Seasoned musician and skilled producer Owen Penglis is a massive music fan and has carved a remarkable path for himself in the world of sound. Hailing from a musical family (his father played in legendary 60s Australian surf band, The Atlantics) Penglis immersed himself in digging for records at a quaint secondhand shop nestled in the Sydney suburbs, seeking the weird and wonderful.
Penglis went on to be in many bands, starting out as a drummer before moving to guitar. He spent time exploring music at university but wasn’t vibing on it, and in a bold move, bid farewell to the classroom and became a Vespa mechanic. He eventually started one of the coolest Australian garage rock bands, Straight Arrows, in 2007.
Music’s magnetic allure beckoned him to pursue his sonic dreams. Armed with a borrowed 4-track recorder, Penglis took on the role of a musical alchemist, teaching himself the art of recording through his own and friends’ musical endeavours. He started his own studio recording bands Circle Pit, The Frowning Clouds, Bloods, The Living Eyes, Mini Skirt, Display Homes and many more.
In our insightful conversation, Penglis unveils details about a new Straight Arrows album, and recording a new Mini Skirt record. Delving into his memories, he tells us stories of mentoring a teenage Ishka from Tee Vee Repairmann, and collaborating on intriguing ventures like a sitar project with Lawrence from Royal Headache. We talk touring with The Oh Sees and Eddy Current Suppression Ring. And we discover the depths of Penglis’ creativity, including the fun project where he donned a gorilla suit and sang a dance anthem that went out for an ARIA Award.
Gimmie chatted to Penglis in a shipping container converted into a backstage area at Miami Marketta on Yugambeh Country/Gold Coast before they played the Cargo Stage at the night market, opening for The Oh Sees.
You’re on tour right now with The Oh Sees!
OWNEN PENGLIS: Yeah. The highlight so far was probably when we went to Sunshine Coast yesterday, but the show was cancelled because of the venue shutdown. So we went anyway, we had a hotel up there. We went bowling. We got up today and went for a swim. And then we played mini golf.
Nice! Who won?
OP: Al won mini golf. Will won bowling.
The first time you toured with The Oh Sees was with Eddy Current Suppression Ring in 2009.
OP: That was really cool, and funny because the shows weren’t very well attended. Eddy Current didn’t really click with people until maybe, Rush to Relax. I mean people who were into that stuff knew about it, but it gained a wider audience, maybe up to that record, as they were kind of starting to wind down a bit. Us and The Oh Sees played in Wollongong, we played to 30 people. Then we did Newcastle with Eddy Current, too, and there were 80 people in a big room at the Cambridge. But Sydney was really good.
What a lineup! We love all the bands.
OP: It was really cool. We’re very lucky just to randomly get on it because this band called Witch Hats, they pulled out, and I said, we’ll do it. They said, “Ok. Cool!” And then we made friends.
The Oh Sees, at the time were doing all the vocals through a Space Echo, a proper tape machine box one and that shit itself. And so I was like, take mine on the road and bring it back at the end. We became friendly and chatted a lot. And then the next time they came, we played with them again, and then next time after that.
I understand that there was a conversation that you and John Dwyer had about potentially doing an Oh Sees/Straight Arrows split release?
OP: Yeah, we were doing the merch together in Newcastle and they’d just written this cool song called ‘I Was Denied’ that ended up being on album, Warm Slime. I think they had just started playing it. They played that song every night. I thought, this is mad. I was like, you’ve got a record label, do you want to do a 7 inch? And he’s like, “Let’s do a split 7 inch!” I was like, okay, cool. And then I just never really pulled my finger out and followed it up. Stupid mistake.
You should remind John of the convo while on tour now, and finally do it! I’d buy that.
OP: I was like, hey, do you remember we were going to do a Split like, four years ago. He was like, “I don’t really do it anymore.” And I was like, I guess I learned my lesson.
Has there ever been other opportunities that you’ve had that didn’t eventuate?
OP: I got one, but I can’t tell ya. I got asked to tour with a band. It’s not a big regret.
How did you get into music?
OP: I grew up in a musical house. My my old man played in a 60s band called, The Atlantics. An instrumental surf band with a hit song called ‘Bombora’. The Beatles hit, like, six months later and you had to have a vocalist, now certain music is not cool anymore. They got a vocalist who was an older dude who’s a bit of a rockabilly guy from the 50s who tried to do 60s rock and roll, it didn’t go well. They put out singles for years. They didn’t sell. But now some of them are really cool, and they’re really valuable. So I grew up with that. Although he hated that and wouldn’t talk about the band or anything. He just thought it was crap and old.
You initially started playing drums?
OP: Yeah, I started as a drummer, played in a few bands when I was a teenager.
What kind of bands?
OP: I played in a band that’s still going called The Holy Soul, when I was 17. I met them when I went to university in Penrith, West Sydney.
What were you studying at uni?
OP: I was doing music. I hated it so much, I quit and became a mechanic.
Why a mechanic?
OP: I got offered a job as an apprentice at a shop that fixed old Vespas and Libras. The guy there said, “Come work for me and stop delivering pizzas.”
During that time you were still making music, though?
OP: Yeah, I was still making music, but when I was doing uni stuff… rather than a strict this-is-how-you-plug-in-a-microphone-thing, and this is how you get a drum sound, it was on the creative side, which is cool. But it was early digital equipment. I thought it all sounded crappy. I hated it. I hated the academic side of it and the people that it attracted.
For you, is music more of a feeling kind of thing then?
OP: I’d say so. Yeah. I’d much rather pick up a guitar then write it down. I couldn’t write it down [laughs]. Not very well.
So I became a mechanic and then I borrowed a 4-track cassette deck off someone, and started again from scratch.
Teaching yourself?
OP: Yes, teaching myself. I was a drummer and I thought no-one wants to see a drummer write songs [laughs], or sit behind a kit and sing.
I do. I love watching drummers sing. Ben from C.O.F.F.I.N, Nadine from The Prize, Buz from R.M.F.C.
OP: [Laughs] Maybe I should have stuck with that.
Does being a drummer help you write songs?
OP: Yeah, probably. I’m sure it does. Just thinking about a song rhythmically is something I do first and then it goes from there.
Do your lyrics come after the music?
OP: It depends. Me and Al in the band always talk about it and are like, if you’re writing a song and your lyrics kind of come with the melody it’s really nice, but if you write cool sounding music and then write the lyrics after, it can be really difficult. It’s like trying to fill out a crossword with no questions on it.
You have a new album that you’re going to put out?
OP:Yeah.
We’ve heard six songs. They’re really awesome. Is there going to be more?
OP: Thanks. There’s heaps more. They’re the only ones I wasn’t embarrassed about [laughs].
How long of a period were you writing over for the new record?
OP: During COVID so it all melts together. In Sydney it was all locked down. There was a while where we couldn’t go more than 5kms from your house. When they finally let you do that, I could go to my studio and I’d go in two or three days, sit down and write some music. If today is good, it’s good, and if it’s shit I had to do better. At the moment, there’s no work for me. I can’t mix anyone’s record because no one’s recording because no-one knew what was happening.
Your studio is called Goliath?
OP: Yeah. So I actually had to move studios, at the start of January. I got a new one which is close to my house but haven’t got a name for it yet. It’s a five minute walk or I just get on my pushy and ride over.
Do you know what the new album will be called?
OP: I have no idea.
When do you think it’ll come out?
OP: I was supposed to finish it off in December but I moved studios, which pushed everything back. I’m hoping towards end of the year, maybe September/October. It kind of depends on the record plants because everything takes so long now. Major labels have discovered that they’ve got a physical piece that they can sell again. And it’s like maybe 60 bucks retail for them now, for a single record. People seem to think that’s normal. You get big artists, like Adele clogging up the plants.
Yep. And Taylor Swift. All the Record Store Day things too. Reissues of everything.
OP: It’s all bullshit, likeTop Gun 2 soundtrack. Whatever. [Laughs] I need that on vinyl! It’s funny because they’re almost, like, keepsakes rather than playable things to a lot of people buying.
I remember reading that when you were younger you used to find bands, new music and you used to love getting records, looking at record covers and then choosing them that way.
OP: Totally. I was really lucky when I was a teenager, there was a secondary record store. I grew up in an outer suburb of Sydney called Asquith, which is like 45-50 minutes on the train from the city. The next suburb was Hornsby and there was one secondhand record shop and it was great and really cheap. They had a listening station. I’d go in all the time. They didn’t care if I just took a pile of records and sat there and listened to them all and maybe didn’t buy anything. It was that it was a great education. And then I had to figure out what I liked. All the dudes running it was, “There’s a $2 copy of this Pretty Things record. Think you might like it, listen to it, it’s cool.” I just dig through and find weird records with strange covers and be like, who is this? Sam The Sham. Cool. Chuck that on. Digging through boxes and seeing cool names.
I do that. I also look for fun song titles. I especially like songs that mention dogs or space.
OP: [Laughs]. Space is always good.
[Shows the screen of his phone] This could maybe be the new album cover. A friend took this amazing photo of a building in Bundaberg. He still lives up there. His name is Brad and he used to play the band Chinese Burns. Think he works for for the ABC taking photos.
Is recording other artists your full time job or do you do that on the side of something else?
OP: It’s my full time job, weirdly. I can finally feel confident saying that’s my full time job.
You were just recording Mini Skirt?
OP: Yes, I was just up in Byron recording Mini Skirt, which was cool. They got a really nice studio up in the hills, in Coorabell. It used to be a studio in the 70s and maybe like Cold Chisel and that school of bands would use it. It went to disrepair and a very rich lady bought the land it’s on and restored the studio to how it was back then, including finding all the old equipment. Mini Skirt flew me up to work on the record.
Have you been working on anything else as well?
OP: I’ve been doing a lot of mastering, which is nice to do. I mastered the Wiggles covers album, which is pretty funny [laughs]. That made my mum understand and respect what I do. I’ve been mastering all sorts of weird stuff, cool local bands and also country artists .All sorts of stuff comes through.
Do you find that when you’re working on something and you might not totally be into it or what the artist is doing, do you find something in there that makes it okay and you can get through it?
OP: Oh, yeah. Mastering I try to be kind of totally objective. It’s a technical thing. There’s joy in any of it. I’m fairly uncontactable, I don’t advertise or try and actively get something, I’m lucky enough tI don’t have to actively try and push to get work from bands. People come to me, and I’m able to leave it like that. If people have made the effort to find me, then they probably know what I’m doing. And we’re probably going to understand each other. I’ve had a couple of weird ones [laughs].
I get that. I was speaking with Ishka from Tee Vee Repairmann recently, and he was saying he likes likes recording, but he doesn’t want to advertise either.
OP: Ishka was my intern.
I know. He told me you were the one who got him into Back to the Grave and all these cool compilations.
OP: That’s cool. When he was in high school, year 11 or 12 he came and worked with me for his work experience, I was recording that band The Grates. They came in for a couple of weeks, so come in and hang out. He’d come in and everybody loved him. He was a quiet, tall kid that wanted to learn lots. Ishka is such a lovely guy. We played New Year’s eve the one before last and Al was away and I caught up with Ishka and asked if he’d like to play guitar for a show. He said, “Yeah, cool, ok.” He came to one practise and learnt everything really fast. He was so good at it I had to ask him, can you play it a bit bit shittier [laughs]. I told him he had to make it bad.
We love Ishka, he’s the best, one of the nicest people we know. With, like, the new album did you have an idea of what you wanted it to sound like?
OP: I’m so caught up in listening to shit all the time that I’ll hear record be like, yeah, I love that I should record something like that, and then the week it’s something else. Each song is probably like a weird snapshot of what I was loving that day or week.
Is there a song on the album that’s significant for you?
OP: There’s some darker stuff in there, but I don’t want to talk about it.
Not a problem. I guess that’s why we write songs sometimes. We can communicate things that are sometimes hard to talk about and it can also help us process what we’re going through.
OP: Oh, totally. I mean, that’s what it’s all about, right? Getting up and yelling on stage.
Yeah, it’s a release. It can also just be total fun and bring immense joy.
OP: It’s so great to do this stuff. I’m so thankful that I get to travel with some ofmy best friends and see some great friends from overseas.
Are you working on anything else musically besides Straight Arrows?
OP: Not really at the moment. I went through a weird patch in, maybe, 2015 or something. I did a bunch of weird records. I did a sitar record. I lived with a guy Lawrence who played that band Royal Headache. We hanging out and I found a sitar on the side of the road that had a hole in it. I fixed it. We were just hanging out and with it, Royal Headache’s High had just come out, and I was listening to these great double 60s records. There was like a band playing a track but with sitar as the vocals. I was like, let’s do that with Royal Headache. We started this dumb band called The Royal Sitars. We put out a 7 inch and played few shows. Then Royal Headache got quite busy. He was off doing festival, running around, and that was the end of that. But there’s a Sitar record out with me and him [laughs].
There’s another one I did around the same time which is called. The Green Bananas, which was like me dressed as a gorilla singing a song about a dance song called ‘Do Ape’.
Amazing!
OP: [Laughs] And that ended up getting picked up by the ABC and it was a 7 inch. The guy from the ABC called up, he said, “Don’t be offended, but would you consider making a kids release?”
You did it, right?
OP: Yeah. I ended up doing an EP. The main reason we did the EP was, “Okay, so the ARIA Awards are coming up and we get to submit like three albums or mini-albums to the nominations in the children’s section. And we have some space. So if you can write and record this in two weeks, we can try and nominate it for an ARIA Award.” I sat down and did it, and then I think the Wiggles put out two albums and I got left behind [laughs].
And now you’re working with The Wiggles! A full circle moment.
OP: [Laughs].
What kind of things are you enjoying music-wise lately?
OP:I spend so much time digging through the past. My other job is DJing, I do that heaps. Touring doing that is much easy than touring a band. I really like The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, their records are amazing. Their story is really strange. A rich older guy was an orphan who was adopted by an oil baron, he decided that he wanted to start a popular rock group and recruited these 18 year olds to start a band with him. He paid for everything. The recordings, the light show. He got them on Reprise, Frank Sinatra’s label. He had them touring around America and kind of slowly started to appear more on stage, playing tambourine and singing. I love the records.
Is there anything musically you haven’t done yet that you’d like to?
OP: I just sit down and play and see what comes out. I guess Straight Arrows is within some sort of confines but I can kind of put out almost anything that’s guitar-related in that band. The new single ‘Fast Product’ we just did, I feel like it’s a weirder one for us. It’s almost like egg punk.
Was there anything you were listening to then when you made it to influence that sound?
OP: The newer wave of egg stuff, I suppose. Like Coneheads. Uranium Club. Even R.M.F.C., those guys are awesome!
Find Straight Arrows here:
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