Bassist/vocalist/songwriter Chris Wyse is having a busy 2015. The former Cult bassist has a new gig playing with Kiss guitar legend Ace Frehley, and Wyse’s power trio Owl will be releasing their new album Things You Can’t See on July 28th.

I recently interviewed Wyse regarding the creative process behind Owl’s new release, why he left The Cult, and what it’s like playing with his childhood hero.

Enjoy the Q&A (edited only for length and clarity) that follows:

SLIS: You cover a lot of ground on your new album’s first single Witches Familiar: it starts off slow but gets super heavy, and vocally you go from crooning to screaming. Was that a standout for you as well?

CW: Well I had this vision for that song to be very theatrical, and it scares you a bit and where I was at in my life at the time was recording it, there was all kinds of emotional turmoil…I went through a breakup, and being in bands, traveling like crazy and the frustration of being pent-up on the road and not seeing your friends and family.

So I think what you can hear is I let the beast out on that one. I put all my emotion into it. I wanted people to feel like I took you them on a journey into a space where it’s a struggle of a relationship…the frustration of that struggle always becomes a little more difficult than you’d ever realize.

And Witch’s Familiar has a mystical tip, because an Owl could be a witch’s familiar or a wolf …where it’s like: is the witch really the leader or is it the other one? And then you start getting the interplay there. And I like to really sing but I also like to let out some banshee screams…I love screaming but it has to be impactful. I can’t live with screaming through the whole song because to me song craft has to have some melodic content and lyrics that are understood.

SLIS: Speaking of lyrics, a track that comes to mind is Lake Ego. That title is so evocative. What was the lyrical inspiration behind that song?

CW: Well I’m really feeding off the Hollywood types that are willing to hurt you and walk on you to get what they want. I see a lot of people drowning in a lake of their ego. And I watch them lose their craft…so that’s where I’m coming from and I’m also playing with the romanticized image of the rock star.

SLIS: So what was the process like for recording the new album Things You Can’t See? Did you approach it any differently than your past albums and was there any overriding concept?

CW: I did have a bit of a vision about the sound being more orchestrated…more colorful and adventurous. I started planting the seeds for the songs but this time they really grew into something beyond what we had planned and it became sort of its own beast.

I would have a chorus like on Lake Ego that had a different set of lyrics…and Dan Dinsmore (drummer) would encourage me to try other things…and he was like, this song isn’t quite saying it enough, just be like “you’re going down!” And that’s how the lyric got to be a little more nasty and edgy.

And the funny thing I was Facebooking back and forth with my folks when I was down at Dan’s church/media company/recording studio in Albany…and my mother said hey we’re up in Lake Ego and I’m like what’s that? She’s like ah, spell check, I meant Lake George. It’s like an hour above Albany, a beautiful lake vacation spot, so the title came out by accident! And I said mom, you just gave me the title for this new song I’m working on! And then I started singing you’re going down, your ego is making you drown an empty hell. So my mom’s responsible for that one!

(both laugh)

SLIS: Your bass-driven sound really helps you stands out against other rock bands. Was that always your intention to have the bass up front and center or was that just a natural evolution of the band?

CW: Well Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris influenced me to play bass and then when I went to college I ended up taking all my extreme bass playing onto the upright bass.

At the time I thought it was a huge pain in the ass (laughing)…but even though the upright was a burden in the beginning…because re-herring your bow is expensive and upright bass strings are every expensive…thank god I’m endorsed by D’Addario now…but the years of pain and suffering paid off…people were like “this guy can also play with a bow”…which is pretty unique. I just realized there’s no band that does this unless I create it you know?

I’m happy to hold the torch for the bass players, because I don’t think there’s a lot of focus on it. So that’s why I created Owl, so I could express that…plus I’m a singer songwriter, so for me it’s the whole package.

SLIS: And I’m a big Cult and I’ve seen you play with them many times, and I recall on the 2006 reunion tour you played the upright on Brother Wolf/Sister Moon.

CW: You remember that?! Yeah I tried to integrate that as I much as I could with the guys…Ian and Billy felt like they should be expanding their sound so I came out full guns blazing…I did it with layers on the album Choice Of Weapon…on Elemental Light, there’s some bow on there, there’s that flange and scraping sounds that I make and I also layered upright bass another song called Embers.

So the bass was really a big deal in some of those songs. I just went in to dress up the whole thing like a Christmas tree…it needed some bells and whistles and some lights…so I think I brought their very straight ahead flavor to life with that kind of stuff. You know because they kind of have that straight 3-chord rock foundation…and they did go for some of it, so that was cool.

SLIS: I thought it was awesome for them to have a stable rhythm section lineup for so long. You worked so well with drummer John Tempesta.

CW: Yeah I was willing to take risks. I met them through Bob Rock and did their 2001 album Beyond Good And Evil like 15 years ago, and the reason I came in was to push the envelope…I wanted to bring something to the table.

And I got to do some things and I’m certainly not complaining. But that’s how it is to join a band…you have to adapt to what the concept of the band is and how they sounded already. You can’t just go in bulldozing what’s already there. But hopefully I enhanced it quite a bit.

The over-driven bass on Beyond Good and Evil, that’s my signature sound, right off the top of the record with the song War.

SLIS: That’s such an awesome song.

CW: Yeah, and people don’t even realize that there are harmonics and wah-wah and delay on the bass in the beginning with all those effects and the guitar playing that chordal thing and then the riff comes in.

So I didn’t tour that record but it came full circle when they asked me back…I did a 10 year run with them…but while The Cult was on hiatus Ace Frehley offered me an invite to tour with him for Space Invader.

And I was really starting to bond with Ace and he gave me a bass solo every night…I sang lead on Strange Ways; I sang harmonies through every song…and I did a 4-minute bass solo where I was featured and did my Owl-like tapping and shredding and the crowd went nuts!

So while the Cult was not really certain of what they were doing, I was already seven songs deep on Ace’s new covers record. And I’ve done the first versions ever (besides KISS) of Parasite and Cold Gin…so that was really exciting. And he gave me co production on one of the new songs. I’m really good friends with him and Rachel his fiancée, so when I go down to San Diego to stay with him he goes the guest room’s there for you Chris! 

(Both laugh)

So I took on Ace and he offered me everything on a handshake. It was a big decision but I had to do it. I had to give myself the platform I deserve to be heard and I like singing a lot too, and KISS inspired me to play so that’s also a big part of it. I used to open up those Alive records and just stare in awe and listen to them over and over so they’re like ingrained in me, know what I mean?

SLIS: Was it surreal when you first got the opportunity to play with Ace Frehley? What was it like when he first reached out to you?

CW: Well a director/producer called me for his Behind The Player DVD with him describing how he goes about it and breaking it down. He had guest drummers and guest guitarists, but no bassists. (Cult drummer) John Tempesta knew the producers and said hey Chris Wyse would do that in a heartbeat. So I went and did it.

And Ace offered me to come on board back then, but I was too in deep with The Cult. But we all felt like something would happen some day and that was like 6 years ago. So it’s all come to fruition…last year he said he wanted me to do everything, and he said I hope you make the right decision (laughing)! And I think I did.

And something new is always exciting. Esp. when it’s one of your heroes. It was kind of like when I was around Ozzy during the Undercover record: it’s surreal, but you gotta do your job.

SLIS: So getting back to Owl, what do you like best about playing as a three piece vs. a 4-5 piece band?

CW: A lot of hard rock bands with 2 guitars absolutely obliterate the bass in the mix live…it eats up a lot of frequency. A trio allows everyone to do their own thing…but you have a little pressure because there is more space to fill in. You can’t get away with just thumping 8-notes on everything. You have to be more creative.

So playing an upright bass with pedals and a bow and then switching to bass guitar for 2-handed tapping…and being the lead singer, all that can be very challenging sometimes, but I just practice until it’s easy for me so I don’t think about it.

Like we’re going over these songs now for live and we’re playing A Taste of Minnesota festival  July 4th and we’re opening for POD and Fuel. And I’m really excited because people will get to see me do my thing. It feels really good and I feel like I’m opening up and getting to spread my wings a bit after many years of supporting other people. But I still will support other people and projects: essentially I back up Ace and I’m aware of that but he also features me which is really cool.

So I’m very blessed and honored for him to pick me, because you know how many guys would love to play with him…I’m just rejuvenated and I’m smiling a lot on stage, there’s a lot of laughs, and people were going dude I didn’t know you could play like that! I’m like that’s fucked up; you’ve been watching me for 10 years man!

(Both laugh)

SLIS: That’s great. So you have your Owl tour next month and I know you’ll be excited to play your new material…can you give any insight into what fans can look forward to hear as far as set list is concerned?

CW: We want to do the title track…we’ll see about Witch’s Familiar…still trying to sort out how to get around the piano…but you can play songs without the exact same things and still come off really well.

I used to go see Jane’s Addiction and I’d think my god their albums have all these harmonies and layers…how are they going to do all this live? But they always pulled it off: because if you pick the right parts and have the right energy I think people still get the essence of the song.

So we’ll go for it either way. We had a song called Rover on our last record with bagpipes and everyone was like how’re you going to do that live? And I’m like it doesn’t matter. We’ll throw our energy into the song regardless and embellish it to get the “feel” of the bagpipes. And we did it every night and no one ever said “oh my god where’s the bagpipes”?! So its doable. But it’ll always be a little different live…that’s what’s cool about us, you’re never really going to see the same thing twice.

SLIS: So besides the July Owl tour and summer dates with Ace Frehley, is there anything else you have in the pipeline this year?

CW: Well we’re teaming up with (ex-Slayer drummer) Dave Lombardo’s band Philm in August. We have 2 dates now, on the West Coast , one at the Whisky and one at the Rock Bar in San Jose. And that same month I’ll record some more with Ace and then do a 2-week run with Owl again.

Lombardo is a good example of a guy who has his own new band which is also a trio. Guys like us are getting more independent and doing our own thing. Which is really cool and might be the way of the future where the artist holds the power a little bit again.

Thanks to Chris Wyse for taking time out for this interview. You can order ‘Things You Can’t See’ via Amazon below:

[amazon_image id=”B012UFLLLY” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Things You Can’t See[/amazon_image]