Brake Loose: The Challenges and Triumphs of a Rising Rock Star

Brian (00:00:00) - Alex. You're very welcome to concerts that made us?

Alex (00:00:04) - Thanks, bud. Appreciate it, man.

Brian (00:00:05) - I have to say, I know I'm genuinely delighted to get you on the show. I remember catching you back at Rockathon earlier this year, and ever since I've been kicking myself that I didn't get a chance to talk to you on today. So I'm glad this is finally coming around.

Alex (00:00:19) - Thank you. Lovely to be here then.

Brian (00:00:21) - So you guys just released Rebel Rebel, Evil Like the Devil. Holy crap, What a song. I mean, it's constantly stuck in my head. Give us the inside details on it. Spilled the beans.

Alex (00:00:35) - So, Rebel, Rebel, evil. Like, that's actually a song that we created last year in the studio. I had we were working on this song. It was quite like because our guitarist David, he's, um, he's quite influenced by, by Rammstein and I just had this melody because I wanted to, like, we don't have some sort of like, well, at least until now we didn't have back then a, um, a kind of like a chanting song, you know, that, you know, people as you, as you mentioned there before, before the interview, that gets into your head, you know, and really gets into your head.

Alex (00:01:08) - So I just wanted to kind of like have this I had this idea to to build like kind of like a chanting song that people could sing along. And it's I mean, I don't know if you you haven't seen us live. Yeah. You mentioned there you haven't seen us live, but I've been playing this the song live is just amazing because people get so much into it, man. With the course, it's just like we also have a massive like, stop a breakdown in the middle and people just are shouting the chords. So it's absolutely amazing. And yeah, I just we're just kind of kind of like figuring out the if the riff that David had was fitting the, the, my melody, he changed then the riff to fit the melody, you know, the rebel rebel evil like the devil. And then our, our drummer didn't have the brilliant idea to incorporate this some sort of like Nine Inch Nails, some sort of like, industrial drum beat that is quite kind of like dance into it, you know? So once we heard that, once we heard the that with, with the riff and the melody, we were like, Oh, this is going to be a hit.

Alex (00:02:11) - This is This is it, man. So that was kind of like the creative process we do, um, we do rehearse every, every week in Glasnevin in this place called Pirate Studios and Dublin nine. And yeah, the, the song I guess came about into existence and, and that, that, I don't know, maybe September, September or maybe a year from now. Maybe in November, September last year. Yeah. We've been playing this song since since September last year and we finally got the chance to record that this year and now it's out. Yeah.

Brian (00:02:45) - Man, that's a that's a bit of a way to get it from your live set to actually being released, but how did you guys approach the recording and the production?

Alex (00:02:56) - Well, we have a friend in. We didn't actually for this one. It's funny because we do work a little bit of the pre-production of songs with our our Bulgarian friend producer and we didn't did did that for this one, you know, And we went just straight into the studio and once our producer just heard it, he was like, Well, you guys, you know, you guys know what you want and let's just record this.

Alex (00:03:20) - And he's very he's very I mean, the production of the song is top notch, man. I mean, not to say anything bad, but in the past, in 2022 were approached by by renowned producers Marty him from from the killers and other lots. They're looking for kind of like an easy fix, you know, and we were we're we were yeah. I mean the name you know, Mark is just he produced The Killers and this other guy I don't remember the name he, but there's another band. And, um, our man, you know, this, this our guy from. From his base here in Dublin. He has a lovely studio there in Dunboyne. And we were like, We're going to go with this guy because he understands our sound, understands I mean, what we what we want to achieve, you know? So it was, it was great, you know, going to the studio. We have record another four songs that we haven't released yet, but we just went there.

Alex (00:04:19) - It took us like maybe around two months, you know, to to finish everything. The drum tracks, everything. But uh, yeah, man, very, very happy with how things went, to be honest with you.

Brian (00:04:29) - Yeah. Yeah. Not surprised. And, you know, usually how do you approach songwriting? You know, obviously this one was a from the concept. It was to get people moving and everything. But normally, how do you approach writing songs? Where do you find your inspiration?

Alex (00:04:44) - Well, I have actually a book here. Very famous poet.

Brian (00:04:47) - Ah.

Alex (00:04:48) - Arthur Rimbaud, a French poet from the. From the accursed poet. From the list, of course. Poet like Baudelaire and Improving Boy. And I love poetry, man. I mean, one of my biggest inspirations, actually, is, you know, during the night, I like to my brother gave me a whole compilation of poems last year from Allen Ginsberg, already known poem of the of the big generation from the early 40s.

Alex (00:05:13) - You know, Jack Kerouac, also this lad from Naked Lunch with his name, a William Burroughs and Edgar Allen Pearlman. Like I love poetry. I love, um, yeah, I guess. I love mythology. I love Greek mythology. And it's sort of like, you know, Celtic mythology. I'm not that much aware or kind of like I don't have much of a big background in Celtic mythology. I'm actually learning now, living here in Ireland for the past five, four years. But I guess inspiration is just, I don't know, man. Like it's just it's I mean, it's not easy to say because if I want to sit down at night and just say like, Oh, why not just write a piece of, you know, a lyrical thing and then, you know, put some, some, some music, music in it, whatever. It doesn't it doesn't come that way, you know, It's more of like going out for a walk. And then, for example, yesterday I just wrote a poem I was going to, to the gym there, and the moon was absolutely beautiful.

Alex (00:06:07) - I'm actually obsessed with the moon and and, you know, star lights and moon nights, you know, And I just wrote a poem about the moon. I think just the creative process just comes like, just, you know, walking yourself and being yourself, you know, and maybe, maybe on a, on a Yeah. Any sort of random night and going on a walk or after having maybe conversations with people that, you know, that they kind of like are interested in the same things that you're interested or different things that you're experienced and then you just throw up everything down in paper. And I think that's the way that works for me. I'm the lyricist and the lyrics, the melodies for for the band. And yeah, I guess that's the that's how the creative process works in my head, you know.

Brian (00:06:56) - I like it. I like it. And that's a nice segway. The tagline for the band, I love it, A port and tree rock and rollers. So I suppose you better tell us, how did Break Loose come to be? What's the story behind the band?

Alex (00:07:10) - Well, it's been it's been a guess.

Alex (00:07:12) - Well, I'm a it's been a tedious I wouldn't say tedious. It's been a long, long process. I mean, we've been going on, um, since 2019 and then we, we reassembled in 2021, you know, after the pandemic and so on. We got new members. But, uh, I came here from, from Venezuela backwards and 18. And then I started in bim this, this institute in Francis Street. I didn't find it very proactive. The Institute, and after doing songwriting course, I think was the other one. Vocals. I just just left. And then I just, you know, started to, to look for people to form a band and a rock band to just, you know, kind of like have been at. And, you know, I had yet to form this band because I'm quite inspired by a band such as, you know, doors and bands, you know, jazz misfits and things like that that they incorporate different elements in the doors. They add like spoken Word Porter songs.

Alex (00:08:12) - And I wanted to form a band kind of like that. I'm a lot into theater, so I started looking for members. Then we started these shows and then that's how Break Loose came about. We played I mean, we played so many shows in Dublin and then around Ireland in 2019, pandemic happened. And then, you know, things change. Unfortunately, it's it's hard. People maybe don't realize this sort of things, but it's hard to get the right sort of people in terms of I am more because look, I pay I play a little bit of guitar, you know, but I'm more what would be a poet lyrics. And I have this melodies in my head and I just tell the lads kind of like the way things go. And then, you know, they kind of like follow me and then they create things, you know? But it's hard to find the right sort of people in terms of like mindset, you know, because you can find this amazing guitars that plays everything, but he doesn't play the simple sort of things and it doesn't have the mindset to to continue, you know, to keep going.

Alex (00:09:15) - Man, This is a this is a long term journey, man. This is that journey that we want to have for the rest of our lives in terms of who, you know, imagine break lose in ten, 20 years, you know, like it's a thing that you have to kind of like envision for who you be in terms of, you know, touring and, you know, albums out, etcetera, touring around the world. That's a thing that's going to take time, you know? So people want to expect, you know, kind of like short term success. And it's not like that. And um, yeah, after, after, you know, a few years of different members sacking, I guess, different people because I don't know, I guess I'm really into more of a attitude guy in terms of if you have the attitude you want to put the hard work you want out because it's not only, you know, it's it's about the art, it is about the art, but it's just not only like you need to know about like your business mentality, you need to know about like, aesthetics because people, you know, people like to be as Lemmy Kilmister from Motorhead said, you want to be you want to go to a show, You want to see your rock star.

Alex (00:10:16) - You know, you want to be inspired by that. You don't want to go into a show and see. I don't understand. I mean, no offense to all this indie bands or whatever, that they go into a show and they're like in their pajamas. I'm like, not into that because then I want to go, I want to see a guy or girl, whatever that looks like. Amazing. I'm like, Whoa, This is why inspired to, you know, to, to, to, to. And that's what got me eventually into into rock music. Seeing that energy live and Yeah but going back to the question yeah it's we started 2021 and now 2020, 2019, 21 we reestablish or, you know, reassemble the new members. And then now we released a couple of songs and yeah. And it's doing, it's doing great so far and music scene here is Boston. We're now we played in London a few times and we're going to go hopefully the end of the year and next year also to play other shows.

Alex (00:11:06) - We're working with this promoter there and yeah, see what happens, man. But so far so, so good. I don't know if that I answer your question so far is that you.

Brian (00:11:15) - Did perfect perfect. Something that I'm intrigued by and I'm sure listeners are the same, especially the ones that know the band. You done more to cross back in Venezuela, but were you active as a musician back then as well?

Alex (00:11:28) - Uh, no, no. I was always into music. I mean, motocross. It's back in the day when I was a kid. I grew up with pond rock, punk rock music, you know, listening to No Effects. Crazy Town. Well, crazy dance. Not in pop rock, but, like, um, you know, um, all these British rock bands and, like, Yeah, I mean, I was always like, I remember going into the races and going into even, you know, the weekends I used to practice my, my bike, pump that up in the pickup and then go to the track and just like get into that adrenaline rush by, you know, by Slipknot, listening to Slipknot, listen to type of negative, you know, uh, Danzig, all this, the cold, whatever, all these huge bands and then getting that adrenaline rush in the track and the races and then, um, and then I guess once I stopped doing that, I was like, well, I need to, to, I guess I need to transform or I need to kind of like, I don't know, I need to find something similar.

Alex (00:12:26) - And I found that in rock music and perform and rock music. So I guess that's how I got into, I guess, singing and then becoming a frontman for a front in a rock band. But uh, what was the, what was the question? Or you were totally.

Brian (00:12:41) - Were you active as a musician back in Venezuela?

Alex (00:12:44) - Oh, sorry. No, no, no, no, no, Not at all. Not at all. I did have, um, well before I left because the there was a crisis, a terrible crisis that happened back in 2000. When I was there, 2015, I was in Dawes. We did a show, 2 to 2 shows, actually, with my brother. We were in, um, it was like at the Doors and The Strokes. We did a cover of The Strokes and then five five covers of the Doors Door Strokes cover band with the two shows. That was my first two shows, and then that was it. And then I just came to, to, to Europe.

Alex (00:13:17) - Yeah. But no, I definitely never I as I told you, I mean, I play a little bit guitar. I actually I'm now doing some guitar lessons online and, uh, but no, I was not active at all as a musician.

Brian (00:13:30) - Right. Nice rice And, you know, the Irish music scene then what's it like for a band trying to get recognition and break into the scene? I I've my listeners obviously get insights into the music scene in America, South Africa, other countries. But weirdly enough, for an Irish podcast, I rarely give them insight into the Irish scene. So can you tell us all about it?

Alex (00:13:53) - Yeah, I mean, from my, I guess, perspective perspective of or the, I guess shared experience that I have so far since I guess maybe 2019. So that's been what that's been what. Five years, I guess. Yeah. Years ish. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, I love Ireland, man. Like, I've been here.

Alex (00:14:13) - I say to, to, to people. Even to to my little bird that I have there in my gaff. I say to her like, I'm from Dublin, you know, I'm a proper dub, you know, I actually love the the people, the culture, how like friendly people are here. I love I love Guinness, man, and I love, you know, even like I backed back then the pandemic. I was listening to The Dubliners and when playing water for different places like it's I'm amazed in how many good bands, especially outside of Dublin there are. Man, The scene is Boston. There's bands in like you wouldn't imagine, like bands in any sort of genre, like, you know, especially like, I'm not talking about like hip hop pop or any other sort of I'm talking about live bands, you know, either rock, any sort of like rock metal Metal is huge in Cork. And there's a great scene like of kind of like alternative rock bands in Waterford. We got actually going to play Galway.

Alex (00:15:11) - There's this year. Band there contacted us and to Instagram that they were they love our stuff and they invited us to play a gig there. So we're going to go to play in Galway. But I think the scene is for any sort of band that you want to start and you want to kind of like, you know, get your name out there. It's great. You know, you got great places, especially here in Dublin. The lads, you know, from Mcgees there, they're great. You know, I will say that fear Mcgees, I mean, it's the best, one of the best live pops in Dublin in terms of their mindset of, you know, of taking in bands and any sort of bands and like, you know, giving them that exposure exposure, you know, there's other venues that we played, you know, works, man, some it's more of a, I guess, you know, a specific show that you try to sold out, promote that for three months and we did that 2021 and and this year but there's also Willans Whelan's more like you know okay what sort of you know John are you playing? Are you more if you're of death metal or whatever, they're like, No, no, this is not for you.

Alex (00:16:09) - The place for you, which is a bit like, you know, because then a band, I don't know, Behemoth or any not behemoth, but any other maybe not that known. Well known bands come from Sweden or wherever, and they were playing villains and we're like, Oh, what the. But the I mean, the scene is absolutely buzzing, man. It's I'm, I'm amazed. I've been such I mean, I've been amazed in terms of such a, such a small country, you know, um, in terms of all the population, you know, Dublin is like 1 million people and it's, it's great to see. How many bands are out there and the. Yeah, I mean the we we even play a gig 2022 in Charlie with this lads from um I think the last what's the name of the band the last finchy or. I don't remember the name of the band but, but it's great man. It's I absolutely love it and it's, it's, it's good because bands, I guess in a way bands help each other to, to kind of like break through a little bit out there in the local scene.

Alex (00:17:08) - We are kind of like I guess quite established now in the local scene. Apart from that, to be able to break through and break out of Ireland, I guess you need to, you know, as every every musician does, you need to get outside of Ireland because it's quite, quite small, you know, But that that is another thing I guess you need to start working with an agency, get a booking agent and start investing money. We were going to do a tour actually last year, a promoter from artisan chains that he Alison James back in the early 90s. Imagine that. He got in touch with us and he wanted to bring us, you know, to to to to the states. And we're like, Oh, that's absolutely amazing. He was like, okay, it's it's 30 K, 30, 30,000, $30,000. And we're like, what? We're like, what? Like, we're like, Well, thank you. But like, I mean, we haven't released our albums, so that's the thing we're going to do in the future, but it's just a lot of money.

Alex (00:18:01) - But to answer your question, I it is Boston's great scene and plenty of places to play. Just, you know, be a band, any sort of band starting just get in touch with you know, with venues, promoters get in touch with bands, get in touch with people you know. Mark Mean not market but you call it like, um, network your, your band and I guarantee you you'll have great time here in, in anywhere in Ireland.

Brian (00:18:26) - Yeah. Yeah. You're actually touched on something very interesting there the price you know because I know people outside the scene are just average music listeners probably think, Oh, a band just has to get discovered and that's it. Or shoot to stardom. But they don't realize that like, I work with a couple of companies and they will market your band and sign you to a label. But like what you don't realize is you have to pay a ton of money for the exposure and everything for those guys to do that, you know, and it's something that I think when you're just getting into the music industry or even just a listener, you don't realize you're a little naive about it.

Brian (00:19:03) - You know, it's crazy.

Alex (00:19:05) - Yeah, it is crazy. And people sometimes realize ourselves. I mean, we we've made ourselves we've made a name of ourselves out there in the local scene because we, I mean, myself and the lads, we've spent a lot of money in promoting the previous songs. Yeah. I mean, doing a music video. Now we're going to do another music video. Sometimes people don't realize that that's like, you know, doing a music video that's at least a minimum of €1,000 and promoting the song and then working with an agency, you know, agency, ask money, you know, So it's it's it's all, you know, throw, throw, throw and see, you know, see then what will be the what you can get out of it, you know. But um, but yeah it is, it is hard, man. It is hard coming back.

Brian (00:19:51) - Exactly. And before we get on the concerts, then, what would you say is the biggest challenge you guys have faced as a band and how did you overcome it?

Alex (00:20:01) - Biggest challenge so far.

Alex (00:20:03) - I will say it is still it is still a challenge for for us at the moment, man, it's finding. It's finding a booking agent and also kind of like breaking, breaking through and getting the right contacts here in Ireland to get you because we've seen, for example, um, this lad was a lot, a lot at Booker and Werksmans He was like, he was playing electric picnic and he was like, man, like, why were you, why weren't you guys playing here? And I was like, I don't know. I've tried to reach out to promoters and Electric Picnic and it's like, I mean, it's, it's, it's hard to to. To mean. The challenge for us is finding the right booking agent. There are some because here in Ireland, as I was saying, it's small country. There's Aiken, which is a big promoter agency, and there's McD. You know, they have all the market, you know, and they bring all the big bands. And it's it's hard, you know, for us to, to kind of like, um, getting those any contact.

Alex (00:21:04) - So for example, Blackstone chairman came and played last night in the and we were like I was sending my emails like, hey let's you're running this gig, you know, would you seriously even like, I don't know, maybe five minutes to get a slot to open for, for black and didn't happen it says so I guess that the challenge for us is just once you get into a letter which you are like an underground level, which you are established locally in your genre or in the music scene, then I guess breaking through, through finding the right booking agent that can get you the kind of like that exposure that's like the next level, you know, in terms of like, you know, booking you for big festivals, you know, supporting a band that's going tour around Europe or even some sort of bands like The Darkness and the Cold are coming here both on November and December this year. So I'm aiming to, to, to kind of like, you know, push to, to get those shows even like, you know, opening like, you know, five songs, three, three months, you know, for them, for the cold, for our idols, you know, for, for that.

Alex (00:22:06) - So I guess the challenge, our challenge right now for us is finding the, I guess the right maybe you can call it, you know, booking agent manager or even a label that can help us with with the with gigs because I do all the rest of the things you know, we upload our music into our distributor. We use the distributor from from New York or called Sparta Distribution. They distribute our music and we promote our stuff. You know, I work with all the social media, Instagram, the TikTok, all the different things. We got our website, everything like that. So now it's just finding the right guy who says, like, okay, look at this lads. Like they're, they're, they're very like serious and committed to their art. So let's help them out with, you know, getting them or some tours to, to, to, to kind of like break through the local scene, you know?

Brian (00:22:54) - Yeah, yeah, exactly. Well, hopefully it'll happen this year anyway, because you guys should be like, you guys should be on the radio every day, you know, especially in Ireland.

Brian (00:23:04) - But we'll get on the concerts as a concert goer. Now, what concerts would you say have made you?

Alex (00:23:11) - I mean, that's such a difficult question. Like. I mean, I guess the thing to say will be, yeah, you know, go into Metallica and go into Guns N Roses last year crew this year, you know, and all the big bands that I saw from South America in Venezuela and sold out stadium big Argentinian band and all this Santana that I saw in the 90s, you know, I was like blown away. But it's funny because I even like I've seen, you know, um, bands that they're like, they're very niche bands. Like, for example, this large stoner rock band that I saw in the in the Voodoo Lounge when I came here in Ireland, they think they're still going. I don't know if they're still going Cold Orange Goblin. And I was like, totally amazed. Bye bye bye by the band. And that was one of my favorite concerts because the the frontman, the MC broke and he just threw the mic to the to the crowd.

Alex (00:24:15) - And he was just having, having a ball, you know, having the crack. And he was spitting out kind of like till Lindemann dos in terms of water and then spitting out water. And I kind of like incorporated that into the break loose. So not that I'm actually directly spitting water to people, just spitting up into, into myself, you know, into, into, into the city. And I think looks really cool, you know, um, kind of like Marilyn Manson sort of, sort of thing that he does. Yeah. But I would say that because, I mean, I've been to a lot of concerts, man, throughout the years. I mean, even back, back in the day in Venezuela, I seen two times in Metallica. I haven't actually seen my I mean, obviously I would love to to I don't know if that's maybe one of the next questions, but I would love to would have loved to, you know, I guess travel back in time and see the doors live in New York, in Madison Square Garden and but yeah, that's not that's not going to happen.

Alex (00:25:10) - You know, at same as, you know, type of negative not going to happen Velvet revolver you know not gonna happen. Um what else The colder comments. So hopefully I can I can see them this year either playing with them or if not getting, you know, to see Aston Boy and, um. But yeah, um. I guess that will be my. I mean, I don't know my answer that like any sort of I love punk rock gigs because it's an absolute mess. So if you really want to get into like the crowd, it's their amazing sort of rock punk bands to go and what are it's like, I don't know, man. Like so many gigs. That's such a hard question. Like.

Brian (00:25:57) - Yeah, it's a good list. It's a good list. You've named some top class bands there and now the part. We're all looking forward to your own gigs. For any listeners that haven't caught any of your gigs, give us all the details. Lay it out First, the full experience.

Alex (00:26:14) - Okay. There's experience will be very theatrical, very interactive with the crowd. I always say that, you know, as as I would say, this phrase that we live and die in the ink of an eye. So I tell the lads, the audience, so we're going to die today. You know, in terms of, you know, I usually love throwing myself out into the floor and absolutely kicking my knees or my head. I even broke my, my, my forehead in water for once. And absolutely given given everything, you know, and I love the the incorporation of, you know, of faces of like, you know, not crazy phases of like the dynamics of like bringing things up, bringing things down. We do some sort of like, shamanistic in between. And one of our songs called In Flames. We do this, like I say, that I'm some sort of like preacher that I start kind of preaching this long poem called Reptilian Possibilities that I wrote a couple of years ago.

Alex (00:27:10) - And yeah, it's quite an energetic we all go absolutely crazy. We're quite tight as a band because, you know, I'm really like, I'm really, you know, focused on rehearsals and like, not myself. Also, that's where, you know, we always want to deliver. Doesn't matter if it's for two people or 30,000 people, hopefully, um, we just need to, you know, every time, you know, because like, this is what we do, this is what we love to do. So we say to absolutely kill it every time. It doesn't matter who we're playing for, what we're doing. So it's, it's that and um, you would expect from a break loose gigs, you know, great energy. I guess. Great, you know, great riffs, great songs, spoken word poetry and having the crack, having the laugh, interacting with us, singing our songs, especially this one now, Rebel Rebel, Evil like the devil and what else? Myself falling into the floor.

Alex (00:28:08) - And unexpectedly, because people would be like, Oh, people like, there is a gig we're playing in China and people stand up. You're like, Oh my God. You know, I thought that the singer had a heart attack, and it was just myself, you know, falling to the floor because I, I guess copy that. Or took that from, you know, frontmen such as I think Jim Morrison and Bon Scott back in the day used to do that and um, and yeah and so it's, it's every time we play also for, for, for your audience every time that you're listening to now every time we play we play. It's every time we play a show it's you wouldn't expect to play. And for us to do the same thing, you know, we always try to just for every show we're playing, we do something different, even like I really like to go because we're a rock band and we I mean, we really like to kind of like live the moment and experiment bit of like with the spoken word poetry or kind of like with the different theatrical things that I do, maybe, you know, do something a little bit different every show, you know.

Alex (00:29:05) - So if you come to our break Loose show, you will definitely be expecting a great live rock band. And yeah, having the time of your life, man.

Brian (00:29:14) - Sounds like one hell of a night. Yeah. I have to say, I know just one off the cuff. Jim Morrison and the Doors have came up a couple of times now. So far. Where does this love for them come from?

Alex (00:29:26) - Well, it's a funny story. Um, as I like poetry, um, I think I was reading an article when I was like, um, maybe it's funny. First of all, well, actually, my, um, a guy that I used to, I think I haven't heard from him, actually. Never heard from him again in Venezuela when I was, like, ten years of age, he. He gave me a CD, The Very Best of the Doors. And I just I looked at the at the at the at the cover, at the front, the front part.

Alex (00:29:57) - And I was like, there was, there was just Jim Morrison like that. And I was like, whoa, what's this? You know, this looks very interesting. I just put it in my in my in my wardrobe and I'd never and then when I was like maybe 18, 19, I took the CD and start listening to it. And, uh, I don't know, man. I guess like, before that I was, I think it was around 2021 because before that I was in Venezuela. I was into, well, I was into experimenting because I was a lot into meditation. I did motorcross, but I was also like mad into, you know, I guess experimenting with consciousness, marijuana, LSD, you know, and and then once, you know, I was a huge acid head back in the day in terms of, uh, actually I haven't done mushrooms yet, but I was acid. It's quite dangerous because it's, you know, it just, it's just can actually, like damage your twitch.

Alex (00:30:52) - Yeah. Your brain temporarily because it's it's, I don't know. There's a lot of things in there that I'm actually not even aware of, but, uh, I was a lot of acid in poetry back then, back in the day, because I used to, um, when I guess in between seasons and even when I before preparing myself for the motocross season, I remember one year I fracture my, I fracture my, my arm over here and my leg. And I was just six months just being able to do anything, no exercise, no nothing. And I started listening to the doors and I was like, it just absolutely changed and changed my mind, I guess. Musical perspective forever, you know? And I absolutely I mean, because The Doors is just not people, you know, associate the doors with Jim Morrison. It's not just Jim Morrison. The Doors is the Doors, as every band, you know, Queen, whatever, it's a whole thing. And like, I was just absolutely amazed by Ray Manzarek's ability to play, you know, bass with one hand and the keyboard with another hand.

Alex (00:31:52) - Such a blues then approach in terms of the I mean such a short career in five years, releasing so much of the, I guess the quality of the material that they put out there. And uh, yeah, I was just totally amazed by it. And obviously listen to that, you know, either smoking pot or taking some microbes in on acid or taking have on top of us. I was just absolutely blown away. Songs like, you know, When the Music is Over, that phrase, cancel my subscription to the Resurrection. I took that and put that on flames, which I say in flames. Spoken word parts. Reporter part basically in took not copied from basically took that from it. I say there's no resurrection. There will be no fucking resurrection and songs at the end. You know my brother's a huge film head in New York, you know Apocalypse Now. Like watching that and like, yeah, man, that I think that that's one of my top bands, enough favorite bands ever.

Alex (00:32:50) - So I think that that comes from. From from, from, from that from back then you know just blown away by by listening to them, you know?

Brian (00:32:57) - Yeah, yeah. I totally get like that myself from an early age. I was deep, deep into the doors and Jim Morrison, his poetry, the music, everything just. I was like a sponge, just soaking it up. Even now, he's like, Dear, my go to, you know, I'll always go back to the doors. But, you know.

Alex (00:33:16) - What's your what's your favorite truck? What's your favorite?

Brian (00:33:18) - Uh, my favorite track. That is a good one. I think it is not to touch the art, but it's the live version. You know? Yeah, it's a nice. The studio version is good, but it doesn't have the same energy and I feel like it's the one track where you can really hear his voice come true to what it's supposed to be, you know? Yeah, and that's the wildness.

Brian (00:33:44) - But I was going to ask you, Well, what's your favorite doors track done?

Alex (00:33:48) - Um. I love when the music is over live. Also, I think they have great, great recordings from that 1970s January. I think 28th of January, 27th of January from that New York show. I think there's a live even in YouTube. You can see crawling kingsnake kind of blues like that version of that live version, but of the best doors, Doors Struck Jesus Love, Peace, Frog. Um, I know. I mean all the all the classic ones, you know, Roadhouse Blues, Light My Fire love me two times, but I think they're there. Yeah. I think one of their masterpieces is even that 1968. I don't know. Have you seen that video in the YouTube that they did in Sweden? That they're like in black and white that they're performing? I love um. Yeah, I love I think will be when the music's over, man. I think that will be one of my favorite, uh, favorite doors track.

Alex (00:34:46) - Yeah.

Brian (00:34:47) - And I wouldn't blame, you know, I love his voice on that, too. Yeah, it's real. Just smooth and perfect, you know? And do you guys ever cover any of their songs in your live set, then? Yeah.

Alex (00:34:59) - Yeah, we do. We do. We, um. We did. We did. Also one of my favorite tracks, 5 to 1. 5 to 1 is absolutely amazing. We did cover that one. And breaking Through, we did kind of like hybrid between breaking through and 5 to 1. Same as Hollywood Vampires. This band from Alice Cooper, they they also do kind of like that thing. We're like, oh, this lot. They do this thing. We saw a concert, Johnny Depp singing that. And I was like, Well, let's do this. And yeah, we do. We do. Also, we did an amazing cover. It kind of like step down or stripped down. Better say version of Thin Lizzy. Um, don't believe a word.

Alex (00:35:35) - And, uh, what other covers we do? A great cover of Rebel yell Billy Idol. Absolutely love Billy Idol. I forgot to totally mention him. One of my biggest inspirations, Billy Idol and Wicked Game, the finished version of kind of like, well I guess Wicked Game is crazy, but we do take, I guess, Rocket up, same as I am from Finland. They used to do and also a huge inspiration. Villa and all those lads absolutely adore that band. Um, but yeah, the Doors covers will be we did 5 to 1 and um, yeah, 5 to 1 and breaking through. Yeah. Because you know we don't have a keyboard is so it's, it's, it's can be you know hard to replicate.

Brian (00:36:21) - Yeah. Yeah yeah. And pack your own gigs then. If you think about every gig you've played so far, is there one that sticks in your mind as maybe the most perfect night you've had?

Alex (00:36:35) - Yeah, it's it's funny because, like, um, sometimes as a musician, maybe other musicians, they think the same as me.

Alex (00:36:44) - And that once you have a gig, you know, I usually kind of like, just go for it, you know, and go for it. And like, every gig, you know, things happen, you know? Our guitars in Brockton last year, the amp blew up, you know, we're like, Oh my God, what's going on? You know? Then, um, sometimes playing favors or even we play a gig in the Grand Social. The sound was like, Oh, the sound guy was like, I was like, What are you doing? I'm like, What's going on here? Like, it was absolutely terrible, but it's just every kid gets a surprise, you know? But, um, I guess it's learning experience. And you once you, you, you not envision, once you see yourself, I mean, you look back and you see all the gigs that you played and you're like, you know, all of them are perfect in a way, you know, because you're there, you're in the moment in the, I guess, the eternal present moment.

Alex (00:37:33) - You just you just absolutely. There emerge absolutely into the moment. So but answering your questions your questions are I think the perfect gig in terms of a gig that like I absolutely adored was the um, the gig that we play that we sold out coming back from the pandemic, our first gig as a as a as a as a the New Break Loose 2020 1st November sold out show in the works downstairs it was the crowd was like I think as people were like not sure if coming to gigs or no because of Covid that they were open venues were opening. And I just I remember doing an Instagram reel and saying, Lads, you know, five tickets remain and it was like 150 people, 120 people. That was the sold out, um, to sort of sold it out. And they all came and it was unreal that one. I think that one, if not playing 31st of January 2019 if you're mcgees, that was also a great, great gig. It was. I never seen papers like that.

Alex (00:38:31) - It was really busy. But that that was like, I think, you know, people were like this. It was maybe, I don't know, like maybe like 200 people and or I was just like, so packed. And that was a great, great gig in which we got a great, I guess, exposure in terms of following our people, following our Instagram account, same as supporting Aslan, our previous guitars. He got us a gig and clean. Uh, we opened for Iceland, which is Iceland. You know, it's totally different from the music we do now. Yeah, that was a great gig. Also that we got a huge exposure because we played in front of 400, 500 people and they were just like And then I remember meeting our man, lovely fella, Chris Dickman. He was like, it was like, What the fuck are you doing? Like playing? I mean, he was like, Great lad. He was like, it was like, I like your style a lot.

Alex (00:39:23) - Like your style. He was like, It's fucking freezing here. And yeah. And he told me, like, I think it was either him or the I can remember the name of the fat guy. I think the guitarist, like the Think is no, it was not. Um, oh no, I don't know. But he told me like, you guys are great. What are you what are you guys doing? Like, playing with us? And I was like, I don't know, man. Our guitar was here and clean and he got us a gig. He's like, Oh, you're great, you're great, you're great. So kind of like, I guess to answer a question of those sort of gigs will be gigs that will remain in my memory, you know? You know.

Brian (00:39:57) - Yeah, yeah. And I always say you have to have the good with the bad. So is there one gig that sticks out as maybe the worst experience you've had and how did you overcome it?

Alex (00:40:08) - Yeah, actually the worst gig was a gig we played and I don't know what happened to the venue.

Alex (00:40:12) - It was in Francis Street. There's the Thomas Thomas house in your base in Dublin?

Brian (00:40:17) - Uh, no. Waterford.

Alex (00:40:19) - Oh, Waterford. Oh, deadly man. We're playing. I'll tell you now, the dates that we're playing in Electric Avenue in Waterfall on Friday, the 10th of November. Love. I'll be there. Absolutely. Love, Waterman. I mean, it's such for such a tiny little town. There's like, a street and it's like there's, like, replaying in record store and acoustic show before and everything. It's like it's Boston. It's like it's mad. Absolutely. Love Waterford. It's a.

Brian (00:40:44) - That's a great.

Alex (00:40:45) - Spot. Yeah, great spot. Great. Also, it feels like every time I go, I feel like I'm like, I'm going to encounter some sort of a mean Viking in the river, whatever. But like, it is a Viking town. I guess it was a Viking, but, um, in terms of bad gig, um, yeah, there was this venue called, um, in Francis Street.

Alex (00:41:03) - Um, drop that twice. I don't know if you. It's close. It's not. It's not. Yeah, it's not. It's not open anymore. We played there in 2019 before the pandemic and we played and we played I think was. There was a. I think maybe five people playing at five people. Just 5 or 4 people just yeah, there were two lads having a pint there. And then there was, um, our girlfriends there and that was it. And we were just playing and we gave her everything and that in the middle of the set, the um, the drummer, because he was this huge Brazilian guy and he broke his, his sticks and there was no more sticks. And then, yeah, we're like, we're in the, in the almost end in the set. And then, yeah, we just did the songs without the drums, man.

Brian (00:41:56) - Interesting.

Alex (00:41:58) - Yeah, but that was one of our worst gigs in terms of experience. But yeah, I mean gigs because, you know, pop gigs and small venue gigs.

Alex (00:42:05) - Oh, it's tricky, man. You know, in terms of sound, you just, you're, you're just like, you just go for it, you know, because like, you even sometimes it works, man. I remember playing Shinny this venue in Portobello, another venue. They're like, it's just because sometimes you got, you know, venues and the, the roof, the city is quite like it's quite low. And then there's people coming out from this door and then the sound and like everything is like, absolutely a nightmare. But it is what it is, you know, that's, that's the, you know, it's it's a long way to the top, you know, if you want to rock and roll, man.

Brian (00:42:38) - True. True. And, you know, before you guys get on stage, then, do you have any rituals? How do you sneak yourself up? And then afterwards, how do you wind down?

Alex (00:42:49) - Oh, that's a good one. Winding down is. It's hard.

Alex (00:42:51) - It's a hard one. Remember remember playing this gig for Johnny Rockets? They did a corporate gig in the bottom factory. And we we played that. That was a great gig. And it was it was, I think, one of the biggest gigs we've done so far. And getting out of getting down to, to the backstage, which I absolutely love the bottom factor, you know, the bottom factor, the Yeah, it's a great, great venue. We'd love to have a gig there, man. And we're gonna we're going to have a gig there eventually. But the backstage, you can see, you know, Bono and you see all these bands like Lizzy, you see feel, you know, like it's you're like, you feel like you feel like a proper rock star, You know, we're coming down with like, we just it's just it's kind of like this adrenaline thing that you just want to keep going, you know? Um, but, um, that's, that's hard. And that's why then, you know, you go sometimes, you know, if you have a show next, the next day you, well, you, maybe you smoke a doobie and you just eat something and you go, you go and you take it easy, you know.

Alex (00:43:50) - But um, uh, coming down. Then you go. That's why sometimes you go out on a banter, you know, because you're like, you're so hyped for the night that you're like, Oh, my God, this is amazing. You know, that's what we love, what we do. We're very passionate about, about. But I guess Breakthrough is a very passionate man overall, man. I mean, myself, not only myself. David The new bass is a guy that we that we just incorporated. He came from Chile, from South America, like myself and Dylan in the drums. I mean, we're very we're very now very we get along well. So, um, before going, before going into the stage, um. I guess it's just a little kind of like a warm up thing we do because I usually warm up the voice a lot. And throughout I'm going to water. For the last year playing the electric Avenue, I was warming up. I was driving, driving my previous basis.

Alex (00:44:41) - I was driving him mad because I was just and then the road like no, la la. And then he was like, fuck know. But we kind of like, you know, hug each other and, you know, we just say like, break loose, baby, and you got to give it like a fist look at each other. Good. Go. And then like, you know, usually start then I.

Brian (00:45:03) - That's kind of.

Alex (00:45:05) - The warm up for it. You know, and then we are aware because every rehearsal, you know, I've told this about before, like, you know, and I said it here, we have to give everything. Every, every gig doesn't matter which gig is you. I can. I mean, I'll get you a ticket, man. 100%. You come down to water for it, and you'll see us there. And you'll be there. Yeah. Friday, the 10th of November. Friday, the 10th of November. Playing waterfall.

Brian (00:45:28) - Walk it off, work the minute this call ends.

Alex (00:45:31) - But I don't know. The last little lounge, lithium lounge here. You know that punk rock band? Lithium Lounge?

Brian (00:45:38) - Yeah.

Alex (00:45:39) - Yeah, We're playing with them.

Brian (00:45:41) - Oh, man. Geez, That. That's going to be a good night. Yeah, great lights and the next one. So I'm sure it rarely happens now. But how do you handle criticism or maybe negative feedback towards your music?

Alex (00:45:54) - That's a good one. Good question. Actually, I was interviewed by, Um, magazine called Emerging Rock Bands. Um, that was, I think it.

Brian (00:46:04) - Was.

Alex (00:46:06) - No, it was not this year, late last year. Yeah. And, um, the girl, the girl was, she was like, Oh, I love your music. And then she said something that, like, I was like, I actually told her, No, like, you're mistaken. That's not right. She said, Oh, but you guys, what? I mean, what's what do you guys in Ireland, you know, you are you label, are you categorized as misogynistic? And I was like, what you mean by misogynistic? She was like, Yeah, no, I'm misogynistic.

Alex (00:46:33) - You know that you, you, you treat women like shit. I was like, Wait, wait, wait, wait. I mean, where are you going with what are you where are you going with this? Like, that's, that's, I think. Have you actually goggled or looked the concept in the dictionary of what misogynist or misogynistic actually means? Means that we hate women. I was like, we don't. We're like at all like minus million percent whatever. We don't hate women. We actually are like, Why are you saying this? We're not a misogynist band. Like, No, because you were saying Martin Luther that like, don't know about Motley Crue. Motley Crue, Motley Crue, Break loose, break loose, be our lyrics. My lyrics break loose. We adore women. We we write lyrics about them. You know about our relationships with women. You know about like how we, you know, live every day with with the women that we love, the women that we're passionate about.

Alex (00:47:23) - Because like, you know, it's it's it's, I guess it's a great thing to interact with your fans and actually make a song that people resonate. For example, this song, um, that we have we haven't released yet released yet but My Love Is on Fire is a song about, you know, even all those other songs, Sexy Lady, Cosmic Girl that we have, they're trying to tell you about our relationship that they're about, you know, I guess dealing with relationships as myself, as a man with a woman, you know? So I was like I was like, I don't know where you're going with this, but I think you're totally mistaken. I mean, we're not a band. We absolutely embrace embrace women or any sort of like, I guess, gender that you want to consider yourself. You know, we were actually going to have a before our our basis came into the band. The guy from Chile we were considering having, um, we didn't audition her because she was with other bands and actually she, she then never replied, but we were looking for a female bassist and, uh, that didn't happen.

Alex (00:48:21) - But uh, that was a tricky one, man, because she was, she wanted to hit there some sort of nail there. And I was like, No, no, look, look, you have to actually be quite aware of like, what is like, you know, why are you labeling us as misogynistic? Because that's that's that's a really, you know, it's a huge it's a huge.

Brian (00:48:38) - In your career, like. Yeah.

Alex (00:48:40) - And I was like I was like, no, no, no, no. It's like, what? What are you saying? No, no, this is not correct at all. And she was like, Oh, okay, Well, you're right. And I was like, Yeah, I know.

Brian (00:48:48) - Jesus, man. That just shows how dangerous music journalism or music critics could actually be, you know? Yeah, 100%.

Alex (00:48:57) - 100%. Yeah.

Brian (00:48:58) - Crazy. And how do you balance your personal life then, with the demands of being in a band?

Alex (00:49:05) - Um, well, I'm in personal library.

Alex (00:49:07) - We all have at the moment. We all have full time jobs. And, um. Um, it's just, I guess, a balance between because, like, I don't know, am I'm really like, at least myself in terms of I love exercise. I love to. I mean, actually, once we finish the interview, I'm going to go to the gym. I love being because as a, as a singer, like, you know, you have to be in great shape, man, because even like, I mean, if I if I was like some sort of frontman like Dave Grohl, that he also plays guitar and sings, I'll be like, okay, a little bit more chill in terms of being like in a great, I guess, um, physical shape in terms of like, you know, I guess in terms of your cardiovascular, um, resistance, whatever, because I'm jumping ba ba ba ba ba, doing whatever, shouting and then like, you know, it's, it's, it's kind of like aerobic workout.

Alex (00:49:54) - Yeah, like workout. Yeah. And, um, yeah, I mean, like, I think it's just, um, sometimes, like, it's hard to find balance, but, like, look, I mean, I'm not going to curse, but it's, you know, fekete fekete, you know, like it is in terms of our perspective, like what it is, break lose is number one priority. The rest is just, you know, day to day, day to day, day things diligently live things, you know, going to the supermarket, getting your stuff, paying your rent, you know, work and all of that. But like when it comes down to to to rehearse and where it comes down to preparing a tour, where it comes down to releasing music, when it comes down to to, to the band. Band for us is number one priority. So I guess in terms of, you know, balancing that can be a little bit a little bit hard because we need to you know, I always tell the lads we need to I mean, if you want to make it as a band.

Alex (00:50:49) - There, at least for me. It cannot be like, oh, no, you know, like this, sort of like, you know, total balance between like, you know, like, I mean, if you need to be absolutely obsessed with it and like, go for it for ten years. Like, just like as, as this guy Charles Bukowski used to say, or even Hunter Thompson from from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas like you need to be you need to. What's that phrase like? Go for it and let it kill you. Like make. Mean. I don't know, like some sort of phrase that like, go for go after something and be be so obsessed with it that let it just, you know, kill you. You, you, you will be. You will live and you will end up living a total like I mean, at least my perspective again, total like I know you'll be totally satisfied you wouldn't have any regrets at the end of your life. So it is hard to find balance because as I was saying, I do like to exercise and I do like to, you know, you know, go out for for food.

Alex (00:51:47) - And, you know, then after rehearsal, sometimes, you know, after a gig, we would drink and all that stuff. That's part of like we don't drink in the rehearsals. We used to, but like, not anymore. Um, but I guess, you know, if I would say, I mean, to tell you the truth, like to say to you, Hey, Brian, we're, we're the most balanced band. No, we're not balanced. It's just all about, like, you know, break lose the priority. Like, for example, now after we finish the call, I'm going to the gym, but also I'm talking with some other promoters to book some other gigs. Then, you know, tomorrow, like, um. Is there a release of the song? So you setting up those, all those things and either social media, you know, making sure everything's sharing the song and working with the agencies that we're working. So it is hard to find balance. But I guess our mentality would be that there's no balance because, you know, this is our this is our life.

Alex (00:52:39) - This is our priority.

Brian (00:52:41) - Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It never stops. Never stops. How do you kind of are you able to separate the the rock star from the 9 to 5? When you're in your full time job, are you able to focus solely on that and not think about the band? No, no.

Alex (00:53:01) - No, no. I. I think it's myself. I am a rock star. I am a fucking great rock star. And I just visualize myself and think every day like that. And yeah, if I could, to be totally honest with you guys and with you, man, like, if I could just quit my man. Don't. Don't. I don't. Actually. It's just, i, I, I give a fuck about the band and about living this life and about embracing the rock. I guess the rock star life, which is not the rock star life from back in the in the 80s. This is not sex, drugs and rock and roll. You have to you know, you have to look good.

Alex (00:53:37) - You have to, you know, perform. You have to be at the top of the game like all your, your whole career. I mean, people, agencies, labels, they don't want like, you know, a couple of junkies and then they just like, they can't perform because, oh, you know, I'm too I'm too depressed or I'm too busy, you know, drinking alcohol or not, you know, not, you know, not creating my craft or not like, you know, nailing my my craft, you know? So that's, that's, um, that's for me how things are. So, yeah, I'm 24 seven, this crazy rock star. And if I could, you know, quit my job any moment, you know, I will. 100%. It's just I haven't we haven't done at the moment because Break Loose is not paying rent or food. So once it does, we will definitely be like, you know, to our bosses, whatever. Bye bye and that's it.

Alex (00:54:25) - And commit this 100%. But um, but but at the end of the day, you know, we are apart from that, you know, um, I am myself. I'm an individual, same as you are. You know, we're human beings. We have, you know, we're here live in this, you know, 24 over seven reality, this experience, you know, that's been given to us by whoever, you know, by our grandfathers, by, you know, if you believe in God or not, whatever whatever life is about or whatever life is. And, uh, yeah, there's, there's this, I guess my, I guess two phases of my inner nature, you know, my rock star face, my poetic face, my my obsessed face. And then there's also, you know, as yourself, you know, a human being with, you know, I guess things, you know, to do diligence, you know, I got to eat. I got to take care of myself.

Alex (00:55:17) - And I also, you know, I also like to contribute to to to my friends, my family. You know, you have a family, you know, same as any other, you know, human beings living, you know, living this moment in history and live in, you know, our lives. So so I guess those are the the two faces man of of Alex from break loose.

Brian (00:55:37) - I like it. I like it. And before we get on to the final couple of questions, then future plans that are set in stone, upcoming gigs and more music. Lay it all out for us.

Alex (00:55:49) - Yeah. So future plans. We're planning on going abroad next year because, um, we're doing a tour around Ireland. Um, now, October, November and December we're playing hopefully in London. I'm just about to confirm with the promoter there are two days in London the dates that we have. Let me just read that here to you. We have then for um, in terms of break lose gigs, I'm checking here in Spotify.

Alex (00:56:18) - We have. Okay, so we have Jared out on the 14th of October. We're, we're playing at Molly's and then we're playing Dundalk on the 28th. Then we're playing for Maggie's 31st of October Halloween night. Then again, we're playing for Maggie's special night Thursday, the 9th of November downstairs. Then we are doing a gig in, um, I think Galway Friday night. This slots that invited us from this promotion company. Then we're doing Waterford in Electric Avenue, so we're playing Sally Long's and Electric Avenue in Waterford, Friday the 10th of November, and then Galway. We are playing November the 18th on Sally Long's. That will be Sally Long's November the 18th. And in the meantime just about to confirm London, hopefully maybe end of November, London and hopefully also Limerick that will be early November. Playing there a venue. We're just I'm just about to book that with this promoter and hopefully play as end of the year ended December show and um, in tune with some local bands and bring some lads also from Galway or yeah, some lads from, from outside or even the lads from Lithium Lounge in Waterford bring them in to Dublin because they've been very good to us man.

Alex (00:57:46) - Every time we go there, you know, providing us, you know, facilitating for us the venue and Electric Avenue, you know, um, getting break loose fans and lithium lithium launch fans to go to the gig, getting this acoustic gig beforehand before the gig, during the day in this record shop in Waterford, I don't know what the name of the record shop, but, uh. Those are the plans in terms of gigs. And we have then a music video. Um, we have the single Rebel Rebel Evil like the Devil out. Now we got a music video that my brother recorded this march this year. It's also going to be released on the 6th of October. So this will be next week, six of October. A huge artistic music video for Rebel Rebel Evil Like the Devil. Then we're recording another music video for our next song. Next single, which is My Love's On Fire, kind of like this Gothic, very beefy and very, very melodic type of, um, single that's coming out, that thing that's coming, that's going to come out next year.

Alex (00:58:44) - And we have another two songs to release and then hopefully, man, like getting ourselves outside of our art and going to to London. We got a promoter there that's going to help us out a few dates and hopefully by next year record and release the album by end of 2024. The first, I mean our debut album. So that's, that's kind of like the, I guess the Panorama or like the envisioned how things are hopefully going to happen.

Brian (00:59:12) - Jesus is, is are definitely busy anyway. It sounds good. Yeah that's.

Alex (00:59:17) - Right. Like this lad said from I don't know if you've seen this movie. Um, watching the movie, um. Sean shocked redemption. This man said, um. You gotta keep it, keep, keep busy living or keep busy dying, man.

Brian (00:59:30) - Exactly. Exactly. That's it. And you're definitely doing that, right? We'll we'll dive into the last couple. So these are a few fun, random ones, but I'm intrigued to see your answers. I think I know your answers, but we'll see if I'm right.

Brian (00:59:43) - If you could see any performer from history and Concert for one lately, who would it be?

Alex (00:59:49) - Well. There's an obvious answer like, Well, yeah, I would love to see the doors. Um, yeah, the door. Especially after maybe. Yeah. Even like the Doors 1967 ish, but maybe a little bit more into their career. 9 to 68 will be a great year, even 1970 to to see them. And what other, um, what other performers would I love to see back in the day in Brooklyn? Because my brother lives in Brooklyn and we actually met the promoter from, well, the. Yeah, he's retired now, but the guy that used to promote type of negative in this bar called The Office in Brooklyn Great bar I don't know have you been to New York? But if you go to New York definitely recommend going to Duffy's is it's a it's a metal bar with mean photos of Rob zombie photos of uh, other other other industrial sort of bands. Um, they're like Alice in Chains like for, like, you know, they all went there.

Alex (01:00:57) - Like, it was crazy because New York Times previously back in the day, a huge scene, man. I don't know what happened after the pandemic, but, um, but yeah, definitely would have loved to see in, um, type of negative. Peter Steel He unfortunately he died in 2010 and yeah, um, that guy maybe, um, what else? Funny thing. But um, maybe I think would be the, would have been good to see, to see those two guys I guess. I mean generally considered by the, the collective human conscience as the greatest performers throughout history. Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson. Um, great to see them. Yeah. But my personal taste. Yeah, my personal taste, I think would have loved to see the doors and then. Yeah, I think either Yeah. Velvet Revolver in their early days or if not yet our man Peter still from uh, from type of negative. Yeah.

Brian (01:02:03) - And that'd be one hell of a gig. Yeah. And the next one, this is a bit hard, but if you had to be locked inside a room with any musician from history, who would it be?

Alex (01:02:14) - Well, definitely.

Alex (01:02:15) - Definitely not. Mick Jagger. Matt Jagger. Yeah. I think we'll get into a fistfight with him, probably. But, um. Uh, any musician, I think, um. Any musician? You mean it could be also poet? Or maybe, I don't know, like any Any. Well, any any person, any person in terms of history. Like it could be just any, anyone like any, any maybe I already started or maybe.

Brian (01:02:48) - I'll go easy on you. So I normally restrict it to musicians, but anyone in the artistic sort field poetry. He ocracy even.

Alex (01:02:58) - Well, I got this man over here tattooed here. He's not, I guess what I've read a lot about him. And I also got him tattoo here, which is my name for an ancient Macedonian, Alexander the Great. But he was just a conqueror. But he was so he was, I guess, his artistic side because he he carry a copy of The Iliad and the Iliad every every I guess, throughout his campaign.

Alex (01:03:27) - But yeah, I guess he was not a musician or a poet. But yeah, I'm in terms of mindset. Alexander I think is one of the, the, I guess biggest or even not even biggest more, I guess for me, you know, personally, for me, one of the greatest, um, I guess men that are yeah, human beings, individuals that have existed throughout the history of our human history and the history of time of our existence as a, as a species. But, um, in terms of musician port, I will definitely. It's maybe quite chaotic because I read a lot of a lot about him. And he was he's he had the life that he had with his partner, Arthur Rimbaud, this French poet. He was absolutely chaotic. And again, I would definitely end up maybe, you know, he either end up killing me or, you know, end up in a like, you know, kind of like stabbing each other. But this guy has really changed my way of approaching lyrics and even the way of, like, seeing sometimes things, you know, in terms of when I mentioned there earlier in the conversation, going out for a walk and seeing that I don't know the moon or the stars or seeing that a field there, I live in Clontarf, so I usually go down the down the seafront towards, uh, there's a lovely place called Happy out there towards the beach.

Alex (01:04:48) - And as you go around the evening or maybe during the weekends and this guy Arthur Rimbaud, I mean, he actually has absolutely changed me. I mean, as well as I think he changed Bob Dylan and he changed Patti Smith and any other sort of like, well, I mean, Jack Kerouac and all the I guess all the even like what's his name, um, all the people that throughout history has read him. You know, I think this like, if I would like to spend a night with some or not an I said an evening with someone or.

Brian (01:05:25) - For hours locked in a room.

Alex (01:05:27) - Either will be. Um. I know Jim Morrison. I mean, he was quite poetic and quite interesting, but I think he was more, I mean, down into earth sort of lad in terms of like, you know, I think he was a very kind human being, a bit of a maybe a clown, but I was part of his theatrical thing. Get in. It was an alcoholic.

Alex (01:05:49) - So that's what killed him at the end. Uh, maybe having a conversation with him could be interesting, but. Yeah, but I mean, if it was one. I mean, this guy is French, so probably, I mean, I don't I speak a little bit of French, but the, the conversation has either to be in Spanish or English, you know, I mean, sometimes French even French can be really difficult. So, yeah, I would say Arthur Rimbaud. But it's, you know, sometimes it's two separate, um, to separate artists from art, you know, or to not separate artists from art, you know, Um, I don't know, because there's, there's no, uh, nothing documented from this guy apart from his books, you know? So I actually don't, apart from Jim Morrison, you know, have some interviews from him. Haven't seen how this because, again, this is art, his poetry, his art. So, you know, it's a different thing to have a perspective of trying to just see how I thought or was how he walked or whatever, but by by reading his poem.

Alex (01:06:51) - So, um, so I'd say yeah, any, any maybe after embodying Morrison or would be quite interesting to, to get and have a conversation I love Jack Kerouac also took a very chill out interesting guy also another alcoholic. So we're probably you know any of those lads even going bar was a total like crazy crazy guy guy experimenting with, you know, consciousness and drugs, you know, alter your states of different states or states of consciousness. So any of those three labs probably will get really wasted and then go and go absolutely mad in that room and then see what happens.

Brian (01:07:29) - Right. Right. Sounds fairly dangerous. Now, I have to say, well, you're after intrigue me about him. I think I'm a I must get his book or I must look into more about him type of person that when I come across someone like that, I kind of need to find out every detail about their life, you know?

Alex (01:07:46) - Yeah. Even right now, like after this, this thing, go to Google.

Alex (01:07:49) - Like a poem, which you will find fascinating is on page 31 is a poem called Wandering. This is a poem called Wandering. And it's just put there in Google poem wandering by Arthur Rimbaud. Read that and you'll be like, You'll be like, Shit. Like the simplicity and the, you know, a 17 year old, 18 year old kid writing that was like. Like what the what the hell? You know? But, um.

Alex (01:08:15) - Yeah.

Brian (01:08:16) - I'll have to do that. All right, the final question. So what song would appear on the soundtrack to your life?

Alex (01:08:23) - Oh.

Alex (01:08:25) - I love Elton John, man. Elton John gets me really emotional. Yeah, My. My mom is absolutely loves him is. When I was a kid, I grew up with Elton John and my dad started in Nashville, Tennessee. And Utah was whenever he was a young fella, he he brought all this all this music from the States, all the, you know, all the disc from the 80s. And I think that that was incorporated into my subconscious.

Alex (01:08:50) - Um, you know, back in the day when I was a kid. But, um, if I could listen that what will be the track of my life? I love your song. Bye bye. John is a song that, um, that makes me cry. It's a song that, you know, it just, you know, puts my hair, my what you call this, you know, your. Your nerves up, you know. Either that one your song or if not, um. You mean also like a song to put, like, in a funeral or something? Or like, your your life song?

Alex (01:09:25) - Yeah.

Brian (01:09:26) - Yeah. You could look at it that way or say if you were like, if it was a movie of your life, what song would play over the credits?

Alex (01:09:34) - Hm.

Alex (01:09:36) - Well, that's so hard. Song of your life to capture all of your life and tongue. Um, actually, I mean, I love the end by the kind of like, a very, you know, song for funeral.

Alex (01:09:51) - But, um. Jesus, that's. That's such a hard question that I actually. I actually would some of Elton John's song, to be honest songs of his songs. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I think, I don't know maybe any, any sort of songs from from Elton John because they're very at least for me, he's like the god of music, you know, he's just for me up there in terms of like, you know, composition, in terms of melodies, in terms of connecting with your. With your animalistic ears. You're like, whoa, mean. I don't know anyone that. Haven't heard anyone that says, I don't like Elton John. You're like, What? You know, it's it's just I mean, people some people don't like him, but for me, it's like then maybe people say, I don't like the Beatles. It's like, yeah, okay. Sometimes Beatle can be the Beatles can be just, you know, gargle, bomb, dirty spit and whatever, you know? But I don't know, Brian to you, I mean, a soundtrack of my life.

Alex (01:10:53) - Um, Jesus, for now at least, that now being in, you know, 30, I say now mean in my 20 late 20s was, um, loved 5 to 1 by the doors. But I don't know. I'm just going to go for your song. Bye bye. Elton John.

Alex (01:11:15) - Perfect.

Brian (01:11:15) - Has to be that one. So listen, Alex, it's been an absolute blast. Now, I can't tell you how much I've genuinely enjoyed the last hour and best chatting with you.

Alex (01:11:25) - Thanks, man. Appreciate it. Mean to a man's been like, I guess easygoing and, you know spontaneous conversation which I really like this about interviews you know, about like, you know, I absolutely appreciate and respect what you're doing because it's, for me, you know, this sort of like it's also for me, I see it as an art because an interview, it's some sort of some sort of artistic kind of like thing that, like, you know, that you. Yeah, you ask questions, but you're also, you know, we're, you know, it's kind of like a conversation that we're having and it's, I don't know, it's you're indicating or you're, you're, you're going into to an individual's I guess you know mine and trying to just like open the mind and see what's in there, you know.

Brian (01:12:07) - So it's exactly what I enjoy doing it, you know, it's not just sitting here doing a podcast that's trying to get into the musician's mind and see how it works. That's what I enjoy about it.

Alex (01:12:18) - It's great, man. I really I've been following you now that I mean, since I think since you saw us in Brockton, you follow us. I follow you back. I've been checking what you've been doing and. Great, man. I mean, thanks for having us and hope that all your project goes goes well with the podcast. And thanks again for having me. And all the breakthroughs. Uh, I guess potential fans and fans check us out in our upcoming new things and tours and new music.