Alice Sweet Alice prepares for first gig, new year
Cover of Alice Sweet Alice's album, Moloko & Ultraviolence.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
In the following interview, Alice Sweet Alice's bassist, Scott Martinez, discusses the history of ASA and what the band has planned for 2010.
Abbie Stutzer: There are four of you now, correct?
Scott Martinez: There are five of us in Alice Sweet Alice. We were only a foursome for 10 long days. We made a lineup change on December 4th, and brought our new guitarist Travis Lathrop in the group officially last week. He's had quite the time learning the material, but suffice it to say, he's passed with flying colors and we're happy to have him on board.
So, Alice Sweet Alice's new lineup is Scott Martinez (bass, vocals), Ali Kat (piano, synths, vocals), Billy Brown, (drums, background, vocals), Alan Hicks (lead, rhythm guitars), and Travis Lathrop (rhythm guitars) .
AS: Who got the itch to start the band?
SM: Alice Sweet Alice started as a project of mine while I still lived in Maine. After a long (10 year) hiatus from music, I decided to pick up the bass again and start writing music. The band name was something I'd carried around from seeing the movie many moons ago. The name was remembered more than the movie itself. We actually watched the movie about a year ago, or rather started to. Just couldn't get through it! There just wasn't an opportunity to use it (Alice Sweet Alice) until this. In a small room, I began writing some of the material that's on First Light, our debut CD. In fact, half of that CD is entirely mine. Ali Kat and Jeffrey Galios were found online to collaborate, and so that album was done entirely over the Internet!
AS: On the band's site, it's written (as I'm sure you all know) that the idea of ASA was conceived on Halloween. I'm sure there is an interesting story to that. Care to elaborate? Also, for fun; what were the costumes being worn at the time?
SM: Mostly Pirate outfits! LOL, no, the Halloween reference is actually quite coincidental. It was in late October that I found both Ali Kat and Jeffrey Galios, and it was on Halloween where we all decided to continue working together. So not a very scary or interesting story, but we were all chatting back and forth while waiting for Trick-Or-Treaters to come to the door! It's amazing what you'll come up with when you're bored!
AS: When did you guys move from New England?
SM: I moved here just this past April. Ali Kat was already here, and the rest of the band members were recruited in August of 2009, with the exception of Travis who just officially joined a few days ago! I wanted to make ASA 3D and move closer to the center of the country where the band could be in striking distance of both coasts. Kansas City has always been a great music town, and supportive of its' local scene, so that added to the appeal. So I got in my old pickup truck with a trailer carrying the sum of my existence, especially my huge vintage bass amp, and moved to Kansas City, specifically for ASA.
AS: I see you recently released the album "Moloko & Ultraviolence" (sweet Clockwork Orange reference, btw, if that's what it is...anyhow). How has it been received by fans and new listeners alike?
SM: Yes! Total Clockwork Orange reference! One of the best movies of all time, if you're into that sorta thing. We've found that everyone that hears the album really digs on it. At least we haven't heard any complaints! We can't wait to play most of this album live on the 23rd at The Record Bar. Our soundman said that he actually likes the songs better live. That's quite a compliment!
Past Event
Chloe Day / Alice Sweet Alice
- Wednesday, December 23, 2009, 10:30 p.m.
- Record Bar, 1020 Westport Rd., Kansas City, MO
- 21+ / $7
AS: How has the new album done compared to First Light?
SM: They've both been received quite well, as they're slightly different and attract different audiences. We think that Moloko has opened more doors for us. It's a more energetic album and really reflects ASA as an entire band, rather than a single songwriter. It gels a lot better than First Light as well, that's not anything against First Light, but First Light was such an experimentation and not a total band effort, versus we were more focused and together on Moloko.
AS: Do you guys have a lot of fans in Europe? More there compared to here?
SM: Actually, we have quite a following in the UK and in Russia — Moscow to be more specific. So yes. We think a lot of that has to do with our Bulgarian distributor AMAdea Records; making both of our physical albums available for sale worldwide. They handle the pressing, shipping, of our albums right from their European facility. Our Web site gets tons of hits from a lot of the Eastern European countries, and most recently China, where we are just beginning Digital Distribution through our Australian distributor Cowbell Digital. China is a hard market to tap into, and we're fortunate to have a chance to get in!
AS: As far as I know, the darkwave, synth-psych (or Psychogoth, which is my favorite genre name to date) is a pretty small scene in KC. Am I correct? If so, any other bands in the area you think are similar to your style?
SM: Actors and Actresses, Auternus in some ways (good friends of ours by the way) are some for starters. We are still meeting bands around here, so any you know of that you think would be good to share a bill with, please send our way! We're not really focusing on one particular genre or audience to play to, but mostly we want to play to people that listen to music. People that love music as an art form, and not just as something to hear.
AS: What are each of your backgrounds in music? Any former KC bands? Side projects? Solo projects?
SM: Well, there's quite a few defunct Kansas City bands I'm sure that our members have been part of. Billy Brown was in Lucid Fiction up until recently (we stole him). In the late 80s, I was in a band called Autumn Cathedral in the San Francisco bay area that released an album in 1989, and toured all over the west coast. Ali Kat comes from a musical family. Her mom used to play guitar, and sing, and Ali's been playing piano for quite some time. She was in a cover band up until the beginning of this year playing around town, just to keep her chops sharp until we could get ASA going. Travis was most recently in a band called Aphrodite Sky who played around town quite a bit.
AS: When will you guys be leaving for your 2010 tour? Any more KC/Lawrence dates for the new year (besides the Riot date on Feb. 4)?
SM: Well, dates and times are still in the works, but our label, Cauldron Soundwerx has an act named Sol Skugga from Sweden whom will be touring in probably May/June; we will be playing a few dates with her (and I may be playing Bass on stage with her). So definitely summertime. As you mentioned, we're playing with Auternus at The Riot Room on February 4th, and that's going to be an awesome gig, too!
Of course, please don't miss Alice Sweet Alice's first show ever at The Record Bar playing with Chloe Day on Wednesday, December 23rd at 9:00PM! We're filming the concert in HD and this will be broadcast in the UK and in this country as well, as well as podcast and sold as a DVD on our website. If you want to lend your lungs to the crowd noise, please stop by.
A bit about the Cauldron Soundwerx label
Cauldron Soundwerx was born as sort of a ruse to give First Light more credence, as bands that are signed are given a little more attention than unsigned bands. It did open more doors, too! Well, long story short, other bands were attracted to the label, and some of our English friends that have record labels, radio stations and magazines wanted to help.
Cauldron Soundwerx ended up signing two Swedish bands in the first six months and just recently signed one from the UK and another from France. Cauldron is also looking at a couple local bands and other bands from around the USA. So, a label was born almost by mistake, but it's been a lot of fun and has given not only ASA more international exposure, but has given some talented bands from Europe more exposure here in the USA! It's all about networking.
AS: On your Web site, you state that others have described the band's music as psychedelic rock and your style has been compared to bands such as Joy Division, Smashing Pumpkins, the Doors, etc. How would you guys describe your music?
SM: We call it Electropostpunkadelic! That's just a silly word for the different influences our music takes from. Some of our music is interlaced with arpeggiated synths, some has the punch and energy of double-kick drums, screaming guitars, and some has pretty strings, lush orchestral movements and pretty piano. Some of us grew up in the 80's and early 90's and so some of that post-punk influence is there, both American and European (I'm an old San Jose, CA skate punk). Of course, 60's and 70's rock has always been something we've all listened to, so it can't help but appear in our music, with some of the Hammond organ and Vox piano sounds we use. Some of us also use vintage gear, specifically our bass rig and Travis guitar rig is a Bassman from 1966. So, it's quite a mishmash, but it takes from a lot of the sounds we grew up with, and we're constantly having fun creating new sounds and using new instruments. If it sounds good, we do it.
AS: Will you guys have any new music out in the new year?
SM: Oh yes! We're currently putting the finishing touches on our own recording studio in north Kansas City, and will be writing fairly heavily over the next year. We already have three songs that are in the works, but aren't quite ready for prime time. Our new members are still learning our material so we're pretty busy there, supporting our past two albums, but we're so prolific as songwriters, we can't help but stay busy! We'll be testing out some of this newer material in our upcoming area shows, seeing how audiences react and hopefully they'll give us feedback, and we'll take it from there. We create music for ourselves first, but we want our music to be exciting and interesting to our listeners as well, so we love to get feedback from fans, and we answer all e-mails promptly.
Check out ASA's music at their Web site available for free download.
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