Ben Shepherd

Started recording this record in 2009 on thanksgiving in Georgetown with Dave French at Chad MacMurrays Studio. It was the fact I had personally disappeared from the music world and was witting a postcard from the hinterland that I started making this record. It started as an acoustic guitar thing till two amazing drummers offered their time. THEE Matt Cameron and THEE Matt Chamberlain.

Georgetown with all its volume and noise still wasn't nocturnal enough compared to our volume , so we moved studios , to Gerry Amandes' studio. In Interbay, sharing property and landlords with a sex club, still as industrial as Georgetown, we were able to record full volume all day and all night. The studio only has cold water so Dave and I called it that then, Coldwater.

During both recording phases I knew I wanted the name to reflect the area of where we were really hanging out and living. A friend of mine hipped me to what the old cabbies used to call Georgetown - Deep Owl - Very fitting of the time, place, and mentality I'd say.

So out at Coldwater we plugged along and had Klaus Lustica come in and play saxophones on a song, had Matt Chamberlain back for that song on drums and percussion, also had Joseph Brailey play on a track that I made up on the spot pretty much, then got an old friend and badass drummer Greg Gilmore come lay down a track of drums that I overlaid a whole song to.

It's during this time while writing lyrics for the songs that were piling up, that I ran into an old cohort in music - Adam Kasper- I pitched the idea of him mixing what we had recorded.

One thing lead to another and Soundgarden reunited - thereby for Deep Owl at least, it brought the final phase into context, the mixing and final touches of production, and the introduction of Nate Yaccino into our stories.

Both Adam and Nate finished off the project at two studios Robert Langs and Studio X, Dave would come when could make it and we'd mix or retrack or add parts - things like adding Steve Kim on upright bass ( though done by Chad back at his studio,) it gets all too convoluted to pin down over these last few years. But we did enough to actually send the stuff off to the mastering Master Bob Ludwig.

Needless to say, everyone helped immeasurably with skill, patience, caring and fortitude to get this thing done and from one Night Freak to the rest of you I hope you enjoy.

-H.B. Shepherd