Early life and Death by Stereo Fowles grew up in Orange County, California, and started playing guitar in his early teen years, having been inspired by seeing the guitarist character of Marty McFly in the film
Back to the Future. By age 14, he was regularly playing in local punk bands, including one band called CleanX, who opened for
The Aquabats in the late 1990s. In 1997, Fowles put together the original formation of
Orange County hardcore punk band
Death by Stereo, naming the band, designing its logo, and writing/recording on the band's early demos and EPs. In late 1998, Fowles left the group to serve a two-year
mission for the
LDS Church in Ohio. Though he didn't record on Death by Stereo's debut LP ''
If Looks Could Kill, I'd Watch You Die'', he was given writing credits on nine of the album's fourteen songs, many of which had appeared on earlier demos and EPs. Fowles first started writing and recording with the band in 2007 on original songs for the
children's television series Yo Gabba Gabba!, on which he also appeared onscreen with the band and played a guitar solo as part of the show's "Cool Tricks" segment. He later made his album debut with The Aquabats on their 2010 EP
Radio Down!. From 2012 to 2014, Fowles portrayed Eaglebones Falconhawk in two seasons of The Aquabats' live-action cable television series
The Aquabats! Super Show!, on which he also worked composing original songs as well as bits of the series'
score. Starting in September 2019, he has since continued this role on the series' independent YouTube-based relaunch,
The Aquabats! RadVentures!.
Other musical endeavors in New York in 2014. Fowles has played live and/or recorded with a myriad of other projects, typically spanning the genres of
pop punk and
alternative rock. While attending high school in the mid-1990s he played in the bands CleanX and D-cons. In late 2000 he formed a short-lived 1980s pop tribute band called The Electric Youth that featured friends from Esperanza High School
Brandon Saller of
Atreyu and Nathan Willett of
Cold War Kids. In 2003 he was the touring guitarist of
Sense Field. In 2005–2006 he toured as the guitarist of
Further Seems Forever. Among the groups he has collaborated with are Checkpoint Charley,
Brandon Saller, and
Dead Sara. In 2007, Fowles played bass for
AFI member
Hunter Burgan's side project Hunter Revenge, who accompanied The Aquabats on their winter holiday tour that year. In 2013 he also played bass with
Kepi Ghoulies band when they toured with The Aquabats on their holiday tour. In June 2015, Fowles and Aquabats drummer
Richard Falomir played in former
Ramones bassist
C. J. Ramone's band for an East Coast tour with
Shonen Knife. Fowles has continued to play guitar for
C.J. Ramone from time to time since. In August 2014, Fowles was revealed to be the guitarist for former
My Chemical Romance frontman
Gerard Way's solo project, recording guitar and percussion for Way's debut album
Hesitant Alien, appearing in the music video for its single "
No Shows", and doing all the live touring with him during 2014–2015.
Personal life Fowles is
left-handed, and currently plays a left-handed Fender Squier Vintage Modified
Jazzmaster model guitar with The Aquabats and a left-handed Fender Kurt Cobain Jaguar model with Gerard Way. In 2022 he released the "Falcondrive" pedal for guitars, based on his signature overdriven sound. Like fellow Aquabats bandmates
Christian Jacobs and
Chad Larson, Fowles is a practicing
Latter-day Saint. He is also a doctoral student at
Claremont Graduate University, where he studies at the School of Religion. In November 2010, Fowles published his first book, an extension of his master's thesis entitled ''A Sound Salvation: Rock N' Roll as a Religion'', a thesis which argues that rock music and culture satisfy an influential definition of "religion" in contemporary religious studies. ==Bibliography==