Name: Edley ODowd

Nationality: American
Occupation: Graphic designer, musician, typographer
Current release: Edley ODowd's F(OUR) WARD is out via 13/Silentes.
Recommendations:
1. Jean Dubuffet: Grand Maitre of the Outsider 1947. I fell in love with Dubuffet. He has always been a hero of mine in that he called himself an ‘art brut’. Feeling like an outsider myself, I always appreciated his use of natural materials and brutal techniques. He often rubbed his artworks with dirt and sand in order to get different results from only using paint. His figures, as unattractive as they may seem, speak to my heart because they appear monstrous. This type of appearance has always spoken to me because it somehow indicates that the ‘monster’ is simply in need of love and a gig hug. How awful to be so misunderstood!
2. Leigh Bowery: I think anything by them is worth a look. Bowery saw the world through very unique lenses which has him dressing in extremely challenging way in public. One wonders how anyone could even manage to walk in one of these costumes without falling!

If you enjoyed this interview with Edley ODowd and would like to stay up to date on his work, visit him on Instagram, and Facebook.



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

I started playing music around the age of thirteen. I was very interested in learning how to play a tuned instrument, but unfortunately this would required a long-term instrument rental, which my family couldn’t afford at the time. After taking a few formal lessons and attempting marching band, I was sure this was not what I was after. My incredibly resourceful mother found a drum kit comprised of mismatching parts at a garage sale, with a price tag of fifty dollars. I played my first gig with a band at sixteen with a local hardcore punk band.

I discovered sound at a young age, but quickly realized though, that the visual was as equally important to me. When I was nine years old, I caught a glimpse of the rock band KISS on television. K-Tel Records were advertising their latest compilation of recent hits. As the announcer quickly rattled off the various performers on the album, I heard him say “…aaaaand KISS!” While simultaneously a photo of the band appeared and an audio clip played in the background.

All it took was that 5 second experience to hook me. From that moment forward I would forever be in search of this type of experience.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

Depending on what I am creating, there are definitely unusual thought process like shapes and colors.

For me, if I am drumming, I normally have a vision of patterns, shapes and colors that emerge. More of a pattern I follow that an emotion though. When the process becomes emotional, my body moves in ways I am not familiar with and it can feel akin to being ‘altered’.

This is an age-old idea that I love: unfettered expression!

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

Like for many, the Covid pandemic afforded me the opportunity to spend time learning some new technologies. I have a new sense of empowerment being able to use them more and more efficiently, allowing me to be more expansive in my creativity.  

The last two years have been a huge leap forward for me musically due to just that. It allows me to realize music more quickly and keeps me productive.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

After being hypnotized by KISS as a child, I was wildly attracted to anything out of the ordinary. I grew into the punk scene as a teenager which shaped my sense of everything, forever. I’ve always felt ‘different’ from the other kids, which would explain my escape into the visual extreme of music.

It wasn’t long after KISS that I discovered The Plasmatics. A topless female driving a flaming Cadillac into the Hudson River while performing a wild concert? My forteen year-old brain couldn’t resist! It only made me more hungry for more.



What rapidly followed were high-octane bands like The Cramps and The Birthday Party …

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

I’ve had many changes in these ideas over the years, but one thing that remains consistent is that if I get ‘that feeling’ in my stomach and start laughing, it usually means I’ve been ‘tickled’ by something I’ve heard.

This is my main motivation, to be moved.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

I honestly feel it depends on what kind of music we are talking about. This is not a one-answer-fits-all type question for me.

I love continuing traditions because they can be rich tapestries that we build on throughout our careers, however creating a ‘music of the future’ can be exciting as well.

I’ve been really enjoying being spontaneous and simply  ‘seeing what happens’ while in a creative mode.  

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

Each new technology I learn and feel comfortable with becomes part of the arsenal of instruments and tools. Each experiment leads to a more expansive way for me to create.

Frankly I have little idea about the technical aspect of recording sound on my own. I approach it all in a very painterly way …

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

These patterns come in phases which depend on what activities I am involved with at that time. I tend to do a lot of different things, not only art and music.

But currently, I wake up early and let the dog out. I have a cup of coffee and give my partner a kiss as he heads out to work. Because I work entirely at home these days, I get started early, giving me more time to spend making art and music.

My day gig is graphic design, I’ve been at it for many, many years.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

In 2015 I managed to license the first Psychic TV album (Force The Hand Of Chance) from Warner Brothers to reissue on my former label with Genesis P-Orridge, Angry Love. Single handedly, I brought this beautiful record back to life through mastering and restoring the original artwork for reissue.



Eventually I was approached to have the band perform the album live in it’s entirety. A new process began of taking each song apart and figure out how to present them live. The concert took place in Los Angeles and was a singular, legendary evening, never to be heard again.  

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

F(OUR)-WARD is the first release I’ve done almost entirely by myself. Any recorded music I made prior was always with bands, so my process has mostly collaborative.  This of course comes with its own set of benefits and challenges.

Working alone has its benefits, but at the end of the day, I enjoy bouncing ideas and energy off of others and reciprocating.

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

I believe the role of music in society at its’ core, is to covey a message of some kind. Whether that is transmitted through instrumental arrangements and/or a voice with words, the end result will cause the listener to feel something.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

When I have a challenging event in my life, I often turn to creativity to help myself heal.

I used to believe that it was merely the distraction from the thoughts that helped, but over the course of the last five years I’ve discovered that it’s way more than that. I absolutely feel comforted by my work when I need to escape the realities of civilian life.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?

I feel an absolute connection between the two. Sound frequencies can obviously affect us in all sorts of ways, but the visceral experience of a live concert can be transformative. To me, this is as much emotional as it is scientific.  

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Of course there are inherent differences like you say, but I often approach making music and art the same way as making a great cup of coffee! This is a method I was taught some years ago by an individual from whom I was learning to cook.

‘Engage with the food, run it through your hands, tell it that you are grateful for the nourishment you are about to receive’ were all phrases I heard that afternoon. After some practice and pleasing results in my mood, I began to empty this method into my creative endeavors.

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

I wish there was a way to plug my brain into a transmitter in order for others to see what goes on in my head when I am creating. People often tell me I am ‘in the mode’, that I am ‘different’. To me, this explains so much.

Frequencies, chords instrument choices … all of that affects me profoundly. My favorite musical experience is to see a live band at full volume. My brain and body all come alive at once and anything feels possible. It’s medicine!