Will Bowman (fedtodeath)
By Sean Maldjian, Contributor
Photo provided by, Will Bowman
Meet Will Bowman
A self-portrait by, Will Bowman
Would you rather…
battle a unicorn or 6 My Little Ponies?
I would rather battle a unicorn i think. i stand a much higher chance of losing but worst case says i'll die having seen a unicorn (rare feat) and best case i have a story to tell at parties about the time that i at least did not die after fighting a unicorn.
Some questions with Will Bowman
Hi there, thanks for putting this together with us. Can you tell us a little more about yourself?
Hii I'm bowman. I'm 24 years old and I like cats and video games and pretending like I know how to play guitar or keys or sing or rap or scream or do programming... Oh um I do lots of other stuff too: I got the big AKAs "dutchmasters" (experimental music/lo-fi screamo) + "moving away from people" (bedroom pop)... I am also in "no momentum" (emo/pop-punk/etc), "ape metro" (hardcore/metal), and "lakeside" (pop-punk/post-hardcore, not the funk group!!!)... Sometimes I also help artists physically distribute music via loveseat tapes / loveseat art club (new release in October!!)... Generally though I just like to lie down preferably on a couch or bed...
If you could only use 10 words for the rest of your life what would they be?
I do not know, please just leave me alone..... Kittens...
What kind of gear did you lean on while recording ‘FIST OF GOD '98’
The entire album was made in audacity (the recorded parts: just the vocals and some guitars really) and a very legal version of fl studio 10 that I've had since 2012 (for sequencing, samples, mixing, etc.). A lot of drum sounds were taken from the emu sp1200, and most elements are filtered through a bitcrusher among other effects. Only a song or two used a live guitar one of which being acoustic ("real hell") and the other being electric ("a song for eddie"), there's a pretty even split between vst synths and samples beyond that.
Could you write us a Haiku?
I miss you at night
when i'd take you for granted
and just rest my eyes.
Have you played any shows live with tracks off of ‘FIST OF GOD '98’? If yes how did you translate it to a live performance? If no could you see it translating to a live performance?
I don't think any of these songs have been performed live before, definitely not in any iteration that appears on the album. In most settings for a live show I can only really see myself hunched over my sp404, maybe adding guitar accompaniments but there's long been a desire to convert quite a few of these songs into more of a natural full band sound!
What was the main creative drive behind ‘FIST OF GOD '98’?
FOG'98 sprung up at a time where I felt lost and directionless on various artistic projects in my life; I was kind of just making the album without knowing it for awhile. A lot of what I was creating didn't fit any of my already existing projects. Over time I realized all these songs had something in common in that they were all born from a big mess of influences very dear to me and that they didn't fit any labels I'd already made up for my art because I was more concerned with just creating something that meant a lot to me. So at that point (around the halfway mark of making the album) the main creative focus was placed on ensuring that I was making something that was true to what I loved about music regardless of any conventions I'd held and to represent myself and everything that inspires me to my fullest.
Do you have any musical touch-points that you look towards for inspiration?
I have far too many inspirations to list them all (which is probably evident from the bizarre spread of genres and sounds on the album) but I will narrow it down to 3 massive ones!! Lil Ugly Mane is a big influence; the three sided tape series being an obvious one but also his general presented ethos regarding music and artistry has always reminded me to stay true to myself. Sam Ray is another big influence; probably affecting the way I presented myself to the world among other things at far too young an age hahah. But also doing a lot to instill my feelings on lo-fi recording and similarly drawing from a wide variety of musical influences at once. Last but certainly not least, yoni wolf has also meant a lot to my growth as an artist throughout life; he was one of my first exposures to the idea that hip-hop can live within indie rock/folk/ambient music and vice versa, as well as just being one of the absolute most potent writers I've ever heard. So yea, the 3 of them definitely are a rather easy way to contextualize FOG'98.
Did your parents taste in music influence your own?
Early on my parents tastes definitely came into play. They introduced me to stuff like Hendrix, the Beatles and The Beach Boys as a youngin. It took me far too long to come around on the beach boys after spending much of my lifetime just feeling sick of "kokomo" but overall those artists among others have meant a lot to me over the years!
‘FIST OF GOD '98’ features a a cohesive blend of genres including rap, metal, emo, and punk. What attracts you to these sounds?
Oh man... Let's see... I love the dissonance of metal for sure... Hip-hop is really hard to pin down because it's everything from the way lyrics are written to the way the sound has evolved over time due to limitations or in response to other movements or to amplify the voice a particular region... I've always appreciated the more melodic sound and introspective nature presented in emo... And I think punk has long appealed to me because of the community-based ideologies with the rough around the edges / diy vision... But most importantly I think there's a lot of overlap between all of these genres in the way that they have spawned and evolved out of a love for music which is ultimately what attracts me to any artist of any genre.
Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)
"BIG SKY" BY FEDTODEATH ON THE WAY: THE YIN TO FOG'98s YANG!! "CATHODE RAYBEAM VOL 2" ALSO ON THE WAY!! "DUTCHMASTERS FOREVER" ON THE WAY!! "PEOPLE MOVE AWAY FROM YOU" ON THE WAY!! NOMO LP2 ON DA DANG WAY!! APE METRO BARRELLING AT U LIKE A GORILLA AND/OR TRAIN!! and last but most certainly not last: DEFEND TRANS LIVES, EDUCATE YOURSELF AND OTHERS!!!