Jake Bowen Interview

Special Feature

Many know Jake Bowen as one of the guitarists in the progressive metal band Periphery, but he’s also an accomplished electronic music producer who has just released his second solo album, The Daily Sun.

Jake has been with Periphery since 2007 and has had the second longest tenure with the band, aside from Misha Mansoor, which has seen many members come and go over the years. The band is one of the torch-bearers of the metal sub-genre known as djent, which includes more progressive and atmospheric sounds, muted, low-pitched guitars and it’s own unique flavor of distortion. Popular in Europe, Periphery play many of the biggest metal festivals across the pond and are known for their energetic performances featuring three guitarists, a unique band makeup.

The Daily Sun is not Jake’s first solo electronic music album. Bowen released Isometric in 2015 – a startling departure that surprised many of Bowen’s fans. However, as we learned from our interview, Bowen was keenly interested in production and found electronic music to be the perfect vehicle to enhance his studio chops and express himself in a new way.

In the six years since Isometric, Bowen has certainly strengthened and refined his skills, both as an electronic music producer and as a songwriter. The Daily Sun showcases this progress and also pushes Bowen into more, dare we say, commercial turns with pop song structure and guest vocalist stints. Both The Daily Sun and Isometric are available on most streaming services.

 

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FutureMusic: Thinking back – what got you to where you are at this moment?

Jake Bowen: I think it’s hard to narrow it down to one specific thing or moment, but I tend to believe I had a tenacity or mindset that put me on the path to seek out likeminded musicians. I wanted to make music more than anything, but where I was living in New York didn’t really have a scene of musicians I could relate to. Eventually I made friends with people all over the world through the use of internet forums and that led to meeting up in person. Once I met the guys in my band Periphery I knew that we had a special group of guys that were really ready and capable to make music on a professional level

Say Nothing

Jake Bowen’s new single featuring Abbi Press

Official audio for Jake Bowen’s new single, Say Nothing (ft. Abbi Press), from the new album The Daily Sun – out now on 3DOT Recordings.

FutureMusic: There is a lot of music craft in Periphery, which is refreshing. It’s hard, but balanced and not fatiguing. Watching some of the “Making Of…” videos on YouTube, I see Misha behind the computer, yourself, and even some small project studios. How do you turn all of that into a cohesive whole?

Jake Bowen: We’re still refining the process but we all have this perceptiveness for when it’s time to get up from the producers chair and let someone else sit down. It’s this musical hot seat situation and we just keep getting better at it. We all take turns producing and engineering which is why the Periphery records sound the way they do, it’s interesting to hear the contrast from Periphery to our various solo projects.

FutureMusic: How involved are you in the production/engineering when working on a Periphery record?

Jake Bowen: Very involved, in fact everyone in the band is very involved in the construction of all the songs and overall sound of the album. I’d say that my job is not only to write riffs and to arrange songs, I also share some of the sound design, programming and synth duties of the band.

FutureMusic: How has that influenced your electronic music production?

Jake Bowen: We use Cubase to record in Periphery which is what I use to create my solo music, I’m always talking shop with the other guys in my band about recording techniques and workflow improvements.

FutureMusic: Thanks to your aunt, Rena Sands, who was the guitarist in Meanstreak, you got to take lessons from her husband John Petrucci…that’s a big difference from taking lessons from your local guitar teacher – how did he influence you?

Jake Bowen: I’ve been very lucky to be surrounded by a family of musicians and getting to be around John not only influenced my playing but also showed me that a professional career in music wasn’t an impossible dream. It was really cool to take lessons from him in those early days because there are few people who can play like he does, it really showed me what quality I should strive for.

FutureMusic: Periphery is one of the bands cited in the Djent Heavy Metal movement – And I thought electronic music was overloaded with micro genres) – what does Djent actually mean to you?

Jake Bowen: Ha ha! yeah, there are a lot of metal micro genres out there. It took me a while to get on board with the whole Djent thing, at first it seemed like such a weak name for the style we were doing – I always wanted to be referred to as a progressive metal band. When I really started to be ok with it was when I saw how many talented musicians this style of music was attracting, some of these guys are mind-blowing players and it made me proud to be associated with musicianship like that.

FutureMusic: When did producing electronic music enter your world of heavy metal?

Jake Bowen: In the early 2000’s, when I first heard Telefon Tel Aviv’s Fahrenheit Fair Enough, that album showed me how electronic music could be melodically and rhythmically dense and not just for the dance music scene. When I started to teach myself how to record at home I had an early version of Reason and I started experimenting with it, I felt like getting good sounds was in reach and I started to think about how I could incorporate it into the metal music I was writing.

FutureMusic: When people say Jake Bowen just released an electronic music album, I think they expect banging Hardcore, Drum ‘n’ Bass or Dubstep, but your stuff is more William Orbit, explain that?

Jake Bowen: I’ve always been drawn to the more relaxed side of electronic music, stuff you’d want to listen to when you’re not in the mood for something bombastic like heavy metal or Periphery. I also really appreciate the tight and pristine sound design and production quality you can get through producing this type of music.

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Jake Bowen – Studio Gear List

➤ Computers:
» Apple 2017 iMac Pro
» Apple 2019 MacBook Pro

➤ Monitoring:
» Event Opal 8″
» Sennheiser HD650

➤ DAW’s:
» Steinberg Cubase
» Ableton Live

➤ Audio Interfaces:
» Steinberg UR816C
» Focusrite Scarlett 6i6

➤ Controllers:
» Komplete Kontrol S61
» Korg Kontrol49
» Novation Launchpad Pro
» Novation Launchkey Mini
» Hexler TouchOSC through Apple iPad

➤ Software Synths and FX:
» Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2
» Spectrasonics Keyscape
» Spectrasonics Trillian
» Spectrasonics Stylus RMX
» Native Instruments Komplete Ultimate
» uHe Diva
» ANA 2
» Absynth 5
» iZotope Iris 2
» Massive
» Nexus III
» Cherry Audio DCO-106
» Cherry Audio Polymode Synth
» Reaktor 6
» FabFilter Suite
» Newfangled Generate
» Eventide Anthology
» Valhalla DSP Reverbs
» Waves H-Delay
» Waves H-Comp
» Soundtoys Bundle
» Slate Subscription

FutureMusic: How have you grown musically from the first electronic album to this one?

Jake Bowen: I like to believe I have, I’d say it’s one of the big reasons it took me so long to put out a followup. I knew I wanted to change musically, and I think it got to a point where I was like “come on Jake it’s time to move on this.” I also tried to reference my favorite artists and their sound design style more to influence my own style, which is why a lot of the songs seem to touch on pretty different electronic music styles.

FutureMusic: Quite honestly, I was thinking I’d hear more “Big Room” riffs (exception being Bone Wizard ), based on how the main guitar riff is usually at the foundation of a Heavy Metal track, but your new album seems to substitute a big riff with an arpeggio…

Jake Bowen: Periphery tends to get all my big riff ideas – not always, as you mentioned Bone Wizard but you’re right, I like the idea of writing an arpeggio and then chopping it up and reassembling them to create that panned glitch sound I’m fond of, it’s like a music puzzle for me, I can just keep trying these combinations of patterns until I find the one that makes me feel a certain way.

FutureMusic: How did the collaborations with Matt, Elliot and Abbi come about?

Jake Bowen: Matt and I met through mutual friends…which turned into us becoming good friends and he’s done some Periphery remixes in the past. Originally, I was going to mix and master everything myself like I did with my other releases, but after a while I knew I should get someone more knowledgeable about that world to work on it. I’ve always looked up to Matt and his grasp of songwriting and sound design, so I also asked him if he wanted to collaborate on a track as well. We ended up writing Mirage together.

Elliot and I have been friends for over a decade. We’ve toured together, and we hang out all the time playing video games. He would always come over and we’d work on music ideas but we’d always get a few sections down and then move on. I Am Error is the first time we released one of our collaborations. It’s really awesome to have a close buddy who is so insanely talented.

Back in 2017, I played my first and only solo show (so far) at St. Vitus in Brooklyn and Abbi was on the bill, I was so impressed by her live performance that I ended up checking out her music and becoming a fan. When I was putting this album together I knew she was one of the people I wanted to ask about doing a guest feature. Say Nothing and her performance on that song is one of my favorite moments on the album.

FutureMusic: The beginning of Say Nothing sounds like it could have been included in the Blade Runner 2049 soundtrack…do you have any film scoring aspirations?

Jake Bowen: I appreciate you saying that, that’s one of my favorite movies of all time – haha! I’m not sure I can handle that pressure, one of the reasons I like doing my solo project is that I can do whatever I want and I don’t have to answer to anyone but myself. From what I understand, when you’re scoring stuff you have to follow the lead of the Music Director and I worry that I may not be able to produce quality stuff under professional time constraints. I’m not totally opposed to it though, maybe contributing single tracks for use in a film.

FutureMusic: You stayed away from the typical four-on-the-floor drum programming. What was your approach to the drums and percussion for this album?

Jake Bowen: One of the things I disliked about my first album Isometric is that a lot of the beats and drum programming ended up sounding to alike. For The Daily Sun I wanted to experiment with different feels and different kits. I think using a different drum sound for each song really helped me step out of my comfort zone of relying on sounds I was used to, this really helped forming each songs individuality

FutureMusic: Your studio weighs heavily on soft synths, especially Spectrasonics, as opposed to hardware, is there a reason for this?

Jake Bowen: I love being able to use a MIDI controller, mouse and keyboard to edit my sounds. That and there’s so many unique and specialized soft synths out there that I find it’s a great way to find and create unique sounds. The sound quality of a good hardware synth is really hard to replace so I’m thinking for whatever I work on next I’ll lean more into hardware.

FutureMusic: How are you utilizing the Hexler TouchOSC?

Jake Bowen: What a fantastic app. I love creating custom layouts for the various synths I use. For the recording process, I would create sliders and encoders for the parameters I’d use the most, thus streamlining my workflow for sound design. I’ve also incorporated it into my live setup. I’ve created layouts to start songs in the correct tempo. I have pages of sliders dedicated to all my synths, so I can control volume and muting. I also have a page that has X/Y controllers and various parameter controls for the sends I use, so that way I can make a more dynamic live performance and get a little bit more experimental. I want each show to have unique elements.?

FutureMusic: Bone Wizard is one of the more complex and dynamic tracks on your new album, can you take us through how this song was created?

Jake Bowen: My buddy Jan Hoeglund, who develops plug-ins for his company Audio Imperia, sent me a bunch of his libraries and one day in the studio I just started composing using his drums as a basis. Bone Wizard is a bit of an outlier on the album because of how loud and intense it can be and I’d say that one put me out of my comfort zone the most – and I’m of the mind that if a track makes me feel a certain way and it pushes me creatively then I’ve succeeded as a musician.

FutureMusic: Do you ever see yourself performing your electronic music live?

Jake Bowen: I do! I’ve only played one live electronic performance, but I learned so much about what works and what doesn’t just in that one show, so I’m excited to get back out there and try my new approach. It’s one of the things I’m most excited for with this new record because I can play it from front to back using Ableton Live

FutureMusic: How do you come up with your track names? And what meanings do they have?

Jake Bowen: A few different ways…some of them are video game references, some of them are personal references to things or events in my life, and some of the songs just melodically take me to places in my mind so I’ll name those accordingly. There’s something inherently interesting naming the instrumental songs on the album because there’s always some mystery surround the title.?

FutureMusic: What is your mastering process?

Jake Bowen: When I’m writing, I run Newfangled Audio’s Elevate, Fabfilter Pro-MB, and Newfangled Audio’s EQuivocate on the master bus. For The Daily Sun I exported stems with most of the EQ plug-ins, compression plug-ins, and master bus chain turned off and I sent them to Matt Lange who mixed and mastered my stems.

FutureMusic: You live in upstate New York, how has that shaped you and your music?

Jake Bowen: I used to live in upstate New York and when I did, I had a really small place with my studio in my bedroom – it was really hard to work in that environment and I only wrote part of The Daily Sun there. I moved to a new place, which is a lot bigger and now I have my own studio room, which led to much better musical results. One’s headspace is such an important factor when writing music that if your recording environment is not the way it needs to be you’ll find yourself struggling to be inspired or to create.

FutureMusic: Are you or Periphery interested in getting involved with NFTs?

Jake Bowen: I’ve actually already sold an NFT on Foundation a while back, I made a moving graphic with an unreleased section of a song. I think NFT’s are a really promising emergent technology, but unfortunately with anything new and cutting edge, mass adoption can be a rocky road, mostly due to the divisive nature of Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Not to mention, it’s impact on the environment, and the stigma of selling digital art for large sums of money. But I really do think that digital ownership and assets are going to be big players in the future and what we’re seeing right now is just the beginning.

FutureMusic: The music world is in such flux right now, even more than usual, what advice can you give to up-and-coming metal and electronic musicians?

Jake Bowen: Do it for the love of music always, making music for money or to try to get big should always be secondary pursuits. With home music production and the ability to self release being easier than ever, you can work a normal job, which will keep the lights on and food on the table, so you can focus on music as a hobby and build your listener base until you’re ready to take the step into being a full-time musician.

Jake Bowen’s new album, “The Daily Sun”  is out now.