Adel Chats With Erin Powell - Musician, Writer, and Member of Awen, The Muskets, and deform uniform

American born poet, lyricist, and musician Erin Powell is the driving force behind Awen, the post-industrial powerhouse from Plano, Texas. Beginning with their self-titled demo in 2006, Erin jumped into the underground music scene feet first, kicking people awake along the way ever since. With his soon-to-be wife, Katrin X, joining in not long after, Awen was picked up by Dais Records, releasing the limited edition vinyl LP, ‘The Bells Before Dawn’ in 2009. Though the rest is “neofolk history” not everyone’s been schooled.
Erin has also worked with David E. Williams and Thomas Nöla in The Muskets, Jerome Reuter of ROME, King Dude’s Thomas Jefferson Cowgill, and not just many more, but many more to come as you’ll soon see.
With Awen’s newest album ‘The World And Its Spirits’ now available on limited red 12” vinyl via Triskele Recordings in the U.S., or Folkworld throughout Europe.

The cover to Awen’s 2024 LP ‘The World And Its Spirits’.

In addition to his musical endeavours, Erin is also an avid reader, a good listener, and a terrific dog dad. He would probably love to have a conversation with you about classic movies and obscure darkwave, but just might blow a bit of pipe smoke in your face if you rub him the wrong way.
While he has interviewed a number of artists for The Aither, it surprised me that no one had interviewed him for the site in return. Seeing he’s an extraordinary wordsmith, this needed to be rectified, and I believe this interview is a worthy remediation…

You began your musical project Awen almost 20 years ago.
What was the drive to form Awen at that time?

I had been writing esoteric prose and poetry and wanted to give it legs by reciting it, backed with some percussion on antique frame drums I had. My friend Eric K at the time had an electronic project of his own and offered to help me with the recordings, and eventually we started to collaborate on the creation of tracks together – and Awen was born.
Initially I didn’t want any kind of notes or conventional musical structure, but I ended up throwing that rule out!

Have you ever thought of releasing your lyrics and poetry outside of Awen – say, as a chapbook?

I would love to, should someone be interested in publishing it. I’ve always wanted to make the lyrics accessible for fans to read the actual lyrics, but lyric sheets weren’t an option for ‘The Bells Before Dawn’ or ‘Grim King Of The Ghosts’, so compiling all the lyrics to date in one volume would be fantastic.

Your wife, Katrin, has been in Awen since the beginning, correct?
Did you ask her to join you, or did Awen come about between the both of you?

Katrin had a history of singing already with a couple of local electronic pop projects before we met. I suggested she join Awen and lend her voice to the project. She is a real singer with a great voice, so it was a boon to the project.
She has a better sense of rhythm than I do too, so she did some drumming as well!

I’ve always maintained that I’m not a proper musician, but ‘recording artist’ is more appropriate. I’ve been fortunate to surround myself with real musicians to help realize the sound for Awen at the time, based upon my visions and concepts.

Erin and his partner Katrin at the Giger Bar, Gruyère, Switzerland, circa 2017.
Photo by Wes Radvansky.

What steered you (or the both of you) to create the music that became Awen, over typical genres like punk, heavy metal, rock or even industrial dance?

I like a lot of different music, but when it came to creating the sounds for my project I’ve always wanted to do something different and idiosyncratic to my own voice. It starts often with the words that come to me and we then build a sound that reflects the feeling of that world.
I’d feel disingenuous if I tried to record things within a genre like rock or pop music, which unfortunately for me means that our appeal is rather drastically commercially limited!

Many call Awen a neofolk outfit, when I hear it as much more psychedelic than simple neofolk, though I do hear elements of it. What is the influence behind the music itself?

Awen has been classified as Neofolk by many, and I’m fine with residing in that ghetto as the neighbors are great! I’ve always said it’s Post-Industrial, which to me encompasses the potential of differences in sound we often incorporate.
This most recent album, ‘This World And Its Spirits’, I think is quite different to many contemporary albums classified as Neofolk in that it’s such a strangely structured thing with so many different elements of noise and variety.

Many Neofolk bands these days are more Folk than Neo, and focus on the pastoral sound of acoustic instruments and unembellished vocals. I like that sound myself, but with Awen it seems we often take some of those elements but mutate them into some kind of an urban dramatic nightmare of pastoral longing!

What is your biggest lyrical influence?

My influences often come from history, literature, and cinema. I’m an avid book collector, and everything is potential resource material for me.
There are recurring themes of paganism and the nature of sacrifice in my work. I’m fascinated by comparative mythology. Lately I’ve been reading quite a bit about the Lakota people and their rites, and I’ve wondered about some of the potential similarities that might have been shared in indigenous European pre-Christian rituals lost to the mists of time.
Caesar tells us, with a heavy bias, about some of the ‘barbaric’ practices of the Celts. What if they performed some version of the Sun Dance too? We’ll never know. But, thoughts like this can end up becoming concepts I explore lyrically.

Erin circa 2016 inside the enclosure at the Heavener Runestone, Oklahoma, USA.
Photo by Katrin X.

If someone unfamiliar was to try to get into Awen, where do you think it’s best for them to start?

Perhaps counterintuitively, I’d suggest starting with our most recent albums and working backwards. I think that would be ideal in our case.

Not counting your newest release, ‘This World and Its Spirits’, what would you say is your favorite Awen recording, and why?

Probably the song “Ode To A Briton”. It was one of the first pieces I wrote as a proper song, and it was written from a female perspective. When Katrin joined, it was the first thing she recorded for Awen and I love what she emoted in the vocals.
It’s such a minimal lament, and it reminds me of our enduring relationship – both musically and now as a married couple.

You’ve worked with a number of other bands and projects, from acts like The Muskets to King Dude.
What are some of your favorite collaborations?

The split record we did with King Dude was one of my favorites, definitely. TJ (King Dude) told me in conversation about a story that Zeena Schreck (née LaVey) shared with him about an incident where she could have done something maniacal in a moment, and added ‘But, that was back when I was evil.’
Once I heard those words, I knew that was a song!
We wrote the lyrics to “I Was Evil” together, and he wrote the music for the track and Katrin sang it. He was directing her vocal style, and she really did a bit of acting for it! Initially she was singing it cleanly and very prettily, but he wanted her to sound rougher and more strung-out. That’s the vocal take on the record.
For the B side, “Sanctioned”, I wrote the lyrics and he sang it, with me doing backing vocals. Wes wrote the guitar and bouzouki bits, and TJ added another part. I strung chains over a gong I have for percussion.
It was a fun project, working with someone else like that. The only other person I’d co-written lyrics with prior to that was b9 InVid for one song, so it was interesting. It seems to have been well received by his fan base, many of whom weren’t familiar with us. I saw a comment someone made on a YouTube video of our live performance in Leipzig (recorded by the great Thorium Heavy Industries) at the Runes & Men festival that said, “I thought Awen would sound more like ‘I Was Evil’. This is boring!” Ha ha!

I really loved collaborating with Jerome Reuter of ROME as well. Katrin and I were featured on the ROME album ‘Le Ceneri Di Heliodoro’, providing backing vocals for several songs, and he had me open that album doing vocals on the track “Sacra Entrata”, which was an honour!
For our album ‘The Hollow In The Stone’, Jerome provided his vocals on the song “The Death Of Reynard”. His vocalization of the lyrics I had written is amazing, and I want the track played at my funeral. Take note!

Erin (right) and Jerome Reuter (left) of ROME, performing live circa 2020.
Photo by Karl Hendrik-Tittel.

Awen is currently working on a collaborative full length album with Murderous Vision, which I’m very excited about. The tentative title is ‘A Nature Out Of Season’. We hope to have it completed and out on vinyl some time later this year.

The Muskets ‘Allegiance To No Crown’ EP, released in 2014.
With The Muskets featuring Erin Powel, b9 InViD, David E. Williams, and Thomas Nöla.

How did this collaboration with Stephen of Murderous Vision come to fruition?

We’ve been in contact for many years now and have appreciated each other’s work.
When I was putting together the idea for the ‘Reincarnation’ album which features other artists remixing or covering Awen songs, Stephen was one of the first artists I asked to contribute to it. Thankfully he agreed to, and I loved what he did.
We finally got to perform together in Brooklyn earlier this year, and it was then that we discussed working on this album together.

You edited his book on the history of Murderous Visions, right?
How did this come about?

That’s true, I did help him to edit some of the text for his new book (which I highly recommend). He had several people help him compile, edit, and contribute pieces for it.
Stephen said he admired my writing and would appreciate it if I would look it over and do some editing, and I was glad to help.

Back to favourites, some mornings you post records you’re currently playing as “breakfast music”.
What are some you’d like to share for starting out the day?

The soundtrack to the film Manhunter is a perennial favorite, with the film score by Michael Rubini and The Reds, and songs featured in the film by Shriekback, Iron Butterfly, Kitaro, and others.
Joachim Witt – Tri-Tra-Trullala (amazing German proto-EBM Proggish pop)
The Ventures – Walk, Don’t Run Vol. 2 (shadowy surf rock, done best!)
Dark Water Memories – Night Fog Kommando (Hungarian dark ambient project by Kálmán Matolcsy)

Erin with his friend and underground icon, Boyd Rice at Awen Manor circa 2016.
Photo by Katrin X.

What are you currently reading?

I have a habit of reading multiple books at the same time, and finishing only a few of them!
Currently I’m dipping in and out of:
‘The Fenris Wolf‘ (issue 9)
‘I Am Dynamite‘ (a biography on Nietzsche)
‘Follow Me To Hell: McNelly’s Texas Rangers and the Rise of Frontier Justice‘
‘Black Sun: The Brief Transit and Violent Eclipse of Harry Crosby‘
‘New English Canaan‘, by Thomas Morton of ‘Merrymount’.
Thomas Morton was a character I recommend people look into if they aren’t aware of him. He set up his early English settlement near the pilgrims of Plymouth, but he was in direct opposition to them. He was likely the first person to write English poetry on American soil and was prone to pagan indulgence, having erected a Maypole topped with stag antlers which stood year round in the centre of his settlement.
His settlement was utopian compared to the pilgrims, and had a policy of trading with Native Americans, and even allowing the English to intermarry with them. The pilgrims couldn’t stand it!

You enjoy pipe smoking.
How did this come about? Were you a cigarette smoker, and switched over?

I was a cigarette smoker and changed to smoking a pipe at the age of 18! I stopped inhaling tobacco smoke and never looked back. The high quality of pipe tobacco compared to cigarettes is worlds apart, and offers so much variety in flavor and experience.

Do you collect pipes?
Is there a specific reason, or do you just enjoy “switching it up”?

I have a fairly extensive collection of pipes at this point, and my favorite maker is Peterson of Dublin.
I was naturally drawn to the pipe via my anachronistic interests, and I love them. Each one is a little artwork some artisan has put their hand to, carving a block of very old hard briar root into an aesthetic wonder. They are functional works of art, especially my figural carved meerschaum pipes. Little sculptures.

Erin showing off two of his much loved pipes – At left is a Rattray’s Goblin briar root pipe, and at right a vintage Scotsman meerschaum pipe.

What are some of your favorite podcasts, if any?

I enjoy a few podcasts, mostly history.
Some favourites are:
‘History On Fire‘
‘The Rest Is History‘
‘History Extra‘ (BBC)
‘Pathways‘ (a Joseph Campbell collection of his recorded lectures)
‘Noisextra‘ (interviews with experimental recording artists)
‘Synthetic Dreams‘ (interviews with classic electronic recording artists)

Seen any good movies lately?
What are some you consider classics?
What’s your favorite genre of film?

Oh, indeed! I love watching older films, ’classics’ generally.
Just recently we watched Hitchcock’s ‘Foreign Correspondent‘ (the windmill and the plane crashing into the ocean scenes especially are still outstanding), ‘Cat On A Hot Tin Roof‘ (what dialogue from Tennessee Williams! Young Liz Taylor is sultry, young Paul Newman is sullen, and Burl Ives is unsavory!), and though not a stand-alone movie, we watched this 10 part British series called ‘The Omega Factor‘, from the 1979. It’s kind of a proto-X Files show, about a guy who has some psychic abilities and is forcibly recruited by the government to use his abilities. Layers unfold of collusion and deception within his own life and family. There’s even a character he confronts who is Crowley-ish! All ten episodes are up on YouTube in good resolution currently.

I tend to like horror, science fiction, and mystery films. Folk Horror is a particularly favorite genre.

I love your two pups, Mist and Eir.
Would you consider yourself a “dog person”, or is your house open to all critters?

Thank you! Eir and Mist are a mother/daughter rescue pair of Catahoula Leopard Dog mix. We love them!
I love cats too, but Katrin is extremely allergic to them unfortunately and now that we have these girls, judging by their behaviour with rabbits in the yard, I’d be afraid they’d try to hunt the cat all day if we got one!

Do you think you’ll ever lead another musical project, say in a completely different style, or is Awen your baby for life?

Well, occasionally I contribute to a project called deform uniform with Per Nilsson and Ray Exile. That’s a totally different animal from Awen and is really more of a classic TG kind of Industrial project. It’s improvisational and we never practice before a live show. They’ll start making noises and rhythms, and I’ll join in with vocals and some objects connected to a contact mic to make noise. It’s a fun and freeing kind of thing to do.

Aside from that, another new project?
Never say never!

What do you think the future has in store for the Powell household?

I’d hate to prognosticate too much, lest I provoke the Fates! Ha.
But, I’d really like us to get out and do more live actions stateside and overseas. Any promoters interested are welcome to contact me. We’re going cheap! Someone in Switzerland contacted me recently and said they’d spoken with a venue owner there who said he loved us, but was sure he couldn’t afford us because we were on the Trisol record label! I don’t know what Xymox or Project Pitchfork is asking for, but I promise we are reasonable and looking to cover costs.

Any closing words for the readers out there?

Remember, your ancestors are watching!