 'Australian Idol', definitely not. But something like 'Big Brother'? I'd be an absolute menace because they'd try to vote me out but viewers will likely keep me in there just to cause chaos.
If you could prank any of your friends, who's your target, and how are you bringing them down? I don't really like to bring anyone down, but I like a light hearted, spontaneous prank.
My favourite one was creating a wallpaper in a friend's computer that had the regular windows wallpaper but with a random error message pasted into it. He kept clicking the close button for a good few minutes and started to get a little worried as to what was going on, that's when I clued him in and he looked at me with a muted, amused anger.
Best local takeaway joint for a midnight feed that will leave you with a food coma? Anywhere that'll do a hummus kebab.
Which fictional character best describes your personality? I'll go with Sam Rutherford from 'Star Trek: Lower Decks'. He's an engineering nerd that loves gadgets and playing with things. In the way that he created a homicidal holographic Star Trek badge mascot, I hope to create a homicidal holographic Owl mascot.
Last show you binge-watched? 'Pantheon'. The ideas that show had were amazing and captivating! It also revived around themes of connection which if you haven't noticed, is an obsession of mine.
