What’s your role in the Sunshine Brothers?

I co-write the songs with Chris, sing the tunes, strum my guitar and shake my booty on stage. I am also in charge of providing the tortilla chips for rehearsals. If I’m in a generous mood, I throw in some salsa.

How did you and Chris start working together?

Chris did a search on Myspace. I believe the parameters were “Jamaica, Reggae, Singer, California” and I was in the mix. Pretty cool since I had just changed my profile to reflect that I had moved back to California a couple days prior...

What other artists have influenced you most?

Bob Marley, the Beatles, Paul Simon, the Police, Jellyfish, Nirvana, Toots and the Maytals, Jimmy Cliff, Sting… tons more but those are the biggies. They are the ones that really get my soul jumping when I listen to their work.

So, What IS your nationality anyway?

Hi, my name is Owen… and I’m a Jamerican.
It’s what we Jamaican x-pats sometimes call ourselves. I was born in Jamaica where I lived ‘til I was 13. (We had to leave for a bit due to civil unrest but I spent most of my childhood there). Been in the States for many a year now and I traded in my greencard for a US passport a few years back. But I don’t identify with one culture over the other.

Where have you lived?

Homes/apartments - 35 in total. States/countries (Cities) – Jamaica (Kingston), California (Santa Barbara, Ventura, Claremont, LA) Northeast (NYC, Boston, Cambridge), Mississippi (Hattiesburg), Spain (Sevilla), Florida (Miami)
And I’ve written songs in all of them..

What’s a weird fact about yourself that’s fun to share at parties?

The top part of the middle finger on my left hand got cut off when I was 8. The first two hospitals my parents rushed me to wanted to just snip it off and call it a day (it was hanging from a thin piece of skin). Like so much else on that Island, it’s who you know that gets people motivated to help you so my grandparents called in a favor at a Kingston hospital where they re-attached the sucker. There’s fake bone in there still and not much sensitivity. If my family hadn’t jumped through the necessary third-world hoops on my behalf I may not have ever been a musician!