The Owls

The Owls

Maria May (songs, singing, guitar, keys, bass)
Allison LaBonne (songs, singing, guitar, keys, bass, drums)
Brian Tighe (songs, singing, bass, guitar, keys)
John Jerry (drums, percussion)

Who are The Owls? Two librarian chicks, the sexiest bass player you've ever seen, and a drummer whos the spitting image of Gary Oldman.

In other words, a little something for everybody.

Maria May's songs welcome you into a unique world that closely and imaginatively parallels reality. Lyrically conversational, she playfully tussles with modern living, infusing soul into the workaday world with a grandeur that at once recognizes and transcends pop-culture. Her supple voice is the kind that elevates words into poetry, and with such intimacy it seems that while singing on stage she is also standing with you in the audience, demurely passing you candy over her shoulder as if she knew it was your favorite kind.

Allison's songs disarm with potent sincerity and vulnerability even as they claw you with a toughness that is immediately engaging. A wolf in sheep's clothing, her music tumbles forth with a pretty, childlike quality that is characteristically undone by words that may warn of wrath or impending doom. She can inject a love song with an urgency and sense of loss that places not only the song, but love itself in an altogether different category.

Intermingling beautifully within these sensibilities, Brian functions as the group's backbone. Heavily involved in the production and arrangement of the Owl's music, Brian has been exploring and refining his songwriting talents for more than a decade as the frontman of the seminal pop group, The Hang Ups. This consummate songwriter bores easily and is therefore always striving for music that suprises the ear as well as satisfying it. The songs he contributes are chosen for how they play off what he calls the The Owls personality.

That personality has a soberness that allows room for excitement, for the raising of spirits, he says. As if out of this grounded nature comes an opportunity to be genuinely uplifted.

When the Owls went looking for the right drummer for their project, they found their man in the mysterious John Jerry. Living in a passionately musical world, John could be found by day building boutique amplifiers, and by night, drumming for alt-country poppers the Ashtray Hearts. John discovered his keen knack for rhythm at an early age, and found in the Owls a fitting vessel for his restrained and elegant style.