Low Flying Owls take to the air (again)
Kevin Bronson on
1
Low Flying Owls are back – even if, in reality, only the name went away.
As a Sacramento-based quartet, LFO emerged as a band to watch upon releasing the album “Elixir Vitae” on Stinky Records in 2003. Its dark, biting take on psychedelic rock bode greater things, but the follow-up album “was rejected for being too experimental,” says singer-guitarist Jared Southard, who, with three-quarters of the band, moved to Los Angeles, only to have bassist Mike Bruce move on to other things.
Southard and guitarist Andy Wagner played around L.A. as Strangers Smile and, most recently, as Weird Dreams – and were nearing completion of eight songs under the latter moniker. Now Bruce has returned to the fold. “I think we had an identity crisis for a couple years because we had changed members,” Southard says. “But with Mike back, it would be ridiculous for us to be anything but Low Flying Owls.”
So the Weird Dreams songs will become LFO songs, and the band, with Robby Dean manning the drums, has gigs scheduled Feb. 10 at the Echoplex and Feb. 25 at 3 Clubs. Nothing against the new material (which adds a touch of glam to LFO’s previous sound), but here’s hoping they re-install 2003’s “Looks of a Killer” into their set. It’s a killer song. A taste:
||| Stream: “Italian Boots” [demo]
[audio:http://www.mediafire.com/file/njjw2emgahy/Low Flying Owls_Italian Boots demo.mp3]
||| Stream: “Looks of a Killer” from “Elixir Vitae”
[audio:http://www.mediafire.com/file/fjiceaymtmm/Low Flying Owls_Looks Of A Killer.mp3]
I’ve been a fan of LFO from it’s inception and love all of their material. I’m a bit biased cuz Jared’s my “first born” and 4th generation musician. I toured from the 60s thru the 80s with recording groups and Jared’s doing incredible “visionary” work. Iwas told by an intuitive in the early 80s that Jared would re-define the way music was interpreted and from what I’ve heard so far, he’s right on track….I couldn’t be happier for him.