LBHS Senior Trey Ovens has always had an amazing passion for music. From quick jamming sessions with his friends to recently releasing an album called “I’m The Moon!” Trey has started an astonishing career for himself and many can’t wait to see what he does in the future.

Q: What sparked your interest in music? 

A: My interest in music began back in elementary school. Before I had any real experience with a musical instrument, I would hum songs I heard on the radio all throughout the day. My kindergarten teacher would always tell me to stop. Being a kid with the attention span of a goldfish, I’d stop for about 10 minutes and then continue humming away. Later in the 4th grade, the students had to choose between band, strings, or a chorus class. I was torn between band and chorus because I really wanted to pursue the chorus, but my parents wanted me to be a part of the band. I ended up taking the band route in school but joined the honors chorus as an after-school program. I firmly believe that being in these programs led me to have the passions for singing and music that I have today.

Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years in terms of music?

A: With college applications and the looming entrance into the “real world,” I’ve been grappling with this question a lot recently. I’ve come to the conclusion that I want to be a music producer. The idea of being in the music industry really excites me and I’m sure that this is where I want to be in 10 years. There are a lot of different career paths that I can take within the realm of music. While I do love playing for people, it is certainly second to my skill in writing and song-building. Over the past few years with covid, I’ve found a lot of time for myself to hone my skills in recording and actually use recording/mixing as a key step in the writing process for my music. I hope to utilize this experience in a career in music production.

Q: Whose work inspires or has inspired you the most?

A: For the most part, I’ve been inspired by a lot of rock and indie artists. Initially, my music taste and influences lay mainly in rock. I listened to a lot of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, the Doors, Blue Öyster Cult, and Jimi Hendrix to name a few. I feel like I took a lot of influence musically from Pink Floyd specifically, though. The lead guitarist, David Gilmour, is probably my all-time favorite musician. My guitar style is nearly adapted straight from his work. More recently, I’ve expanded my horizons in the indie and alternative music of today. I feel that I take a lot after artists such as King Krule, Puma Blue, Bon Iver, and Hozier. They blend so many diverse genres into their own work and I aim to do that as well with the music that I create.

Q: Out of all of your pieces, which are you most proud of?

A: My favorite piece of mine is the closer of my debut EP. It’s called “Two Doves.” To me, this piece stands out both musically and lyrically. I initially wrote this song as a poem for my Creative Writing class that I took with Mrs. Hunnicutt. I later adapted it into a song and turned this in for my final project in class. With the help of the amazing Mrs. Hunnicutt, I wrote this poem about a breakup of mine, metaphorically comparing my past relationship with a pair of doves that would fly past my house. Out of all my pieces, I probably spent the most time with this song in the writing and recording process. I spent a few weeks of my trimester at home solely writing this song and experimenting with new sounds. I was influenced greatly by Pink Floyd and King Krule in creating its unorthodox song structure and layering. A close second is “Slow Down,” my most recent single. Again, I began experimenting with a new sound and incorporated a lot of saxophone into this song. I still feel that “Two Doves” has more meaning to me though.

Q: What do you want to achieve with your work? Any specific messages you want to spread with your music?

A: If you didn’t know, artists who have their music on streaming services make little to no money even with a hefty amount of streams. Given this, I’m not planning on making any money from streams. My goals with my music career right now are simply to create a small, honest base of supporters and establish myself as a young musician. I don’t believe I’m going viral any time soon, but that’s okay. I truly love making music. As for messages in my music, I’ve written about topics like love, loss, and wishing away one’s youth. In all, my music follows a theme of appreciating life and not taking things for granted. A loved one can very soon become a stranger or even a distant memory. You never know what you have until it’s gone. These are the important messages I’d like to convey in my music.