An interview and evening with Rowan Drake
A single spotlight shines over a young musician strumming to a crowd of darkness. From Ithaca, New York, 20 year old Rowan Drake gave an acoustic eight song set as the first opener for American pop rock band X Ambassadors on May 7 at the Fremont Theater in downtown San Luis Obispo.
Drake opened with his song “Beautiful Boy/Downstream.” As an artist, he creates music based on how he has experienced his life to connect with people with similar stories.
“I create about the life around me, I usually try to create in order to like speak with somebody in my life,” Drake said. “So if I have a conflict with somebody or just troubles sharing how I feel music is where I turn to and it’s kind of my conversation back and forth with the world around me and the people around me.”
While creating his own sound, Drake reflects on his own life as a way to craft his songs. His 2024 single “Why” is the last song created for his upcoming project and blends these elements together– a deep sense of vulnerability embedded in alternative pop mixes.
“It was kind of just the contemplation of why I was still holding on to something and not allowing space for new things in my life,in hopes of something coming back that I had let go of,” Drake said.
Van Morrison, Mazzy Star and Jeff Buckley are some of the many artists that inspire Drake as a musician. During his performance, he played Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You” as the sixth song in his set, a song he said his mother frequently played for him growing up.
During his intimate one-man show in front of a swaying crowd, Drake interacted with the audience between songs to talk about his music, but also shared his past experiences in San Luis Obispo, additionally asking the crowd for post-show food recommendations.
Drake hopes his music will help people let go into the music and get in touch with their own experiences and “disassociate” with the music.
“I’ve been to shows where I kind of just, I don’t know, I like tune out of my of my surroundings for a moment,” Drake said. “Just get lost right into like, an old memory or something and disassociate for 20 minutes or even just a few minutes and I would love to share that with again, as many people as possible.”
Sharing music digitally has felt limiting for Drake, especially in the age of TikTok, fueling shorter based videos. Music is now advertised towards shorter attention spans, showcasing specific and smaller parts of an entire song.
“I think trimming music and story, like trimming a year of your life that you already consolidated into a four minute song down to a 15 second clip, it can be brutal sometimes because it really does feel like it takes away a lot of the value of the music,” Drake said.
When writing his songs, Drake faces a challenge– deciding who and what belongs in the world of music from his own life, sometimes “crossing the line.”
“When I write a song about somebody else now, I’m bringing somebody else into this kind of looking glass, dissecting things and sometimes, to be honest, not even telling the truth,” Drake said. “I’m telling the truth from my own perspective, but it might be a completely different truth from what they experienced and then on top of that I’m putting it out there potentially for millions of people to see and judge.”
Today virtually all artists, from Drake to local San Luis Obispo bands, now have the power for their music to reach millions.
For aspiring artists, Drake values individuality and finds what sets each musician apart when producing music.
“Your story is the only unique thing you can tell and the sooner you kind of start to lean into that and what makes you unique.”
According to his Instagram post, Drake’s new EP “For all my eyes have seen” is set to be released June 14.
