Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Powell
Hi Erin, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I have been involved with the Gothic/Industrial scene in North Texas for over 20 years. My initial involvement began as a DJ in the genres. from the late ‘90s through the early 2000s I was spinning at the Deep Ellum bar called The Sandbar (which is long gone, no relation to the current bar using the name) as part of the Synergy promotion team. From there I was a resident DJ at the horror-punk themed bar called Spiderbabies (owned by a member of the band Ghoultown, this bar is also long gone) doing a weekly event called Funeral Drive which focused on Deathrock and traditional Gothic Rock and post-punk, which was considered ‘out of fashion’ at the time by many attracted to the rising popularity of electronic dance music creeping into the goth scene. I was also DJing at the Division One bar in Arlington, and at the Ridglea Theatre in Fort Worth, for my own event called Europa. Guest appearances at The Church and Panoptikon happened as well. My focus as a DJ was to play the more atmospheric, romantic, and darker music of the genres as opposed to the ‘4 on the floor’ dance beat that was popular in all other clubs.
In 2004 I started my own band called Awen, which is still going strong to this day with our most recent album, This World And Its Spirits, having just come out in Germany on red vinyl this past April. Currently the band consists of me (handling all lyrics and lead vocals and percussion), my wife Katrin (vocals and percussion), and Per Nilsson (electronics). We’ve released 4 full length albums on international labels such as Dais (US), Old Europa Cafe (Italy), Trisol (Germany) and have had a number of singles and collaborations with other artists such as King Dude, ROME, Spiritual Front, Boyd Rice, and more, including the 2021 album of remixes and covers of Awen songs called Reincarnation, which featured contributions from veteran artists like Nachtmahr, Ostara, Samsas Traum and others (all friends of ours).
We have had a string of performances overseas in England, Germany, and Italy, though we rarely play live in Texas due to the unique style of our music making a compatible bill difficult. I would like to play more in Texas and other states in the future.
I’ve also written for the websites Heathen Harvest (now defunct) and The Aither, conducting interviews with notable artists such as Coop, Jarboe (of Swans fame), Fred Berger of Propaganda Magazine, Death In June, Michael Cashmore (of Current 93), King Dude, and others.
You can read my interviews at The Aither at this link:
https://theaither.com/author/erin-powell/
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Doing the type of music I do is difficult anyway as it has little commercial appeal and as it deals with themes of paganism and history, it tends to have a niche audience and is prone to misconceptions. The target demographic is predominantly European too, so being from Texas has caused challenges here and abroad. Here, we’ve faced disinterest and derision, abroad I have encountered a prejudice against us for being American firstly and Texan on top of it. But, one carries on! I’ve no other choice, I’m compelled to create in an authentic way.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
The Awen discography can be seen here:
https://www.discogs.com/artist/956123-Awen-2
There are multiple live videos on YouTube as well as videos of most of our songs there, put up by our various label’s distribution services.
Any big plans?
I really would like to get some shows set up in Europe again. Everything fell apart with Covid, which gave us time to complete the recent album, but now I want to try and get some more performances set up. We’ve had a line up change recently and are starting to work without guitar, and that opens up possibilities sonically.
We are currently working on a collaborative album with the project Murderous Vision, which should come out some time this year.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @erinpowell_awen
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AWENTRISKELERECORDINGS
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nhe2bRRQDuD6UgGcgAural7SRa-rG0sJI&si=hCuAVN-_2eR3dgxS
- Other: https://triskele.bigcartel.com/
Image Credits
Karl Hendrik-Tittel, Reverse The World, Katrin X.
