q&a: owl eyes
Between the incredibly catchy single, ‘Raiders’, support slots with Darwin Deez and Pnau, and a second EP released less than a year after her first, Brooke Addamo aka Owl Eyes is keeping well busy!
She chats to lip about songwriting, finding what comes naturally, and leaving Idol behind.
Did you have a moment when you were growing up when you were certain this was what you wanted to do?
I chose to start singing when I was 12 to get out of my shyness and not be so timid and I fell in love with music from then. I did lessons, I got into jazz music and listened to a lot of jazz artists, and then I branched away and I found songwriting. I don’t think there was one moment where I was like, yeah this is my career, I think it was always in me and I just never stopped. I think maybe in year 12, when you’re deciding your career, I didn’t want to do anything [else]. I considered doing psychology, but I wasn’t really passionate about it. And I was lucky enough to have really supportive parents, my parents pushed me to do it and they helped me along and were really supportive of my goals and dreams.
Did you take a different approach in writing your first and second EP?
The first time around, I was just writing songs and experimenting, and I didn’t really know it was going to be the EP. And the second time around, I was writing songs for an EP, so it was a kind of different mindset. I’m proud of both EPs but my first EP was a bit more random and scattered and I feel like it’s songs on a CD, whereas this one I tried to make more of a mini album.
You have just finished one tour and you’re about to do another one. Was that something that you wanted to do or was that just an opportunity that came up?
I think touring is beneficial to me, I really thrive on the consistency of touring. I really like getting my touring up and just connecting with people. And it just got announced that I’m supporting The Wombats next, so I’ll be pretty busy!
Why have you decided to record and perform using a moniker?
Having a moniker allows me to be more creative. I’m a very visual person so instead of using my name, I wanted to use something visual. At the start it’s hard obviously when you’re supporting bands, but in the future, I hope to have my own show and have visual aspects and more costume and more stagecraft. Even in the artwork of my EPs, I try to make it visual to how I’m feeling in the songs.
I actually had no idea that you were on Australian Idol until I started reading interviews with you…
Well that’s good!
You’ve done very well distancing yourself from it, whereas a lot of previous contestants have had a lot of trouble doing so or even chosen not to, because that’s a ready made audience to capitalise on. How much does it still get brought up and why did you decide to just do it on your own without wanting to use that as a platform?
I don’t know, I felt like it was going to be much harder to shake the stigma than it was but I think the reason why it was so easy for me is because I really took time. I did it when I was really young, it wasn’t a bad experience but it wasn’t a good experience either, it was just a confusing one. I came out of it really confused and I got pushed into a lot of directions which I wasn’t really happy with. After that it took about two years to really find myself and find what came natural to me musically and I feel like that was really beneficial, just to shake that fear. My goal was always to create beautiful music and music I was proud of…so I really took the time and really worked hard at my artistry and it is what it is now.
Do you think that the music industry responds to female musicians very differently?
I’m really inspired by female artists and I really love the sisterhood of females coming together and creating something. I don’t know, it’s a really tricky question actually. I think that music in Australia at the moment is in a really good position and there’s so many amazing artists and amazing acts and I’m really inspired by the music industry at the moment here. I think artists like Sarah Blasko and what she’s doing in Seeker Lover Keeper and Clare Bowditch has always been a really strong female artist…I think there’s a lot of female artists that are really inspiring and [are] really paving the way for great indie pop music in Australia.
Owl Eyes kicks off the Raiders EP tour on August 19 – check out when she’ll be visiting your hometown!
Friday 19 August – THE PALAIS – Hepburn Springs
Saturday 20 August – NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB – Melbourne
Wednesday 24 August – BEACH ROAD HOTEL – Bondi
Thursday 25 August – BYRON BAY BREWERY – Byron Bay
Friday 26 August – SOL BAR – Maroochydore
Saturday 27 August – ALHAMBRA LOUNGE (FANS presents “Wild Parlour”) – Brisbane
Thursday 1 September – GOODGOD – Sydney
Friday 2 September – BRASS MONKEY – Cronulla
Saturday 3 September – TRANSIT BAR – Canberra
Friday 9 September – HOTEL NEW YORK – Launceston
Saturday 10 September – THE GRAND POOBAH – Hobart
Saturday 10 September – REPUBLIC BAR – Hobart
Thursday 15 September – JIVE – Adelaide
Friday 16 September –THE VILLA “SPEAKEASY” – Perth
Saturday 17 September – MALT MARKET BAR – Dunsborough
Sunday 18 September – NORFOLK BASEMENT – Fremantle
