Suzie: So the first thing I was curious about is that you’ve called a lot of places home over the years. I think we’ve had a similar experience here of growing up in the U.K. and emigrating to Australia as adults? So I wondered, how do you think this has impacted your musical tastes in terms of the music you enjoy listening to?
Alex: It’s cool that we’ve had similar experiences! I did also spend some years in my childhood living in Australia, I think I generally listened to more British music (and American music) growing up. The first bands I remember loving and getting into when I was really young were Oasis, Nirvana, Blur and Smashing Pumpkins. Although, I did pick up some cool bands and artists when I moved to Australia like Jebediah, The Vines, Ben Lee & Nick Cave, that I might not as been as familiar with if I’d never moved to Australia. Like most people my music taste has moved and developed over the years.
And, how has it influenced the music you create or your musical journey so far?
I think I’ve always related to a Bruce Springsteen quote a read once which was something like: “You need something to push up against.” They way I understand this is you need a challenge and you need something to rebel and fight against as a songwriter. This is only part of my inspiration but like I said before trying to achieve your dreams of making music as full time is extremely hard and through the years I’ve been inspired often by the struggle and feelings of hitting your head against or pushing up against a brick wall. It is that hard, but when you start to achieve even small things, its hugely rewarding and enjoyable.
Linked to that, do you ever feel like you’re straddling two worlds? How has the support for your project differed between the U.K. and Australia and how do you navigate this? I guess a lot of Australian artists feel it’s easier to come up in the U.K. industry (I’d probably agree). Has this been your experience?
Yeah I do, I feel a bit more British if I’m honest (as I was born there and spent my first 11 years there) but I do also feel Australian and am really proud of being and living in Australia. I love Brisbane where I live and Melbourne and Adelaide are my other favourite cities here. I’m so grateful and lucky to have both nationalities. It’s also great to have the understanding of the differences and similarities of the cultures. I think as I was playing live in the UK I achieved some amazing things while living there. I don’t play live really here as I want to focus on my writing, recording and releasing. I think it’s hard in the UK and Australia to be honest. I think the UK music scene has a long and prestigious past (that it lives off to be blunt) and it is a larger scene and industry as there’s a larger population in the UK. I do like in Australia that generally people in the music industry are more supportive of the local scene and its artists. Scotland where I was living, before moving back to Brisbane is a bit like Australia in this way, proud and supportive of its bands and artists doing well. I do want to say though, I did felt supported in the UK and again here in Australia. I’m extremely grateful and feel so happy when people have supported my music and songs over the years.
Looking at your latest release, Nostalgia is fine but… (great album by the way) from your perspective what’s the overall theme of the project?
Probably the easiest ones to say are nostalgia, memories and moving forward. But it’s about relationships, experiences and small things I see and feel about modern culture.
I found listening to it, musically some of the songs were quite reminiscent of the 90s britpop era or early 00s indie. Is that a deliberate choice to tie into the ‘nostalgia’ title?
No not deliberate at all. Like I was saying before growing up I loved a lot of the British and American bands and artists from those two eras. The Strokes, The Libertines (& Babyshambles), The Vines and Ryan Adams were massive for my musical development when I was growing up.
Although, having said that, the overall musical dynamic is definitely varied. I thought Miss Melody for example, was quite pop influenced, then something like “Cocaine Soul” (one of my favourite by the way) is quite rock influenced and then something like “From…to” is softer and closer to folk. Does my perception reflect how you hear these individual tracks or the influences you were drawing on at the time? And how would you define your style?
I don’t really think too much before writing, I like to go with my gut and just write/let the words and music come out and develop as naturally as possible and with minimal editing, unless its needed. I think my style is indie rock but within that there are elements of alternative rock, pop rock, rock and roll, alt country, singer/songwriter, emo, punk, grunge and probably a couple of others I’m forgetting haha. I just like to be diverse but sound like myself, which hopefully holds it all towards.
And finally, what’s your favourite track on the album and why?