Owen lives in Cork, Ireland. – born into a family of musicians. His Grandfather Jack Rochford was a very well known Bass Player locally, and ensured his grandchildren all studied music from a young age. Owen joined the Cork School of Music at the age of 3 studying Classical Violin with the Suzuki method. In his teenage years, he fell in love with Electric Guitar and after buying one and teaching himself how to play, he began gigging with local bands and eventually touring Ireland with various others in his 20s.
However he could not stop listening to bass lines, humming along with the bass melodies in songs or enjoying the feel of the bass on stage. And so after seeing some old photos of his Grandfather playing Double Bass in a Jazz band – Owen made the decision to buy a bass and explore the low end. Since then, he’s toured Ireland with many local acts, played the country’s largest venues and has worked recently mostly as a freelance bassist. His current project is a 4 piece rock and punk band, and when not taking to the stage he’s in his own studio recording basslines for game soundtracks and other projects. He also enjoys making demo videos for our own Markbass’ YouTube channel!
He first discovered Markbass while in Paris visiting music shops in the Pigalle area in 2014 and decided after a quick demo that these were the only amps he wanted to use. The mid range clarity, the tight sound definition and the quality of the products were exactly what he was missing in his current setup. Since then, he’s been avidly collecting Markbass amps and cabs, and currently has over 10 different heads including some very rare collectable amps.
Owen’s current live rig is a Multiamp Mono with an MB58R 104 Pure cabinet, and he plays a Markbass Kilimanjaro F1 Oliv Richard Bona signature bass with Markbass strings. For recording, both the Multiamp Mono, and the Studio Pre 500 are his preferences in his home studio.
“With the varied genres I play from industrial metal to funk, soul and rock – I need versatility and practicality. The Multiamp Mono gives me any tone, any effect, all at the touch of a button. My MB58R 104 Pure cabinet lets my high frequencies sing clearly while delivering deep and fierce bottom end. It never fails to receive positive feedback from Engineers at our gigs. And of course, my Kilimanjaro bass is my go to instrument – all others are gathering dust because this is such a beautiful, well made, balanced and explosive instrument. Markbass gives me my sound and pushes it to the extreme – I’m very grateful and honoured to join the Markbass Family!”
Photo: Mac Eireann Photography
