Music > Interviews
Beach Slang
15/12/15
James Alex is the frontman for Beach Slang, a punky, beautiful, swoony indie band from Philadelphia who make great music. He's a guy who properly lives for music, and if you like loud guitars and poetic lyrics that really say something, this could be the band for you. After half a lifetime making music in various guises, James' band is on the up and up and are playing The Owl Sanctuary on 19th January. I had a chat with him about being in his forties, the Philadelphian scene and his plans for the future of the band.
Your debut album The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us came out in October and has been very well received. Which is your favourite track on the album and why?
All of them, every single one. I write records with everything I've got. I bleed my guts into them. My head would snap trying to choose a favorite. And, yeah, I kind of need that thing.
What’s your songwriting process like?
I write everything at home in my clunky, little studio and then deliver pretty complete and realised demos to the gents. We then go into a room and make them loud.
You’re in your forties now…how long have you been a musician for, and how does it feel to be making a mark on the world at your time of life?
About 25 years. It feels really right on, you know? But, look, I don't really find the 'time of life' thing as strange as some. Youth, to me, is a concept, a theory. It doesn't belong exclusively to the young. It belongs to the livers. And, surely, I am one of them.
Your band has become very popular very quickly…you’ve only been together a couple years really. What are you hoping for the future of the band?
For there to be one, right? Look, I've never cared much about things like money and popularity. I'm much more interested in making honest work, in writing things that matter to someone. Anything that comes along with that, right on. But, I'm not letting it cloud up the reasons I do the thing.
You were in a band called Weston back in the 90’s. What did you learn from being with them that has helped you in Beach Slang?
I learned how tough rock & roll can be, how blue collar it is. I learned I loved it more than anything, that I'm a sad, little skeleton without it. And so I keep it close.
How come you’re called Beach Slang?
I used to skate with this really sweet girl who would crack about the way I spoke. Too many ‘rads’ and ‘totallys’, I suppose. But, yeah, she called it a language and named it Beach Slang. I've just never shaken that off. The really soft parts of your childhood, I suppose, have a way of sticking around. I like that.
You’re a new father and a husband. How is it being away from home on tour at the moment?
In most ways it's the same. It's just that now, I have really interesting, big-hearted people to talk to when I call home.
You’ve played in the UK before haven’t you? How did you find the audiences compared to the US?
We have. I think for the most part they're pretty similar—except for the pyramid building. That's exclusively UK. And I adore it, man.
You’re an example of how people can follow their dream and stick with it. What advice would you give someone who wants to be in a successful band?
Don't expect it. Don't give up. Ever. Find romance in the struggle. Enjoy the collapses. Learn how to fail. Fuck up. And do it well. Then, when it happens, and it will, you'll be ready—in every way that really matters.
Which musicians and bands have provided the most inspiration to you?The Replacements, Charles Bukowski and The Psychedelic Furs.
What’s the scene like in Philadephia at the moment, and would you say your sound has been influenced by the city?
What Philadelphia does really, really right is it stays honest with itself. Everyone I know, who is making art in this city, does it because it's all they know how to do, because it's really all they want to do. They aren't trend-hopping. They aren't cool-hunting. They are in it, you know? We are blue collar, romantic and gritty. And that goodness bleeds into the things I write. I'm lucky.
Can you describe the feeling you get when you play live?
I've described writing songs as a baptism and playing them live as an exorcism. And that's what it is, you know—energy, danger and healing.
Do you have any new year’s resolutions for 2016?
Write better songs.
What’s next for the band?
We are touring the UK & Europe in January and February, recording our second mixtape in March, touring the U.S. in April, recording our second full-length in May, touring Europe in June, touring Australia in July and touring Europe again in August. All of that goodness is confirmed. I'm then guessing an October or November release of our second LP followed by a US tour. You know, doing the things a rock & roll band should—playing shows, making friends, losing our minds and finding good trouble.
Beach Slang play The Owl Sanctuary on 19th January. Tickets available from http://www.theowlsanctuary.net.
Check out some tunes here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFbR3Wucl2I