Grace Bowers may just be 18 years old, but she plays with the veracity and ease of a guitar god three times her age. Picking up the instrument at just nine years old after watching Slash on YouTube (they both share the same wild, untamed curly lochs that seem to reflect some ingrained rock star DNA), she’s been crowned a prodigy — opening this year’s Grammys on guitar for Chris Martin, winning the Variety Hitmaker Next Gen Award and absolutely owning the title of bandleader and sold-out raucous-starter in venues across the country.
When PAPER saw her in the sweaty, packed confines of The Mercury Lounge, we were more than a little impressed. Not just by her penchant for fashion with a capital F (she toes the line between leather-clad rock star and ‘70s dream girl, drama — a distinct look bestowed to her by her mom, but more on that later) but also her confidence and transcendent guitar playing that ripples through the crowd, causing a visceral reaction.
PAPER sat down with the guitar hero in her trailer at Innings Festival after she played two sets on the steamy Arizona day to chat about high school (she’s finishing her senior year), prom, her evolving sound and her plans for the future.
You had your set earlier, and then you had a pop-up performance. How are you feeling? How did they go?
It’s fun because the main stage was a full band, and then the smaller stage was four of us so we also didn’t plan it out beforehand … which sounds bad but it was different musically than what we did on the main stage. I like doing smaller stages because the audience is so with you. Both went great.
Speaking of smaller stages, I saw you play in New York City at The Mercury Lounge which was fantastic. How was that experience? It felt like there were a lot of people there that either knew your music, or knew you personally.
I had played Mercury Lounge before, but with another artist, playing guitar for them. And since then I had in my mind I want to headline next time. That was the first headline show we ever did and it was sold out.
Going back in time a bit, I read that you started playing guitar when you were nine years old. What was it that drew you to the instrument and pulled you into the life that you have now?
I don’t have a great reason for it, but when I was nine years old, I thought guitar looked cool. I saw a YouTube video of Slash, and I was like, I want to do that. So I go and and beg my mom to get me a guitar. And eventually she caved in, and we go into a music store in my old town, and we get this tiny little off-brand acoustic guitar, and that’s what I started learning on. But yeah, initially it was because I was nine and it looked cool.
Slash makes sense. I can see why you’d want to emulate that. I also got to see you at the Grammys, which was incredible. How was that? You performed in the opening and I also saw you taking selfies with all these huge stars. How was the night for you? What was the highlight?
It was probably one of the craziest experiences of my life. I got a text three days before, like, “Hey, this artist needs a guitar player. Are you free for a show?” And I’m like, “What artists and what show?” and he’s like, “You’ll know when I connect you, and also, it’s for the Grammys.” And I’m like, “Okay, well, I’m down.” And then that same day, I got a FaceTime from Chris Martin from Coldplay. So, it worked out. I didn’t even know I was gonna be on the floor. I didn’t know I’d have a table or anything. So we walked down, and there was my face on a chair. I’m like, “Oh shit.” The performance went great. Chris Martin is probably the nicest human being I’ve ever met. And just like being down there with all of those people like, like Taylor Swift and Benson Boone and Doechii, it was so crazy.
That’s incredible. So speaking of Chris Martin, Taylor Swift, all these people that have really made a name for themselves that you’ve got to spend some time with … when you were coming up in music, who were some of the other artists that inspired you?
I don’t have an artist where I want to do exactly what they’re doing or I want to take the steps that they took. I’ve never been like that, and I feel like that’s trying too hard. But I do definitely take inspiration from a lot of people, a lot of places, and just try to pull things that I like and keep in mind the things I don’t like and just do it my own way.
Speaking of doing it your own way, you had your debut album, Wine on Venus, come out last year. How has the reception been? And how does it feel to have that out in the world for your fans to hear?
That whole release week was so great. It’s cool to see people’s reactions because no one really knew what kind of music I was gonna put out. And I think a lot of people expected me to put out some blues rock thing or whatever. It was probably a different direction than what people maybe thought I would put out. Seeing people singing our songs in the audience is wild, and I’ll never get over that. But I definitely want to do things differently next time around. Going back and listening to it … it wasn’t even a year ago, but I feel like I’ve changed as a musician so much, and the band has changed too. It’s just a moment in time for me now.
With all that change happening in real time as well as these live performances and having the band change. What direction do you want to go in next? Are you thinking about the next album? What do you want to create?
I’m gonna make another album as soon as I can pay for another one. I definitely do want to go in more of a modern funk-sounding [direction]. Because I feel like, like Sly & The Family Sone is one of my biggest inspirations. I just watched that documentary [SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)] too. It was really good. I feel like that’s the lane that not a lot of people are in right now. I feel like that could be a cool direction to go towards.
I love that. I saw that you’re also in school right now. How are you doing that on top of everything? How are you doing?
I’ve been doing it online for the past two years now. Senior year of high schoo. On one hand, I love that I don’t have to go to school every day, because I was very much not a school person. I didn’t really do well in school. But also, at the same time, it’s very isolating, because I don’t get to be around kids my own age a whole lot anymore. I’ll never go to prom. Little things like that I wish I could have, but at the same time if I was in school right now, I’d be bored out of my mind … so I wouldn’t change anything.
You should throw a prom-themed concert.
I had a few boys out there after we played on the stage asking me to go to prom. I go, “Where do you live?” And he’s like “Utah.” [Laughs]
One of the other things we waned to talk to you about is your fashion sense: immaculate. Do you have a fashion philosophy? Do you work with certain designers? How are you finding these looks? Or, how are they finding you?
Honestly, cheesy answer, but my mom. She picks out all my outfits for me. We’re on The Real Real a lot because it’s not as expensive as designer brands. She’s always scrolling on there and sending me stuff. But, when I was when I was nine, I wore board shorts and a T-shirt with a flat hat every day. I’m pretty sure because I’m the only girl in my family my mom was like, she wasn’t upset … she let me do it. But she wanted to dress me so bad, so she’s making up for it now, she loves it.
You’ve already accomplished so much, obviously, through hard work and ridiculous amounts of talent. But let’s time travel a little bit. If you look towards the future, like in the next decade, is there anything specifically that you still want to create?
I hope that I’m as happy making music in the future as I am right now. I want to start singing. I’m working on that one. I just hope I’m still putting out music and touring and doing all the things!
Photography courtesy of C3/ Innings Festival