Hi, everyone! Last week, I sat down to chat with the Santa Monica-based bedroom pop producer Alex Siegel. Though he was originally a teacher, Siegel has changed career paths to become a musician in the last few years. Although he is currently releasing a variety of solo music now, he is also the keyboardist for another LA band, Amo Amo. They recently released a self-titled album, produced by My Morning Jacket member Jim James. In terms of Alex's solo music, I discovered it through popular Spotify playlists like "Indie Chillout" and "Bedroom Pop". I was a fan of it right from the get-go. Hearing about his interesting music background as an indie musician on the rise made me very interested in reaching out to him.
bazzreviews: Which artists or albums inspired you to start a music career?
Alex Siegel: I think one of my all-time favorite records, one that inspired me the most, would be Bold as Love by Jimi Hendrix. I listened to it a lot when I first started playing guitar. There was also a period when I only listened to Sublime.
br: I understand that you originally went to college to pursue education- what kind of education do you think you’d be pursuing if you weren’t making music full-time?
A.S.: I used to teach English, actually. In college, I was focusing on going into education, research, or administration. All along, I always wanted to do music. I just had to allow myself to pursue it as a career.
br: How has it felt being featured on such major Spotify playlists like “Bedroom Pop” and “Indie Chillout” at this early stage of your career?
A.S.: It’s awesome. When I released my first song last year, it started gaining a lot of attention. I never would have imagined my music getting discovered on there. I feel like Spotify is such a powerful platform for music discovery, and it’s given me the tools to make my own music and create an audience as an independent artist.
br: I’ve heard you’re known for some pretty cool live shows, would you say that you prefer performing live over working in the studio?
A.S.: I wouldn’t say I prefer one over the other. I do love performing live, but it’s a totally different thing. I was just out on a tour with my other band, Amo Amo, for a month with Jim James of My Morning Jacket. The tour was amazing, but I was really looking forward to getting back to the studio and writing music again. It’s nice to be able to make things in the studio and not have to think about how I’ll play it live. I think of a song like a world: I’m crafting this world for the listener to take a journey through.
br: Can you describe your process for making songs?
A.S.: I typically write a song with a guitar or a piano, and I’ll take it into the studio and work on it. Some of the songs I’ve put out recently like “Later” and “Lonely Days” have involved me coming up with all of the different parts. It’s almost like I’m freestyling. Some of the songs had lyrics that were made off the top of my head. “Headspin” was three other songs that I’d written over the same beat and chord progression, but it was that third one that ended up sounding the best over it. Producing and mixing take such a long time. If you can capture your inspiration as quickly as possible, I think that’s the best method. On some of my songs, the vocal tracks are pretty much the first take I’d done. Sometimes I never sang the song before I came in, and as I previously mentioned, would make it up on the fly. I just want to make songs that are effective in conveying emotion. It doesn’t matter if it’s imperfect.
br: What’s more important to you- lyricism, or production value and instrumentation?
A.S.: It might sound super obvious, but I think they’re both super important. If the production doesn’t work well with a great song, then it’s no good. However, I think a strong argument against this claim is with one of Bob Marley’s producers, Lee "Scratch" Perry. The production isn’t all that amazing on those songs, but the way he made Bob’s voice sound is just outstanding. The lyrics and emotion completely transcends the production value that they had to work with. I like a lot of janky-sounding songs with imperfections, but there’s a real feeling in those tracks. I’m not really a “lyrics are more important” person, because there’s music without words that can be just as empowering.
br: Throughout the songs you’ve made, I hear themes of love and breakups. Would you say that the lyrics you write are a reflection of your own life?
A.S.: Yeah, I think they are. Oftentimes, they’re coming from a feeling I’m having. Something kind of happens, and it triggers me to write something. I might not be experiencing a breakup, but I could probably sit and write a quick song about it. Because I’ve been through a breakup, I can tap into the feelings to express what it’s like to have gone through it.
br: What would you say have been some of your favorite things to record so far? Are there any interesting stories behind them?
A.S.: One of my songs, “Later”, was made several months in advance before I played it for some of my friends for the first time. One of my friends told me, “Wow, this is really amazing”, and it made me feel pretty validated. That was when I first started to feel confident with the music I made. Another really fun recording story was that I recorded a whole album in Finland several years ago. I was traveling abroad and met a guy who heard me singing and playing guitar, and invited me to come play in his studio. He had a whole recording setup straight out of the 70s. All analog gear, homemade microphones and a real Mellotron. I crashed at his studio for around two months and we recorded pretty much every night. My most recent one had to have been on the recording of the last Amo Amo record out in Santa Barbara County. We took a U-Haul with all of our recording stuff, and basically worked out in wine country without any internet or cell service. We turned this massive 19th century house into a recording studio, and we lived there for a month. It was the five of us, two engineers, and our producer, Jim James from My Morning Jacket. It was really a magical experience, and a great time for us to all bond as well. We would record music every day, and sit around bonfires and have big barbecues at night.
br: Do you have projects in the works at the moment? A.S.: As I mentioned before, Amo Amo just released an album, and we have a lot of great shows and festivals lined up for this summer. Our drummer [Justin Flint] and I have our own side project as well, and I’m constantly doing different stuff by myself and with other bands.
br: What music goals do you have for the future?
A.S.: I just want to continue on the path of making music that is creative. I’ve developed these tools as a musician over time, and I just want to use them to keep making cool stuff. Everyone might have goals where they want to do this or that, but there’s so much unknown in the music industry. It feels really great to just be here doing what I do. Ever since I decided to commit myself to music full-time, I have done things that I never thought were possible. So many doors have opened for me, and I am incredibly grateful for all that happening.
Thanks so much again to Alex for giving me his time to interview! He has had a lot of amazing musical experiences throughout his career, and I really liked hearing about them. For those who haven't checked out any of his music, please, go and do so. He's got a lot of promising solo stuff that will propel him higher in the future Thanks so much again to all of you guys for reading this, and I hope you continue tuning in to more bazzreviews content in the future!
To support Alex's music, go to https://alexsiegelmusic.bandcamp.com
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