Mike Kinsella

Mike Kinsella
Mike Kinsella May 2007
Background information
Born	(1977-03-04) March 4, 1977
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, keyboards, Bass guitar, drums
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Polyvinyl Records, Jade Tree Records, Green Linnet Records, Perishable Records, Man With Gun Records
Associated acts	The One Up Downstairs, Owls Joan of Arc, Owen, Cap'n Jazz, American Football, Their / They're / There
Website	Official Owen site

Mike Kinsella (born March 4, 1977) is one of three musicians in his family (brother Tim Kinsella and cousin Nate Kinsella) involved in many Illinois-based bands (Cap'n Jazz, Owls, Joan of Arc, The One Up Downstairs, American Football, and Owen). He was first recognized in the music scene in Cap'n Jazz^[1] formed by his brother Tim in 1989 while at the age of 12. In 2001 Kinsella began his current solo project, Owen, in which he performs vocals, guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, loops, etc.^[2] Kinsella was also in a band, called The Shirts and Skins, with his wife. In 2013, Kinsella released an EP with his latest project, Their / They're / There, featuring Evan Weiss of Into It. Over It. and Matthew Frank of Loose Lips Sink Ships.^[3]

To this day, Kinsella continues to play with Joan of Arc, as well as Owen. Many of Kinsella's albums including Owen and No Good for No One Now were recorded in his mother's home.^[4]

Literary references

Mike Kinsella tends to reference literature often in his writing.

• In American Football's "Letters and Packages," he references For Esmé – with Love and Squalor, a J. D. Salinger short story.
• In the Owen album title, "No Good For No One Now," he is probably making a reference to a line from Gazebo, a Raymond Carver short story.
• Likewise, in Owen's "Gazebo" he suggests he is reading Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and makes another reference to the short story Gazebo, with both the story and the song ending in the line "In this too, she was right."
• In Owen's "The Sad Waltzes of Pietro Crespi," he references Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. The song "Bag of Bones" also likely references this work.
• In Owen's "I Woke Up Today," he references T. S. Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men."
• Owen's "Playing Possum For a Peak," contains the line "A local pharmacist and his wife," which is found within "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," a novel by Milan Kundera.

Discography

References

External links

• Official Owen site
• 2001 interview about Owen and Owls
• Biography in a Joan of Arc fan site
• Owen live on The Current
• Owen's Myspace
• The Shirts and Skins' Myspace

External links