Wednesday, November 23, 2022

An Interview with Alice Cohen




   JBJ: Ok. Let me get back to you on Friday when I know what's up? Shouldnt be later than noon but I usually get 
     off work at 4 or 5.

AC: Ok that might work out
JBJ: Ok cool! It'll get figured. Thanks so much!

    AC: My bandmate Adrian is getting married on Saturday, and I offered to help w 
last minute things on Friday, like picking up their cake. But i’m sure we can figure it outt
JB: ok great



Their’s won’t be quite that big 😂
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
lollllllll





 Josh Brown

Hello Alice!!

alice cohen
ok we got it

Josh Brown
hoorah!!
how you doing this afternoon? getting ready for shabbos?!

alice cohen
I am getting ready for a wedding tomorrow

Josh Brown
Hoorah! G-d bless!





alice cohen
yes indeed
Think it will be a blessed wedding

Josh Brown
YES! A BLESSED UNION!
And you have this new single out
That I really loveeeeeeee. A real ear worm.

alice cohen
Yes new single out
Thank you so much!

Josh Brown
omgosh
i still have my copy
of artificial fairytales in my car
that is worn down
from play
"dirty" dave lackner (woodwinds, founder of galtta media) gave it to me the first time he came to my ranch

alice cohen
Yes indeed!

Josh Brown
and i just bumped it in my car that whole summer

alice cohen
I will see Dave tomorrow G-D willing

Josh Brown
its like a whitney houston album
OMGOSH!

alice cohen
Oh thank you

Josh Brown
He's got the bay-bay!!

alice cohen
Dave is best man
Adrian will soon be a dad too

Josh Brown
its sophistipop superstar adrian knight's right??

alice cohen
Very fertile band
Damn straight

Josh Brown
he is another star in the galtta media galaxy
hahahah

alice cohen
For sure
Mad genius

Josh Brown
i love those dudes

alice cohen
moi aussi
likewise

Josh Brown
also blue jazz tv
the best bjtv song
isnt even online
DOUBLE WIDE
FROM BLUE RAGU #2
BEST ALBUM

alice cohen
that one is coming, in the pipeline
yes - live version - true

Josh Brown




this was my first exposure
to galtta media

alice cohen
Oh yeah
Good call

Josh Brown
i was like

alice cohen
BJ Rubin show

Josh Brown
are they lip syncing?!?!?? wtf??
yahhhhhh
bj rubin b cool

alice cohen
BJ is officiating the wedding tomorrow

Josh Brown
i knew him when i was like a teenager
OMGOSH

alice cohen
One big happy family

Josh Brown
HILARIOUS
hes a funny funny man

alice cohen
He is also directing a video for me, we shot this weekend. Will be out in June
Very funny dude yeah

Josh Brown
he wouldnt talk to me but id stand close ot his conversations and find out what good british tv was coming out by eaves dropping
OMGOSH
hilarious!!

alice cohen
Old old friend as well

Josh Brown
he gets down hard
i lovee
the cd packaging
for blue ragu #2

alice cohen
Yeah a character for sure

Josh Brown
i have a bunch of galtta in the packaging
in mint condition
cause its gold
as far as im concerned

alice cohen
Best label

Josh Brown
omgosh
totally
not a bad release
and the sophistipop alone is like a volume of music
also max zuckerman solo is balls deep

alice cohen
true true
amaze balls yes

Josh Brown
also billy g robinson and dave is balls deep

alice cohen
for sho

Josh Brown
also adrian solo

alice cohen
no joke

Josh Brown
anywhoozle
how did you meet these jokers?

alice cohen
So, I met Adrian at a gig I was playing, which our friend Genevieve put together (also known as "LAUDS") - it was her record release show, and I was one of the acts. Adrian was in the audience. By the way, you should check her stuff out - she is mega -brilliant

alice cohen
And connected to Galtta as well

alice cohen
all dem cats is gold yo



Josh Brown



alice cohen
Genevieve Kamel Morris

Josh Brown
this LAUDS stuff is cool!

alice cohen
Josh Brown
have you done any infamous dave lackner wedding band or casino gigs??

alice cohen
Dave put together a wedding band gig once, that I sang in - that was the only one

Josh Brown
OMGOSH
did you have to do mustang sally??
whatd u guys do?

alice cohen
For the wedding we did - i forget. Proud mary? build me up buttercup? a bunch of stuff
Michael jackson etc

Josh Brown
lol lovely

alice cohen
there were three singers

Josh Brown
hahaha

alice cohen
anyway, adrian was at a gig i played and liked my stuff, we met up where dave used to bartend
then i met dave

Josh Brown
what was the lead up like into the albums with dave and adrian?
how many have you done with them?

alice cohen
2 now

Josh Brown
ohhhhhh
amazing
i thought i might have missed one
artificial fairytales is a classic

alice cohen
basically them adding parts to mine, but keep on keeping on we wrote all together

Josh Brown



bingo!

alice cohen
artificial fairytales and the new one, moonrising

Josh Brown
whoa! moonrising! awesome title!!  this was my favorite song artificial fairytales, one of my favorite songs in general




alice cohen
we also had the pleasure of traveling to Berlin together in 2016. By the way, the only reason I haven't recorded with the other band members was the pandemic messed it up

Josh Brown
oh noooooo

alice cohen
thanks so much
I recorded mostly alone, and Zach had gone to Belgium for a bit
And Ryan was in Europe for a bit when the pandemic hit

Josh Brown
adrian was on an album i made over covid and when dave was less busy i had him make me a huge sample pack i still use regularly of him tooting
oh wow

alice cohen
so i ended up recording mostly solo, as i do

Josh Brown
wowwwwwww

alice cohen
but full-band project coming next

Josh Brown
what sort of gear do you use??

alice cohen
I record w protools

Josh Brown
i was surprised what adrian knight uses (a bio hazard, a microkorg hand programmed))

alice cohen
I use a linn drum and record drum by drum, with a click

Josh Brown
OHHHHH
ive seen that box

alice cohen
drum by drum that is

Josh Brown
in dave's place in ct

alice cohen
i have an old yamaha drum machine too

Josh Brown
youre drum programming is immaculate btw!!

alice cohen
that one was mine

Josh Brown
yessssssss

alice cohen
it is not programmed at all lol

Josh Brown
linn drumms are so good

alice cohen
it is played LIVE

Josh Brown
WHOA

alice cohen
like i said, not programmed

Josh Brown
you actually tap out the rhythms manually??

alice cohen
drum by drum w click
yes tap it

Josh Brown
ohhhhhhhhhhhhh
mind blown
jaw meet floor

alice cohen
that's my way
all my albums are that

Josh Brown
you have robotic time, alice lol

alice cohen
i don't
there are sloppy bits that can sometimes be adjusted, but it's 99 percent as is

Josh Brown
whoaaaaaaaaa
what synths do you use?

alice cohen
i used a fair amount of yamaha dx 7 on this one
also have a newer roland juno ds - which i got because it is very light for gigging
but actually sounds pretty good

Josh Brown
whoa very classy!!
how do you come up with lyrics?

alice cohen
i don't know
been doing that for a long time, it just comes to me
a phrase, then goes from there

Josh Brown
what is your musical background from a technical standpoint?

alice cohen
my parents were amazing jazz pianists so i grew up with it, and it is in my blood
i taught myself to play piano by ear
first song: 10 little indians

Josh Brown
amazing!!
^Hidden Staircase off of Artificial Fairytales

alice cohen
Then when I was in 3rd grade or so i studied piano at the Settlement Music school in Philly

Josh Brown
wow!!

alice cohen
Then in high school took some ear training etc at Curtis Music school, for high school credit
I went to an alternative high school
But mainly listened to records and played the piano in our basement - learning Bowie songs etc

Josh Brown
whoaaa
favorite bowie album/era??

alice cohen
My dad had a 2-track recording studio he built in our basement
First Bowie albums I bought were: Hunky Dory, Aladdin Sane, Pin Ups, Ziggy Stardust, Man who Sold the world etc
There were record store/head shop type places on Sansom street in Philly in the 70s...very glam rock, glitter rock etc
And Bowie came and played the Tower theater for a week, I went three nights

Josh Brown
omgosh
that must have rocked

alice cohen
And he recorded young americans at sigma sound studio so it was a big philly thing when i was 15 or so
yes this was all extremely influential stuff for me

Josh Brown
^Faces in the Rain off of Artifical Fairytales
hoorah
so
favorite bowie song??
i decided on "when you rock n roll with me" a long time ago
cause some times people just make up their minds

alice cohen
I think man who sold the world has some very trippy stuff on it, like wild eyed boy from freecloud, letter to hermione...almost hippie in flavor and i love that merging of hippie and glitter and almost acid trip feeling

Josh Brown
whoa
good call
so what were your first projects/bands like?
were you already writing music before that?

alice cohen
i started writing at a young age
i remember a song i wrote at overnight camp when i was twelve, on guitar - but it was co-written with my friend there, Barbara Witherwax or Weatherwax. And it was called "I don't want to leave so soon" and it was about leaving camp at the end of the summer, and the chorus went "I don't want to leave so soon, and i love the sun and the (something)and the moon, I really love the stars at night, and I love you to hold me tight"
kind of hippie
i forgot one part of the line

Josh Brown
hahahaha
amazing
i also went to summer camp
for 7 years
a jewish one
they couldnt get rid of me fast enough

alice cohen
the verses were like - "the sun will rise, and i will rise and i'll stretch my arms and i rub my eyes, no i really don't want to leave so soon, no i really don't want to leave..so soon..."
lol

Josh Brown
LOLLLLLLL
omgosh

alice cohen
i think i went to a jewish day camp one year
didn't like it
this was an arts camp

Josh Brown
your lucky
mine was a sports camp
the best thing that ever happened there
is some campers sang white rabbit at the talent show before anyone could stop them lol

alice cohen
camp was fun, lots of weird formative memories
lol

Josh Brown
also this dude break danced to kraftwerk

alice cohen
lol

Josh Brown
that was pretty formative for a jewish summer camp

alice cohen
we acted out "the beatles"

Josh Brown
LOL
tell me how thats done

alice cohen
by putting our hair in our face, and some campers made signs saying "SCREAM"
ahhhhahahahaha

Josh Brown
LOLLLLLLLLLLL
omgosh
was that your talent??

alice cohen
I learned "close your eyes and i'll kiss you, tomorrow i'll miss you" song at camp

Josh Brown
omgosh

alice cohen
it was a "skit"

Josh Brown
thats my fave beatles song

alice cohen
not a talent show
we had skits

Josh Brown
ohhhhhhhhh
skits at camp SUCK
did you have color war??

alice cohen
the beatles one was fun
i think color war - yeah, i think so

Josh Brown
do you find the beatles relevant?

alice cohen
for me it was
my grandma got me revolver

Josh Brown
whoaaaaaaaaa

alice cohen
my mom took me to see help and hard days night
i got a crush on paul

Josh Brown
my mom saw beatles at shea

alice cohen
damn so lucky

Josh Brown
and she cant go a day without mentioning it

alice cohen
lucky
my uncles went. i was so jeaolous
not shea stadium but in cincinnati
I loved "get back"

Josh Brown
beatlemania is back in full effect

alice cohen
it was fucking incredible

Josh Brown
the movie?

alice cohen
the doc yes
did you see it
it's worth seeing seriously

Josh Brown
ohhh
i feel like
with 12 hours
i could get a chunk of my helicopters license banged out
my favorite thing about the beatles
is the conspiracy
to be honest

alice cohen
ok lol

Josh Brown
thats what keeps me coming back
i mean
common sense would tell us

alice cohen
it was weird

Josh Brown
mac is the most alive of the beatles

alice cohen
i remember the intrigue

Josh Brown
but hours of internet footage might convince you otherwise

alice cohen
very spooky for a kid

Josh Brown
yesssssssss
like

alice cohen
paul is dead on the backwards record

Josh Brown
i associate beatles with backmasking

alice cohen
why is he barefoot on abbey road etc

Josh Brown
anywayze, im listening to pink keys

alice cohen
enjoy!

Josh Brown
you put out 5 albums
in 7 years

alice cohen
moonrising is number 7

Josh Brown
according to spotify
ohhhh

alice cohen
oh i guess
what do they know

Josh Brown
im talking about
dave/adrian years

alice cohen
i barely understand spotify

Josh Brown
are these records all you?

alice cohen
yeah

Josh Brown
spotify is where music goes to die

alice cohen
i had some guest appearances on PK
hadn't met dave/adrian yet

Josh Brown
interesting
i have to give the others a relisten, i have heard pink keys a ton of times

alice cohen
Thor Harris from the swans plays percussion

Josh Brown
whoaaaaaaa

alice cohen
Autre Ne Veut sings back up
and also a guy named Danny Lane
These were in the time of "hypnagogic pop"

Josh Brown
rightttttttttt
so what are some of your other creative influences?
you also are gifted in visual arts, right?

alice cohen
I do like 90s stuff like Slint, and then stuff like Unwound

Josh Brown
i need to relisten to slint

alice cohen
a lot of 90s stuff i guess

Josh Brown
im a big math rocker

alice cohen
Spiderland - v important album
me too - i like math rock, and was in a few math-y bands too

Josh Brown
thoughts on don caballero?

alice cohen
Espadrille was a bit mathy, and before that or maybe after, i forget - La Machine. I need to digitize that stuff. a lot was on A-dat

Josh Brown
whoa

alice cohen
Loved Don Cabellero and still have a cassette somewhere

Josh Brown
!!!!
xcellent
one of my faves

alice cohen
all that stuff was my thing. I dunno how i got so poppy again

Josh Brown
what were some more of your earlier bands like?

alice cohen
hard to find the players all the time to learn that stuff

Josh Brown
i know the vels cause my friend had that cd and bought it because he loved the cover art

alice cohen
First band, Fun City was a funk band in Philly

Josh Brown
damnnn
love the funk
flavor funk?
i was in a hard funk band ala isleys/funkadelic for like 3 years lol

alice cohen
I sang, wrote and played keys, but we also did cover tunes liked "Hit me with your rhythm sticK" by ian dury
i'm gonna find a link

Josh Brown
awesome

alice cohen


here is fun city, our only thing we released:



we won a radio contest on WMMR and got to record the song at Sigma Sound

Josh Brown
omgosh
this is like
perfection

alice cohen
There was a battle of the bands. We didn't win. But the radio contest and record convince me to drop out of college and become a full time musician

Josh Brown
wowww
thats inspirational

alice cohen
it's a cool song and arrangement by i think larry gold - i need to look again
larry gold did macfadden and whitehead, aint no stopping us now
so i was around all these people while coming up in the philly music scene. so many talented musicians and bands there

Josh Brown
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
amazing song
who else was popping up?

alice cohen
popping up when
back then?

Josh Brown
when you were doing this music
yeah
what were the other bands like

alice cohen
well my boyfriend mike radcliffe was a great bassist who also played with double exposure - so he was in fun city, and knew all these great players - let me get double exposure link hang on



But see, this was late 70s - so punk was coming out and the philly punk bands and art rock bands were insane

Josh Brown
ohh
like who?
this is really smooth

alice cohen
Stickmen



your mind will be blown

Josh Brown
I WAS JUST ABT TO SAY
MY MIND I BLOWN
i have like no point of reference for this

alice cohen


insane insane band
so talented
also bunnydrums, head cheese and executive slacks

Josh Brown
whoa



alice cohen
Head Cheese:


Oh Bunnydrums yeah
Great, great band

alice cohen
The Philly music scene then was FIRE




Josh Brown
i'm going to have to dive into this stuff

alice cohen
PLus there were after hours clubs with ALL the bands coming through - Depeche Mode, Madness, Lene Lovich, Echo and the Bunnydrums

Josh Brown
these acts got RHYTHM

alice cohen
all that stuff had huge influence
Gang of 4

Josh Brown
whoaaa great bands

alice cohen
Bow wow wow
great time for music, we went out every night

Josh Brown
damn
thats the dream

alice cohen
All the Stiff Records stuff was a huge influence - Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Lene Lovich, etc
The punk/funk/great songwriting all blending together

Josh Brown
amazing!

alice cohen
Those were my influences
The Pretenders

Josh Brown
i love the pretenders

alice cohen
The Vels played a gig with them, before their Live Aid gig

Josh Brown
niceeee
tell me more about the vels?



alice cohen
The Vels started in Philly, as a one-off gig at  place called the "Love Club" an underground club
we had three songs we played all night with a smoke machine, and a dr. rhythm drum machine by boss.

Josh Brown
classicccccccc

alice cohen
I played farfisa and string machine, we had bass and a mini korg

Josh Brown
wowwwwwwwwwww

alice cohen
it caught on, and we kept gigging, writing, then got signed to polygram/mercury
recorded at compass point. 

Josh Brown
whoaa

alice cohen
Chris Larkin (now deceased) and Charles Hanson are the other guys

Josh Brown
whats your favorite vels song?

alice cohen
Maybe Private World
Coming Attractions is nice too

Josh Brown


alice cohen
Right.

Josh Brown
the vels sound fresh as hell



alice cohen
There is a dub 12 inch with remixes on side B, The Hieroglyphics remix is nice
By Steve Stanley


this one

Josh Brown
oh wwwwwwwwhen and how is your new album out??

alice cohen
so the whole album comes out july 8'' *(2022))

Josh Brown
Are there any questions you'd want to ask yourself?

alice cohen
I don't know what i would ask myself but I'm always surprised and happy when people have an interest in what i do and/or enjoy listening!

Josh Brown
hoorah!!

alice cohen
thank you!
sounds good

Josh Brown
thank you alice!!

alice cohen
catch ya later josh!
it was a pleasure

Josh Brown
most definitely!




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