Christopher Owens Coming Back to SF For Noise Pop Festival
The world of indie rock is deeply populated with tragic musings centered on the “what if” myth.
What if the Exploding Hearts opted to stay in San Francisco for the night, instead of driving back to Portland after their final performance at Bottom of the Hill?
What if Jeff Buckley never took a swim in the Wolf River Harbor on that fateful spring day?
What if Jay Reatard had managed to curb his self-destructive tendencies?
For fans of the beloved San Francisco duo, Girls, those kinds of existential questions are an integral part of their lore. We are left to ponder what the group could have accomplished if they did not break up after a spectacular but all-too-brief run, a meteoric five-year dash that included two seminal albums and one perfect EP (the namesake for this website.)
If the band had not dissolved so early in their career, could we have seen even more greatness? If Girls had endured, would Chet “JR” White still be alive today?
It's a fool’s errand to engage in such conjecture, but we do it, nonetheless. And Chris Owens, the founder, chief songwriter and sole surviving member of the band, can’t help but muse on the possibilities as well.
Coming off a stunning solo album, the redemptive, inspiring 2025 release, “I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair,” Owens is currently combing through his bountiful collection of back material to put together for his next release, a process that has him thinking often of how White would have produced and crafted this batch of music, and how Girls might exist in his bandmate’s absence.
“Even though a lot of these songs were written years ago, dating back to the Girls days, the two of us never really got to do anything with them together,” said Owens. “So, whenever anyone asks about reviving Girls—or whatever that would entail—that’s when I really think more than ever about what it would be like for JR to be the producer of these songs. I just couldn’t see myself putting these songs out as Girls without his input. It would just feel really, really wrong—I think it would be more for other people than myself. But it does make me wonder how we would have approached everything if things were different.”
Owens has soldiered on in White’s absence, overcoming a seemingly endless barrage of obstacles to push forward as a solo songwriter. On Friday, he’ll perform at the Swedish American Hall as part of the Noise Pop Festival, the annual multi-day gathering that takes place in venues across the Bay Area.
The show will mark a return to San Francisco for Owens, who now lives in New York after spending more than a decade here. The site has a special significance for Owens, as Café du Nord—the downstairs neighbors of Swedish American Hall, hosted Girls’ inaugural performance.
“We had our first ever Girls show at Café du Nord,” said Owens. “And even when we started playing bigger venues—like Great American Music Hall—we always made sure to schedule shows back at Café du Nord and Swedish American Hall. I have really special memories of playing at those places and can’t wait to go back.”
Returning to the city where he found fame through Girls brings back bittersweet memories for Owens. No artist did a better job chronicling the euphoria and joy of being young and independent in San Francisco, and conversely, no one else captured the letdown and sadness of seeing your dear friends depart.
“It’s crazy, and I always say this to people, but when my friends started to leave, I was genuinely shocked,” said Owens. “Like, I thought we were all going to be here forever, doing our thing together. That way my naïve sort of thought process, because of course that couldn’t happen. At the time, though, I didn’t really understand that things were bound to change.”
Owens said he doesn’t really maintain close contact with anyone who still calls San Francisco home, although he keeps in touch with former Girls touring members like Ryan Lynch and John Anderson. By the end of his time in San Francisco, he had fallen on increasingly hard times, living in his car while busking for spare change.
“When things got really rough, there were only like 4 – 5 people I actually talked to regularly,” said Owens. “There were some really difficult times when I felt people just switched it up on me. It was too tough for them to deal with.”
As has been covered extensively, Owens has moved on from those low points in San Francisco, relocating to the East Coast where he has found a new sense of stability. “I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair” was his first solo album in nearly a decade and it received widespread critical praise. When Owens first returned to San Francisco in late 2024 with a show at the Chapel, the performance turned into a virtual singalong, with crowd members joining in whenever he dipped into the Girls back catalog.
That show offered a tantalizing look back to the “what if” scenarios of Girls. But it was also a reminder to appreciate Owens for all he’s offered over the years as an artist. His last album proved beyond a doubt that his creative pool has not run dry at all, and while we will never see the likes of Girls again, having Owens continue to play the role of the eternally romantic troubadour is something we should never take for granted.
Show Details:
Noise Pop presents Christopher Owens with Sedona and Asha Wells
Where: Swedish American Hall
When: 8 p.m., Friday, February 20
Tickets: $36.54, available here.