14 Questions + 2 Commands

Owen Ashworth Of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone Tackles 'Em All

originally published June 20, 2007

Owen Ashworth

What with the hubbub of AthFest weekend, it's worth remembering that the Athens music scene soldiers on regardless, leaving no time for hangovers. Flagpole talked to Owen Ashworth, the clever do-it-all-yourself frontman from the band Casiotone For the Painfully Alone, playing a show on the woefully trepidatious night of Monday. While there are plenty of lo-fi, Stephin Merritt be-vocalled one-man headcases out there to fill a stadium, Ashworth has the kind of natural growling swagger to his voice and command over his every musical instinct that could make a woman faint.

He builds songs like an architect, but then abandons them in the sloppy conceptual stage. There is a bedroom quality to his songs that makes it difficult to pin down whether he's too lazy to record his songs on a computer to make it sound like less of a tape hiss mess, or if he's just too brilliant to do so.

Flagpole

Where did you come from?

Owen Ashworth

I come from San Francisco, but I live in Chicago.

Flagpole

If a thousand house cats attacked you at once, do you think you could defend yourself from them?

Owen Ashworth

Fuck, yes. I am practically Dr. Dolittle with the conflict management.

Flagpole

How would you do so?

Owen Ashworth

See above.

Flagpole

What kind of soap do you use?

Owen Ashworth

I tried to make some cardamom oatmeal soap, but I did it wrong and it turned out to be highly dangerous to touch. Now I use lavender stuff.

Flagpole

What makes you self-conscious?

Owen Ashworth

Wild-ass teenagers on public transportation.

Flagpole

Where are you? Tell Athens of your recent travels.

Owen Ashworth

I am in San Diego, rehearsing for the next tour. The Donkeys from San Diego will be playing with me for half of the set, and we're learning some new songs while trying to remember how the old ones went. The first show is with our friends The Papercuts, so we'd better get it together quick.

Flagpole

What makes you violently ill?

Owen Ashworth

Illness itself.

Flagpole

Where do you record?

Owen Ashworth

Lately, it's mostly at home on my four-track. I just recorded a few songs for a tour 7". The Donkeys and I will be doing some recording for the next album at the end of the tour. We're taking a few days in San Francisco to record with Jason Quever from The Papercuts at Pan American Recording.

I like music that sounds a little skeletal and abrasive. My laziness may inform some of my tastes, but it certainly was an aesthetic decision.

Flagpole

What kinds of impressive music-geek equipment do you use?

Owen Ashworth

For this tour, I am very proud to be using The Donkeys, but I brought along a few keyboards, samplers and delay units, too. The most impressive music geek equipment I own is my brain.

Flagpole

What's a question that you wished you'd get asked more in interviews?

Owen Ashworth

"'Roberta C.' is the saddest song I've ever heard. I cry and cry every time I listen to it. Is it a true story? Is it about suicide? Is that an Otis Redding or a Toots & The Maytals quote at the end? Is the name of the song some sort of Roberto Clemente reference?"

Flagpole

Answer it, then.

Owen Ashworth

I wouldn't even know how to answer that. No one's ever asked.

Flagpole

Were you young when you started recording?

Owen Ashworth

I started making tape collages when I was in high school. I pulled the erase head out of a handheld tape recorder so I could do unsynched multi-tracking. This was before ever I tried writing songs. I was just interested in hearing how different sounds sounded on top of one another

Flagpole

Have you ever been pregnant or gotten anyone pregnant?

Owen Ashworth

I have never been pregnant.

Flagpole

If you could drown a person and get away with it, who would it be?

Owen Ashworth

I would drown an already dead person.

Flagpole

Why do you play music?

Owen Ashworth

Because I have great ideas all day long. And because film is too expensive.

Bunny Mcintosh

WHO: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, The Donkeys, Titans of Filth, Smokedog WHERE: Caledonia Lounge WHEN: Monday, June 25 HOW MUCH: $5