DAPHNE OWERS (b. Auckland, New Zealand 1977- )

Prompted by a friend and also by her adoration of pop-god John Lennon, Daphne picked up the acoustic and electric guitar at age 14, starting a song-writing career that now spans well over a decade. However, it was not until age 19 that she started performing her original songs to the public. Her first performances were in her home-town of Auckland, New Zealand in 1996, at venues such as The Temple and Raw Fish Salad at Java Jive.

After moving to the capital city of Wellington the following year, she continued performing solo and established her first rock band, The Shirleys. An all-girl rock band, one of only a handful in the whole country, they enjoyed a cult following during their four years of performing in the bars and clubs of Wellington such as Bar Bodega, Valve, Indigo and Victoria University. They released a five-track EP entitled ‘Sunny Afternoon’ in 2000.

During her time in Wellington Daphne also hosted Girls in Space, a monthly women’s performance night at The Space, a venue famous for experimental and cutting-edge performance. This regular event allowed her to perform her work-in-progress and experimental drum-machine songs, while also promoting the work of emerging and established female musicians. Also in Wellington she developed her acting career, working in several shows with the Red Mole theatre company and its off-shoot company Roadworks, both as an actor and musician, and also taking part in the Victoria University Drama Club, in administrative and acting roles.

In 2002, Daphne moved to Berlin, Germany to explore the music scene in the vibrant capital of European nightlife. Stimulated by her new environment, especially the former eastern districts of Friedrichshain, Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg and the legendary western district of Kreuzberg, she started performing solo at various bars and clubs in these parts of the city. Her song-writing also proliferated and she continued acting, in plays such as Screening Alice from Borderline Theatre.

In early 2004 she joined Berlin-based German rock-band Diesassda, performing as lead guitarist at gigs from late 2004. Around the same time she began jamming with the group of musicians (solo indie artist, Sandra Bell, and former Cloudboy members, Johannes Contag and Ozi Bzy) that would later become the indie rock outfit called The Modern Pants. In January 2005, the Modern Pants gave their first performance in Berlin to a highly enthusiastic reception, propelling them to fix future performance dates straight away, the next being only 3 weeks later.

During Winter 2004-2005 Daphne started working on the arrangement, recording and production of her debut solo-album FOREIGN LOVER, released in Spring 2005 and available now!

and The Modern Pants still continue to rock the stages of Berlin, check them out!