Episode 14: Dylan Owen on Rap and Creativity

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Episode 14: Dylan Owen on Rap and Creativity
Transcript
I'm Adam Pascarella and welcome to episode fourteen of The Power of Bold.
Hey everyone, thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of the power of bold. I hope
everyone is having a great holiday and is psyched for 2018. I know that it’s going to be a great
year.
So I’m excited to share with you my conversation with Dylan Owen, who is a rap artist from New
York. Dylan has quite the story. He grew up in Orange County, New York and started
experimenting with music and battle rap at a young age. He continued to improve his craft and
released his first EP in 2008. From there, Dylan released several other EPs and albums,
including his EP “Keep Your Friends Close” and “There’s More to Life.” Dylan has landed
national TV sync placements in MTV’s Miley Cyrus: The Movement documentary and Syfy’s
WWE Smackdown. He was also named a top-15 “Next Big Sound” artist by Billboard.com and
he has opened for artists like Mac Miller, Wiz Khalifa, Chiddy Bang and Asher Roth. Currently,
Dylan is working on his next album which will be released in the near future.
In our conversation, we talk about Dylan’s childhood, how he got into rap, how he thinks about
his creative process, how he prepares to go on stage in front of a screaming audience, and his
upcoming album, which he’s really excited about. I hope you enjoy it.
Adam Pascarella: I’d now like to welcome on the podcast Dylan Owen. Dylan is a well-known
rap artist located in New York City. And we’re currently sitting in his studio in Alphabet City. So
Dylan, thanks for coming on the podcast and thanks for inviting me to your studio.
Dylan Owen: Yeah, of course man. Thank you for having me on.
AP: Of course. And so to start off, what are you really working on now? What’s taking up most
of your time?
DO: I’m working on a new album now. That’s definitely the main thing. And I’m also working on
videos for a lot of the new songs. It’s been a long process. I took a long time to think about
these new songs before I really started writing them. And I’d say I’m sort of, I’m like
three-fourths through the process now. So that’s the main thing I kind of get up every day and
work on.
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AP: Very cool. And so three-fourths of the way done. When do you think you’ll be ready to
release it?
DO: I don’t know exactly, but I’d say early 2018.
AP: Very nice, that’s very exciting. And we’ll make sure to tell our listeners about it when it
comes out.
DO: Yeah, yeah, definitely. Thank you.
AP: So I’d like to kind of start out at the beginning, going over your story of how you got into
music and rap and everything like that. So you grew up in upstate New York, right. I think it’s
Orange County, around there.
DO: Yep, Orange County, New York.
AP: And so when you were a kid, when did you start getting into music? Do you have any early
memories of that?
DO: Yeah, definitely. I have a lot of memories of it. Some of my first memories of enjoying music
were driving to school in my dad’s car. He would play mixtapes at the time—burn CDs. And the
Beastie Boys were one of the artists that would always appear again and again, and I just loved
hearing those Beastie Boys tracks. So that was probably like the fourth grade. I remember that
as a prominent experience for some reason.
But probably around seventh grade, I started writing little poems and rhymes. Before that, I was
an avid drawer. I would love to sketch. And I was your, kind of archetypal kid, alone in his
bedroom, sketching characters that he would think of in his head. Then that sort of formed its
way into songwriting. Like I remember sometimes writing songs in those pads. But it wasn’t
even to music or anything. I really didn’t relate the two. It was just like writing at the time. But
probably around seventh grade, started writing, I guess you could call it poetry.
AP: Cool. And what was your first song. Do you remember what it was called or anything like
that?
DO: The first song would be this one called “The Introduction.” Very fitting title for a first song. I
remember I recorded it in my mom’s house on just one of those performance microphones that
sounded awful, but I didn’t even know at the time. And I remember uploading it to my MySpace
page and it was the first thing I uploaded. And I had some low-fi photo that I took of myself
holding the mic there. And I was pretty excited about it. And the beats for it were like just things I
found online and kind of mixed together. I just had no idea what I was doing. But yeah, it’s cool.
I still have that recording though.
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AP: Oh do you. At the early stage then, it sounds like more you were just experimenting, kind of
fooling around, and trying to learn as quickly as possible. Is that right?
DO: Yeah. It was like I definitely didn’t know anything about the technical side of it, in terms of
like microphones or how to record or how to get beats or how to find them or anything. I didn’t
understand any of that stuff. There really was no music scene happening (that I knew of) in our
town at the time. So it was really just me wanting to write and express myself. I didn’t even like
equate the idea of me being an artist with the artists I listened to. It was just expression.
AP: Well besides the Beastie Boys, who else was really inspiring you at that time?
DO: At that time, I also had a CD of The Shins, the band from Seattle, so I had that. That was
something I loved. I also had a Block Party CD—I remember that. And if you remember back in
this era, it wasn’t like now where you have access to so much music. It was like, if you have a
CD, you really listen to it a lot. And you know every word, you know inside and out. You read the
liner notes, all of that.
So that’s the way I was with those CDs. And then I got—I’m trying to think of the exact
chronology of them. But I remember getting Blackstar, which was Mos Def and Talib Kweli.
Getting that CD from an older friend’s recommendation. He told me, he was like “Man, just go
get this CD.” He was really into hip hop. He was very into freestyling. So he told me that and
that was awesome. And then I also remember getting The Black Album, by Jay-Z and listening
to it inside and out.
AP: Cool. And in the beginning, too, so you’re getting inspiration from all these other artists out
there. Did you really play any instruments or was it more about just rapping and singing?
DO: It was just, it was just basically rhyming. It wasn’t even the physical act of rapping yet. It
was just a writing thing and rhyming in my head. But my older brother played guitar and that
was a big thing I looked up to and I just felt like that was something I would never be able to do,
was actually playing an instrument. So it was a very private thing, very much like something I
would do when I got home from school in my own time, in my bedroom. But then it turned into
like rap battling at school and being kind of outgoing with it too. So it sort of fulfilled both my
introspective and my more outgoing social side.
AP: Yeah. And how did you really transition from simply rhyming into rapping during your rap
battles?
DO: I think it was from battling. It was battling and then, we had these things that were, they
weren’t poetry slams, but it was like you had to stand up in front of the class—this was seventh
grade—you had to stand up in front of the class and basically deliver a poem you wrote. My
buddy Austin who was in the class with me—shout out to A-Game—he would write these pieces
that kind of would compete with mine and it would be like this healthy competition thing. So I’d
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want to get up there and like, be able to do it and have all these rhymes. And I just remember us
two getting super super into it, way more than everyone else in the class.
AP: Yeah. I remember, I saw, some documentary, some 60 Minutes piece on Eminem. And he
always said when he was younger, he tried to gather up as many words—he would read the
dictionary from back to front, trying to get as much vocabulary into his brain as he could. I think
he called it “stacking ammo” or something like that. And so were you kind of along those lines,
too? Just trying to think of as many rhymes or words that you could use in these rap battles?
DO: A little bit, yeah. It was kind of like that. Like I really felt like I had to practice and I had to
get better. And a lot of the kids, now were sort of like drifting into high school when I would get
more into battling. Because I basically showed up as a freshman and my older brother had
already been in the school and everyone was like, “Oh, I know his little brother raps, whatever.”
So I felt like I had to, I kind of really had to show up if I was gonna do that, because it was like
all these older kids. So I did feel like I had to be polished and go in sounding good. I took it very
seriously.
AP: I’m sure. And you can tell in your art, in your music. So can you talk about how you first
started creating your first EP, I think it was in 2008. Is that right?
DO: Yeah, that’s right. They were songs that I wrote. I think I first wrote them just on paper. I
remember the bedroom I wrote them in and everything. And I didn’t really understand the
concept of an EP or an album or whatever. But I wrote them, and one of my closest friend’s
older brother, who now I still work with to this day, Devin Arne, he is a jazz guitarist and he had
a microphone and he had equipment to record. And he had a way to make music and produce
music. So he told me, he was like “Hey, man. I can help you out, I can record you.”
So I would show up with some lyrics I had written and then I would kind of finish them around
these beats that he would make. It’s so funny listening back because I do think the beats fit my
personality, like still to this day, but back then I had no idea how to even describe what I wanted.
It was completely just luck of the draw.
But actually there is one thing, though, before that that I think inspired it. It’s my older brother’s
band. And at the time, they would do the battle of the bands, and that was like the big thing in
our high school. They had a trumpet player and it was kind of a ska rock band, and they invited
me to rap with them when I was a freshman, to kind of come out and pop out at the end of their
set. So I did that and I loved it. Like those band practices: I would write so much. I would show
up with like five pages of lyrics, like super super into it.
So then after that, their band didn’t really stay together, but the guitarist, James, him and I would
play open mics and cafes and coffee shops. And he would just play acoustic guitar and I would
rap over it. So those songs were the first ones I actually recorded with Devin. But then, me and
Devin did more of the, like, more produced stuff that wasn’t just acoustic and vocals.
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AP: So Devin, was he kind of your first mentor, you’d say?
DO: Yeah, yeah. One hundred percent, yeah.
AP: And at that time, you’re releasing, or you’re recording the tracks, and you’re about to
release the EP into the world. And so what are you thinking? Are you nervous or excited or a
little bit of both?
DO: I was completely excited. I was just, like, so excited and I just did everything myself. I would
go in, I think I made the artwork in MS Paint, like actually in the program MS Paint. And it’s a
photo of me and I like somehow blended other photos. It’s me in my bedroom with all this writing
on the wall behind me. I did that and took it to my grandpa who owned a print shop locally and
he printed out the covers for me and I bought jewel cases and made the CDs. I was just giving
them out to everybody I could and play in cafes and play in open mics and trying to sell one
here and there for five dollars, whatever. That was the way I kind of started building up a small
amount of music funds that I was then able to use to pay for more recordings and print better
artwork and that kind of stuff.
AP: So you’re releasing this EP in high school. What do you friends, or even other people in
high school, think? Were you really the cool kid now in the school or how did that work?
DO: You know, I don’t know. I don’t know what they thought of it. I would love to know. I was
just so enthusiastic about it that I didn’t care what anybody thought. I wasn’t really going to let
anything hold me back, so I just was showing it to as many people as possible. I think, honestly,
most people just didn’t have context for what it was. Most people didn’t listen to underground hip
hop in my town. So I think that people were just probably like, “He’s doing his own thing.”
AP: Well I guess, going along with that, so you’re first starting out. How do you really get
discovered? I think a lot of entrepreneurs, musicians, creators, struggle with this, right, because
there’s so much content out there. Every person has 16 hours of attention, right. How do you
really break into that, especially when you’re first starting out and have few to little resources?
How did you do it and how can you maybe extrapolate any lessons from that?
DO: I think what I did is, I just did the only thing I had access to, which was performing locally.
So I would play at these open mics and I would, you know, make one friend at one show and
then I would play at a coffee shop and invite all my friends and then, like, maybe make a few
new connections, whatever. And I kind of did that and tried to build it as much as I could. Then
probably around my senior year of high school, I was able to start opening for some more
regional acts that were outside of just our town or the neighboring town, whatever. That allowed
me to just open up my network a bit.
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And this is still like MySpace time, sort of, at this point in time. Like I remember my buddy forced
me to make a YouTube page at one point. He’s like, “Dude, you gotta, like, make a YouTube
page and upload your stuff on YouTube.” And now, it’s just that’s so obvious if you start doing
something. But to me, that was like the last thing on my mind. I really just wanted to express
myself and also document my life. That’s like, to this day, the main thing that I try to with music,
is just get everything that I’ve been through down in song form or on paper and make sure that
it’s all properly documented, the way that I really experience it.
AP: Right. And yeah, going back, you start out, kind of, just at the grassroots level. Trying to
have your music in front of one person, and from there, just keep going up and up, just keep
expanding. There’s really no quick and easy way to do it, right? It just takes a lot of hard work.
DO: Yeah, definitely. I think so. I mean, at the time though, it wasn’t even, it wasn’t hard work to
me. It was just, that was all that I knew. I was just doing every opportunity that I had the chance
to do. Like I remember being so hungry to play shows that just anything that came up, I would
be going to play these shows just at an address that I didn’t even know what it was. And like
there were shows I’d show up, and it was like a muddy field with, like, some guy and a boombox
kind of setup. Just these crazy shows. And me and my DJ at the time, we just have so many
memories of these hilarious early beginnings.
AP: Can you share one, share a story?
DO: Yeah, I’ll share one. So one of our favorites is, I played at this classic rock festival. And by
festival, I mean, it was like four people in a backyard type of thing. I don’t think that we knew it
was a classic rock fest going in. And we just showed up, and it was like, everybody was like a
middle-aged classic rock fan with classic rock t-shirts. And then we’re up there doing this indie
hip-hop. It was just like so hilariously out of place. There’s a lot of that.
AP: Yeah, just a lot of experimentation, that kind of thing. Just putting yourself out there.
DO: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
AP: And so, I think in 2009, you release How to Stay Young, that EP, and then 2010 is
Senioritis. So how did your style, your musical style, change between your first EP and those
two. Or did it change at all?
DO: I don’t think it really changed at all. I think it was just natural, like, progression. Me getting a
little more comfortable, learning to be myself a little bit more. I don’t know, I think, like, during
that time too, I met Niko, who still produces pretty much all my stuff now. I started working with
him, but like Devin was still recording on the tracks and everything. So I really don’t think it
changed too much. I think it was just me getting a little bit older, me being confident enough to
completely be myself and do the style that I want to do.
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AP: And so, yeah. You released those two EPs pretty quickly, one year after the other. Do you
think your, I guess maybe your creative process has changed at all since that time? I guess, I’m
sure it has, you were in high school, and obviously now you’re not.
DO: Yeah. I think I’m a little more in control of it now. I can kind of take the approach I want to
take with a song. But I actually, purposely like to reignite the way that I originally wrote songs,
which was just messing around on a keyboard, messing around on guitar (because I knew how
to play a little bit at that point in time in high school). And just messing around a little bit. And
pair that up with some words that I’ve already thought of and then kind of fill in the blanks with
new words that fit the music and everything, and give it a structure, all that kind of stuff.
To this day, that’s like still how I set out to write every song. And it definitely doesn’t go that way
every time. Sometimes it just works better being fully inspired by a beat that’s already made or
sometimes I’ll write it completely on guitar, completely on keys, but that’s like the baseline of
how I still do it. So I think the process is just, hopefully has improved over time.
AP: Right. And so at that time, like I said, you released the Senioritis EP in 2010 and then you
go to college right after that, right? You go to Cornell?
DO: Yeah.
AP: And so, you’re there for how long?
DO: I was there for one year.
AP: And then you decided to come back to New York City. So can you talk us through the
thinking of when you did that?
DO: Yeah. Basically, I loved Cornell. It was really hard to leave there because it was a real
college experience. It was this beautiful campus and amazing new people and meeting these
awesome strangers in my life and everything. But I felt like I was a little bit incomplete because I
wasn’t pursuing music as much as I wanted to be. I wanted to be living, breathing, and sleeping
music. So I was able to do that in New York. So that was the catalyst for me.
AP: Right. The long term plan was to stay in the city here and keep improving, keep meeting
people and that sort of thing?
DO: Yeah, pretty much. I didn’t really have too much of a long-term plan. All I knew was I
wanted to, I wanted to keep documenting my life, right. And at Cornell, I had gone through this
breakup with this girl, not someone from Cornell, but that basically inspired the whole EP Keep
Your Friends Close, the next one. And so my mission at the time was really just to make Keep
Your Friends Close and finish it and put it out. And then I would figure out where to go next from
there.
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And that’s kind of still how, not only how I make music, but how I live my life now, is I’m just
thinking of the project I’m making and I sort of live for that project and then I see it through and
then I just figure out what to do. It’s a little bit like all or nothing, but that’s the way it is.
AP: No, but it seems like a good way of, you know, accomplishing a huge long-term goal, right.
You can’t just, I guess, shoot for the end right away. You have to break it up into little steps and
then accomplish that first step and then the next one. Do you think of it like that?
DO: Yeah I do. It gets, I get so into the project that I’m working on because it’s also my life. So
it’s like, the songs I’m writing about, they’re the things I’m thinking about going through at the
time. They are the new experiences that I’m trying to process. My music helps me work through
that stuff. So yeah, I think it’s like sometimes, it does sort of just feel like this one big step rather
than small steps if that makes any sense. It’s frustrating sometimes for how long it takes for me
to get music out. I wish I could just get it out quicker, but I think I really feel the most inspired
when I’ve actually have lived through it and I really have something new to say. And that’s when
I really feel motivated enough to put a whole new thing together.
AP: And yeah, so I’d like to go back and talk a little bit about Keep Your Friends Close, what
you were mentioning. And so, it seems like after you released that EP, it kind of blew up, right.
You were getting all these downloads on YouTube and other sites and then, I think you had
some TV placements in a Miley Cyrus documentary and a show on SyFy, I think. So at this time,
as you’re getting more and more recognition, what’s going through your head?
DO: I think it was, that stuff was over the period of like a few years, so it definitely, nothing ever
felt like I was getting a ton of recognition at once or anything like that. Like there have been little
moments here and there where I feel like a lot of fans reaching out, but overall I just, I’m just
kind of hawk-eyed on the next the thing and just really excited about the next project.
But it was, it was so cool that Keep Your Friends Close, like one thing I think has been really
cool, actually, with Keep Your Friends Close is that, I feel like people are still discovering it now
and reaching out to me about it. And I remember uploading it on the first day and it wasn’t a
flood of people discovering it or anything, it’s very slow and gradual. I think that it is just how it’s
meant to be.
AP: Yeah. And at that point, so you built up a fanbase before that obviously and you release
that EP and you’re releasing music all the time. How do you really juggle the tension between
your old fans wanting you to perform a certain way or create music in a certain way versus, like,
you as an artist wanting to go in a different direction. It seems like a lot of musicians and artists
kind of face that tension or that problem. So how do you deal with that?
DO: I notice a lot of artists I’m a fan of face that for sure. I think I’ve been lucky because I really
like the style of music I already make and that’s what I want to keep making. I don’t ever see
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myself as I want to drastically change styles or anything like that. But I think if you were, I think
you have nothing to worry about as long as you’re giving 110 percent as an artist, and you are
being completely honest with what you want to express and how you want to document your
life. Then it should come out good and it should be something that the fans enjoy.
AP: Right. Just, I guess, kind of being just true and honest with them is the best way to go, right.
And just being authentic to yourself.
DO: Yeah, yeah. I meant like authentic to yourself with your expression when you’re making
music. Like I think the big thing that nobody wants to say is that a lot of artists will change their
sound because they think it’s gonna give them a bigger audience, and I think that’s such an
arbitrary way of making music. It’s just a weird, like, that’s weird. It’s way too business-y. I think
you should just be completely honest and express yourself how you really want to, and that’s
gonna get you where you need to go.
AP: And then as I was researching for this interview, I went on YouTube and looked up a couple
of your music videos, and I was looking at the comments. That’s probably a dangerous thing to
do. I don’t know if you look at YouTube comments of yourself.
DO: I look at them, yeah.
AP: I mean, I saw one where they said “Surely these lyrics of you will be tattooed on my body.”
And like, what do you think when you see that from your really passionate fans that are really
into your music?
DO: It’s incredible. That’s really, I don’t know what else to say. It’s beyond incredible. It really
makes me feel like people truly love the lyrics and they connect with them and it means
something to them in their life that I’ll probably never fully understand. Because when I write
them, it means something to me in my life, you know. It’s so cool that it has that other meaning
in that other life for them. So that’s incredible.
AP: Yeah, and I guess even when you’re performing live, which is an entirely different thing,
when you see, you know, the audience members and your fans just, like, repeating the words
back to you. That must be such an incredible feeling.
DO: Yeah, yeah it is. I definitely remember the first show where that ever happened. Because
that wasn’t, I remember like that wasn’t the case. I felt like nobody in an audience ever knew
me, besides my friends, for a long time. But then I do remember when people started to know
the lyrics, how cool I thought that was.
AP: Yeah. And so I guess just even going on that. So when you’re going out for a life
performance, you're in the back, and you’ve opened for a bunch of big acts like Wiz Khalifa, I
think, and Mac Miller, and some of these other people. And so when you’re about to go out in
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front of thousands of people, are you nervous? Are you excited? What are you thinking at that
time?
DO: I think I’m a little nervous, for sure. Yeah I am. I try to practice a lot, though, before I have a
show, especially before any type of new environment show like that, that I haven’t done before.
So usually I feel good about the set. And I’m really excited about the live set now, because now
I feel like it finally matches what’s in the recordings because I play with trumpet, violin, guitar,
keys, rather than only DJ. And I think that definitely, like, fits more of the instrumentation in the
track. So I’m super excited about it now.
AP: Yeah, I don’t know many rappers that have violins in the background.
DO: I love the violin.
AP: It’s awesome.
DO: Gabe Valley, who plays it for me, he’s like unbelievably talented and he plays on all the
recordings too.
AP: That’s really cool. I guess, just, performing live. Is there any equivalent for people that aren’t
artists or that aren’t going to be on stage in front of thousands of people. Is there really any
equivalent to the feeling you get out there, in normal life? Or is it just totally its own, unique
experience?
DO: I think, if you can think of something that you do that you’re very proud of, and it is
something that, there’s a lot of build up to it. So it’s almost this kind of release when you’re
done. Or not when you’re done, but like, when you’re doing it.
AP: Like giving like, even like a presentation in your office?
DO: Yeah, or like, if you remember in school. It’s kind of like taking a test in a way. It like has
that same sort of anticipation and also you want to do it right and you feel good when it’s done
and that type of thing.
AP: Do you have any advice for people that are in a similar situation like that? Maybe they’re
like anxious or afraid before they go on stage and perform. So do you have any tips for them?
DO: Yeah. I would say, and I’m definitely still learning too. I have so much to learn about
performing. But I think something that has helped me out is I try to think about all the different
aspects of it. So not only think about remembering the words, not only think about all that, but
try to think about everything. Think about which way you’re going to be facing in the venue and
is that, like, is it going to look weird. Think about, you know, what you're going to wear. Think
about that kind of stuff. And, you know, don’t overthink it, like you gotta be natural too, but it
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helps to at least think through those things and make sure, if you’re feeling anxious about it, that
you have some sort of way that, you know, you can realize like it’s gonna be OK.
AP: So do you visualize before every single performance you have? At least to some extent?
DO: Yeah, definitely.
AP: And that just gets you in the mood, the right mental framework to…
DO: Yeah, that’s like, when I’m practicing, usually, that’s kind of what I’m doing. I’m just running
through it over and over again in my head and with the live musicians and everything. Just
picturing being in the moment and how I want it all to be.
AP: And so, yeah, I’d like to talk about your latest album, There’s More to Life, which was
released in 2015. And I guess, to start off, do you have any interesting stories about how you
created that album or any stories about the inspiration behind any of the songs?
DO: Yeah, definitely. That was made half living here in the city and then half moving back home
after college. I was living at home, you know, I was kind of like in this weird place I think
because a lot of my friends had moved away from our hometown, so there was a lot of thought
about how things have changed in our hometown. And then also a lot of thought about New
York City life and how it relates to small town life. So that was a lot about what inspired me for it.
The reason I wanted to call that one an EP rather than a full-length album: I felt like I had a lot
more to say about my last few years on there, but I wanted to just put out an EP so that I could
continue working on a, kind of like, bigger project. So this bigger album that I’m working on now,
this is going to have everything I want to say.
AP: Oh cool. And I guess, so how does New York City really inspire you as you go about writing
music or even performing? How does it inspire you?
DO: I think that living in the city is a true test of independence and of self-determination. I think
the city is a pretty solitary place. It’s a pretty lonely place like everybody says. And so I think it’s
inspiring because it’s challenging. It’s like very much real life here. You don’t have the comfort of
something you’re familiar with. You know, it’s very new. I think for me, it has been a place where
I’ve been able to spend a lot of time with myself, thinking about what I want to write about, what
I want to say. And just to live through, like, some new friendships and some new experiences
here and reflect on my past, but also think about the future a bit. So it has been, New York City
has definitely sparked something for me.
AP: So you have that and in combination with your childhood, Orange County, New York, your
upbringing too.
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DO: Yeah.
AP: So you rely on both of them as you’re going about…
DO: Definitely.
AP: Right. And so for your next album, like you said, you’re working on right now. I guess, if you
had to describe it in a few words, how would you go about doing that?
DO: I would say it is my attempt to cover everything, pretty much. It’s my attempt to cover pretty
much everything I want to say besides a few things which are, I’m leaving for songs like right
afterwards, which I’m already starting to write too. So it’s kind of, like, I have all these different
experiences in my head and I want to put them down on paper somehow, and so this new
album for me is a way of doing that. And I also definitely think it’s me being myself to the fullest
that I can be. I feel very free of any kind of holding back, any kind of like “I need to be a certain
genre” or whatever, I just feel like I can just be myself.
AP: Yeah. Is there any one experience that you’re willing to share with us behind one of the
songs that you’re writing for it?
DO: Yeah. Let me think. Yeah, actually, one I can talk about is, there’s one that’s gonna be a
tribute to my grandpa, who passed away in 2015. So that’s, I kind of like alluded to it on There’s
More to Life, but there’s a full song about that on this new one. So I’m excited about that.
AP: That’ll be cool. And so, I guess compared to years ago, I know I asked you this question
before, but how do you see yourself transforming as an artist for this upcoming album? Or do
you see any transformation whatsoever?
DO: Yeah. Well, I don’t know. Honestly, it’s kind of hard for me to say because, just of my bias
or whatever. But I think that, I’m like so curious to show it to other people and see if they
perceive it differently. I always think of my music as I’m doing the same thing. As always, I’m
just trying to document new experiences, but same exact way. But of course there are small
little changes, like recording in a different studio in the city and recording here in the apartment
sometimes in the city, so you know, there are definitely some like technical changes. But
overall, I’m just trying to give it 100 percent, you know, show up, and just make the best music I
can.
AP: Yeah. And as you’re going about writing your songs and, it seems like kind of a solitary
process to some extent. I guess in the beginning, when you’re just trying to find inspiration,
trying to get the first couple lyrics down. But then do you rely on a group of people to kind of
give you advice? Or how does that work?
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DO: Honestly, the only people are just my friends. And I really only, I don’t really give them
much of a chance. I gotta show it to them once it’s already recorded and already pretty far
along. Yeah because it is, it honestly is very, it’s a very solitary process. It’s a lot of me just
sitting and thinking and, yeah, it’s probably like too solitary. I think I probably have a little too
much alone time. But, yeah, it’s a lot, it feels a lot like writing a book or something.
AP: Do you ever talk to Devin to get his advice on some things?
DO: Yeah, like Devin just played guitar on a new track like two weeks ago. Yeah, so he’s still
totally involved. And Niko, my buddy who I mentioned from upstate, he goes by the producer
name “Skinny Atlas” and he is producing all the new beats on the album. And him and I talk
everyday, pretty much. And he’s always working on the production while I’m here working on
the lyrics.
AP: Sorry, to go back, you said it’s like writing a book, creating an EP or an album. So, do you
like start with chapter one I guess? Or do you have a general outline of how the album’s gonna
go? Or is it more of just creating one song and then the next song and then the next one?
DO: It is kind of like creating one and then the next one. It’s more like that. It’s not really super
planned out. I try to just let it be natural, but it weirdly falls into, falls together in this way that
could be like chapter chapter. But I mean, music is, it’s of course different than a book in that
way too. There are, you know, there are gaps, whatever.
AP: And I guess, what do you think about creativity in general? I know like you were saying, you
use your own life and influences as an inspiration. But do you try to look for as much originality
as possible or do you think about combining ideas, trying to find some innovation that way? Or
how do you think about creativity?
DO: That’s an interesting question. I guess I feel like I just try to just do my thing. And it might
sound a little stupid, but I try to just let the words just pop into my head. And a lot of times, it will
be, and I’ve heard a lot of other people say this too, a lot of times it’ll be when you don’t expect
it. Like I’ll be, you know, doing something completely unrelated to music and I’ll get a few lyrics
that just pop into my head as I’m walking down the street. And those will stick with me. And then
I’ll be like, “Hmm what, what’s that about, why’s that popping into my head,” and I’ll think about
the experience. You know, from there, it kind of blooms into a song.
So I think I just let it come naturally and that’s probably why it takes me like three years to
release a project.
AP: No, I’ve read up on creativity a little bit too. And it seems like people are the most creative
when their subconscious is kind of speaking to them. It’s when they least expect it. You’re just
so in the weeds of a certain project or song as you may be, and then you’re just walking down,
you know, Third Avenue or something, and it comes into your head.
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DO: I could completely see that, yeah. And then I’ll get a ton of ideas too if someone new comes
in, let’s say, to sing on a chorus or to make a collab song or something like that. Then it just
opens up this whole other door of ideas as well. But yeah, I try to just stay in my own box, my
own creative box.
AP: Yeah. What do you think about, or do you even consider, like the macro aspect of music.
So like, if you look in like 2010, 2011, I think around then, like EDM was becoming really
popular. And then you’d see some of these like really mainstream artists kind of, you know, alter
their music in a way to embrace those trends. And so, do you even consider that at all or does it
play a role?
DO: To be honest, I literally don’t consider it. No, I don’t. Yeah, I just don’t. It’s also like, my
music tastes don’t really consider it either. I’m just in my own world. I listen to just whatever I’m
into at the time. I love researching old music and reading about it, reading about the history.
Like I think I’m the farthest guy from being interested in types of trends. But yeah, I don’t know. I
just, for me, it’s more about like making sure I’m getting across what I want to.
AP: Right. I know you don’t, like you said, you don’t listen to or you don’t follow current trends,
but do you have any opinion on like the state of rap today? Like where the genre is?
DO: Yeah, I’m a huge fan, so I definitely do. I think that, as much as people knock rap
nowadays, that, in the underground, nowadays, there’s amazing amazing music being made.
And I think of people like Open Mike Eagle, people like Dessa, Astronautalis, Ceschi, those
people are making amazing music. I think there’s a lot of great stuff being created, but I do think
the challenge now is, it’s so easy to upload music to the internet that it is very saturated. It feels
like everyone and their mother has a SoundCloud page.
AP: Right, and so how did you discover those particular artists then? Is it kind of word of mouth
or something else?
DO: Yeah, kind of word of mouth and going to shows too. Like some of them, I would go to a
show of someone I’m a fan of and then I’d see the opener and, you know, think the opener is
awesome.
AP: I guess, you mentioned SoundCloud. So I would like to ask you just briefly about, just the
business model of music nowadays. And you have, you know, the Spotifys of the world,
SoundCloud which, I guess was struggling, or is struggling for a little bit, Apple Music. So it
seems like less money is being made on the sale of the tracks themselves and more is about
live performances and things like that. And so, how do you think about, like, the current state of
the business model of music? And how does that play into your marketing, things like that?
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DO: Well, I think as a completely independent DIY artist, I think I just have to exist in whatever is
going on at the time. People seem to be listening to music on Spotify now, so I’m definitely
going to make sure I’m on Spotify. But I think when you have people like Taylor Swift, Kanye
West, these sort of people, like their decisions influence what everyone is doing. So I think I, I
like to observe, I like to keep track of what’s going on, but I try not to get too caught up in it
because I think, to an extent, I have to do just what I’m capable of. I’m, you know, just running
on a team of friends, so we really don’t, like, we’re not going to change where people are
streaming music or anything like that.
So I think, for me, I’m just, I’ll focus on making the music first and then I’ll think about those
decisions later, when they come up. But usually, honestly, it’s like pretty obvious like what to do
and there's only like really one choice at a time. Like right now, to be more specific, if you make
a music video, it’s gonna go on YouTube. Or if you want it to be on Facebook, you’ll probably
want to upload it to Facebook, that kind of thing.
AP: Do you see any new, like, apps or websites for music specifically that can help you get the
word out? Or is it mostly just about Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud, these sort of things?
DO: Well, yeah, I would say they, they do have their ways of helping people discover new
music, which is cool. A lot of people lately have been telling me they just found me on Spotify
through the weekly recommendations. So that’s really cool. But I think the more effort the
listener puts in to actually finding new music, like there’s so much out there that you can find.
You just look for related artists, look for a label you like, look up the artist on it. You know, you
just gotta search, just search for it, just like finding anything else.
AP: And just really quick here, before we end, so like how does, how does the creative process
change, I guess, when you’re shooting a music video? You’ve got a bunch of awesome music
videos out there and they’re so well produced.
DO: Thanks.
AP: And when I was doing my research, I couldn't believe how well produced they were. They’re
awesome.
DO: Yeah, shout out to Brian Petchers who is the director.
AP: How does, how do you think about that after you’ve finished writing a song? Or do you think
about it as you’re writing a song?
DO: It’s definitely very visual for me when I’m writing, and I have a lot of images already in my
head. And as much as they’re, sometimes they’re impossible to create, but if there’s something
that can be created, I try to start there with the video, and then build the rest of the idea around
it. And usually that gives me a really good starting point to come up with the ideas. And Brian,
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the director, brings these amazing ideas to the table. So I think that it’s a really good
collaboration in that way. And once again, I try to just use the resources I have around me, like
those are my little brothers acting in the music videos and all my friends and everything. Like
they’re all shot in my hometown and we had to, like, ask the mayor for permission for this, that
kind of stuff. So it’s very much just, at the end of the day, you know, you only have so many
choices.
AP: If there was like one song or one music video that you would recommend that listeners
check out, what would that be (if they haven’t heard of you yet).
DO: I would say look up There’s More to Life. And if you just look up “Dylan Owen There’s More
to Life” on YouTube, you’ll see the EP trailer video, which we made to come out before the EP.
And I think that’s a good example of where things are gonna go.
AP: And then, I guess finally, if someone wants to become an artist like you, kind of follow in
your footsteps in 2017, soon-to-be 2018, like where would you start? Or I guess another way of
asking it is if you were, you know, in high school now or even in grade school, and you could
give yourself advice back then, what would you tell yourself?
DO: I think my advice would be to only worry about the music. Just only worry about the writing
and what, you know, what you want to document and making the best music you can. I think
that’s all anyone really needs to worry about. And if that's your primary concern, then everything
else is gonna fall into place for you.
AP: Well those are wise words right there. And so where can people check you out if they want
more information?
DO: You can look up “Dylan Owen Music” on any platform, social media, and they’ll find me.
Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, SoundCloud, any of that. And definitely let me know if
you listen to this, tweet me, DM me on Instagram, message me on Facebook, let me know that
you enjoyed it.
AP: I love it. Well Dylan, thank you so much. We really appreciate you taking the time and we
look forward to the new album, it’s gonna be great, I’m sure.
DO: Thank you Adam, yeah, I’m pumped to show you man.
That’s it for this episode of The Power of Bold. As always, feel free to subscribe to the podcast
on iTunes, Google Play, or any other podcast directory. We'd also really appreciate if you can
submit a review on iTunes. If you'd like to access the show notes or the transcript for this
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episode, head on over to thepowerofbold.com. So once again, thanks for tuning in. See you
next time.
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Episode 14: Dylan Owen on Rap and Creativity

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