Greg Bowers is the vocalist and composer for the Dayton project, Arland. I sat down to chat with him in his Belmont home about the band, ballads, Black Sabbath, and his upcoming single, “The Day My Dream Comes True” (out April 8, 2024).
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Arland is your middle name?
GREG BOWERS: Yep, exactly. Exactly.
So with this project being mostly you, why not call it “Greg Bowers?”
BOWERS: I don’t know if you’ve ever searched Greg Bowers online but there is a jazz pianist who will come up. That’s my uncle. He releases music under that moniker, so I had to do something else. But, [Arland is] a very interesting name. It’s the single-name thing.
With building a band in the studio — without exactly having one — what does playing music ideally look like for you?
BOWERS: At this current stage, it’s not so much about playing music as it is the composing and writing of it, and eventually releasing it. I do need that band so I can actually start to go out and play music more consistently.
I think the beauty of what is happening with music right now is that bands can just exist on record. The live music aspect, as a form of getting the music out there, expands reach, but bands can exist without performing.
BOWERS: Yeah.
I know from the way you just said yeah that you wouldn’t want it that way.
BOWERS: It’s not so much that I wouldn’t want it that way, but I haven’t experienced it [as a band yet].
If you were able to make it work solely in the studio, would you do that?
BOWERS: I think I might. I consider myself a writer — a musician. So from that perspective, being able to focus on writing songs, composing songs — that’s what really appeals to me. Playing music is cool. But for me, the focus is really on telling these stories and getting them out there.
What kind of music were you influenced by?
BOWERS: I grew up in this very religious environment. And so we had a lot of your more traditional [Contemporary Christian music]-type stuff. Eventually, I started to move toward the crossovers. There were a few metalcore bands. Have you heard of August Burns Red? They’re metalcore.
No, but you can throw “-core” after anything and I generally understand what you’re saying.
BOWERS: So metalcore, from my understanding, tends to be very heavy: lots of uncleans, but also lots of cleans. High soaring vocals, and very melodic guitars, as well. I was, and still am, very focused on the vocal side of things. I used to listen to Josh Groban, as well. Very vocally-focused.
I know how [Reel Love Recording Company Producer] Pat [Himes] works in the studio; he likes to double a lot of things. And when I’m listening to your vocals, I believe that’s what’s going on. There are points when I think you sound a little like Ozzy [Osbourne].
BOWERS: Ozzy. Interesting.
Have you ever gotten that comparison?
BOWERS: I have never listened to Ozzy Osbourne or Black Sabbath.
Ever?
BOWERS: Ever. So that’s interesting.
That blows my mind.
BOWERS: I have a really weird musical background.
We’ve gotta listen to some before I leave.
BOWERS: Sounds good.
So you released “Islands” in January 2022, which, for lack of a better word, is a ballad. There are movements, but…
BOWERS: One thing I have trouble with is music genres. What is a ballad? What is a ballad to you?
When I think of ballads, I think of hair metal that goes soft. Guns N’ Roses doing “Patience” or “November Rain.” Softer songs, but whoever’s pushing it has a heavier oeuvre. It doesn’t always have to be like that. There are just sweet people… are you confused by the ballad label?
BOWERS: I am, yeah. It’s not like I mind it at all. To my extremely limited and miniscule understanding, I’ve always kind of perceived a ballad as a “piano ballad,” or it’s a literal piano song.
You say you have an extremely limited understanding, but it sounds like you have a firm grasp of music in general.
BOWERS: I guess my term is “rock opera.” Movements, stories you’re telling somewhat through the lyrics, through the sections of music, sometimes through the music itself, to introduce a different feel — those types of things. Structurally, I’m definitely doing things but I don’t have great terms for them.
It’s interesting that you say it like this because I thought your second release “Day Breaks” also felt like a ballad. Your new song, “The Day My Dream Comes True,” isn’t necessarily a ballad but it has elements of one. But when I first heard your music a couple of years ago [via a Google Drive link], I heard screamo. And maybe that’s another term you don’t agree with, but there was something on the verge of screaming happening. So with these three releases being so much softer than the other stuff, what’s the choice to frontload those softer sounds?
BOWERS: At this point, there’s no guarantee there’s actual metal coming out, but there might be. The idea of frontloading, I guess, is hinged upon that.
You don’t disagree with the metal label?
BOWERS: No. I guess I don’t understand the metal side of things for the piano ballad. I’ve talked about a lot of this artsy-fartsy stuff, but I view “Islands” in a sort of quantum superposition, of being chronologically placed after my first two albums. But if you listen to the story or the message, it works well as a debut song.
So you’re saying that what you’re doing right now is George Lucas making the first Star Wars movie.
BOWERS: I don’t know if this will be anywhere near as successful, but I guess.
But that’s the idea behind it: “Islands” could be a stand on its own, but to give context there is also a prequel series in the form of those first two albums.
BOWERS: So when I was thinking about my debut single, something that really gets out there, I was thinking about these first two albums and the story they tell and where it all leads. And so it does all tie together in that sense, narratively.
If you had to boil down that narrative thread, what is that narrative thread?
BOWERS: It’s just a general person’s philosophy changing as they go through things, eventually sort of culminating in “Islands.” So that’s the trick: The answer is out there, but it’s not going to be obvious what it actually means until you’ve heard those first two albums.
When are we getting the first two albums?
BOWERS: The plan is [to release] “The Day My Dream Comes True” on April 8. Hopefully then, within the next few months or so, I’ll get the album out. It’s all written, basically all the music is recorded. We’re trying to get some strings in. And then do the final mix, mastering, that sort of stuff. Second album, obviously the lyrics are all written. [I’m] in the midst of writing the music. So, two or three years. Something like that.
To have it all.
BOWERS: Or at least this stage of it all.
This new song [“The Day My Dream Comes True”] feels like a breakup — with someone or something. And that’s not definitive, of course; that’s just my interpretation. But do you think you’ll ever come out with the true meaning, or will you always keep things vague? Not just for this song, but for everything.
BOWERS: It’s hard to say whether that’d be a good idea or fits where I want things to be in five years when this story is done. There are other songs that are more explicit. Other singles, other album ideas. This one in particular is much more open-ended.
In a world where everything is quick and constant, does it concern you that this long-term plan will be lost on people?
BOWERS: I don’t really worry about it, but I recognize that it’s absolutely a possibility. People are going to consume things at their own rate, to their own interests, and that’s fine. I still think in this perspective of telling a grander story across songs, across an album. Ultimately, all I can do is put out what I feel like I need to put out. And if people like it, they like it.
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After the interview, I gave Greg Bowers a tour of Black Sabbath’s catalog — from “Paranoid” to “Iron Man” to “War Pigs” but nothing seemed to catch on. I think he might’ve been confused by the whole comparison, and I suppose I was a little confused, as well.
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