New York has always boasted an rich tapestry of sensational artists and music embedded into its society, and we’ve unearthed a huge star in the making who goes by the name of Alex Kelly. She’s a lady who makes intiguing alt-pop music and takes her creativity and her music seriously. She’s already worked with the likes of Robby Takac (Goo Goo Dolls), who hand-picked her as lead singer and co-writer for his electro-pop side band, Amungus. She’s just released her brand new debut solo album, Orange Circle, which is jam packed full of meticulously crafted classics.
I forsee a ridiculously bright future for this New Yorker and she’s kindly shared some incredible stories with us. Really, this is one of the most insightful interviews I’ve had the pleasure of conducting! Read on to find more about the Law of Number One, and Alex Kelly’s first gig, which was at a prison!
AltSounds: Hey there, what’s the story behind you Alex Kelly?
Alex Kelly: Well, I was born and then a bunch of stuff happened and now I’m here. It’s pretty rad here, wherever “here” is?
AltSounds: Haha, OK. If I twisted your arm and you agreed to pigeon hole yourselves to one genre, which one would it be?
Alex Kelly: Electro-Rock
AltSounds: Nice! If you had to choose one element of your music that defines your music as a whole, what would it be and why?
Alex Kelly: One element? FIRE! Haha. Ok, seriously though, I’d have to say that no matter what we do, we always keep it funky. Whenever I’m putting a piece together, I like to first establish a groove that makes me want to move my body.
AltSounds: We don’t see much grooving in music these days do we? What made you get into music?
Alex Kelly: Did it tell you that? Because, in all honesty it got into me first, I swear. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t singing. I think if the love of music is something that is truly inside of your heart, it’s what you do naturally. When I was little, I used to imitate everyone I’d hear on the radio. In the 80’s I feel like there was more diversity on the radio, which made imitating fun. I could listen to Aerosmith, George Michael, Salt n’Peppa, and Anita Baker on damn near the same channel depending on the time of day. One of my earliest memories is of seeing a Tina Turner performance on television and thinking “Omg, I want to be this woman!”
AltSounds: Tina Turner is an absolute babe. What’s the story behind ‘Orange Circle’ the album?
Alex Kelly: I’m going to tell you a very short version of a story that played out over what felt like a very long time. One day I started seeing the number 11 a lot! It was actually quite frightening at first, no thanks to my friends who were all “O.k. sweetie, why don’t you lie down”. Anyhow, this repeating 1 pattern just kept showing up. Being the curious person I am, I started down a road of research that really got my creative juices going. I read all kinds of interesting books and bits of writings, from both ancient and modern texts based on the number one. This story is already headed for nerd-city isn’t it? It gets better I promise…