Owen's earliest recorded work was for Meera Atkinson, a performance poet, on her album, This Is the Planet, which was released in 1987. This album was produced by Rob Younger. Younger invited Owen to join a reformed version of The New Christs in 1987. With Younger on lead vocals, the line-up also had Jim Dickson (ex-Railroad Gin, Survivors, Passengers, Barracudas) on bass guitar and Louis Burdett (ex-Powerhouse, Ed Kuepper Band) on drums. As a member of The New Christs, Owen supplied guitar, piano and organ, as well as co-writing, for their debut album, Distemper (August 1989). Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described the album as "the definitive statement on the band's sound and style. It contained a wealth of powerful tracks". However later that year the group disbanded.
