The Semantics was an American pop rock band from

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, formed by Jody Spence (drums), Millard Powers (bass) and Will Owsley (guitars, vocals).

Zak Starkey Zak Richard Starkey (born 13 September 1965) is an English rock drummer who toured and recorded with the Who from 1996 to 2025. He is also the third drummer to have appeared with Oasis. Other musicians and bands he has worked with include Johnny ...

later replaced Spence on drums. The band recorded one album, ''Powerbill'', which was released in Japan. After being dropped by their record label shortly after recording the album, the band members at the time (Powers, Owsley, and Starkey) all went on to successful careers in the music industry. Powers has performed as a bassist with

Ben Folds Benjamin Scott Folds (born September 12, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. After playing in several small independent bands throughout the late 80s and into the early 90s, Folds came to prominence as the f ...

and

Counting Crows Counting Crows is an American rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of rhythm guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immergl� ...

and has worked as a

record engineer A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

and producer. Owsley had a successful solo career before his death in 2010. Starkey has served as the drummer for the bands

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

History

Jody Spence and Owsley began writing songs after a couple of years of touring with

Judson Spence Judson Spence (born 29 April 1965, Pascagoula, Mississippi) is an American pop music singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist based in Nashville, Tennessee. He originally gained fame when he released his eponymously titled debut solo effort on A ...

, Jody's brother. Jody and Owsley soon got publishing contracts with

Sony Music Publishing Sony Music Publishing LLC (formerly Sony/ATV Music Publishing) is an American music publisher. Responsible for publishing the largest quantity of music, with over five million songs owned or administered as of end March 2021, it is part of Sony ...

which were facilitated by Scott Siman in 1990. In 1991, Siman attended a show in

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

where a band called Majosha performed, which featured

and Millard Powers. Not long after that, Siman brought Folds to Nashville and Powers later followed. Siman furnished a small demo studio that the Spence brothers, Owsley and Folds would often share. Folds would eventually introduce Millard Powers to Jody Spence and Owsley. Within a month of meeting each other, Spence, Powers and Owsley had written and recorded entire albums worth of songs at the Sony Tree studio, 7 of which would later end up on the

Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...

album ''Powerbill''. The trio played a few shows in and around Nashville under the names "Spence Powers Owsley" and "Parade" with Folds sitting in on keys sometimes. The name "Jody's Powerbill", often confused with "The Semantics", was a name that Folds had suggested for the trio which they didn't use. Folds used the name himself for a while before becoming

Ben Folds Five Ben Folds Five was an American alternative rock trio formed in 1993 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The group comprised Ben Folds (lead vocals, piano), Robert Sledge (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Darren Jessee (drums, backing vocals). Th ...

. After a trip to Los Angeles and changing their name to "The Semantics", the trio developed a buzz within the major labels which eventually brought

John Kalodner John David Kalodner is a retired American A&R (artists and repertoire) executive. History John David Kalodner was born in Philadelphia; he was a writer and photographer at ''Concert'' magazine. Then by 1972 he became a photographer for various re ...

of Geffen Records to

for a showcase and the band ended up signing with him. In the search for a producer, tensions grew between the three and Jody Spence ended up leaving the band. Spence was eventually replaced by drummer

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

's son. A producer was eventually found in

Peter Asher Peter Asher (born 22 June 1944) is an English guitarist, singer, manager and record producer. He came to prominence in the 1960s as a member of the pop music vocal duo Peter and Gordon before going on to a successful career as a manager and re ...

, under whose tutelage the band members worked for four years on the album ''Powerbill'', a process which had taught the band members much about the production process and about management. ''Powerbill'' was initially slated for release in 1993, but was never released in the U.S for being "too pop for alternative and too alternative for pop." It eventually got distributed in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

through Alfa International on December 21, 1996.VanTassell, Kathy (November 21, 2004).
Zak Starkey's work with: The Semantics
, ''Kathy's Zak Starkey Site''. Retrieved May 12, 2010. Although suddenly being dropped from the label initially left some band members destitute and broke, they overcame this shock and continued to pursue a career in music, while also paying tribute to The Semantics. In 1999, Owsley re-recorded the "Coming Up Roses" for his eponymous first solo album

Owsley Owsley may refer to: * Owsley (surname), a surname * Owsley Stanley (1935–2011), also known as Owsley or Bear, "underground" LSD chemist and early Grateful Dead soundman, grandson of Augustus Owsley Stanley * Owsley (musician), the stage name ...

. The album was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for Best Engineered Album. Millard Powers' 2001 solo album featured "Jenny Won't Play Fair", a re-recording of the song off Powerbill. Powers, Starkey and Spence continue to perform and record. Will Owsley died in April 2010, as the result of an apparent suicide.

Discography

*''Powerbill'' (1993),

(unreleased) *''Powerbill'' (December 21, 1996), Alfa International (Japan)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Semantics American pop rock music groups American power pop groups Geffen Records artists Musical groups from Nashville, Tennessee Musical groups established in 1990 Musical groups disestablished in 1996 Musical trios from Tennessee