Alice Chapter 3
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VOLUME 1<br />
CHAPTER 3 MAY 2016
ROBERT KIDD GALLERY<br />
WWW.ROBERTKIDDGALLERY.COM<br />
Gerard Marti / Artist and Art Director<br />
Robert Kidd Gallery 107 Townsend Street Birmingham MI 48009 . (248) 642 3909
Info@georgiammitropoulos.com<br />
THE SOCIETY OF VINTAGE
MADHATSTER
SHOP ONLINE EVERYDAYHERO.SE
Everything happens for a reason. And synchronicity has always been our strong suit.<br />
When photographer Jenna Putnam asked Georgia Mitropoulos to join her to see Fat<br />
White Family, Georgia went, not really knowing what to expect. Long story short,<br />
their music captured her heart. She told me she wanted to surprise me and insisted<br />
I join her two nights later at (Le) Poisson Rouge in the West Village to see Fat White<br />
Family play. They were, indeed, everything she raved about. Powerful, achingly<br />
hauntingly beautiful! While running through the crowded venue I spotted a blonde<br />
guy who looked like he belonged on the pages of <strong>Alice</strong>. Georgia knew him, of course,<br />
he’s James Hurst and he is in town for two months playing with his new band Gold.<br />
We found ourselves at Berlin a few nights later, mesmerized by Gold’s hypnotic<br />
sound. While all this is happening, the PR at Soho House told us they are opening a<br />
new venue in the LES called Ludlow House and would we like to start having events<br />
there? We thought for our first event who would be better than to have Gold play. On<br />
the launch of our third issue, <strong>Alice</strong> goes to print and we have our premier event at<br />
Ludlow House. As trippy as life always seem to be to me, our ever evolving magazine<br />
just keeps growing and people keep finding out about us. We love music. I’m hoping<br />
that shows. Here’s to the next adventures out on the town in NYC. We hope we find<br />
you. You never know what might happen if we do.<br />
Editor in Chief<br />
Melissa Rodwell<br />
Creative Director<br />
Georgia Mitropolous<br />
Art Director<br />
Richard Ray Ruiz<br />
Managing Editor<br />
Kris DeVito<br />
Digital Director<br />
Jan Klier<br />
Photo Editor<br />
David Neilands of Solstice Retouch<br />
Social Media Manager<br />
Abigail Leyva<br />
Contributing Photographer<br />
Cory Ingram<br />
Business Manager<br />
Scott Cabaniss<br />
Cover Photographed and Styled by GEORGIA MITROPOULOS
STAR<br />
CHILD<br />
On a cold night in Detroit, CODY KRAFT stays warm<br />
while hitting up Bronx Bar and Old Miami for a few drinks.<br />
All Clothing Provided by THE SOCIETY OF VINTAGE<br />
Photographed and Styled by GEORGIA MITROPOULOS
SWEETLIFE<br />
FESTIVAL<br />
Photography & Write-up by<br />
CORY INGRAM<br />
THE 1975
Coachella, Governors Ball, Lollapaloza, Firefly, Roit Fest. It’s festival season in America<br />
again. With all of the events listed above, every band, singer, Dj, and rocker you<br />
want to see is playing at one or more of these; but those tickets, those camping passes,<br />
those flights - is it worth it? And half of those festivals are all west of the Mississippi!<br />
That’s alright though, there’s one festival that’s been taking place over the past few<br />
years that has been gaining speed at an alarming rate considering it’s only one day<br />
long and only has three stages. Sweetlife Festival, organized and put together by<br />
artisan salad masters, Sweetgreen, took place May 14th. With tickets only $100 for the<br />
full day the line-up was fully worth it. Only a short four hours from New York City,<br />
it makes for the perfect pre-summer day trip for the wanderlusters, vagabonds, and<br />
trend-setters who have common interests such as, The 1975, Halsey, Wolf <strong>Alice</strong>, Diiv,<br />
and Blondie, just to name a few.<br />
Diiv opened the main stage of the fest with the guitar driven, ambient, Brooklyn<br />
surf-grunge that got everyone at Merriweather Post Pavillion on their feet and shaking<br />
their high waisted shorts to the groove. As Zachary Cole Smith and his band of<br />
misfits floated and stumbled around the stage, the visuals accompanying them on the<br />
backdrop depicted a blurry, fast passed, over-saturated New York City night<br />
speeding by through the viewfinder of a late 80’s Handycam. Shortly after everybody<br />
had entered the Pavillion to vibe out and dive in to the groove, up & coming<br />
Brit-Rockers, Wolf <strong>Alice</strong>, took the stage. With an audible resemblance to the earliest<br />
releases of the legendary Manchester rock veterans, The Stone Roses, Lead singer<br />
Ellie Rosewell and her band mates were nothing short of immaculate. Playing<br />
everything anyone in attendance wanted to hear from hits such as “Your Loves<br />
Whore”, “You’re a Germ” and “Bros” to the rare songs off of their debut EP “Blush”<br />
for all of the fans who’ve known of their world dominating persona before they even<br />
hit the air-strip and brought their glamorous female-fronted alt-rock to the states.<br />
Shortly after Wolf <strong>Alice</strong> finished pouring down their angsty, subterranean, Londonborn<br />
sound over the festival goers, the sky decided to open up and pour down a<br />
sound of its own; thunder storms shook and flooded the Pavillion for several hours.<br />
However, the show must go on. Few in attendance were shaken and the crowd stayed<br />
at large, nobody wanted to miss out on what was to come. Shortly after the skies began<br />
to clear Blondie took the stage. Yes, if you were wondering, Debbie Harry has still<br />
got it. Flawlessly performing every hit in the book from “Call Me” to “One Way or<br />
Another” every attendee was in awe. Half way through the set she confirmed that the<br />
band is in fact in the works of LP number 11. So, be prepared for the new wave punk<br />
superstars to, yet again, shatter your heart of glass some time later this year.<br />
As the night went on the amount of flower crowns and five panel hats seemed to<br />
double as the scent of sushi burritos and artisan grilled cheese sandwiches floated<br />
through the air. When the sun was finally about to set, the crowd slowly gravitated to<br />
the main stage in anticipation for what everyone had seemed to be waiting all day to
see - The 1975. The Manchester Quartet, who had just released their sophomore<br />
album several months prior, had everyone in attendance on their toes anticipating and<br />
speculating which of the infectious dance-rock songs would be featured in the set. As<br />
the lights in the pavilion dimmed the roar of the crowd grew to incessant amount of<br />
screaming that would resemble what one could only imagine a Justin Bieber crowd to<br />
sound like. Seconds later the entire display exploded with a hot, neon pink glow and<br />
the moment some had waited all day for was finally here. Matt Healy, the band’s front<br />
man, came dancing onto the stage in some way that any of the flower crown sporting<br />
Instagram models in the crowd couldn’t resist but to scream louder. The band opened<br />
with their song “Love Me”; the appropriately titled first single, which was debuted in<br />
October of last year, focuses on the dynamic shift of the band’s lifestyle as their fame<br />
has grown from the smallest clubs and darkest pubs to headlining arenas world wide,<br />
all within the past three years. Although, anyone who had ever seen the band in<br />
previous years could’ve argued there was nothing similar between the neon saturated,<br />
dance crazed superstars and their former incarnation they didn’t fail to deliver the<br />
crowd with a plethora of tracks from their initial, self-titled album. Including songs<br />
such as “Heart Out” , “Girls”, “You”, and of course the song that seemed to start it all,<br />
“Chocolate”. As the pavilion had filled shortly after their set began and Healy made<br />
a gesture for the crowd located on the grass to “calmly” fill the seats below, those left<br />
on the lawn seemed to have more fun than anyone else in attendance, dancing, jump-<br />
ing, running and screaming their way across the muddy festival grounds; it was pure<br />
bliss. Except, nobody had anticipated for the band to make the move they made next;<br />
immediately after the quartet finished their guitar-pop smash, “Girls”, they decided<br />
to slow things down a bit, with their neo-gospel atheist hymn, “ If I Believe You”, the<br />
crowd was awe stuck. This was one of the first times many of them had seen the band<br />
play the silky smooth, bass driven gospel song live. Half way through the song, John<br />
Waugh, the band’s resident saxophone playing live member stepped out from behind<br />
the glowing LED’s and into the spotlight to play his part, which he executed in a<br />
flawless fashion. However, before anyone in the crowd knew it, the band was playing<br />
their final song and it almost time to say goodnight.<br />
Even though The 1975 was billed as the headliner, there was one more set of the<br />
night. Halsey, Brooklyn’s indie-pop queen, took the Treehouse stage by storm. With a<br />
stage full of pyrotechnics and a forest filled with mud covered festival goers the young<br />
singer paraded all over the stage as if she had just sold out Madison Square Garden.<br />
Because she did. The singer is due to play a sold out show in the iconic<br />
midtown Manhattan arena in mid-August, one short year after her debut album hit<br />
the shelves. A truly remarkable accomplishment for an artist of any genre. As the<br />
night came to a close, and the pavilion grounds transitioned from a booming, millennial<br />
filled, cultural snapshot, to a barren wasteland of mud and trash those in attendance<br />
could definitely say, Sweetlife 2016 was a successful festival with a homegrown<br />
feel.
WOLF ALICE
DIIV
HALSEY
BEBE<br />
BUELL<br />
Photographed in Nashville by EMILY BEAVER<br />
Interviewed by MELISSA RODWELL
At the risk of sounding like a geeked out fan girl, I have to admit that I have been a<br />
devoted fan of Bebe Buell since I found pictures of her in Creem magazine in the<br />
mid-seventies. There she was, all rock and roll glam sitting with some of the world’s<br />
biggest rock stars ( and boys I had major crushes on ) and I wanted to know more<br />
about this divine Goddess of The Rock and Roll World. Bebe has gone through<br />
many incarnations: Model/Girlfriend/Muse/Lover but then she took hold of her<br />
phenomenal inner power and started a band and got up on that stage and<br />
starting singing her heart out! And man, what voice! She’s written a book, toured<br />
with several different bands, recorded albums and is setting her sights on television<br />
and perhaps the silver screen. The woman is a rebel soul, indeed. It’s heart-warming<br />
to me that some 35 years later, I’m still geeking out on Bebe. I still want to know<br />
more about her. I still love reading her story. What an honor to have her grace the<br />
pages of my magazine and to read her answers to my questions. We love Bebe and<br />
now you will too! Give her a listen and definitely go see her live!<br />
ALICE MAGAZINE: You have been a legendary muse for so many talented artists and<br />
musicians, who are YOUR muses?<br />
BEBE BUELL: My muse is my inner voice. I follow my gut. That’s what led me to<br />
Nashville and the entire rebirth I’m experiencing musically and artistically. It all started<br />
with Mick Jagger and Oscar Wilde in my youth. My muses have run the gamut and<br />
have never failed me.<br />
AM: Who are some of your favorite musicians to jam with? Has there ever been a moment<br />
where you were on stage with someone and thought, OMG, this is just incredible!!<br />
??<br />
BB: I’ve felt that many times in the 36 years I’ve been onstage. I’ve sung with a lot of<br />
incredible people- everyone from Brian Setzer, Joey Ramone to Crystal Gayle. I felt<br />
so good being on the Bluebird stage where so many people I admire so much have<br />
stood. So, I can just be on a special revered stage and feel the ghosts of all who’ve<br />
graced it! It’s a gift. It was kind of one of those aha moments when Steven (my baby<br />
daddy Tyler) came up and shared my stage. Anyone who was there will attest it was<br />
a magical, once in a lifetime moment of karmic joy! I loved being onstage with Matthew<br />
Paige from The Blackfoot Gypsies and my dream would be to record a duet with<br />
Margo Price. She is a slice of heaven!
AM: Tell me about how you fell in love with Nashville. Were you afraid to leave NYC<br />
because of it being the mecca of everything cool here or were you ready for a change?<br />
BB: I came to town via Shannon Pollard at Plowboy Records to sing on a tribute<br />
album he was creating to honor his late grandfather, the great Eddy Arnold. It was<br />
like an epiphany indeed. I just knew I needed to come to Nashville and refuel my<br />
engines. I’m a Nash Yorker now because I need both energies to create and be happy.<br />
Nashville is a speck of blue in a sea of red however it is one of the truly beautiful<br />
meccas of artistic vibrance we’ve got left. It’s not for everyone but I was raised in the<br />
South and spent my summers in North Carolina on my grandparent’s farm so it’s<br />
part of who I am. I need magnolia trees and honeysuckle around me- I also need the<br />
inspiration NYC gives me. It will always feel like home and with my daughter making<br />
it her primary residence, it feels like family. The Northeast is my family haven. The<br />
South is my harbor in the storm. Where I create now. I’ve formed some of the strongest<br />
alliances of my lifetime in Nashville.<br />
AM: I read about how you have some literary plans coming this year, what do you<br />
plan on writing about?<br />
BB: I’ve been silently working on the follow up to Rebel Heart (2001)... especially<br />
when Madonna called her last album and tour “Rebel Heart”, I knew it was time, lol! I<br />
started noticing on social networking a few of my fans started hash tagging<br />
#originalrebelheart next to my name. That got the juices flowing on REBEL SOUL...<br />
which turned into an idea for a one woman show. So, yes, let’s hope 2017 will see the<br />
fruits of all this writing! I’m also busy compiling photos for what is to be a coffee table<br />
photo book of my life featuring never before seen pictures and polaroids. There’s<br />
also a beauty book brewing- alternative tips to letting your inner beauty reflect your<br />
outer appearance. I’ve invented a great beer and powdered milk facial to boot!<br />
AM: You are such an inspiration! I am in awe of how much you have accomplished<br />
and how much you intend to still do! Have you ever had a time where you questioned<br />
what you were doing, maybe questioned whether your heart was in something that<br />
didn’t quite feel right?<br />
BB: I think we all question why we’re here and what our lessons and journey are.<br />
I also believe that we live the life we must live to learn the karmic lessons we must<br />
endure. There are no short cuts. And if it doesn’t feel right in my gut, I run the other<br />
way. That’s one of the blessings of getting older. You can spot the demons and takers a<br />
lot faster. But I believe whole-heartedly in my art, in my work. I feel that what I’ve got<br />
to say is important for women. For everyone. Important for people to stomp on the<br />
“isms”= ageism, sexism, etc... there’s a great book you can read called “The Gift Off<br />
Fear”. Listen to that inner voice- your guardian angels.
AM: What is one show that really sticks out in your memory as being a killer<br />
experience and why?<br />
BB: Oh my goodness, how could I possibly pick just one. Elvis Costello at Hollywood<br />
High in 1978 was pretty special as was seeing The Rolling Stones when I was 12 in<br />
Va. Beach where I lived. The Flaming Groovies at The Whisky, David Bowie & The<br />
Spiders from Mars at Radio City Music Hall... Being sung to by Steven Tyler... but the<br />
hugest thrill was playing my own first show...1980, Bebe Buell & The B-Sides. I knew<br />
life would never be the same again!<br />
AM: How do you feel about the current state of the music industry and the general<br />
public trends? Do you think people hold music as important as we used to?<br />
BB: Humans are oversaturated as a species sadly so the arts have taken a backseat<br />
to the quick fix. Computers changed the climate of art forever- there’s no turning<br />
back. I’m thankful to have been part of the time when the British Invasion hit the US<br />
shores. To be alive to witness that wave of musical history starting in the 50s through<br />
the mid to late 70s... There needs to be more music in the schools. Every child should<br />
have an artistic outlet of some kind. Trends will always come and go but the memories<br />
made from a song never die.<br />
AM: I love how you have decorated your house in Nashville! I see it on your Instgram<br />
feed! Tell me about your style? Your daughter raves about your rock and roll style, is<br />
this something you have always owned or has it developed over the years? Who were<br />
some women you looked up to when you were developing your style? I always admired<br />
Anita Pallenberg’s style. Who did you admire?<br />
BB: I also loved Anita Pallenberg, Marianne Faithfull, and Bardot but I feel style is not<br />
something you can duplicate. Once I got to NYC in 1972 I felt comfortable<br />
developing my own style because I had found my like-minded soul tribe of misfits<br />
and artistic wildcards. I was encouraged to develop my own sense of self so I did. But<br />
yes, I was inspired by the rebel essence and wild child appeal of women like Jane<br />
Birkin and Jane Fonda in her Barbarella phase and especially Janis Joplin and later<br />
Debbie Harry.<br />
AM: What city would you revisit and why?<br />
BB: I so long to return to Venice and Sienna Italy. Being there with Liv in Tuscany the<br />
summer of 1995 while she was filming Stealing Beauty are some of the fondest<br />
memories of my life. I want to return there with my husband and take him to the<br />
enchanted firefly forest we found behind Villa Patrizia and back to the canals of<br />
Venice with it’s shadows and mysterious auras.
AM: Any plans to tour in 2016?<br />
BB: Touring is the goal. And now that I’ve decided to develop this one woman show<br />
that will consist of just me with a drummer and guitar player and maybe?? a bass<br />
player- still undecided- there’s a lot of work that goes into the process. Storytelling,<br />
songs from different eras of my life and career, slideshow, mini movie, etc... I do know<br />
I’ll be unveiling it at The Bluebird Cafe for the first time on Oct. 27, 2016. Makes sense<br />
I would take it there as I also did my very first live show in Nashville at The Bluebird<br />
in May 2014 (Mother’s Day). I think too there will be a few surprises coming up before<br />
2017. I also plan on continuing to push the boundaries and open the<br />
envelope! I predict 2017 will be a most productive year! 2016 will be the time to create<br />
and give birth. I’m also very passionate about a TV show and movie I’m part of. My<br />
plate has never been so full and I don’t take it for granted for one second.<br />
I thank my Muse for bringing me to Nashville yet giving me the ability to have the<br />
best of both worlds in NYC and my new founded home since 2012.
Photographed and words by GEORGIA MITROPOULOS
We walked into the green room at Babys Alright and there I found a pair a blue<br />
sunken eyes across the room glancing from the tip of a beer bottle…Captivating... I<br />
left the room for a moment and upon my return it was empty so I went to the main<br />
floor to see the show. To my surprise the same eyes were on the stage playing a guitar<br />
like a psychedelic genius. The music had an energy like acid trips and Velvet. I needed<br />
more so I went to the genius and said “when and where are you next?” We attended<br />
the show the next evening at (Le) Poisson Rouge. The crowd was filled with babes,<br />
literally layers of them. The music took over the room...It had a spell on everyone...<br />
Sexy and Toxic...Girls shoving and pushing... Boys crowd surfing... Backstage were<br />
artists, musicians, and other intriguing characters... there was one girl in full tattoos<br />
and a bra...I thought she looked punk and began to shoot her...later that evening she<br />
walked up to me and said “Hi...I’m Gaga”...I had no clue...and replied “Hi I’m<br />
Georgia” “Georgia, Georgia, Georgia” she said with a smile and walked away. It’s the<br />
kinda’ show that leaves sparks in your veins. The kinda’ music you buy on vinyl. The<br />
kinda’ band that effortlessly takes your breath away as you stand in the crowd and<br />
remember why you love and live for music.
THE<br />
GARDEN IS<br />
BEWILDERED<br />
Photographed by NICK SUAREZ Styled and Make Up by GEORGIA MITROPOULOS<br />
Model RISA BELLAK @ IMMORTAL MODEL MANAGEMENT<br />
All Clothing Provided by THE SOCIETY OF VINTAGE
I Swear<br />
I swear, since seeing Your face,<br />
the whole world is fraud and fantasy<br />
The garden is bewildered as to what is leaf<br />
or blossom. The distracted birds<br />
can’t distinguish the birdseed from the snare.<br />
A house of love with no limits,<br />
a presence more beautiful than venus or the moon,<br />
a beauty whose image fills the mirror of the heart.<br />
-RUMI
TODD<br />
DORIGO<br />
Photographed by DEAN AVISAR Interviewed by ABIGAIL LEYVA
ALICE Magazine: What song do you wish you’d had written?<br />
Todd Dorigo: Nick Cave - Lay Me Low<br />
Every so often you hear an amazing song that resonates with you so much it feels like<br />
you could have written it. That’s just a testament to Nick Cave’s brilliance in this case.<br />
AM: If there was a Time travel Machine, where will you go and what would you do?<br />
TD: EVERY decade people say ‘ohh it’s not what it was 10 years ago’. Taking that onboard,<br />
I guess I should go as far back as that machine will take me. I’m sure it’ll be a<br />
fucking hoot..<br />
AM: Whose music hero poster hangs on your wall as inspiration?<br />
TD: I don’t actually have posters on the wall but I do have a collection of records and<br />
books lying around. There’s an iconic picture of David Bowie lurking on the book<br />
shelf which definitely doesn’t let you rest on your laurels.<br />
AM: What is Rock ‘N’ roll for you?<br />
TD: Sticking to your guns and not caring about what other people think you should<br />
be. That and a pale faced, leather clad, bed hopper.<br />
AM: Whose fashion style has inspired yours?<br />
TD: I’d say I’ve had most my inspiration from the flamboyant and sexually ambiguous<br />
styles which the rock’n’roll and glam rock scene took on in the 70’s. From The Rolling<br />
Stones to Marc Bolan and David Bowie. John Cooper Clarke was a big style inspiration<br />
too with his mold of mod and punk.<br />
AM: If you had the superpower to read minds whose would you want to read?<br />
TD: Reading someone’s mind would either be incredibly dull or it would be like<br />
opening pandora’s box. Neither are overly appealing. I definitely wouldn’t want anyone<br />
reading my mind anyway..<br />
AM: Do you think we’re born a certain way or that life shapes us into who we are?<br />
TD: I think both of those ideas hold a lot of truth. We’re born with a set of skills and<br />
qualities which are moulded by our surroundings and experiences. However, ultimately<br />
I think we shape ourselves through the decisions we make.<br />
AM: If you could own someone’s guitar who would it be and why?<br />
TD: Elvis Costello’s Fender Jazzmaster. He’s a musical hero of mine and it’s probably<br />
his most iconic guitar. It has this unique custom grey finish on it with his name<br />
written on the fretboard, country and western style.
AM: If your life could be a movie what movie would it be and what character would<br />
you be playing?<br />
TD: The Big Lebowski - ‘The Dude’<br />
AM: What is one thing you will never do again?<br />
TD: Extreme sports. I’ve had two close brushes with death doing tame sports so I’m<br />
calling it a day on anything where my feet aren’t firmly on the ground.<br />
AM: What thing would you be disappointed if you never got the chance to<br />
experience?<br />
TD: A life of leisure.<br />
AM: What story do your friends still give you crap about?<br />
TD: I think I’ve suffered enough torment from my friends without allowing even<br />
more people to jump on the band wagon.<br />
AM: What do you think is one big problem in society today and what do you think<br />
people should do about it?<br />
TD: The awareness of how the things we consume are made and what effect it has on<br />
the planet is disastrously low. The information is out there but it doesn’t receive the<br />
attention it requires to make a real difference. Being proactive and taking responsibility<br />
on a ground level would be a very good start.
TEENGENERATE<br />
Photographed and Styled by GEORGIA MITROPOULOS<br />
All Clothing Provided by THE SOCIETY OF VINTAGE<br />
SPECIAL THANKS TO MANITOBA’S IN THE EAST VILLAGE, NYC
GOLD<br />
Photographed and words by GEORGIA MITROPOULOS
Running through the crowds at the Fat White Family show at (Le) Poisson Rouge in<br />
NYC, I saw 6 foot tall something long blonde long hair... James Hurst…I was drunk<br />
but he was worse. I gave him a hug and said, “dude what are you doing here?” “I<br />
just moved to New York today” he said. I told him NYC just became a better place.<br />
I found out later that his band GOLD was here from LA recording for 2 months.<br />
The first show of theirs that I attended was at Berlin. That’s when I discovered how<br />
extremely original their sound is. It has a certain dark romance to it. But what about<br />
their personal style, you ask? The boys have incredible taste in shoes, which is just<br />
icing on the cake. A few days, 12 midnight on a Tuesday to be exact, I met them at a<br />
Brooklyn rehearsal studio and watched them rehearse. The Tokyo room they called<br />
it, because of the size and how everything is stacked. Gilbert Trejo, lead guitarist says<br />
this about his band: “Gold is the standard we set for ourselves for our songs”<br />
... Phil Spector gold star studios...<br />
The names of the songs I find poetic: Best, Ruby, Mary, How to Fade, Always ..<br />
Nelson, the singer says .. “It’s dark romanticism .. Bands don’t do that anymore..”<br />
Seth the drummer asked for Chapstick and we offered him lipstick. “Perfect! I had<br />
hot pink on earlier”. He pointed out his rat tail as the others described him as a 30’s<br />
dandy .. “He’s a getting his rattail braided”.<br />
Being among these four is like watching comets collide…Young blood... Inspired…..<br />
They are lovely, humble and shining. And they are playing our first show at Ludlow<br />
House, the new Soho house that just opened in the Lower East Side of NYC! See you<br />
there!
QU<br />
EEN<br />
BITCH<br />
Photographed by MARCUS COOPER<br />
Styled and Make Up by GEORGIA MITROPOULOS<br />
All Clothing Provided by THE SOCIETY OF VINTAGE<br />
Model REUBEN RAMACHER @ RED MODEL MANAGEMENT
Photographed by RYAN RICHARDSON<br />
Interviewed by ABIGAIL LEYVA<br />
Modern Kicks is based in the Bay Area.<br />
They are Ant Boyd – vox/guitar<br />
Alex Stilletto – lead guitar<br />
Stephen Sims – bass/vox and<br />
Sean Glass – drums/vox
ALICE: Do you have any pre-gig rituals before going on stage? Any superstitions or<br />
good luck charms?<br />
Modern Kicks: Ant & Alex like to flat iron their hair in the nearest gas station<br />
bathroom. Ya HAVE TO put the right sock on the left foot, always listen to Rick Flair/<br />
Paul Stanley stage banter. It’s nice to hide out in the van and meditate. Or dive in<br />
head first and get on stage. The key is to not waste anytime, we gotta 30-minute set<br />
and all 1800 seconds need to count.<br />
AM: Who is the party animal in the band?<br />
MK: Honestly it’s a tie between all of us, Stephen comes to mind first ‘cause he’ll<br />
take the lead one walking sideways (always in good fun) but on the other hand Sean<br />
Glass is a madman, quiet and collected usually, there’s something about midnight<br />
that brings out the animal in him. Alex gives no fucks 100% of the time whether he’s<br />
passed out in some awkward position or got his arm around someone yelling about<br />
how Hanoi Rocks is the best band ever. (Which is a proven fact that people seem to<br />
argue at times) Ant (stone sober) always seems to be hanging out of a moving car or<br />
what we call in the bay “ghost ridin’ the whip” at some point in the night. We’re all<br />
super sensitive, social dudes who just wanna hang tough and stay up past our god<br />
given bedtimes.<br />
AM: What is the craziest gig you’ve ever had?<br />
MK: So they we were.... Driving past the Tacoma Dome to some dude’s basement in<br />
Washington (State), I dunno how the universe works but for some reason we ended<br />
up at one of thee wildest shows we ever seen. People were hanging off the rafters,<br />
passed out, hugging, crying, dying it gets a little fuzzy but woke up to some random<br />
dudes playing Mario cart in the living room. We have also had some of them “LA<br />
NIGHTS” where Sebastian Bach shows up (you know the dude from Gilmore Girls)<br />
and hangs out with you for a while with his latest wife.<br />
AM: What is something you would start a revolution for?<br />
MK: All of us had a hard time answering this question, Rock’N’Roll revolution? Higher<br />
self enlightenment? Free Slurpee day at 7-11 all day every day? No matter which way<br />
you cut it we’d all want the golden era that we glorify to live on and not be forgotten.<br />
It’s more of Ant’s personal philosophy but in this day and age everything is disposable<br />
and its going to take a lot more than a hand full of good bands to bring it back<br />
and push it in a new direction. The revolution or shift has to come from the<br />
community, but I found that people have this preconceived notion of what rock’n’roll<br />
is/ means (which is fine, something that should be interpreted by the individual), but<br />
we all been to a certain degree institutionalized as to how we feel. I hate to admit it<br />
sometimes but when I think about my mind set as a 15-year-old punk kid and how I<br />
am now, I see school, the news, religion, whatever element that shaped us, never had<br />
a problem leaving us by the wayside, which is good and bad, we have to form strong<br />
opinions and ideas about what to write about and how to live our lives, I love Johnny<br />
Thunders as much as the next guy but I also ain’t going to follow in his footsteps. At<br />
the rate we’re living we’ll be lucky to have an ounce of sanity left once we get to the<br />
top. BUT! Long story short, we already have and will continue fighting the good fight,<br />
don’t matter if rock’n’roll is hip/cool/dope/sick or ever relevant again, we’re just trying<br />
to put out songs with some substance and help the genre grow, its a communal thing,<br />
fashion, film, music, art anything weird or interesting we’ll back it!<br />
AM: Who in the band is more likely to get talked into doing something stupid?<br />
MK: Stephen usually is a pretty fearless dude, so he’ll usually get wrapped up in some<br />
kinda dumb bet, if Ant doesn’t volunteer first... if it ain’t dumb it ain’t fun!<br />
AM: Dream band to headline with?<br />
MK: Limpbizkit? ....... Creed?..... T.REX or Cheap Trick!<br />
AM: Favorite city to play in? Favorite venue?<br />
MK: Portland/ Austin sad thing is a lot of the venues are getting shut down<br />
AM: What song would be on the soundtrack of a movie about your life?<br />
MK: We all grew up together, lived in the same neighborhood (except Stephen... met<br />
his ass on Instagram) but we all gotta sweet spot for the oldies and soul music.... so<br />
probably Ignition Remix by: R KELLY is and will always be the soundtrack of our<br />
lives...<br />
AM: Oakland? Discuss.<br />
MK: Oakland has gotta a bitter sweet ring to it dontcha think? First of all, we invented<br />
and innovated the Hyphy movement, e40 and LIL B probably some of the best music<br />
coming out of the BAY AREA. In short its a cool town, probably has the most chill<br />
people I ever seen. People in LA sometimes get up tight, east coast peeps is fun and<br />
rowdy, but Bay friends are chill. We wish the rock’n’roll scene up here was better...<br />
It’s the toughest town I’d ever seen, dangerous, exciting, but also a place we probably<br />
wouldn’t miss if it fell into the sea.<br />
AM: Are you tired of being told, “you look like Steven Tyler?”<br />
MK: You mean Steve Buscemi right?...... haha<br />
Could be my father....<br />
Listen my mom is an absolute saint but I wouldn’t rule out that she finagled her way<br />
backstage at an Aerosmith show and did the deed... just saying’.... but aye! Steve AKA<br />
“pops” gotta make up for some child support. Ya feel?
KELSY<br />
KARTER<br />
SHOT AT THE MINT IN LOS ANGELES<br />
Photographed and Interviewed by NICOLA COLLINS
ALICE MAGAZINE: Where are you from?<br />
KELSY KARTER: I was born in Auckland, New Zealand but moved to Australia when<br />
I was 2 and thats where I grew up so really I am Australian.<br />
AM: Whats the biggest difference between Australia and LA?<br />
KK:Australia is just generally the most laid back place, I grew up in a City thats all<br />
surfing and partying. But there is so much culture here in LA, the whole world is<br />
here in one place and it is the place for the industry.<br />
AM: You live in LA now?<br />
KK:Yeah I have lived here for 5 years. Half of my family is from LA so all my life I<br />
have bragged that I am half American and that I was going to move to America one<br />
day and I did. It was always my plan to come here.<br />
AM: What makes you get up in the morning?<br />
KK:Coffee! No you know what I am going to sound really lame and like a Hallmark<br />
card right now but I moved here to make something of myself for my family. So the<br />
thought of missing them everyday makes everyday count and gets me closer to creating<br />
what I came to create. Being away from home is such a sacrifice and it has to<br />
be worth it because my family are my life. Thats what gets me up, I’m all alone and I<br />
need to do this.<br />
AM: It’s very brave of you?<br />
KK:I came here with my dad for a vacation straight out of high school, 2 weeks later I<br />
moved here, at the time I didn’t even look at it like being brave or impulsive, it’s just<br />
what I wanted to do and then a year later I was like “Shit, how did I do that? Thank<br />
god I was stupid” because it got me here.<br />
AM: Whats the thing that inspires you to write songs?<br />
KK:I write best when I am completely depressed, even if its a happy song I have to be<br />
in a dark place to write anything. If I am just chilling I can’t write as well. I think you<br />
get put against a wall and the best comes out. I write about love, life and what I have<br />
been through. I grew up very rebellious and there’s nothing I haven’t done. I try to<br />
use that part of me in a good way now rather than looking at it like it’s a bad thing.<br />
AM: What makes you sad?<br />
KK:Everything! There are two things that I wish I wasn’t...nostalgic and empathetic,<br />
I can’t even watch the fucking news because I spiral. I have been through a lot of<br />
death, a lot of separation between my family and I know they are my core problems.<br />
My dad has been telling me to get therapy for years because I have a real fear of losing<br />
people and it goes everywhere with me.<br />
AM: Does that make you push people away and not want to get to know new people?<br />
KK:100%, I have a tiny group of people and I need to keep watch that they are all<br />
there and not lose them. I find it very hard to trust people. I used to have night terrors<br />
which are extreme nightmares, it’s nuts. It is something I have dealt with my<br />
whole life and I know it stems from my fear of death. This is really dark and deep for<br />
us to talk about but I am an intense person, I am a bit of an extremist.<br />
AM: What star sign are you?<br />
KK:Leo<br />
AM: What makes you nostalgic?<br />
KK:I am obsessed with the 50’s 60’s and 70’s, the music, the movies, the people.<br />
There’s nobody of today that I look up to, it’s all back then. I was getting my hair<br />
done today and they had 90’s hip hop on and I was nostalgic.<br />
AM: When was the last time you cried?<br />
KK:I cried yesterday, I cry all the time.<br />
AM: Whats the ultimate goal?<br />
KK: That is such an adult question. I want the whole world, I want longevity, I want<br />
respect, I just want to make music, sing, act, be happy and take care of everyone.<br />
AM: So you are an actress also?<br />
KK:I actually moved to LA to act but music has just come quicker. I grew up performing<br />
in the theatre and acting is what I was good at. i never in a million years<br />
thought that I would be a singer.<br />
AM: With that voice?<br />
KK: Thank you! I didn’t see it. In theatre I was the shyest person and when it came to<br />
singing my friends were all better than me so I always chose the acting part and let<br />
them sing. My family are all jazz musicians though so I grew up around music.<br />
AM: Where do you want to live in the future?<br />
KK: I don’t want to live in Australia and I don’t want to live here in LA. Somewhere<br />
else is next for me, New York maybe, I love New York so much.<br />
AM: Who is Kelsey in 5 words?<br />
KK: Peter Pan, rebel, intense, passionate, odd and I’m really funny, no I’m kidding,<br />
nobody who says that ends up being fucking funny. But seriously I am.<br />
AM: Do you think up the ideas for your music videos?<br />
KK: Oh yeah, I am a control freak. I don’t have a manager so I manage myself. I am<br />
responsible for my success and when you are not huge you have got to do it. And<br />
when you put something out there, its out there so you’ve got to be careful. I don’t<br />
put anything out unless it’s right and I spend a lot of time getting it right.<br />
AM: What do you think about social media?<br />
KK: I hate it. I wish I could delete it all. I’m old school, I don’t care. But it is a great<br />
tool for independent artists and it has done great things for me, it’s a business now<br />
and I wish it didn’t exist. At Coachella people had their iPads out, it’s like experience<br />
it, the moment is right now. I would prefer no phones at gigs but when you get home<br />
and see videos people have uploaded of the gig it’s nice to see how I did. So I’m not<br />
for it but I’m for it.
RYNHEART<br />
Photographed by SAMANTHA FALCO Interviewed by ABIGAIL LEYVA
<strong>Alice</strong> Magazine: What is the one place in the world you would like to visit at least<br />
once and why?<br />
Rynheart: We want to see the world. Being in a travelling band all over the map.<br />
AM: What is the craziest thing you’ve done?<br />
Fabz: Eric and myself were in the middle of kicking our first guitarist out of the band.<br />
There were four of us living in a two bedroom basement apartment in Toronto and<br />
he didn’t pay his share of the rent for two months. So one night after a few drinks we<br />
decided we were going to destroy his bed with a handsaw and burn his luggage in<br />
the laneway behind our place. Turns out he had a bunch of cables and batteries in the<br />
bag. Sparks began to fly and the thing just fucking exploded!<br />
Eric: The cops were there almost instantly. We ran back to the home base leaving our<br />
other roommate to talk to the cops, he convinced them he was a neighbour looking<br />
for the damn kids that started the fire. We couldnt hear for a few hours after that.<br />
AM: Have you ever done something in anger only to regret it later?<br />
Eric: I broke my hand by punching a brick wall after learning my best friend slept<br />
with my girlfriend. I regret it cause the sex was shit. Not worth breaking my hand.<br />
AM: How did you come up with the name of the band?<br />
Fabz: We came up with Rynheart from going through our old man’s photo album.<br />
(Eric, Dano, and I are brothers) We saw the name on a photo and thought it would<br />
translate to “a heart of stone” and knew it was us.<br />
AM: What temptation do you wish you could resist?<br />
Eric: Road rage<br />
Dano: Extremely loud music.<br />
Fabz: Constantly tapping/drumming on everything<br />
AM: What piece of wisdom would you pass down to a child?<br />
Eric: Carve your own path, dont let others tell you what you should do because it<br />
worked for them.<br />
Dano: Never be completely satisfied with your own work. When you reach a leval of<br />
comfort you stop producing.<br />
Brett: When in doubt, play E<br />
Fabz: Timing is everything, don’t follow the pack cause it’s the norm. It all comes full<br />
circle.<br />
AM: If the sky could be a different color, what would it be?<br />
Rynheart: Pink in the day and purple at night.<br />
AM: If you could own anyone’s wardrobe, who’s would you own?<br />
Rynheart: As a collective I think we would all agree either Mick or Keith’s wardrobe<br />
throughout the 70s and 80s. We really dig how modern fashion is channeling the<br />
early glam era. Stuff from Saint Laurent, John Varvatos, and Christian Benner are all<br />
inspiring to us. We also wouldn’t complain about having Slash’s t-shirt collection.<br />
AM: Who have been some of your biggest musical influences?<br />
Rynheart: Our influences range from all the things we grew up with to all the things<br />
we picked up along the way. We’re doing something that’s been done for many years<br />
now but giving it a new attitude. Some of the first artists we heard were Deep Purple,<br />
Hendrix, Zeppelin, and The Stones. As we grew up we became influenced by many<br />
other genres like punk, blues, pop, funk, and hip-hop. All these influences give us the<br />
ability to create more in a genre where one would expect a very redundant formula to<br />
a song.<br />
AM: If music were a drug, which drug would it be?<br />
Rynheart: Heroin. Has the power to take away pain. When your off it, you want it<br />
again.<br />
AM: How influential is music to the world?<br />
Rynheart: Music manipulates emotion. As history proves, it can change the culture<br />
and start revolutions. People say you are what you listen to and that’s why we like to<br />
keep an open mind when it comes to music. We want to influence and inspire others<br />
to create without barriers or restrictions.<br />
AM: What’s the worst advice you’ve ever listened to?<br />
Rynheart: Being told you have to play every show your offered. While this was the<br />
case in the past, now we find we want to be writing, perfecting and releasing songs<br />
that will entice people to come see us live.<br />
AM: Who would like to meet (dead or alive) and why?<br />
Rynheart: John Lydon, because he’s hard to read, sarcastic and could rip you to<br />
shreds at any moment.
BEHIND<br />
THE<br />
MAKE-UP<br />
Paul Lemaire continues on with his series of models shot in their own<br />
environment, bringing their humanity to life!<br />
All Photography by PAUL LEMAIRE<br />
Models CHARLOTTE @Next Models Milan & EMILY @Elite Models Worldwide
EMILY
CHARLOTTE
Photographed and Interviewed by CORY INGRAM
Most up & coming artists today have quite large digital audiences, but most struggle<br />
to fill small clubs and bring people out to shows. However, The Britanys, a four piece<br />
rock band from Brooklyn with just over 1,400 Instagram followers, have generated<br />
quite the buzz since their formation in 2013. In comparison to most other artists<br />
today, the quartet has already sold out venues such as the Williamsburg hot spot,<br />
Baby’s All Right. I met up with Lucas Long, Steele Krat, and Jake Williams after their<br />
set at Le Poisson Rogue on May 7th to catch up with them and find out a bit more<br />
than who the band had on their most recently created Spotify playlist; here’s what<br />
went down.<br />
ALICE MAGAZINE: Most of the music listeners and industry reps out there today<br />
use Spotify, Twitter, Apple Music, or some other type of streaming service to discover<br />
new artists; With social media playing such a heavy hand in today’s rapidly growing<br />
industry and community how do you think your music gets heard most when you’re<br />
only on soundcloud, Facebook, and Instagram? Do you think there are any disadvantages<br />
to being a band now when everyone is so reliant on social media to find out<br />
what’s “cool”?<br />
Lucas Long: Since we’re still in the beginning stages of the band we figured it best<br />
not to over-saturate everything. Sure, we would love it if everyone would pick up a<br />
vinyl and CD at every show, however, unfortunately that’s not the case in the current<br />
industry that we’re a part of. When the time is right, we’ll be expanding our accessibility<br />
and make the songs available on streaming services and on all the online stores<br />
but being in the beginning stages of the band we just want to hold off until the time<br />
is right. Everything is so permanent now, sure there are people who record a song<br />
and put it out everywhere the next day but what if six months later you want to sound<br />
different or want to change part of the song and put it out then?<br />
Steele Krat: That being said, once we release our fourth single, due out in early June,<br />
we’ll most likely be packaging that with the songs already on Soundcloud and putting<br />
it out through streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, etc as some type of<br />
“Demo’s Collection”.<br />
Lucas Long: And in the Fall we’re hoping to be able to release a more official EP,<br />
hopefully around October.<br />
of the spectrum. A few months prior to Jake joining, we started writing a lot of<br />
second guitar parts for the newer songs and starting talking about how adding<br />
another member would help round everything out and add to the vibe that we were<br />
going for. Since Jake joined last September, it has really opened up a whole new<br />
world of possibilities.<br />
SK: As afar as the writing goes, with a second guitar becoming part of the process, it<br />
makes us much more aware of what we’re writing because of how heavily a lead<br />
guitar line can influence the direction and vibe that a song gives off. I also feel that<br />
from where I stand, as the drummer, it’s helped me focus on the tightness of everything<br />
in a way that I definitely hadn’t anticipated.<br />
JAKE: I had know the guys pretty loosely for awhile through a recording studio we<br />
all hung around out in Brooklyn. It’s funny, I actually wrote the first press release<br />
for them because I really liked what they were doing and was very interested to<br />
see where they would go with the project. As far as getting in goes, it couldn’t have<br />
worked out better. I had a lot of free time and wasn’t really playing with anybody else<br />
seriously when Lucas got in touch with me.<br />
SK: Yeah, didn’t he slide into your DM’s with a photo of Sasha Berin Cohen drinking<br />
of bottle of Perrier with the words “come shred”.<br />
JW: (laughs) Yea! It was rather serendipitous too; I had been out of the city for a few<br />
years at school, and I knew all their music from listening to it so I said, Why not! I felt<br />
I already knew where they wanted to go with everything in terms of musicality and<br />
the idea they had behind it and it’s worked out great since.<br />
AM: Although you’ve been playing together since 2013 you’ve recently added Jake to<br />
the band; and more recently released your first single as a four piece, “Basketholder”,<br />
was there a large shift in the writing dynamic when he joined or was it more like the<br />
missing piece to the puzzle that you always needed? Also, Jake, could you briefly<br />
discuss how you met the rest of the guys and came to be a part of the band?<br />
LL: When we first started the band we were just looking to play shows trying a lot of<br />
different sounds out; there wasn’t much focus on a specific sound and some of the<br />
songs we were writing weren’t very cohesive and kind of came from all different ends
AM: Talking a little more about “Basketholder” ; you worked on that song with<br />
producer Gordon Raphael, who is currently based in Berlin. What was it like to<br />
collaborate with somebody who plays such a major role in the way the song sounds<br />
solely over the Internet? Were there any disadvantages or obstacles?<br />
SK: It was funny, we did an interview with an Argentinian blog and when we finished<br />
the guy who was interviewing us, Nicholas Ellis, messaged me and said, “Hey are you<br />
guys fans of Gordon Raphael’s work? Just curious because I think he would be a<br />
great fit for you. I’m a friend of his and he’s heard of you before. I can pass along his<br />
contact if you’d like”.<br />
LL: We all thought it was BS.<br />
(all laugh)<br />
SK: So we emailed him the rough demos of the song and he wrote back pretty<br />
quickly saying, “this is great, let’s do it” but at this point we thought it was Nicholas<br />
Ellis the whole time just messing around with us or trying to get in and produce us.<br />
But when we got the mixes back a week and a half later we all kind of looked at each<br />
other and said, “OH! This is actually Gordon Raphael……” after that we did a few<br />
quick back and forth emails with revisions and opinions on the track and it honestly<br />
all worked out great! We have yet to meet him in person though.<br />
JW: We’re actually trying to get him out to New York at some point this summer<br />
though to work on a record if he’s available, so hopefully that works out.<br />
LL: He’s extremely intelligent. The whole time we were writing back and forth about<br />
what the song was going to sound like I was constantly trying to just get on his level.<br />
He knows so much about sound the way he intends for people to hear the songs<br />
he works on. It was such a great experience. I really hope we get the opportunity to<br />
spend some time working with him this summer here in New York so we can really<br />
bring a lo of our ideas and concepts for this new record to life with his help!
AM: What’s next for The Britanys?!<br />
LL: We’re in a very transitional phase right now. We jus started<br />
working with a booking agent as of yesterday so there are a<br />
lot of potential shows that could be a lot of fun. We also might<br />
spend a bit of time touring in June which would be our first<br />
time on the road. And if all goes according to plan we’ll spend<br />
a week or so recording in July. Maybe a local festival or two,<br />
then it’s prep time for the release of the new music and trying<br />
to get all of the best CMJ showcases that we can. But we’re<br />
trying to take everything as it comes but once this new music is<br />
done and released we plan on hitting the ground running and<br />
taking it as far as we can get! There’s a lot of exciting things in<br />
the works.<br />
https://soundcloud.com/thebritanys/get-my
“We plan<br />
on hitting<br />
the ground<br />
running”
PINCHE<br />
GUSTAVO<br />
SPECIAL THANKS TO EASTERN BLOC IN THE EAST VILLAGE NYC<br />
VINTAGE JACKET<br />
Shirt THE CAST<br />
Jeans THE KOOPLES<br />
Scarf THE KOOPLES<br />
Photographed by MARK BENJAMIN Styled by KIRBY ELLIS<br />
Grooming by ALICIA MARIE CAMPBELL<br />
Model GUSTAVO SANCHES @FUSION MODELS NYC
Suit THE KOOPLES<br />
Shirt THE KOOPLES<br />
Rings SEARCH & DESTROY<br />
VINTAGE COAT<br />
Hat ART COMES FIRST<br />
Rings SEARCH & DESTROY<br />
Waxed Jeans THE KOOPLES
Hat ART COMES FIRST<br />
Waxed Jeans THE KOOPLES<br />
VINTAGE HAT
Hat ART COMES FIRST<br />
Rings SEARCH & DESTROY