Hard rockers WE'RE ALL ALIENS have a single and even an album out and about, with all new music already written! For now though, they want to reach as many people as possible with their music. With that, the band goes into talks about themselves, the music, and what is lined up next for them.
1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
Myself (JJ vocals) and Biff the guitar player have known each other for a long time and were in a britrock band a while back that gigged, got close but never quite hit the mark. We played on some interesting bills with bands like ‘Sleater Kinney’ and had some tracks produced by former Coldplay co-producer and Grammy award winner Ken Nelson. More recently, we started writing together again on the premise of being in the band we wanted to be in when we 15 years old and the mood and style of the first album came from that. When we came to record the tracks, we recruited the final members of the band in ‘The Big A’ - Adi Billinge, a multi-instrumentalist and engineer mate of mine on drums and Laurent Baruqc on bass because we knew he’d fit the style and we knew the chemistry would be right with this line up. I fundamentally believe that a band needs to exist and really connect with each other as people like any relationship. These guys all come from the same place emotionally and it’s why it works so well.
2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?
There is a hidden meaning behind the band’s name which is relevant to myself and Biff, but ultimately I like the idea that we’re all alien to each other trying to find a connection to each other. We’re a rock band but our influences come from a wide range of styles and genres and hope that the music connects with the Alien in all of us.
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
The band is based in Merseyside, England someway between Liverpool and Manchester so in many ways we’re a bit of a mongrel hybrid band that isn’t connected to one city in particular. We recorded the first album and rehearse at Neon Palms Studio in Northwich which is where The Charlatans originate from and where Adi lives. the music scene in Northwich is extremely vibrant and it would be hard to pick out one band in particular, partly due to my own eclectic tastes which continually genre hop. Myself and Biff come from a part of the world just over the River Mersey where the most famous musical sons are Elvis Costello, OMD and The Coral. I always like to think that if Liverpool is New York, then where we come from is New Jersey so I like the Bon Jovi / Springsteen imagery that it conjures.
4. How would you describe your style?
The "Get A Life" album is a big sounding rock’n’roll record that captures many of the band’s influences. We’ve been described as sounding like ‘Black Stone Cherry,’ ‘Queensryche,’ ‘Soundgarden’ and ‘U2.’ Which is pretty broad when you think about it. Again we were aiming for the sound of those records we loved as kids. The Cult, Queen, The Who, Rage Against The Machine. Prince. Its all in there somewhere.
5. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?
So we rush released the first single “I Am An Alien’ in Jan 2019 when I discovered I had a cancer that might have stop my ability to sing. From then we recorded the Get A Life album between treatment and recovery. The title track and first single came in November and the album followed in Feb 2020. From there we plucked two further singles, Rosa Lee which did exceptionally well and a radio edit of Second Chances which is out now.
6. Do you have any new music in the works?
The second album which is essentially a sequel to "Get A Life" has already been written and we’re currently recording the drum tracks. I’d hope for the first single off that to be out in the late summer, early autumn. From then, I think we’ll drop the songs individually then the album after that.
7. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
Other than a slot at the Manchester ‘You Are Not Alone Festival’ in November all our live plans have been curtailed by the pandemic but I think we will just have to build awareness for the band and react to opportunities once the industry has made sense of the new normal. We’d done a couple of really well received gigs prior to lock down.
8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?We want to reach as many people as possible with the music. I think we’re heavy in places but melodic and accessible. I think the second album we want more shuffle and groove. I think it’s possible to be funky and rock’n’ roll so I’d hope to see a bit of that.
9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
We held off launching the march side of the band as it the campaign launch coincided with the beginning of lock down so currently the website is still be developed and the shop will be open once we’re confident that we’re not overwhelming key worker delivery people with non essential stuff. That said, we want We’re All Aliens to be essential to you so it’s a conundrum. That said it’s fully available digitally and you’ll find us on socials @allaliensmusic - in fact I can’t stress enough the importance of following the band across all our platforms. It supports the conversation and the algorithm which in turn boosts awareness.
10. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?
That riffs, grooves and thoughtful writing are alive and well in rock’n’roll!
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