In the Spotlight: Eric Owyoung of Future of Forestry

After some bumps and bruises from past experiences, Eric Owyoung, once of the band, Something Like Silas, has taken time and established his own band, Future of Forestry of Credential Recordings. From 2006 until the present, Eric has been pushing forward with his beliefs and strength, opening up doors that were once shut to Something Like Silas.

Also, just recently a father, he had more down time to spend with his family at home. It was during this time that he sat down and accepted an interview with me.

TC: What is the inspiration behind your music?
Eric: Pretty much everything, I cannot narrow it down to anything specifically. But, as an artist, music is the way that I express everything, the way I see life, the way I take everything in. How I write music is, I collect pieces of lyrics and music from every day experiences, and I just write it down in my computer or my notebook, and when it comes to writing songs, I pull out that notebook, and draw some lyrics or ideas from that. So it can be anything from a conversation I had to a book I read, or even, of course, listening to other songs and being fired by that.

TC: What is the one message you hope to leave to your audience?
Eric: Usually, when people tell me to sign, a CD or something like that, I like to leave them a message, and on that message, for the past, probably, seven years I've left them has been that God is love. And I think that, it's probably the most important thing for us in life, as God's children.
TC: Is it any different than the message you hope to leave to the music industry?
Eric: No, it's definitely the same.

TC: What inspired you to use other musical instruments (such as, the xylophone, saw, accordian, etc.)?
Eric: I grew up playing instruments in the fourth grade. And then I started studying choral music in high school. In college, I studied conducting and started getting into orchestral conducting. What I wanted to do with my career was become a conductor, but it evolved into recording in a studio and now, it's come full circle in that my interest in the orchestral things has sparked the interest in involving as many of the instruments as possible in the music that I do.

TC: In your opinion, what sets you apart from other music groups?
Eric: I think, definitely the instrumentation is different. I'm always doing something new; I don't really take the same instrument and do the same thing on every album so, it's always changing, always evolving, even the number of players to the different kinds of players changes. Sometimes, we'll have a cello or two, or sometimes it will be like a drum ensemble, other times it will be more sit down, so that's always changing. Some groups tend to always stay the same somewhat. Also, something I got from my orchestral/classical background is the importance of melody. I not only like to have a good melody, but also interweaving melodies underneath the melody. So oftentimes, you'll hear a lot of different lines going on underneath the melody, it's not as common, because often times you'll hear just one melody and it just repeats during the rest of the song.

TC: If you were to do a joint concert with any secular group throughout time, who would they be and why?
Eric: Probably, Sigur Ros. I think their music brings something to a concert that is 'out of this world', and that's something I really go for in a concert.

TC: Who is your favorite band and what bands inspire you?
Eric: I don't really have a particular one, but I grew up listening to U2 and Radiohead. But currently, during the last few years, the most influential bands have been less known bands, the more indie bands. They tend to do what is unpopular and more, somewhat, creative.

TC: What do you not like about the music industry?
Eric: It's pretty much a rat race and, in many ways, it's more of a popularity contest than it is really about music. That's always discouraging because if you're in the popularity contest than it's a lot of fun and you do really well, but if you're doing it for the music and a lot of times you get missed because you're not doing the cool thin or the popular thing.

TC: Do you have jam sessions?
Eric: Usually not. Actually, never. The music I make is very thoughtfully composed so it ends up turning into a disaster. Every time I get together with people and just start playing, the music doesn't turn out very well so I kind of gave up on that.

TC: Is there a difference between your attitude on stage and off?
Eric: Yes, there's a huge difference. My personal life is personal and my studio life and my music is my job, so there is a difference there. And yet, at the same time, I still want to be myself and I want to be honest. And so, when I'm doing music, it's always me, it's always really honest.

TC: Do you have a CD coming out in the near future?
Eric: For the travel series, which is a three part series, the third one comes out at the end of June. Each one has six songs on each album. There will be a total of 18 songs. Travel I was about flight, Travel II is sailing, and Travel III is driving.

TC: When you write music, are there any key things to focus on?
Eric: Not really. When I'm reading something and I get inspired by it, I write it down in my notebook, and sometimes it will come out in a song.

TC: Who are the other members of Future Of Forestry?
Eric: They're all rotating different musicians. I'm the main person that runs the band and then, depending on the tour or what album I'm doing, I'll just find musicians to work with. TJ Hill is the main guy that I call and he has been for the last two years. Other than him, they're just a bunch of other musicians. On the third album, TJ is playing a ton of instruments, like all the drums and a bunch of guitars and stuff like that.

TC: So, how do you find these different musicians?
Eric: Somewhat through word of mouth; a lot of times, they contact me. The more that Future of Forestry is around, people have heard of Future or Forestry, the easier it is to find more musicians that are really excellent.

TC: How is it doing a concert with Delirious?
Eric: It's fun! I've listened to them for a long time, and they're really super nice guys.

TC: What genre is your music classified under?
Eric: We're in the Rock category, but to be more specific; some people have described it as Ambient-Melodic Rock. I think that's quite accurate.

TC: What genre of music do you listen to?
Eric: I listen to classical music a lot. I listen to folk music as well. So, all sorts of music.

TC: Is there the possibility of incorporating bagpipes into your future?
Eric: Yeah, sure, I'd like to. I don't actually know anybody yet that plays bagpipes really well but if you do, you can send them my way.

TC: Did you grow up in San Diego?
Eric: No, I grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

TC: How was the musical influence in your school?
Eric: It was okay. It was good but it was small. Not quite like how it is in LA or New York or something, but there's definitely some good musicians that have come out from this area.

TC: How do you feel about cutting music and art out of the schools?
Eric: I think it's terrible. TJ and I both grew up in the school system, learning how to play music, so I don't know where we would be without that. We had pretty good school music programs and things like that.

TC: Have you taken any actions to promote music in the school system?
Eric: I actually studied music and did some teaching for the music program in High School and things like that. I've been a part of that community and hope that things change for the better.

TC: How do you choose your venues?
Eric: It's actually pretty difficult finding a venue that you can actually make a living because, usually the venues that are better you end up having to play for free and you can't make a living by because they're a good venue, but a lot of money goes back to the venue. Ideally, though, those venues are great and as far as performance the show, those venues are preferred; a better sound system, better lighting, and people know about the venue. So, we'll play all sorts of things. Because we have our own sound system, we'll play a smaller venue that belongs to a church or something like that, and just use the room.

TC: There are several videos on Youtube.com, documenting your trips. Any considerations to developing it out into more of a webisode?
Eric: We've never done a series because it's a lot of work, but we've done a webcast before and it was a lot of fun. So, it's a good idea, and we've also been thinking of other ways of doing performances other than going to venues. But, it's definitely something we thought of doing more of.

According to Eric, the band won't be playing for a while but are getting together to prepare for their next tour at the end of June and beginning of July, after the release of their upcoming album, Travel III. Until then, please continue to show your support and buy their third album when it comes out!