Sitting on a couch, killing time typing on her phone, Alex
Winston is back in Paris. One year after our first meet, Alex seems a little
different, serious, more mature a little less crazy maybe. An happy and warm
reunion…
Since the last time we met, you have now released an album.
Did it change anything for you when music became your job ?
Alex Winston : It’s been an interesting year for me,
very eye-opening. When i saw you the last time (february 2011) everything was
very new, very exciting. It’s still very exciting to play music but it was a sort
of rush over. I was very overwhelming seeing the world. Things have calm down a
bit and kind of found that sort of momentum. The first tour we just got drunk,
all the time. We were young and kind of stupid. I feel like this year i’ve
really grown. And i had to deal with all sort of situations, i an not on the
same label that i was on when i spoke to you last. I made the record a year ago
and it took another year to put it out. So there been a lot of frustrating
things that happened but it’s definetely been a growing period for me. I had
the chance to tour a lot and completely over here, i haven’t been to the US
yet. I did a little bit in the US. Last year i have been in the UK and Europe.
You never tour in the US, really ?
Alex : No, my last show in the US was a year ago (Alex
have been playing in New York and Washington DC since we did that interview).
After my last show i started to record immediately in New York and then playing
shows in the UK and in here a little bit. I’m excited to go back home. I love
doing this obviously but i do get a little homesick sometimes. And i’d like to
experience my own country and try to make it there as well.
How to you feel about your first album ? In one hand,
it’s the beginning of the story but on the other hand it’s the result of years
of practicing, rehearsing, songwriting…
Alex : If i’m being completely honest, i’m really proud
of what i did in the amount of time and circumstances. Some songs are kind of
old and are on the «Sister Wife » ep. I wanted to released a completely new
album but that wasn’t quite realistic. I did the best that i could. It was an
interesting experience because it was all very quick. I wrote the songs and
recorded them in the spent of 2 months. I’ve always been more interested in
other people more so than myself. A lot of the songs are not that
introspective. In my personal life i’m kind a like in the back, just hanging
out and watching people. At the time i was watching a lot of documentaries and
i was really i was fascinated by this sort of niche American culture. By people
doing things differently than i do them and i tried to understand. And that’s
what the record ended up being about. Other people situations and get it into a
pop song.
Speaking of which, i was listenning to the songs
« Velvet Elvis » and « Benny » and i was wondering if your
album is dedicated to the outcasts of America ?
Alex : Maybe in a way… I think that « Benny »
and « Velvet Elvis » are very different. « Benny » is about
something that absolutely disgust me. And « Velvet Elvis » is about
something that i find different and interesting and sort of beautiful in
someway. But « Benny » is about a real life preacher who goes around
professing that he can cure people of their illnesses and end up just taking
their money and not curing any of them. But people just desperately want to
believe in him. It comes off as some sort of
brainwashing manipulation. That is why the song is sort of like very
simple. I wanted to sound like a wave, brainwashing. What happened was very
heart breaking to me, to see the kids who couldn’t walk and go to the Benny
shows because in the end all they want is to be able to walk and play with
their friends. And he’s just taking their money. « Velvet Elvis » is
a bit more fun and it’s about a different kind of love. A lot of people, when
they think of America they like to write about Hollywood, American dream and
like… I’m just not interested in that. I’d rather talk about what is behind the
scenes. You don’t hear that much about them. America starts to make reality
shows about niches, polygamy and all and i find that interesting.
Do you watch « Big Love » (the TV Show) ?
Alex : We’re watching it again right now. It’s one of
my favourite shows. Sarah, my backup singer, has never seen it so we’re like
going through it right now.
There is differents sides on your album, classic pop
songwriting, modern production. A little bit from the Motown, a little bit from
the sixties girls groups, electro sounds… Who are you in the end ?
Alex : I don’t know (laughs). I think it’s really hard
to explain. I’m sort of influenced by all sort of different things. And i’m
kind of scattered. And i don’t really think that i fit into a certain mould. I
don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. And i think it’s the reason why
sometimes it’s been kind of slow for me. It hasn’t been just like :
« Oh, she’s like this ». It feels very DIY to me and i think maybe
it’s gonna take a while for people to come around to what i do. I’m changing a
lot and i don’t have a certain thing to hold on to. And i don’t want that. I
want to be able to do whatever i’m inspired by. Right now i’m writing a western
album. Just because i want to. I don’t know where i fit yet but i don’t know if
it’s a bad thing. You could say Kate Bush, i’ve heard that before.
I told you that the last time (laughs)…
Alex : I like to do different things all the time. I
want to keep changing.
It’s hard to be like that in that industry, people like to
pigeonhole artists…
Alex : I do get that and i even understand why. But i
think on the record you can tell the difference between old and new songs.
Whether it’s good or not. I don’t know. I was in a different place when i was
writing it.
I have listenned to your Black Keys cover on your
soundcloud, it was interesting…
Alex : It kind of came out of nowhere. I don’t even
know, sometimes i like to fool around and i start covering a song. It’s not
intended. When i really really like a song i like to mess around and try to see
what i can do to make kind of my own in a way. I’m a huge Black Keys fan. You
know what i like about them the most, aside from the music ? They just
seem to be good people. Ohio guys, down to earth, who recorded in a garage.
There is something that i like about that.
What i like about them is the fact that they really seems to
be into music. They are both producers, they are both producing other bands…
Alex : Of course. They don’t seem to be manipulated in
any way. Which is cool. They were not like an internet sensation that blows up.
They probably tour in a van for years, worked their asses off and made records
on no money. It shows, you can tell. I really like them.
You’re for Detroit and i know for a fact that you’re an huge
rock n’roll fan. Would you like to cut more rocking songs ?
Alex : I would. None of the songs that are on the album
are really rocking. When i wrote « fire ant », i wanted to go more on
that direction. More experimental in that way. I miss playing electric guitar
and in most of my old bands, that’s what i did. A bit heavier and a bit darker.
I kind of went into the exact opposite direction. I try to keep darker lyrics.
The western EP i’m writing is going to be more focused on the electric guitar
and heavy percussions and stuff like that. It’s going to show more.
You started out as an opera singer…
Alex : I’m not sure that i can classify myself as that.
I was at the radio station today. I heard this incredible opera singer
practicing in the other room. She has the most magnificient voice. I was standing
outside at the door, waiting for my recording and i was like can you
leave ? I have to go on, and when this woman is in here… I have to go sing
after her... She sounds so incredible. But yeah i did that for a while.
Were you influenced by opera and how ?
Alex : I was but it was very regimented. Opera is
beautiful but i was learning it was very much about singing what’s on the paper
and try to replicate it. Where is your personnality in that it is so restricted ?
So when i start singing with other bands i had somehow to unlearn a little bit
to think it’s ok to mess up. It took me a while to find my voice after that.
But i do think that subconciously somewhere that i like to fall back into those
opera practicing because i did it for so long.
How long ?
Alex : Ten years. I think it’s in me somewhere now. But
i was happy to be done when i was done.
Tell me about your song « Sister wife » i have
been noticing the lyrics « Hey there sister wife, get the hell out it’s my
night ». Is it a statement ?
Alex : It’s about sharing something that you love with
other people whether it’s a relationship, a possession. The idea of having to
be a big enough person to share. I hate sharing. You have to learn how. I look
at that sort of relationship and i thought how the hell did these woman do
that ? How does that work to have one husband and however many wives and
just be ok with. Fall in love with someone and then say that’s ok you can sleep
with her now. And i just thought how ? But i guess we all deal with
jealousy everyday.
You’re touring a lot. Is it an hard life being on the road
all the time ?
Alex : It is. When i talk to my parents, my brother and
i don’t think they really understand what it’s like. They think it’s very glamourous.
It’s not. I love playing shows. It’s really a different way of living. Detached
from reality. I don’t go by Mondays, Tuesdays… I go by dates. It’s not a 9 to
5, five days a week kind of deal. It’s a big adjustment. But i really like it.
I do.
And when you’re touring like that, do you have the time to
sightseeing a little ?
Alex : That’s the cool thing. The last time we did the
blogothèque and we walked around the Louvre. But i haven’t been able to just
take a day off and hang out in Paris. I take what i can get.
And in Europe ?
Alex : I had some time off in Germany. In Berlin but i
got the flu. I was throwing up the whole time. I had a doctor to come shoot me
in the butt with a shot. I got so sick and no one spoke english and i was
puking. Awful. That would have been my day off in Berlin.
That’s lame…
Alex : That was terrible, i was all alone. I had to
call my label at 6 o’clock in the morning, you’ve got to call me a doctor. A
little lame to say the least…
A little word on Run Rumspringa…
Alex : That’s an Amish tradition. When the kids turned
sixteen or seventeen, they get to go on a rumspringa which that means they get
to go in our world do whatever they want, have sex, drink. Really whatever they
want. But they have to come back and make the choice. Do i want to pursue other
things or be committed to Amish lifestyle ? And if they leave they’re excommunicated,
they can’t come back.
Fire ant ?
Alex : Fire ant is a pretty personnal song. Fire ant
are really nasty, evil. A person was really destructive in my life. She was
getting in a middle of a relationship i was having. She kept crawling on me and
bite me and it wouldn’t stop. That song is dedicated to her. She was red hair
(laughs)…
Debut album « King Con » available.
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