The following is a transcript of the above audio, which is an edited version of an interview KALX DJ Rare Earth did with Christopher Owens in the KALX studio ahead of their gig at The Chapel in San Francisco on Monday, December 16, 2024.
Rare Earth: –And like I said earlier, we’ve got Christopher Owens in the studio who just released their new album, I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair. It’s been just about two months that it’s been in the world with us. I’ve been really enjoying the hell out of it, getting lots of playback here in the station. Why don’t you just go ahead and introduce yourself, say hey to everybody.
Christopher Owens: Hello.
Rare Earth: Thanks for coming in, it’s really an honor to have you here.
Christopher Owens: No problem at all. It’s my pleasure.
Rare Earth: And I also want to say, welcome back to San Francisco, it was your home for a good while.
Christopher Owens: Yeah.
Rare Earth: What’s it like being back?
Christopher Owens: It’s been great. It’s been really good to see people. I was really curious about what the shows would be like, booking them. It was just, questionable, you know, like, should we go for the Make Out Room, or do we dare go for The Chapel? The Chapel’s my favorite.
Rare Earth: Yeah, same here.
Christopher Owens: We thought, we should be able to at least fill it up, and–
Rare Earth: Were you a little bit surprised? You added a second night, and you sold out–
Christopher Owens: –And then we sold out the second one, it’s just been wonderful. I’m grateful, I’m having a great time, it’s a nice way to release a record, having the support–
Rare Earth: –Yeah. Coming back then.
Christopher Owens: But, uh, I also lived here in Berkeley for about a year.
Rare Earth: Oh, really?
Christopher Owens: Yeah.
Rare Earth: Nice.
Christopher Owens: I moved, like, in the hill above the college.
Rare Earth: What’d you think? Compared to San Francisco.
Christopher Owens: Um. It was, I loved– I mean, so I lived on this– the street I lived on was called Panoramic Lane.
Rare Earth: Mm Hmm.
Christopher Owens: Uh, and it was 365, like–
Rare Earth: –Great views of everything.
Christopher Owens: Yeah, you could– there’s this great view and it was just peaceful and I don’t know, sep– a little bit separate and I felt there was a time when I felt a little separated from the city, like I’ve got lost my place in the city and I wasn’t sure what I was gonna do yet.
Rare Earth: So you were a little isolated, but like it seems like that was kind of what you were going for?
Christopher Owens: Yeah, and it was kind of just a perfect place– I didn’t know anybody here. I kind of figured out like oh, you don’t go to college here you’re going to be a little isolated unless you have family or something like that.
Rare Earth: Yeah, definitely. And even me, I went to college here, but that was like 10 years ago.
Christopher Owens: Mmm, okay.
Rare Earth: So I already feel that same sort of isolation, like a disconnect from what this town kind of is. And it’s a university town, but there’s still pockets where you can escape to. And it’s kind of interesting that you were just mentioning, like, finding isolation out there, because one of the things that I was interested in, just because you’re so open in your music writing, is, how important privacy is to you when you’re sharing so much of your personal life with all of your listeners.
Christopher Owens: Yeah. It’s surprisingly unimportant to me until I can tell that I’m not around friends or, you know, or, like, when I say friends, I just mean people that– that aren’t, uh, out to get you in some way or like suspicious of you. You know, just people that are just accepting or are fine. Uh, if I’m in a group, you know, around people that are– that are nice and uh, accepting and, or, better yet, friends with you, then I’m an open book, I can let people in and out of anything I’m doing, I don’t need much privacy. I grew up living communally–
Rare Earth: –Right.
Christopher Owens: I really actually do need a community and I miss being around people when I’m not around people.
Rare Earth: That makes a lot of sense.
Christopher Owens: But if I feel like people around me don’t understand me or get me wrong or we’re not on the same page, then I will clam up.
Rare Earth: It gets a little uncomfortable. Yeah, I can totally relate to that feeling. Do you find you get more creative energy when you’re surrounded by all of these people? Or do you kind of need to go into yourself secluded in order to be so, you know, raw with what you’re talking about? Some of the, like, themes of your album, there’s lots of hemes of loss and broken hearts, and that can’t be easy – at least for me it’s not easy to talk about.
Christopher Owens: Yeah, no it’s not easy. I would say maybe it’s easy only because by the time I’m writing about it– it’s a bit of a relief, you know?
Rare Earth: Hmm.
Christopher Owens: But I think for me, um, when I’m around people, I’m more creative. Like when Girls started–
Rare Earth: Hmm.
Christopher Owens: –Which was my first time to create anything of my own, you know, to write songs, I had so many good friends around and like, and it was this sort of group that we would welcome anybody into, you know, so it was a very open group and almost every day you were meeting new people. We were aware something was going on with us and that people were interested in wanting to be part of it and we were just like, come on in, you know, and that energy was great for me for writing.
Rare Earth: It’s a buzz.
Christopher Owens: Exactly, yeah. Yeah. And I was eager to share things with people. And, you know, when you’re creating something, when you’re writing something, especially for me early– not really knowing how good I was doing or if people were interested, the best thing to have is someone there to bounce stuff off of, you know.
Rare Earth: Mmm Hmm.
Christopher Owens: Just play them a little bit and see how they, how they react.
Rare Earth: Get someone’s opinion.
Christopher Owens: Yeah. Or, like, listen to what they’re doing, or see what they’re doing. It’s really, really good.
Rare Earth: I would say, similarly, for me on the radio, I have these books. And every song, every set list that I do, I have written in these books.
Christopher Owens: Yeah.
Rare Earth: And I’m doing it on my own every single time. And I don’t know how people are going to react until I’m on the air. And oftentimes, uh, I’ll be thinking this is my worst show and it gets the most attraction, like people are calling in they’re like, “Hey, I like this, thank you for doing this!” So it’s like it just goes to show how little we know about how others are gonna–
Christopher Owens: Yeah.
Rare Earth: –Take in the art that we put out there. So it would be beneficial to have a few more people in my circle to be able to bounce ideas back and forth.
Christopher Owens: For example, like if I’m reading fiction– novels, or something that I like. If
if I’m immersed in that and spending a lot of time in that, I’ll start to sort of think, like, of, ideas that I would maybe write about. Or, like, in my daily life, I might say, “Oh, that reminds me of what I was reading about, that would be a cool story to write about.” I just feel like the more you hear other ideas that are involved in taking in other people’s work–
Rare Earth: Mmm Hmm.
Christopher Owens: For me– I’m prone to put out more.
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: Just having, like, when Cass McCombs was around playing, and John Dwyer.
Rare Earth: Yeah, it’s that whole, like, I don’t know, let’s say like 15 years ago, that era, like, Freak Folk San Francisco.
Christopher Owens: Yeah.
Rare Earth: It was happening. I’m kind of bummed I missed out. I came just at the tail end of it. It’s really cool that you got to be a part of that.
Christopher Owens: Like, we’d just get together and start playing songs and you could really have a way to sort of gauge how, you know, you would know right away if you were– if you weren’t really, really giving it your best, you know.
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: And if somebody else did something that was powerful and moved you, you’d be like, oh, I need– I need to like step up my game–
Rare Earth: Step it up.
Christopher Owens: –Or like, wow, what, a great way to talk about that or something like that.
Rare Earth: That’s really beautiful.
Christopher Owens: But you do need a way to just step back a little bit and focus on your work.
Rare Earth: But it seems like you’re very comfortable with sharing all of these very personal details about your life and– the evolution of your music– it was similar themes, but you had a really great way of making it fun and concise, like getting one emotion or a feeling you might have, like a situation with someone else, and you just could distill it to this very simple, like, one line that, like– and have this really sick guitar underneath it–
Christopher Owens: Yeah.
Rare Earth: And now with your personal solo career it seems like you’re drawing a little more out of those, um, themes– you’re talking more about it, it’s not as distilled.
Christopher Owens: Yeah.
Rare Earth: You’re giving us more and I really appreciate it, and it really honestly came at a perfect time. The first time I worked through the album in one sitting I was, like, just so happy to be hearing new music from you and it felt a lot like a Girl’s record in some sense but the last two tracks No Words and Do You Need A Friend just– jaw dropped– I had to keep playing it on repeat, like that’s how good– I needed to dissect it every little bit of it. So, it’s working’.
Christopher Owens: Yeah, I mean, that’s why I repeat that line over. I was in the same– I felt the same way. I was just like this is, that kind of says it all for me.
Rare Earth: It’s powerful.
Christopher Owens: I just have to keep going. A little bit like Hellhole Ratrace or Vomit where the chorus at the end just repeats and repeats and repeats.
Rare Earth: Some of my favorites. I have Vomit queued up right here in case we want to play it here– [Both laughing.]
Christopher Owens: That would be, yeah. That would be swell.
Rare Earth: Yeah, I think we’ll take a break to play you a track from Girls. How about Vomit from their second full length? Or if you consider the EP another one of the records, this is the album Father, Son, Holy Ghost on your KALX Berkeley.
[Plays song.]
Rare Earth: Oof, that one hits every single time. You heard Vomit by Girls.
Christopher Owens: That was Makeda singing that wonderful vocal solo. And my name is Christopher Owens, you’re listening to KALX Berkeley.
Rare Earth: Thank you. And did you get to, um, book them for this album as well? I know that there was a little bit of a backing choir sound in one of the tracks.
Christopher Owens: Yeah. Well, it’s specifically her and in the past, it was her and Tracy and Skylar, there was three.
Rare Earth: Mmm Hmm.
Christopher Owens: That recording we just listened to was when I met them. Uh, we were working with this producer in LA named Doug Boehm. I had asked, uh, for Gospel backup singers and see if he could find any, knew anybody.
Rare Earth: That’s a tall ask for a solo record there. [Laughs.]
Christopher Owens: Yeah, yeah. And for an indie rock band, somebody that’s worked with that kind of crowd and JR as well was like, “Are you sure this is the right thing?” Like, “Does it have to be Gospel, you know, like, are you sure it’s going to work?” You know, cause we had already put down the guitars and there’s a kind of general mood of the song and I was like, “Yeah, I really think so,” and Doug just was like, “Oh, I know some people.” So luckily he knew these people, specifically Makeda was sort of the ringleader and the soloist. She was the one that would do little group backups and then she would pop out as her little runs.
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: And I was like, “Oh just go for it on this one,” and she just knew what to do.
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: But then I got to work with him again on my second solo record, uh, New Testament.
Rare Earth: Mmm Hmm.
Christopher Owens: And then I specifically met up with Makeda to see if she would be interested in singing on a couple of the songs – on Do You Need a Friend and a song called Distant Drummer. When I was talking to her, I played her Do You Need a Friend and explained where I was coming from. She knew my ex very well.
Rare Earth: Mmm Hmm.
Christopher Owens: She knew I was going through it. We’d been friends for a long time, like six, seven years so she could understand. But she was like, you know, “This song is really affecting me too. Like, my son was in a coma in the hospital because he got in a car accident.”
Rare Earth: Mmm.
Christopher Owens: “–I would just sit next to him and try to– you know, I didn’t know if he could hear me.” It was this heavy story she shared with me and I was like, “ Just on the end part, there, just sing as if you were in that situation again.”
Rare Earth: Draw from that.
Christopher Owens: “You don’t know if he can hear you, but you’re singing as if you hope he can. You’re trying to reach him in some way.” And she just did this powerful performance on this new one, too. So she’s great.
Rare Earth: It’s really special that you managed to get that on the record, then. Like, just knowing that background to it is really cool. And I do want to talk about the record a little bit now and without getting too in the weeds,
Christopher Owens: Sure. [Chuckling.]
Rare Earth: I was doing research, about what you’ve been up to for the last ten years. And you’ve had, you know, some misfortunes. We’ve talked about the loss of loved ones in more ways than one.
Christopher Owens: Yeah.
Rare Earth: –And out of that, you came out with this record, I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair. I’m just wondering, like, were there any struggles that you didn’t expect when you were making this album? Because it’s been, like, eight years, I think, since the last song you released?
Christopher Owens: Yeah, yeah.
Rare Earth: And how were you able to overcome that?
Christopher Owens: Really, I have to say, the biggest thing was just amazing generosity and faith and help of one person, my new manager now. She found me when I’d lost everything that I had built up and worked for for a long time– [makes whistling sound] it all disappeared and she found me in that state and just believed right away that she could get me out of it and we could do it, without any kind of guarantee of getting her money back or anything– just helped me intensely. Like, got the record finished, got me put into an apartment and helped me move to New York, and I’ll always be really, really thankful to her for that.
Rare Earth: Us too.
Christopher Owens: And, you know, hopefully, you always want to repay people like that in some way, maybe over time. But like, being forced to question, what do I want to do with myself? And like, do I really still want to do this? You know, because I did have this American dream experience of coming– I moved out to California.
Rare Earth: And you made it, right?
Christopher Owens: And then with my first band, just boom!
Rare Earth: Yeah, it was huge!
Christopher Owens: But then just as fast, it kind of seemed to fall through my fingers. And I did have to ask– I saw a lot of other people coming in and out of the industry. And there’s enough to make you question, is this the right place for me, what I should be doing with my time?
Rare Earth: Mmm Hmm.
Christopher Owens: At the very bottom of, of my, well, I had to look and see and all I did want to do was keep playing music, you know, if it was busking or just one-on-one with friends or even– I started to try to record myself again, you know, like before I had met JR I was doing that.
Rare Earth: Like a four track.
Christopher Owens: Yeah. [Laughs quietly.] And so I knew I had to re-establish my belief in what I was doing and then get the support of another person, in the same way that JR came in and pulled that first album together and forced you know– if it wasn’t for him, that would’ve never happened. Same way with Heidi, my new manager. So, you know, we need– we need our– we need a little help from our friends. We need to believe in what we’re doing.
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: But then, you know, the big problem– the biggest hurdles were the pandemic. Like, right when we were shopping it to labels, the pandemic hit, and everybody said, well, we’re not taking stuff on right now.
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: And people were happy to maybe put out releases that already had enough momentum and didn’t need touring, you know–
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: –But for me to put out my first record in some years, nobody wanted to do that with minimal, uh, minimal–
Rare Earth: That’s unfortunate.
Christopher Owens: –You know, like, work on the record, so I think I had to learn the hard way. Of course when you’re down and out too, you really want to start making progress and getting things done, but you can– sometimes you’re forced to take time out, you know? And like, and it was good for me, you know? I– I ended up getting married and–
Rare Earth: Congratulations. That’s awesome.
Christopher Owens: [Laughing.] Those things happened, you know, I moved to a new place in New York and, like a specific little neighborhood that is not really a place people go to. And to me it’s become this really beautiful little neighborhood that I get a lot of inspiration from and, uh, you know, little things happen good in my life by taking a little time out and, and now that the record’s coming out, the reaction has been, like, twice as good as I hoped it would be.
Rare Earth: I mean, it’s well deserved. Honestly, I’m starting to put together, like, in my mind my best records, best songs of the year and this is definitely a contender right now.
Christopher Owens: Awesome, awesome, thank you.
Rare Earth: So again, I’m thrilled that you’re here, thrilled that we got the record.
Christopher Owens: Yeah.
Rare Earth: And I guess, considering all the low points and how punctuated the last few years have been with, like, difficulty for you, uh, was there, like, any specific event that actually sparked the idea where you were like, I need to make sure that I put this record out in some–
Christopher Owens: Yeah.
Rare Earth: –Or like, that you had to get it out of yourself, I guess, is what I’m asking.
Christopher Owens: Yeah. The record started as, um, I don’t know if you ever heard– so I did a record with a group called Curls.
Rare Earth: Oh yeah.
Christopher Owens: Girls was Curls in the beginning, it’s sort of a long history with this project that I wanted to do called Curls. We did one EP, and then this album material was, for the most part, not all of it, but the bulk of it was me trying to make that full length album with these guys.
Rare Earth: Oh, okay. I see.
Christopher Owens: But so it was a very different goal than what it turned out to be. It was our debut record and a chance to show everybody what we were going to be about and play as a group but then that sort of just on its own fell apart, like, you know, two of them– one had just gotten married and then was gonna have their new kid. It was just, they were like, oh, we just–
Rare Earth: Life.
Christopher Owens: –They were having a baby, you know. And, they– I understand they didn’t want to start touring and commit to all that. They were like, maybe this isn’t the right time for me to do this. And, and then another one, same story. [Chuckles.] And the last guy, uh, Derek, the guitarist, I loved to play with him, but this was his sort of side project, second project, ‘cause he was a good friend of the drummer’s. So his main project was just doing other things and yeah, I just could see right away. Okay, this is not the right time–
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: I’m forcing something that’s not gonna happen.
Rare Earth: Okay.
Christopher Owens: So I kind of started to look at it as more of my– they were my songs, so it was like, Well, from the lyrical content and from where I am right now, what can I do with this? And I changed some things, like stripped some of the songs back, like, This Is My Guitar, I felt, you know, that song– I was like, this has to be just a guitar. I was singing with a guitar and I made things more personal.
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: And then– thought about what I wanted to say. Do I want to do this sort of standard typical breakup album, you know, do I wanna show everybody my sadness?
Rare Earth: Mmm Hmm.
Christopher Owens: Do I wanna rage out? You know, do I wanna show anger?
Rare Earth: A little bit of everything in there. You know, you can pick at it.
Christopher Owens: Yeah. I decided, yeah, show all that stuff, but also show that I still want– I still want to believe that things– like good stuff is right around the corner maybe.
Rare Earth: Mmm Hmm. Very optimistic.
Christopher Owens: Yeah, like, if you just, just believe in stuff enough, you can fix the things that have broken down.
Rare Earth: That is a beautiful message, and I actually did pick up on that. Especially with the song Two Words. Because, considering you’re opening the album with No Good, and that is a very much in your face kind of song.
Christopher Owens: Yep.
Rare Earth: So I like that you stood up for yourself in No Good. And then in Two Words you’re able to step back and say, at the end of the day, all I want for you is true happiness.
Christopher Owens: Exactly.
Rare Earth: And that is not easy. Like, I’m working on that sort of thing, like, to be that strong, to still want the best for others–
Christopher Owens: Yeah.
Rare Earth: –Even when time seems dark. Yeah. And I do want to share a couple of songs from the new album. I just went and picked up a copy before this. So, we were just talking about Two Words, why don’t we listen to that?
[Plays song.]
Rare Earth: Cannot stress enough how good this album is. You’re listening to brand new music from Christopher Owens. This is the song, Two Words, found on the record I Want To Run Barefoot Through Your Hair. Got to check the rest of it out. We’re going to end today’s interview with a little bit of conversation and one more track off of that record. But first, back in the studio with Christopher Owens. I guess, just to wrap things up, I just want to ask you, what do you want to tell us that we can’t necessarily bring about in a question because I don’t– just before this, while the song was playing, I was mentioning that I don’t want to give you the same questions, the same interview that I’ve been reading for the past week preparing for this. So what’s something that you would want to say that hasn’t been asked yet?
Christopher Owens: Yeah. That is something that happens. You start repeating yourself a lot. I guess, you try to say everything you want to say with the record and then you sort of find out if people have understood it properly and you try to clarify if they don’t, but I think people get it. I think it’s just kind of doing its thing in a better way than I could do it. I don’t know if that makes any sense, like, it’s reaching people in that way that art is supposed to, where if you could just do it with a conversation, you wouldn’t do the art, you know?
Rare Earth: Yeah. I guess, no, that makes sense. Like, you could talk about it, but we wouldn’t fully understand it. This is like when they say, the sum is more than the parts, you know?
Christopher Owens: Yeah, yeah. I can say, I would love everybody to know some things, you know, I’d love everybody to know that I’m just so glad to have had such a good experience here in California. You know, I’ve moved away now, but I don’t know if it’s permanent, but just reflecting on it, you know, um, I came here, from Texas– I moved to the United States at 16 with a lot of dreams, a lot of hopes. And I found myself then in Amarillo, Texas for nine years, which is– although it was a giant step, maybe even too big for anybody to really take on to come from where I came from, and you know, it was a big improvement being in Amarillo with my freedom and just the world in front of me.
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: But when I knew this isn’t what I came here to find, you know– my mentor, Stanley Morris, lived there and I learned a lot from him, but then it was, like, time for me to go off on my own. And so I chose San Francisco because New York was overwhelming when I visited. It is, I think, the greatest city in America, but it’s so big and blah blah blah, you know.
Rare Earth: It could be a lot.
Christopher Owens: Yeah, for my time and place at the time, I probably would have been crushed, you know.
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: Something. But I visited LA because I had a sister there. It seemed depressing to me [chuckles]. It seemed like not what I thought it was going to be and I think in LA you need really badly to know people and have a community or you’re going to be lost.
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: So somebody, a random friend of mine who I looked up to a lot, he was like a computer guy and he just was like– of my friends in Amarillo, a small town, he was the one that was already, you know, living in Portland, and just, becoming a sophisticated young man, you know.
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: And he would come back and we’d all be like, “Wow, Scott,” you know.
Rare Earth: [Laughs.] He’s got it going on.
Christopher Owens: And he was like, “Why don’t you try San Francisco?” And I was like, okay, you know, because I didn’t know much about America. I did know a little– I remember the 60s and he explained the Silicon Valley dot com thing.
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: He was like, “It’s a really happening place, and I think you’d like it. You know, it’s like a small– like a European city, and you just walk around.” And that’s kind of what I grew up with, before coming here and I was like, okay, yeah, you know, so I just rented a room on Craigslist in a Chinese family’s house–
Rare Earth: Mmm hmm.
Christopher Owens: –An upstairs bedroom, you know, they were renting out the room in Glen Park. And I just would send them a rent check and–
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: –And drove in my car out– and man, it’s just been amazing, you know, like–
Rare Earth: Quite a journey.
Christopher Owens: Yeah, all the people I’ve met along the way that inspired me to write music at all, because I wanted to be a painter when I came out here. And I knew how to play music, but I didn’t realize it was something I could do where I could be creative. I didn’t understand songwriting yet. I didn’t know– I thought that was for these idols and people bigger than life–
Rare Earth: –And you never think that you are capable of– Yeah.
Christopher Owens: –I could be one of those people, you know?
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: And, and then I saw it, people doing it in LA, specifically, two of my friends that I’m still very close with. I was like, “Oh wow, those songs are great, and I could do it.” They’re just writing about their life. And so I started it, and you know, JR, a guy from Santa Cruz, you know, living next door to me in my house, and he can hear me in the next room just trying to record on my four track. [Laughs.]
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: And he’s like, “You know, I went to audio engineering school.” You know, man.
Rare Earth: That’s fate right there.
Christopher Owens: Yeah. We’re just off. And then, you know, all the friends that were in our lives that we talked about and were inspired by, and would help us with our videos and it’s just– you couldn’t ask for a better experience. And everybody was here, you know, this was the place where it happened. And if I wouldn’t have come here, it wouldn’t have happened. So it’s been really, really, really good.
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: Always gonna be in love with this place. Like, we went out, then toured the world and sort of lost– you can’t have everything, you know?
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: Like, we had to– we went out and we wanted to tour and– you know, who wouldn’t do that?
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: And then the prize was that very special, tight knit group of people at home fell apart and– you know, so it’s sad, but everybody’s gone on to do interesting things, and that’s life, you know, if you stagnate, you die, you know.
Rare Earth: That’s true, yeah.
Christopher Owens: And when I do see these people, right, even though it’s not as often as I’d like to, there’s a wonderful feeling of like, ah–
Rare Earth: –We’re all still doing it.
Christopher Owens: Yeah, yeah, and like, so good to see you catch up, and it’s great, you know, it’s fine.
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: And like, then I was trying to find my new place here after Girls and my solo projects kind of came to a halt. You know the guys that I played on this record with: Cody Rhodes, Derek Barber, Luke Bace, I want to thank them a lot. They’re all from the Bay Area, all really, really good guys, really great musicians, and I can be kind of quirky, and I’m not like a, um, reassuring, safe, environment, maybe, for everybody, you know.
Rare Earth: You’re self aware, you know, and you found your group.
Christopher Owens: Yeah, but I can see how they could be a little bit overwhelmed, and like, “What’s going on here?” But they believed in it, and they helped me out a lot, and I just have to say thank you to them, and then, um, I’m in New York now, and it’s all good, but coming back to play these shows–it’s priceless for me.
Rare Earth: Yeah.
Christopher Owens: And seeing people, the people I’m staying with, and you know even just coming out here, my wife’s outside and running errands while she waits for me, but I think I’ll take her over to Panoramic Lane, where I lived, and just show her, so you know, I’m just really happy for the way things are going and for my life and, and, everything that happened here in California. I’m very grateful.
Rare Earth: Well, I want to also just say thank you to you because of the way that you’ve handled yourself over these last few years and the record that you just released, it’s really truly something special. It’s not something that I think many people could handle or pull off and I’m very excited for this one. I’m gonna be playing it a lot in the station. I’ll be on the air tomorrow from 12:00 to 3:00 playing some of this and, yeah, it’s just incredible for you to be here and you know, San Francisco welcomes you once again. You can come by any time. And yeah, everyone out there listening: this was my interview with Christopher Owens and they are playing a sold out show tomorrow at the chapel. Hopefully I’ll see you all there, and you’re tuned in to University of California’s KALX Berkley. Christopher Owens, thank you again.
Christopher Owens: My pleasure.
Rare Earth: I’m gonna send us off with the closing track to the record. This one is titled, Do You Need a Friend. Thank you.
