Meet Owen Dara | Filmmaker, Singer/Songwriter & Comedian

We had the good fortune of connecting with Owen Dara and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Owen, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Artistic expression is something that has always been a part of me. I don’t know why creating is such a compulsion for me, but there is no denying that it is an integral part of my being. I grew up believing that becoming an artist was not a valid career path to follow, so in my youth I never imagined that I would end up dedicating my life to it. It just seemed impossible; no matter how much I constantly felt a pull towards the arts, a voice in my head constantly told me that it was something I could never realistically pursue.

Growing up in Ireland at the time that I did was not an era in which most people could follow their passion. It was a time when people were brought up to focus on finding something that could sustain them financially whether it was something that appealed to them or not. I know that experience is familiar to a lot of people from many parts of the world, but I am constantly surprised by how many people I meet in Los Angeles who never questioned their ability to have their passion lead to them to their career of choice.

I tried many different things after I left school, and ultimately I found that if I weren’t creating art, I was dying inside. In some ways it was a path to better mental health that caused me to pursue a life of creativity; but ultimately, it was a submission to who I truly am. I did not ask to be an artist, nor might I choose to be one if given the choice in another lifetime, but in this lifetime, as difficult as it is at times, I could not choose to be anything else.

Please tell us more about your art. How did you get to where you are today professionally. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
There was a time, during my early 20s, when I thought that being an artist was just a phase that would pass with time, and I actually looked forward to when I could relax into a different profession. I say relax because I think life would be easier in a number of ways if I were involved in something that I wasn’t constantly driven to do. Sometimes when I’m in a project, my mind just won’t switch off. It can be exhausting through all my waking hours and even in my sleep, and it’s a relief to find time between projects when my mind is less active. But even during those times, new projects are unfolding whether I want them to or not. What once I thought to be a phase seems to have possessed me for what will probably be a lifetime. I have learned to not fight it anymore. I accept who and what I am for better or for worse—and believe me, I have found myself at the extremes of each.

Right now my mind is at one of its most active stages as I’m in postproduction for my third feature film. I have been piecing the picture together over the last couple of months, and over the past few days I’ve been recording and arranging new songs for the film. I keep hearing different harmonies and different instrumentation ideas in my head, and these ideas have no respect for my need for rest and relaxation. They come to me at different times of the day and night, so there is no schedule to my working hours. I tend to find myself working much longer than I know I should due to an awareness that if I fail to execute the ideas as they flow, they may never come back to me again.

I suppose if I were to talk about my brand, then I would have to say that I take a holistic approach to my work. Every phrase, camera angle, piece of music, and performance is very important to me and to the project as a whole. I can feel when an element is good enough to pass at a professional level, but I still can’t stop myself from honing it further until I I am sure that I have made it the best that I can possibly make it. In some cases, others may be able to do it better than I, but my benchmark is that I bring it to the highest level I am capable of. This can be both a blessing and a curse, but it’s something else I’ve decided to stop fighting against, which leaves me with more energy to just do the work.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Well first of all I would bring them to the 1881 club in Pasadena on a Tuesday night because that’s where I do a weekly gig of my original music, as well as some Irish songs. But of course there are plenty of other music venues and musicians to experience. I like to support friends who are playing in different pubs and clubs, and there are some great places to eat. A current favorite of mine is Sage in Pasadena. They have some great vegan food, and possibly the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted. I also love the Altadena Ale and Winehouse, which is a great local bar, and of course the 1881 club in Pasadena, where I play live music every Tuesday night from 8 PM—just in case you didn’t pick that up the first time—that’s Tuesday nights 8 PM at the 1881 club in Pasadena. Come by anytime and say hello and grab a drink. They have some great beer, wine, spirits, and possibly the best pint of Guinness in the Los Angeles area… oh and there’s music that I perform there every Tuesday night—not sure if I mentioned that!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Absolutely, yes. With books, there are quite a few I’ve read over the years expressing first-hand accounts of people who have followed their passions. I appreciate so much the stories of those who started with minimal belief in themselves and ended up in places they could never have imagined. I recently read Bob Dylan’s memoir, which is a great window into his mind, and I also read Bruce Springsteen’s memoir, which I thought was a beautifully written journey of an artist who, as he puts it, “had nothing to lose”. As a book for creating good habits, I benefited from doing the exercises in The Artists Way; it was practicing these exercises daily—particularly writing morning pages—that helped me form the kind of habits that made it possible for me to become productive as a writer.

There are a number of people who have inspired me over the years, and many who have encouraged me to continue my work. In particular, my life partner Jessica Lancaster has been a wonderful co-conspirator to my creative life. We have created a number of films together, and she is very supportive of my other creative endeavors as well. She is generally the first person to hear my new music and to read my new works, and she is always willing to offer a supportive critical opinion. I think all artists need somebody like that in their life. In his book on writing, Stephen King talks about his wife being the reader he imagines he’s writing for as he creates his novels, and she is the first person who gives him critical feedback. I consider myself very lucky to have someone like that in my life. Someone who has always encouraged my artistic endeavors.

Website: www.owendara.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/owen.dara

Facebook: facebook.com/owendaramusic

Youtube: www.youtube.com/owendara