What are your names?
Tash Cox (I’m the one answering 😉 ). The rest of the band includes Gordon Bash (bass, keys, vocals), Steve Kefalas (drums, percussion), Scott Landes (guitar, keys), and Sasha Travis (vocals, visuals).
What is the bands name?
AL1CE
How did you come up with the band’s name?
After a year-long tour with our industrial punk band, Mankind is Obsolete, Gordon, Scott, and I began jamming and started coming up with a new sound that branched off from the music we had been playing on tour. Surreal, dreamy, and playing with the concept of time and performance art, we wanted a descriptive word that encapsulated the vibe of our music. We like looking at the story of Alice as an iconic through-the-looking glass, down-the-rabbit-hole concept, and we aim to take our audiences on a journey when they experience our music.
What is your genre of music?
Electro-rock
Give us a little bio about you.
AL1CE is a multimedia performing arts rock group that fuses dance, surrealist art, video, world music, electronica and rock.
What made you go in to music?
My parents heard me singing in tune when I was 9 months old and decided to start me on piano lessons when I was 2. My first “job” was as an accompanist in grade school. Since then, I’ve found that it’s simply what I know to do. I’ve tried my hand at other things, but music always has a way of calling me back.
Are you a signed?
No…we’ve been DIY from the start, which has inspired us to take on all the roles that we do as artists.
You released your new album ‘ The Thirteenth Hour’,tell us more about it.
We decided that we wanted to create this album in a different way than anything we’d created before and made it our goal to release a new song, artwork, and music video every full moon over the course of 13 months. Setting this deadline every month for ourselves made the creation of the album an intense and rich process; it also was a really fun way to reinvent ourselves each month as we learned new ways with each song to write, record, and make videos. We had some songs written beforehand, but certain months we had to write a completely new song, record it, and make all the visuals around it with a super quick turnaround. This approach really forced us to have to think creatively and find ways to make our art with the resources we had. In this process, we collaborated with over 100 artists and ended up making a full-length feature film from the music videos, which told a bigger story.
What was the writing process like?
Our writing process always feels like a natural flow. One of us will have an idea, lyric, or riff that we’ll bring into rehearsal, where we all develop them into fully flushed-out songs. Our main way of writing in this band is to actually play together. We really love the process of communicating musically, and the songs represent a culmination of all of our voices together.
What was the recording process like?
We wanted the album to capture the energy of what we do live, so we tracked everything at the same time with vocal overdubs. The exception was “Moonbeams.” We shot the video and recorded it live at the same time, with the goal of being able to create the vibe that we had created when we first wrote the song. With all of the songs, we really tried to organically approach it in a way that happens when we play together, which is definitely different than the multi-tracking approach.
What is the message you want listeners to take from the Album?
Difficult question. I always like for listeners to find their own journey within the context of our music. But I can tell you the messages I myself have received from being a part of making it. That sometimes the world is a dark and cruel place…and that it’s ok to feel pissed off, confused, and have no answers about that. That pain and loss can be beautiful. That awareness is power. That you can truly lose yourself completely and somehow manage to find yourself again. And that it’s truly possible to make your dream art with your dream team. I especially love this last message…I think inspiration is wonderfully contagious, and one of my favorite things in the world is to be in a room full of inspired people…it just buzzes and zings in a way that makes my heart flip.
Describe each track in two words.
Frequency – tick tock
Land of Confusion – empty promises
Wide Awake – ground zero
Locked Within – inner talk
Looking Glass – mirror mirror
Can You Hear the Stars Cry – star child
Condemned – cutting strings
End of Times – phase two
Silent Night – piper’s call
Upside Down – follow me
Moonbeams – ivory dreaming
Waiting for You – hopeful longing
Breathe – electro tribal
Mirage – swirling synth
Do you have any gigs planned or a tour in planning?
Yes, in terms of local gigs, we have several this fall that include the Oxnard Steampunk Festival and a fun Halloween show that will be a Night of the Living Dead-themed fundraiser for one of our dancers and her new theatre company!
If so where are you thinking of heading?
In the spring, we’re aiming for a Midwest/East Coast tour and also plan on dipping into Canada as well. We’ll also be returning to the Southwest and Pacific Northwest later this year.
What else can we expect from you this year?
We’ll be releasing a cover album, working on new songs that we’ll be performing at our shows, and happily awaiting any surprises that pop up. 😉
Do you have any collaborations coming up with any up coming artists?
We do! On said cover album, we’re planning on recruiting some of our amazing friends as guest artists. I myself recorded keys and vocals with a post-punk band called Elias Black with Steve Albini earlier this year. So I’ll be collaborating on more music with them, as well as working on some live music videos. I also play keys with System Syn, and we’re looking at some possible shows in 2019. Additionally, I’m an active classical singer, and I recently had the privilege of singing at Disney Hall, debuting a piece by Ellen Reid, a really remarkable modern composer. The rest of the band also works with quite an array of artists. We all really thrive as collaborative artists in our community and really love getting to connect with each other in that way.
Would you be up for collaborations if other musicians wanted one with you? and who would they have to contact?
Always! I’m a huge fan of collaborative art and always welcome fellow kindred spirits! 🙂 We’re easily contacted through our FB page or at alice@ilikealice.com
Do you play any instruments
I love to play whatever I can get my hands on. My first instrument is piano, but I also play guitar, bass, upright, and various percussion.
Who are your influences?
My loved ones, those who have hurt me, and any artist who has the courage to share their voice.
How do you get inspiration to write songs?
I take the time to write. Inspiration is always there, waiting like an old friend. It’s a matter of being willing to have a conversation with yourself.
Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
Writing more music, touring, collaborating with artists I love and respect….all pretty much what I’m doing now. I think in 5 years I will see many more completed projects and ideas.
When you’re not doing music, what do you do?
There’s life outside of music?? 😉 In my windows of free time, I love to read, write, hike, watch movies, and spend quality time with kindred spirits.
What was the song you listened to most that influenced you to go more in to the music scene?
Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata….I found my love for music within this piece. I fell in love with it at a very early age and begged my piano teacher to teach me. She said I was too young at the time, so I compensated by listening to it over and over and over, making interpretive dances for it that I subjected my poor parents and their friends to. This particular piece of music made me feel so deeply, and it became a goal of mine to learn it; so I taught myself how to play it. My early experience with the Moonlight Sonata was a taste of things to come, as I found that when I felt passionate about music, I would become obsessed with it until I could experience it in my own way. Since then, I tap into this passion and fall in love with every song I experience in a different way.
What’s the best advice you have ever been given?
I had the privilege of taking some lessons with a really phenomenal concert pianist, Dr. William Westney. We did this really crazy exercise where I would randomly drop my hands anywhere on the piano and (try) not to care about how dissonant or bad it sounded. It took me many drops to really find a true release in my arms and hands. The idea was to release any tension to be able to free my fingers to do fast runs but to also find strength and balance in between each drop. He referred to it as embracing the chaos and finding the freedom within it. I like to apply this principle not only to music but also to life.
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians not about the industry and just as an artist?
Find your joy, listen deeply, and know that you’re not alone. Also, kindness and respect go a long ways.
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
I have quite a few. Here’s a couple, to narrow it down:
“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”
― Andy Warhol
“Leap and the net will appear.”
– John Burroughs
Where in your hometown is a must go to visit?
Anywhere outside at sunset. West Texas sunsets are incomparable and made of dreamstuffs.
Your coming off tour;
1/ Where do you go first?
My bed.
Sleep is almost always the first priority.
2/ Who do you see first?
My bandmates.
We’re pretty ridiculously close to each other.
3/What do you eat first?
Tacos!!!!
When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
My water bottle, tea mug, in-ears, sustain pedal, and gratitude to be able to make and share music.
Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?