LouFest 2014: Black Pistol Fire
What’s your best memory of St. Louis?“When we played at The Pageant, it was one of our best shows. The crowd was just great and so receptive. If I could sum it up in one word … it would be sweat.” - Eric Owen, drummer
It’s important to know your musicians, and that’s why Black Pistol Fire thinks it’s important to tell St. Louis that drummer Eric Owen is an avid Saved by the Bell fanatic and that vocalist/guitarist Kevin McKeown began in music at the ripe old age of 7 as an Elvis impersonator.
His stage name was Kelvis.
It’s also important to know, before you see them play, that this duo is a sum of Canadian and Texan rock 'n' roll, and that this equates to a whole lot of hip shaking and head thrashing. “Well, actually, everything is thrashing,” Owen jokes.
Owen and McKeown met at age 5 when there was an incident in a bathroom, which is a story that McKeown plans on saving for his toast at Owen’s wedding. Now that they are both at what they denote as the magical age of 30, they simultaneously concur that their bond is more like a brotherhood.
Although both of the men know that Black Pistol Fire isn’t the only artistic project they want to pursue in their lifetimes, they are also both completely happy the way things are now, with just the two of them. After five years of playing in this particular project, they feel a sense of natural freedom in sticking with just one other person that really understands them.
That doesn’t mean, however, that they want to be stagnant. The duo’s influence mainly stems from other music, such as The White Stripes and The Black Keys. So, for instance, when they both recently got into garage rock, the band’s musical technique started to pick up on it too.
The garage rock style lends itself well to the speed in which the band records. Typically, they will only spend a day or two recording new material, which McKeown says is a result of an urgent perfectionism. “No matter what, the first take isn’t the take,” he says. “But the need to get it all right in a short amount of time creates a type of frantic energy that plays into our musical style.”
Given their “frantic energy,” the band is always surprised to hear what people do while listening to its tunes. For instance, chopping wood and grilling meat seem to be a perfect fit in their minds. But they’ve also gathered quite the fan base, or so they've heard, that prefers to listen to their tracks while playing chess.
The duo prefers to think of their sound as gnarly rock 'n' roll or swag rock. But, if there’s anything they have learned through their diverse fan base, it’s that lots of activities need a certain amount of attitude. And for basically all activities, people need Black Pistol Fire.
