Ryan ChartrandEloquent poets, gifted songwriters, melodic vocalists. Of the many available terms, talented musicians best describes the guys of the current Three Headliner Tour.
Lee Coulter, Jakob Martin and Aaron Bowen are the three multi-talented musicians involved with the tour now rolling up and down the Golden State.
The Three Headliner Tour rolls onto campus Thursday night. The guys will jam their unique blend of individual styles at Backstage Pizza beginning at 6 p.m.
Bowen spoke fondly about touring with fellow musicians and friends alike.
“These are two guys that I respect as entertainers and performers but especially as artists,” Bowen said. “It felt like a no-brainer that we should get together and do something.”
Fellow musician Coulter echoed Bowen’s sentiments.
“We are essentially emphasizing the talents of three different artists,” Coulter said. “I’ve been enjoying being able to play with two musicians who really know their stuff and what they’re doing.”
Coulter is a 23-year-old musician who originally hails from Logan City, Australia.
Although having some moderate success as a producer, Coulter said he came to the United States four years ago “to check out the music scene and see what it was like because it wasn’t really happening for me in Australia.”
He said he hopes one day to return to his native Australia, bolstering as successful a music career as here in America.
In the meantime, however, Coulter said the opportunities afforded him in the states suit him just fine.
Classically trained and termed “very serious” at a young age, 27-year-old Bowen has been playing music since he was five.
He learned instrumental guitar in his teen years as well as a mix of bebop and jazz, which helped to further influence his eclectic style.
In terms of Bowen’s style, he said his is a “complex mixture of older jazz and ragtime mixed with 1930s and 1940s influences.”
As the self-proclaimed poet of the three, 23-year-old Martin is very conscious toward his modern-day audience.
He said he always “strives to speak honestly and frankly about how I see the world through my music.”
Very much into an acoustic swing of rock and pop intermixed with a heavy poetic flow, Martin said that today’s listeners are always in search of lyrics that contain something meaningful.
“They’re tired of hearing the same old thing,” Martin said. “They want something of substance.”
Martin continued on in the same vein as he boiled it down to delivering the goods to the people.
“So if what I do is an answer to that then I’m very happy to do just that,” he said.
As individual musicians, each one of the guys is an essential powerhouse of musical talent. Each individual is highly capable of playing multiple instruments, including everything from keyboard and guitar to banjo and harmonica, writing both songs and poetry alike, and singing lead vocals. Each musician is an independent producer in his own right as well, but playing together, Coulter, Bowen and Martin are an unstoppable musical force to be reckoned with.
Coulter summed up these thoughts and ideas in his own words.
“We are doing a mixture of solo stuff, three-part harmonies and we get up and jam on each others stuff as well,” Coulter said.
Coulter continued on in the same vein, extolling the wide range of the guys and their performance as a single entity.
“When we get together, you get a whole range of different emotions and different feelings,” Coulter said. “It’s not going to be just one mood all night long. It goes from being dark and mysterious to absolutely silly and fun.”
Individually, the guys are on fire in terms of their solo careers. As they progress through their smokin’ hot California tour, Bowen said that this is something truly not to be missed by anyone.
“This is something you just can’t miss,” Bowen said. “When we are all on stage, rockin’ out, this is something you just won’t get next week so definitely be there.”
Martin echoed Bowen’s thoughts as he reminds their listening audience that there is also a little something for everyone coming out of the performance.
“I think we’ve got something worth checking out,” Martin said. “People are going to relate to some part of what we do.”
Following their Cal Poly performance, Coulter, Bowen and Martin will continue their journey, taking the tour on to cities such as Santa Barbara, Squaw Valley and San Diego. For more information about the tour or to check out the guys’ individual profiles, check them out at myspace.com/threeheadlinertour.