Ian Fowles on Joining the Aquabats and Playing Eagle “Bones” Falconhawk


Eagle “Bones” Falconhawk, known to the real world as Ian Fowles,
is the newest member of the sonic shredder and Aquabats guitarist.
Fowles joined the Aquabats in 2006, and the guitarist (who, FYI, is also an author) was best known as the guitarist for the hardcore punk band Death by Stereo before he started  playing with the band of wacky superheroes and wearing an aqua rashguard. (And no, he says he had no prior acting experience before the band.)
If you hadn't seen the show, which airs on the Hub Saturdays at 8 a.m., Fowles' character Eagle “Bones” Falconhawk has an electric guitar
that shoots sonic energy beams, and with the assistance of an invisible
bird named Dude, he can fly. Because of his hollow, bird-like bones,
Eagle Bones is easily crippled in battle, but he can heal himself
quickly.
As part of our cover story “To the Bat's Head,” we talked to Folwes about his personal history with the Aquabats. Read on after the jump.
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OC Weekly: Did you know what you were getting into when you joined the Aquabats?

Ian Fowles: Yes. I had seen them play a few times and knew about the costumes and
antics. I've never been in a band that has had that much fun on stage
and whose members get along so well off stage. It's been really great.
The fact that we have been able to make our own TV show has just been a
big bonus to already being in such a fun band. So, I guess it is more
than I expected, but its a great position to be in and i couldn't be
happier.

Do you like that you're more well known as a character than you are as a musician?

I don't know if being a character in the Aquabats and being a
musician are separate because even in the TV show my character plays
guitar. But if I am known more as a character, that's fine. We've tried
to create funny characters out of our real selves so I don't mind if
people think of us that way. Maybe some people will take the time to dig
a little below the characters and listen to our music they will see
that we are all real musicians too, but if not that's okay, being known
as a character is still great.

Where did your name come from?

We came up with my name in the van on my first tour with the
Aquabats. You have a lot of down time in the van. It started around
Bones because of my skinniness and just got more awesome from there the
longer the tour went on.

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