ALICE LOVES ALIEN – AN INTERVIEW

 

Alice Loves Alien is a hard rock duo that hails from the Western Mass/Connecticut area. The band is comprised of Brendan Clark (Guitar/Multi-Instrumentalist/Vocals) and Gina Andia (Vocals/Acoustic Guitar). Their sound is bold mixture of tenacious rock and melodic vocals. Alice Loves Alien released a self titled 12 song album in 2019 and a 2 song live disc (Beyond Live) in 2020.

Throughout their debut record, Clark’s guitar howls like a crazed banshee. Andria mostly handles the lead vocals with an edgy intensity. She can be smooth and sultry on one song and totally fierce on the next. Her range and technique are impeccable. Both Clark’s guitar and Andia’s vocals are full of raw emotion and unbridled drive.

Heralded in their local music scene for many years, Alice Loves Alien is ready to branch out and reach a massive audience with their voracious aural attack.

Brendan Clark was gracious enough to offer some insight into the inner workings of Alice Loves Alien.

AMP: Give the AMP readers a brief history of Alice Loves Alien.

CLARK: Alice Loves Alien is a hard rock duo based out of Western Mass. The members consist of my girlfriend Gina Andia (Vocals/Composer) and myself, Brendan Clark (Guitar/Vocals/Multi-instrumentalist/Producer/Arranger/Principle songwriter/Composer). We’ve been playing together in bands for many years and we’ve had our separate projects respectively. We decided to focus our energy on creating music because the truth is, we’re songwriters first and foremost. We have a burning desire to create. It’s nice to do impressions of other bands and play cover songs from time to time to get some money, but if your heart burns to create, write and perform from your soul, you have to follow it. Anything else is a distraction from what you truly want to do and what you believe your meant to do.

So we formed Alice Loves Alien as a vehicle to focus our creative energy. Gina and I had a band called “Crazy Alice’s Travelling Show” for years which was a cover and originals band. We played throughout Western Mass., Connecticut and other parts of New England. As time grew, we became more and more disinterested in performing covers and we kept adding originals to our set. We finally said; lets focus on our original music and try to bring it to the largest audience possible. We named ourselves “Alice Love Alien. A band with its own identity with the affirmation to focus on our original music. This was an easy declaration being that what really matters to us is creating. Music is something we take very seriously. Developing and expressing our experiences and contemplations through sound and word is simultaneously cathartic and unifying. We make music from our hearts that is relatable yet mysterious and can provoke you to think. We want to reach as many people as possible to share our music with. Our songs have something for everybody.

AMP: What got you into music and what keeps you there?

CLARK: Music is something that’s always been a driving force in my life. An unrivaled obsession and it seems to be growing the more the years pass by. I’ve been playing guitar, piano, drums, bass, organ, singing and writing songs for most of my life. Music keeps me alive. To me, music is life. It’s sacred and should be treated with respect. Music is a constant companion, mentor and guide through this confusing and wonderous facility we call reality. You might find there are artists who create to fit in, follow a fad, keep up with the times, so they think. I don’t care about that shit. I make music because I am music. Gina is very passionate about music as well. She’s an outstanding vocalist and has a wonderful ear for harmony, melody and pitch. An unbelievable amount of emotion is conveyed through her vocals and performance. Whether it’s a song I wrote, she wrote or just as a backing vocalist, there is a hypnotic and interpersonal connection to the listener, and that’s a true vocalist. We love music and have a vast array of musical tastes. A healthy mix of influences helps us create some interesting songs.

AMP: How does the symmetry between the two of you work?

CLARK: The symmetry between Gina and I is extremely organic and has been from day one. We work exceptionally well together. The process is, I write most of the songs (music, melodies and lyrics) and I have the arrangements in my head. Then I show Gina and teach her the song and the lyrics. Then we decide if she should sing that one or I. Gina is a great songwriter as well. She’ll bring me songs or ideas and we’ll arrange them, make them cohesive and maybe add some parts and so on. I take the reins as the producer, engineer and arranger. Gina most times won’t know what I’m doing. All the arrangements are in my head including vocal harmonies, keyboards and guitar solos. Certainly, it’s understandable from the outside how it can be perceived as confusing, wondering where this is going or what’s up next. Thankfully she has learned to trust my arrangements and we end up extremely proud of our song, arrangements and performances. She inspires my writing as she inspires my playing. It’s a pleasure to make music together, as two that love each other. The chemistry is clear as day in our live performances as well. We play off each other and don’t hog the spotlight. We both get our time to shine and don’t step on each other. That’s part of being professional. Understanding your craft after years of honing it and the instincts of where to be and where not to be. The music is the most important thing. Trying not to have the ego of needing to be the loudest or center stage or anything like that. We care about the performance, we care about the music, we care that people are getting a good show and that everybody leaves wanting more. We’re on the same page and that makes for excellent symmetry if I don’t say so myself.

AMP: What do you feel is your best song and way?

CLARK: Personally, I’m not a big fan of this question., though I understand why it has to be asked. It’s not something easy to explain or easy to choose. So many people have told us such differing opinions of their favorite song of ours. I consider that extremely inspiring. We write in different styles that many people interpret on an individual basis. We have eclectic tastes in music and this is reflected through our writing and arrangements. Oftentimes when this question is asked, I’ve notice it’s implied, “which is the song that you guys think is good?, with a silent understanding that the other songs are filler or this or that. We put everything we have into every song. Every word is important, every note is critical. Every harmony, piano, organ part, guitar lick, bass run and drums are all necessary in conveying a message that we feel must be shared through sound, performance and words. Though to pick a song that encapsulates what we believe, in summation, would be a song I wrote called “Dare To Dream”. From the day I played that song for Gina, she has cited it as her favorite song ever. This track closes out our album and most of our shows as sort of an epilogue or grand finale. “Dare To Dream” is a good initiation to the universe of Alice Loves Alien. But I suggest you listen to them all.

AMP: How has the Western Massachusetts music scene embraced the band?

CLARK: The Western Mass and Connecticut music scene has shown us a lot of love throughout the years. Truth be told, many of our local venues are shutting down and those establishments who still believe in artists and creating art are fewer in numbers every year. I would hope that a lot more venue owners and patrons alike would look more into supporting musicians who are making music as opposed to portraying a human jukebox. That’s something anyone can do. There’s nothing special about it. Now I’m not necessarily knocking that and i see where the venues are coming from to some extent. Still, it would be encouraging to have more establishments featuring original artists instead of treating it as a novelty, as in “Originals Night”. Nonetheless, the scene is supportive and the audiences are wonderful and we love them all. As soon as we are able, we’re looking to start branching out more through the East Coast and so on. We’re on a mission to spread the word of Alice Loves Alien.

AMP: What was your favorite gig?

CLARK: Our favorite gig thus far was probably our album release show, December 12, 2019, at Club One in Agawam, Ma. Unfortunately the venue has closed recently. There was a great stage, great energy and a very responsive crowd. Outstanding lights done by our friend Mike Nugent and sound done by our friend, Doug Wallace. We had our friends John O’Boyle on bass and Kendall “Pariah” Divoll on drums. We released an EP, Alice Loves Alien: Beyond Live, off of recordings from that show. There were a lot of familiar faces, a lot of musicians that are well respected in our local scene, and many new faces as well in the crowd. We were lucky to have many of our friends and family help to put on a great event. It was a very memorable time and we had a great turnout. There is footage from this show if you are interested in checking it out. It’s on my YouTube channel, Brendan Clark Guitar. (Please Subscribe). We also have some amazing photos taken by our dear friends Lea Caffrey and David Zulch of Morningstar Reflection. They also did the photography for our album cover art. We are looking to do a lot bigger and better shows, near and far, as soon as things start opening up!! We are definitely looking forward to it!

AMP: What does the future look like for Alice Loves Alien?

CLARK: The future looks damn good!! We write nonstop and are developing new ideas to share such as future music videos, shows and albums. At the moment I’m working on my debut solo album. We are in the pre pro stages, but soon will begin the recording process. We’re hoping for a release this fall. Gina is very encouraging and supportive of the projects I undergo and it’s quite a blessing to have her championing my greatest efforts, as I do hers. Making music is everything, and I can’t explain what it’s like making music with someone you love. We are very excited for future projects on the very near horizon and are looking forward to sharing more music, getting back to live shows and spreading the word of our musical universe known as Alice Loves Alien.

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To learn more about Alice Loves Alien, check out their Website

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Stream music:  Spotify / Apple Music 

Purchase:  Amazon 

 

 

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