By Maddy Yen
Who is Bowl Peace?
The four-frontman band, consisting of Elise Benton (vocals), Owen Akiyama (bass), Holden Hunt (guitar), and Elizabeth Bailey (drums), has become one of Eugene’s staple bands. Benton met Hunt first. "I was living with two roommates, and they were both dating his roommates. One of those roommates [Holden] met Owen through," Benton recalls. At this time, Hunt was looking to form a band and went on to meet Bailey in a class. Bailey said, “Holden and I had a class together, and one day we had to take a quiz in class. He didn’t copy off of me but didn’t not copy off me.” Hunt interjected and said, “I was trying to.” The band officially formed in November 2022 and played their first show in February 2023. From there, the band was booked and busy, making their mark on the Eugene house show scene.
“Smoking in Bed” EP
Before this release, Bowl Peace had three singles out. “Idaho” and “Coconaut” will not be on the debut EP, but the most recent release, “Jokes,” will be. “Jokes” was released earlier this year and will accompany five other tracks. Bailey said, “This project is a collection of all the songs we’ve written so far.” The band explained how the production of this record was quite prolonged. Bailey mentioned they initially “recorded the whole thing in a studio and got it back and went, ‘Actually, we need to mix it ourselves,’ because we had such a specific vision.” The band pivoted and ended up recording most of the drums and vocals in a studio in Portland, then recorded the guitars in Holden’s basement. The record was mixed mostly by Hunt, with Bailey doing around 10%, consisting of all the drums. “I spent a lot of the time kind of putting everything together in the end, doing the crazy absurd things to it, way too many things,” Hunt said. Thaddeus Moore at Sprout City then mastered the record. Bowl Peace expressed how collaborative the making of this EP was. Benton said, “Most of the time we write our own parts, but the lyrics are definitely more fluid.” Hunt added, “No one is afraid to bring an idea if they have something they want to bring to a song.”
Tracks
“Coconaut”
While this song is not on their EP, “Coconaut” is arguably the most well-known Bowl Peace song. Bailey stated, “Coconaut is its own universe,” and I couldn't agree more. When asked about the making of this track, Akiyama said, “We recorded it in Holden’s basement with three microphones, which was doable, but we were in our baby era and didn’t really know how to do it well.” Nevertheless, this track has become a crowd favorite. Akiyama had the word "Coconaut" written down in his notes for a potential band name. He suggested to the band that they make a song called “Coconaut” with that particular spelling. Bailey had the idea of it being about a surfer boy and told me, “Both Holden and Elise were like, ‘This is fucking stupid.’” Benton said, “I thought it was going to sound stupid coming out of my mouth. The way I pronounced and sang it, it sounded stupid. But when [Elizabeth] sang it, it sounded so fun.” Akiyama added, “And that’s why Elizabeth sings the chorus. We were envisioning it as a pop-punk thing.” Bailey continued saying that the song was written about her relationship with her ex-girlfriend. Hunt jumped in and said, “All of our songs, including the ones Elizabeth didn’t write, are about her ex-girlfriend.” Akiyama also wanted you to know, “They’re about your ex-girlfriend too.”
“Smoking in Bed”
The title track of the EP was the first song the band wrote together. Bailey stated, “I feel like that was the first time we all worked together and actually figured out how to talk to each other.” Benton added that it has an actual story associated with it, but the song has gone through multiple versions. Akiyama said, “It used to sound a lot different.” He added that as a band, they are always changing things. “We have to compromise and meet in the middle, and usually, it ends up being something we all like. It just takes a while.” Regarding “Smoking in Bed,” Benton explained, “It’s gone through versions and we’ve gone back. Some parts continued to progress, some parts reached their end spot, and some we went, ‘Actually, let’s go back.’”
“Meltdown”
My favorite new track of theirs, “Meltdown,” takes inspiration from “Money Trees” by Kendrick Lamar. Akiyama explained, “Kendrick Lamar takes the ‘Silver Soul’ intro by Beach House and reverses it. I had this reverse effect on my pedal, so I wanted to do something with that.” Bailey also wanted to play the disco beat on one of their songs and “made Holden do this beat thing he hated.” The track became a fun one for them to play and one of their more upbeat songs.
Elise Benton and Elizabeth Bailey at The Limelight on May 25, 2024. Photos by Mary Grosswendt.
Covers
Bowl Peace does a great job of knowing what the audience wants to hear. Bailey said the band spends “A stupid amount of time figuring out covers.” Benton added, “We spend a lot of time trying to think about what’s gonna go hard.” From Guns N' Roses to Miley Cyrus, Bowl Peace mixes up their covers quite often. Akiyama told me “The point of a cover is that everyone knows it.” Hunt voiced “I think a big part of it is it’s hard to start playing shows and have people get into it when you don’t have a lot of music out. Doing a cover helps bring people in a bit more.” Hunt told me his favorite cover so far has been “Money” by The Drums but said, “We’ve played it twice live and shit was unplugged.” But the third time's a charm. Akiyama liked “We Can’t Stop” by Miley Cyrus, saying it was super fun to play. Bailey said her favorite is “Ventura Highway” by America, and she also loves it when they do “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Lastly, Benton said her favorite cover was “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood. She said she grew up listening to country and lived on a ranch so she proposed this cover to the band.
Owen Akiyama at a house show on April 12, 2024, and Holden Hunt at ATO on October 27, 2023. Photos by Mary Grosswendt.
Future Plans
Even though the band members are graduating this year, they plan to stay in Eugene to continue to play. Bailey stated that right now their plan is to live in Eugene and have this be their main priority for the next year. They are planning on recording, writing, and playing as much as they can and hopefully, it continues to feel good. Benton concluded, “I want to play our shows in Eugene but also have shows in Corvallis and Portland and expand out.”