Durham, UK’s indie pop rock band ALEXANDER have released a new video for their album’s title track “Say Hello”. Along with the video a single and acoustic b-side are also available on iTunes, while the album was released via I Am Mighty Records. I sat down with these guys a few weeks ago and talked about their debut album and future plans. Check out both the video and our little talk below.
If a nice guitar sound, pop rock feel, wide range of vocals styles (including backing singing) and incredibly catchy songs is something you’re looking for, then you’ll need to be quick and check these boys out!
Hey, ALEXANDER! It’s a pleasure to have you here. What have you been up to lately? What’s up?
It’s a pleasure to be here! We have been pretty busy lately actually, just released our debut album ‘Say Hello’ and had an amazing response from it already, things are looking pretty good at the moment!
Yup, it’s out! Tell me more about it. Where can we find it?
Yeah we are thrilled to finally have Say Hello out, it’s been over a year ago since we recorded it!
Say Hello is a great collaboration from all 4 of us. The way we write is always together and through a central point, an idea. It’s always a group effort, democracy-esq. Songs like ‘Vapour Trails’ and ‘Say Hello’ were wrote when we were aged 16/17. The album in a whole is about all 4 of us portraying our problems, worries and thoughts to this central point that is ALEXANDER as an entity. You can find Say Hello on iTunes or if your still a firm believer of the CD, you can purchase a physical copy at our online store.
What’s the role of I Am Mighty Records in the whole distribution process? Tell me more about how you guys landed in their roster.
The distribution is shared between us and the label. We have our independent store separate to the label so we can process orders directly alongside merch. It was maybe 3 days after we released our debut video ‘You Lost Yourself’, the label owner Dave got in touch with us, at first we sceptical of independent labels. We’ve always had an attitude of just doing it yourself, unless you can trust someone to do it. After a few meetings with Dave we could definitely trust him with our beloved Say Hello release.
How did he persuade you guys?
We just wanted someone behind the release that believed in our music as much as we do and Dave definitely does!
Are you all based in Newcastle?
It’s a bit of a mix, 2 of us are based in Durham, 1 in Sunderland and 1 in Newcastle. We class Newcastle as our central meeting point.
How often do you rehearse?
We really push it, normally 5 times a week, leading up to a tour we’d do every night of the week for around 8 hours a time. We built our own recording studio over the winter which is very handy for writing, rehearsing and pre-producing. It’s a place of absolute positive vibes!
Wow. Nice. Was it hard to put it together? What do you need to build your own studio?
It wasn’t hard, just very time consuming! We’d go in at 5pm and redecorate the place and before we knew the sun was rising, we got caught up just blasting the very best of MJ and Jamiroquai all night. You need all the gear in the world, as for materials we used all wood for our live room and sound dampening on one wall. I could go pretty nerdy with the acoustics of it but we’ll save that for a rainy day.
Damn, not many bands are able to allow themselves such a base. So now you have your own Sound City, huh? [smiles] All you need to do right now is make it legendary [smiles]
What’s its destination now?
Its our HQ, who knows what will happen! I would say the only ‘destination’ for it right now is providing us with a creative space and a place to nourish ALEXANDER.
No plans to produce third-parties’ records there?
Yeah of course, we’ve had 3 bands the past month come in our studio! 2/4 in ALEXANDER have a great production background which is incredible for song writing and pre-producing ourselves.
Alright, fellas. You have played a couple of shows this March. What was the initial feedback to your new tunes?
The feedback we got took us by surprise, always positivity from the songs. We went on tour with just 1 single released and the response was warming, not just on the songs, the turn outs and vibe we got from fans was incredible.
So what’s next? When and where are you going to play some more gigs?
There is a lot of things next for ALEXANDER and we’re so excited for it. This summer is going to be a busy one for us to keep writing and touring and admiring the world. We’re coming around the UK this Summer again hopefully and we’re hoping to travel further afield early next year.
Cool. Going back to the record.. tell me more about the place where you recorded it.
We recorded the album with a good friend of ours Ant West. We recorded drums in a beautiful countryside and everything else in London.
Both studios were so inspiring to be around.
How did people from outside the band (producer/mixer/engineer) affect this material?
It didn’t really effect the music, it’s just the producers putting their stamp on it, normally making the singles a single for a reason and album tracks hidden away for people to discover the jewels when they buy the album. We are really open minded and take anything a producer says in to account about song writing or arranging structures.
Do you some extra songs left, waiting for a b-side release? ;)
Unfortunately not, we never reuse songs that son’t make the final cut. We think it’s better to have everything fresh and in the moment of when we took inspiration to write it, otherwise it’s not in it’s own time we feel. In regards to B-sides we are releasing acoustic tracks with each single release from the album. So far you can find ‘You Lost Yourself’ acoustic on iTunes and Spotify as a B-Side to the single ‘You Lost Yourself’!
Ok. You’ve just finished shooting the music video for our second single. “You Lost Yourself”. Could you tell me about the idea for it? Also, what’s the timetable for releasing it?
The idea of Say Hello is a huge introduction to the band, the song is about putting aside worries, problems and anxieties. In a care free environment on a cobbled English street with strangers saying hello the video portrays our idea of the song well.
Ok, so what’s next when it comes to promotion of the new album. What else are cookin’ up there?
We’re always promoting Say Hello as much as we can, we have a large and loyal following over twitter and instagram that vibe of our posts on the album. We’re always promoting what we’re doing, we’re doing a lot of pre-production of Album #2 material at the minute as well as rehearsing for the Summer shows.
What would you wish for yourself for the rest of the year?
I wish that we keep doing what we’re doing and having fun for the rest of the year. Plenty of touring, writing and traveling and take 2014 as it comes!
Cool. Thanks, guys! Is there anything you would like to add before we end?
Thanks for the interview, and i’d just like to say how appreciative we are of our fans, family and friends for the incredible support on our debut. The way it’s progressive is exciting us beyond belief for our future of ALEXANDER.
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