In this interview spotlight, I chat with Chattanooga based rocker Wes Bowers about his latest project, motivations, influences and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I’m from the Chattanooga area. I have lived near Chattanooga for nearly seventeen years. I’m thirty, so that is a significant portion of my life. The music I create is influenced by the beauty of this area. Mountains, trees, lakes, and rivers, along with hillsides and rolling meadows you can find here and there impact my musicianship and compositions. I guess I create music that is lyrically experiential. What have I experienced, and what would other people experience with me? is important to my songs. I hope that my lyrics provide some kind of experience that others can relate to. Musically, I’m influenced by much of the classic rock movement from the 60’s an 70’s. From the Beatles to Hendrix, I am fairly broad in my musical tastes. But I also like modern rock. The grunge/punk stuff from Nirvana was really cool. The Red Hot Chili Peppers had Frusciante and he is obviously one of the best today on guitar. I like some of the more mainstream stuff, too. Twenty One Piots, Cage the Elephant, and others are good. But I was really a grunge kid growing up in the early 2000’s. I loved Nirvana and other grungy, edgy bands. Later it was more classic rock and some modern stuff, too. I am influenced by all that and any kind of sounds I can muster up. I guess it is rock of some form. Let the listeners or critics decide, I guess. I just like doing it.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
I stated playing drums at six years of age. I played piano by about ten, picked up the guitar around sixteen. I think what motivated me was this sense of loss I had in my early twenties. I was really content to play with a band here and there and see what came up before that. But around twenty-three I experienced a sense of loss. It is difficult to describe. I did not lose anyone to death or anything, but I just kind of felt alone in the world. And I kinda decided to just write songs in my spare time. I had written since the piano. My first songs were when I was in high school. I played a few of them for audiences when I was just a teenager. They were instrumentals on the piano. I played in talent shows and recitals. But I never really considered being a songwriter with a guitar and singing. It just kind of happened through inspiration. Feeling alone but like I loved some people inspired me to write. I’m not sure how to explain that. I guess I thought why not? And the music started flowing around twenty-three. I probably have one-hundred songs all together since then. They’re either on this laptop or the other one I used to have or on the little recorder I used to use. I guess I’m just motivated by the inspiration. As long songs come to me, I’ll write.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
Admittedly, the release “Wishing” was done with production in mind. All my other releases are like me with a guitar just playing and singing. Some of it I’m pretty happy with. It’s raw. But this one is more refined. “Wishing” is an album of some of my favorite songs, songs I just like to play and sing. I think that’s what makes it different. The other releases were kind of like me pressing record and just playing the song, sometimes improvisationally, and this one is definitely practiced up.
I was really just trying to get the songs I liked playing on there. Hopefully that feeling of enjoying to play transfers a bit from the album to the listener. But I wanted to convey emotion primarily, not so much a meaning or concept or anything like that.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
There’s definitely a lot of music out there. As a music-lover, I find it difficult sometimes to find what I’m looking for. There is just so much to listen to. No one can listen to all of it. I guess if we had some ways to sort it out a little better or maybe I don’t know these ways. I don’t know. I think it’s just difficult to be found with so much out there. I think you could say that because there is so much out there it is easy to think, “I can do it.” Just look how many are out there and doing it. So I guess there’s more opportunity, but there’s also kind of a flood on the market. It can be hard to be found. And the vast array of artists and bands can kind of create a hopeless feeling to the endeavor. I mean I really just like doing it, but I kind of get the feeling that a lot of people feel like it’s hard to get going in music. There’s a lot of good musicians and singers and songwriters out there.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
That’s a good question. Bandcamp is where all my music is. I would suggest that. You can look up my name and find some music and I think you can even contact me. But if that doesn’t work, I also have a jango station where you can become a fan and add me to your email list. I try to keep up to date and send emails there. I keep about ten songs and freshen them up from time to time. Those are the best two ways I can think of.
Anything else before we sign off?
I would definitely love to connect with more music listeners and such things as that. I’ve been writing a lot lately and have some music I’m working on in the background. You probably remember me saying it may become a band project. Currently, I’m unsure which direction I’m going, but I plan to work up a good album either alone as a solo musician or with a band in the next year to year and a half. I like this album, “Wishing,” but I’m excited about what’s to come, as well.
