Interview With Wade Bowen
October 18, 2005 by Ray Randall
Filed under Features
An Interview with Wade Bowen by Susan M. Hatch After arriving home at 5:00 am from a gig in Stephenville, Texas, the night before, an exhausted Wade Bowen was kind enough to pick up the phone and visit with a total stranger. Despite his irritated throat, lack of sleep, and unfamiliarity with Americana Roots, he was more than happy to talk music with me. He presented himself as a very serious artist and, if there’s one thing I can vouch for having just met the Texas singer/songwriter, it’s that he is indeed a serious force to be reckoned with. Having grown up in Waco, Texas, Wade decided to follow his dream that was encouraged through a close relationship with a music-enthralled mother and a poetic father. "I always sang a lot and I kind of wrote poetry more than I did songs, but there wasn’t a moment in my life when I didn’t have music around me… I started learning to play guitar around 17, I guess, or 18. I waited quite a bit to actually teach myself some stuff." Because he didn’t know much about the music biz, he would simply do what he loved and play for friends or at local parties. In 1998, Wade was in college at Texas Tech and decided to start a band with his friend, fellow student, and soon-to-be electric guitarist/harmony vocalist, Matt Miller. The duo formed Wade Bowen & West 84 along with Shane Neal on base guitar and Evin Philbrick on drums. Their first record was Just For Fun. Then in 2002, they released Try Not to Listen and, in 2003, released their only live album, The Blue Light Live. The Blue Light Live, which was recorded in one night, "was very rushed and it was [done with] very little money and little time… [it] was done that way on purpose because we wanted to get something that we could do very cheap… When it came down to it, I really wanted to do it that way to keep it as raw and honest as possible. We just did one night and just played for about two and a half hours and made a record out of that. A lot of people do three or four different shows and take the best of the best… Every night is different and every crowd is different, too… Some nights somebody hits a wrong note (heh heh). Sometimes you just sing better or sometimes you just play better… With the Blue Light record we just did one night mainly out of money and mainly out of just trying to keep it as honest as possible." Since their earlier recording days, they have had some turnover with Casey Twist replacing Shane Neal about a year and half ago, and Matt Powell, independent guitarist, joining the band. Matt Powell is a well-known Texas singer/songwriter who has released four records of his own. Matt generally sings a song or two during live performances, and the band has Matt’s pre-West 84 CDs for sale at their shows. "It’s a pretty cool relationship." He will likely spend another year or so with Wade and the band, depending upon the success of their next record. But nothing is written in stone. "We’re just having fun with it." Wade and the band have an upcoming release in January of 2006, for which they have already finished recording. They have been talking to various record labels, but haven’t committed to anything yet. They’re prepared to release the record independently if they don’t find a good fit. Having not released an album in three years, Wade considers his earlier work something to be proud of, yet something less representative of where he is today. "As a writer, your favorite song is always the last one you wrote." And that’s exactly how he feels about this latest record. Over the past 5 years, Wade and the band have been touring throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana, and Arkansas, performing between 200 and 250 gigs per year. More recently, they’ve also been touring in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Tennessee. They will likely be touring the right coast (that’s ‘back east’ to some of you) following the release of their next record this January. They are also planning a tour in March or April with Randy Rogers, who is one of Wade’s best friends. Wade loves performing live and insists that the type of show they put on (from mellow and relaxing to a full-on rock show) is dependent largely upon what kind of crowd they have. They’re different from state to state and venue to venue. Wade explained that small crowds in obscure towns (i.e., ones without a solid fan base) are not necessarily a bad thing because people in small crowds are often much more attentive than folks in a large crowd. "It’s not always great to have a ton of people at your shows." Most of the time, live performing is a blast (I can only imagine - one time Wade and his cohorts played 30 shows in 35 days and "it was the furthest thing from work I’ve ever done in my entire life! We made more money and we had more fun!") but, as any live performing artist will admit, there are those nights when it’s not all that us groupies envision. "Susan Gibson told me one time that those are the nights when you really call it a job and you have to work. And the other nights when the crowd is there and they’re fun, it’s not a job then; it’s easy." Wade is excited to incorporate the new songs and a fresh sound into the shows, and provide a renewed intensity to geographically challenged listeners that are lacking the opportunity to see him live. "We’re about to revamp and get ready for this new record and the tour… I [want to] define myself as a very serious writer and as a very deep writer. I don’t think I’ve really done that to this point. I think over the past two or three years without having released a record, I’ve tried to do that in my live shows and in my acoustic shows, and I think people that come out to the shows understand that. But I want to really define it to the people that don’t come to a lot of shows." After explaining the new turn that his writing has taken, Wade shared some of his writing experience and preferences with me. He believes that a songwriter who writes from the heart doesn’t have a set pattern, like always starting with a feeling, a phrase, a tune, or an idea. His inspiration comes in all of those forms and many more. Over the years, mutual friends had told Wade and fellow Waco resident, Texas Tech student, and Texas singer/songwriter, Pat Green, that the two of them should get together and write some tunes. "It’s pretty rare for people to get together… for the first time and actually come out with a song… one that’s good enough to make a record and then become a single, too. He’s referring to Don’t Break My Heart Again recorded on Pat’s Lucky Ones album that was released in 2004. "You throw ideas back and forth to each other before you get started to kind of see what direction you want to take." Wade would like to write some more songs with Pat and, although he "used to not like [writing with others]," he now prefers it. "The majority of the time, having somebody else involved really does bring another aspect of the song to the table and it usually ends up being a really good thing… I did a lot of co-writing with this new record… I thought I would try a lot of it and see what happened, and I think we got some pretty cool songs out of it." The new record is "more in depth… I wouldn’t say these are all story songs, but I treated it as that… it’s not a concept record but … the characters in the record, they’re lost and they’re kind of searching for the answers in their lives, which is what I’ve pretty much been doing the past three years… That’s where a lot of the writing comes from, people that are heartbroken or devastated because of things
that have happened in their lives, and trying to figure a way out of them… You know, it’s not all depressing or anything but this record comes heavily influenced from Bruce Springsteen, Patty Griffin; it has a little Mellencamp influence, as well, just the deeper stuff… You’re going to have to sit down and actually listen to it… It’s not a happy record by any means." For Wade, this record is real, heartfelt, and honest. "I hope that I come by most of the stuff in my life pretty honestly. I really try hard to do that. There’s not a whole lot of flash and glamour with me or my writing or my music. It’s just pretty much straight forward and honest and, hopefully, enough people will identify with that." After all, he is very appreciative of his devoted fans. "We love what we do but we’re nothing without people that come and listen to us." Thanks, Wade, for the gracious interview. Congratulations on your new son, Bruce, and the upcoming release of your 4th record!! Visit Wade Bowen’s website Be sure to check out Susan’s interviews with Reckless Kelly as well as Micky & The Motorcars here on AmericanaRoots.com.
