“Listening to Punk and taking drugs was a release..."
I’m sat on a bench outside Rough Trade when I notice two decidedly incongruous looking characters shuffling towards me. It’s Girls. I politely ask the guy next to me if he minds moving and when I explain why, he laughs: “I bet they’re not even girls are they, I bet they’re both boys!”
Yes, these two boys may take you by surprise. Anticipating two sun-kissed Californian surfer dudes, your preconceived ideas are rapidly quashed as you find yourself confronted by a disheveled, waif-like presence drowning in a sea of scarves, hair and winter coats, and his slightly older sidekick, Mr ‘I’m just a regular Joe’. But appearances can be deceptive and on meeting them, it all starts to make sense.
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Girls - 'Hellhole Ratrace'
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“Relaxing is a state of mind”, sighs Owens. Indeed, San Franciscan boy band Girls are the embodiment of lackadaisical simplicity and bohemian liberality. But only Owens is a true child of the Sixties. Raised by the notorious Children of God cult, he spent his childhood surrounded by scenes of sexual promiscuity, infidelity and repression. “You don’t really know what it’s like growing up in cult until you actually leave, because you don’t how to live any other way. It’s only when I think of my life now and think of it then that I can go, whoah, that really happened!,” he reflects.
Owens finally broke free at the age of sixteen and moved to Amarillo, Texas. It was there that he discovered narcotics, to which both Owens and White are now inextricably linked. “I needed to go crazy and really experience life,” claims Owens. “Listening to Punk and taking drugs was a release, my way of dealing with my f***ed up childhood, and it definitely helped.” During his time in Texas, Owens met millionaire and mentor Stanley Marsh III, who encouraged him to put his musical talents to good use. He moved back to San Francisco where he met White. The rest is history.
Glittered with sun-drenched, lo-fi pop gems, Girls’ 'Album' conjures up images of lazy Summer days blissfully indulging in life’s simple pleasures. “The songs are just all about how I feel”, chimes Owens. “The very last song is called ‘Darling’ and it’s about falling in love with writing songs. It’s a really positive message and they’re all very relatable topics. You know, life can go so many ways and it’s not always great, but I guess it’s important to always dwell on the positive.”
It is an accomplished first album, especially for someone who is a relative newcomer to songwriting. “I pretty much wrote all of the tracks in a month,” says Owens. “They were the first songs I had ever written and once I started, I just couldn’t stop”. The sound of broken equipment and echoey rehearsal studios can be heard throughout the music of Girls. But did they intend to create a lo-fi sound? “No, we don’t think our music’s lo-fi at all" exclaims White. “We just didn’t have much to work with so it came out a little DIY. But if we had the means we would have made it sound more polished. It was definitely not out of choice. We’ve always talked about investing in a studio and now it may actually happen.”
Amongst their musical influences are freak-folk supremo Ariel Pink and post-punkers Felt and Denim, but White admits that he doesn’t listen to a lot of new music. “Apart from The Smith Westerns of course”, modestly pointing to his band t-shirt. “Micachu and The Shapes are pretty cool too, and Magic Kids.”
So what’s on the rider of these two wholly unwholesome hedonists? “We haven’t got one yet, but we really need to get one sorted. We would definitely get some caffeine pills on there and some good herbal uppers”, says White. “Yeah, and I think it would be really cool to be like the alcoholic drummer from [Mötley] Crüe, you know and be hooked up to a machine to get my blood sucked out and then have it filtered back into my body.”
A strange response, but after spending time with the band, I wouldn’t expect anything less.
Words by April Welsh
Yes, these two boys may take you by surprise. Anticipating two sun-kissed Californian surfer dudes, your preconceived ideas are rapidly quashed as you find yourself confronted by a disheveled, waif-like presence drowning in a sea of scarves, hair and winter coats, and his slightly older sidekick, Mr ‘I’m just a regular Joe’. But appearances can be deceptive and on meeting them, it all starts to make sense.
- - -
Girls - 'Hellhole Ratrace'
- - -
“Relaxing is a state of mind”, sighs Owens. Indeed, San Franciscan boy band Girls are the embodiment of lackadaisical simplicity and bohemian liberality. But only Owens is a true child of the Sixties. Raised by the notorious Children of God cult, he spent his childhood surrounded by scenes of sexual promiscuity, infidelity and repression. “You don’t really know what it’s like growing up in cult until you actually leave, because you don’t how to live any other way. It’s only when I think of my life now and think of it then that I can go, whoah, that really happened!,” he reflects.
Owens finally broke free at the age of sixteen and moved to Amarillo, Texas. It was there that he discovered narcotics, to which both Owens and White are now inextricably linked. “I needed to go crazy and really experience life,” claims Owens. “Listening to Punk and taking drugs was a release, my way of dealing with my f***ed up childhood, and it definitely helped.” During his time in Texas, Owens met millionaire and mentor Stanley Marsh III, who encouraged him to put his musical talents to good use. He moved back to San Francisco where he met White. The rest is history.
Glittered with sun-drenched, lo-fi pop gems, Girls’ 'Album' conjures up images of lazy Summer days blissfully indulging in life’s simple pleasures. “The songs are just all about how I feel”, chimes Owens. “The very last song is called ‘Darling’ and it’s about falling in love with writing songs. It’s a really positive message and they’re all very relatable topics. You know, life can go so many ways and it’s not always great, but I guess it’s important to always dwell on the positive.”
It is an accomplished first album, especially for someone who is a relative newcomer to songwriting. “I pretty much wrote all of the tracks in a month,” says Owens. “They were the first songs I had ever written and once I started, I just couldn’t stop”. The sound of broken equipment and echoey rehearsal studios can be heard throughout the music of Girls. But did they intend to create a lo-fi sound? “No, we don’t think our music’s lo-fi at all" exclaims White. “We just didn’t have much to work with so it came out a little DIY. But if we had the means we would have made it sound more polished. It was definitely not out of choice. We’ve always talked about investing in a studio and now it may actually happen.”
Amongst their musical influences are freak-folk supremo Ariel Pink and post-punkers Felt and Denim, but White admits that he doesn’t listen to a lot of new music. “Apart from The Smith Westerns of course”, modestly pointing to his band t-shirt. “Micachu and The Shapes are pretty cool too, and Magic Kids.”
So what’s on the rider of these two wholly unwholesome hedonists? “We haven’t got one yet, but we really need to get one sorted. We would definitely get some caffeine pills on there and some good herbal uppers”, says White. “Yeah, and I think it would be really cool to be like the alcoholic drummer from [Mötley] Crüe, you know and be hooked up to a machine to get my blood sucked out and then have it filtered back into my body.”
A strange response, but after spending time with the band, I wouldn’t expect anything less.
Words by April Welsh
Girls
