QUARTET: Alabama Shakes have never enjoyed as much success with their singles as albums.
By Geoffrey Rowlands
Some artists are equally popular with singles and album buyers. Others tend to sell rather more of one format than the other.
No single by roots rockers Alabama Shakes has peaked higher than the number 93 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 reached by their 2012 debut, Hold On. But the Athens, Alabama, quartet shot straight to pole position on the Billboard 200 with their sophomore album, “Sound & Color.”
“We were cautiously optimistic,” explained singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and band founder Brittany Howard. “Our first album, ‘Boys & Girls,’ hit number six three years ago. I’d say we’ve increased our fan following since then so we hoped the new album would do well.
“It would be nice to sell more singles. I don’t know if maybe it’s our image rather than our sound which holds us back on the singles market. But we’re not complaining, we’re just happy that so many people enjoy our music enough to buy the albums.”
Now in her mid-20s, Brittany has been making music since she was three.
“My great-uncle had a bluegrass band. One of their songs was a version of Elvis Presley’s Hound Dog. This was my favourite when I was a little kid. I used to sing it pretending to be Elvis.
“I became more self-conscious as I got older. I loved the church choir. I would sing along with them from the pews but had no intention of ever actually joining the choir.”
The desire to form a band saw Brittany overcome her shyness. The problem was that none of her friends were musicians.
“Athens is such a small place that there wasn’t much of a local music scene and I knew no-one around my age who could play anything. So, I taught some of my friends. I started playing bass guitar so I taught this to one of my friends. Then it was lead guitar, then piano, then drums.”
Unfortunately, none of her friends had Brittany’s inherent musical ability. Her frustration was lifted by the discovery that Zac Cockrell, a fellow student at her high school, was an accomplished bass guitarist.
“Zac was just like me, he loved all kinds of music. We’d have jam sessions, write songs and introduce each other to a wide variety of music.
“My bedroom became our recording studio. We had all kinds of instruments, a computer, recording equipment, so much stuff that there was hardly any room for my bed. We played all the instruments so we actually sounded like a full band.”
Having found her bass player, Brittany’s drummer emerged after Zac gave a CD of their songs to Steve Johnson, the man behind the counter at Athens’ only music shop.
“I went into the store to check out the new records and Steve told me he loved our songs. He said he’d like to be our drummer but realised we already had a pretty good drummer. I explained how we recorded the songs and, no, we didn’t have a drummer. That’s when we became a trio.”
They worked together so well that money was spent to record some songs at a professional studio in Decatur, Alabama. Steve passed on these recordings to his friend Heath Fogg, lead guitarist in a popular local covers band named Tuco’s Pistol. The hope was for an invitation to open one of their gigs. They got the invitation and found their final bandmate.
“Heath liked our songs so much that he played with us at the gig. After that, he just kind of stuck around and soon became a regular member.”
The quartet all moved into a house which Brittany inherited from her grandfather. Their jam sessions brought forth songs which would appear on Alabama Shakes’ self-titled 2011 debut EP.
The EP was made available online. As word about the band spread like wildfire over the Internet, so small local venues became much larger stages across America and overseas. In little more than a year, they progressed from relative obscurity in rural Alabama to appearances on top television shows and sold out concerts in New York and London.
“It was amazing. ‘Boys & Girls’ was even more popular in England than America. It reached number three.
“I’m so happy to have the three guys to write and play songs with. All I ever really wanted to do was earn a living from making music. The success we’ve had is a massive bonus.”
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Zedd
Russian-born, but Germany-raised, electronic dance music DJ/producer Zedd has just released his second album, “True Colors.”
I Want You To Know was issued in February as the lead single. Featuring vocals by Selena Gomez, the video can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=X46t8ZFqUB4
Addicted To A Memory has also been released as a promotional track. Guest vocals are provided by the American all-girl trio Bahari. The song is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqJiXLJs_Pg
Beautiful Now is set to be the next single. The vocalist is American singer, rapper, songwriter and producer Jon Bellion. The track is available to hear at www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tHZ352XPxk
Zedd’s 2012 debut album, “Clarity,” can be heard in full at www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lx8ZskLDow
Third Eye Blind
American alternative rockers Third Eye Blind release their first album for six years next month.
“Dopamine” is the band’s fifth studio album, the long-awaited follow-up to “Ursa Major.” It was created over the course of five years. Some of the delay was due to the writer’s block suffered by frontman and songwriter Stephan Jenkins.
Lead single, Everything Is Easy, can be heard at www.youtube.com/watch?v=f199KPLxVZY
A live performance of Anything, a track from the band’s 1999 sophomore album, “Blue,” can be acquired for free from (no www.) thirdeyeblind.com/. It is offered in exchange for your email address. The link is posted at the foot of the webpage.
The studio version of Anything is at www.youtube.com/watch?v=glPS5I40xsU
Sam Smith
Sam Smith is the latest big name artist to suffer voice problems. The multiple Grammy-winning singer is reluctantly taking a two month break from performing to recover from surgery on his vocal chords.
The 23-year-old Londoner originally suffered a vocal chord haemorrhage during a concert in Sydney on the Australian leg of his world tour. Although he initially hoped a full recovery could be made through treatment and rest, it was quickly realised that corrective surgery was required.
Fans will have to be content with Sam’s recordings for a while. The deluxe edition of his Grammy-winning debut album, “In The Lonely Hour,” is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6qnVkm9EdA
Dancetronauts
Electronic dance music collective Dancetronauts recently released their six-song album, “Cleared For Transmission.”
Under the creative direction of New York-born Philip Plastina, also known as Captain PhilthyPhil, the avant-garde Dancetronauts offer a complete visual experience in addition to their EDM sounds. The cast of performers include highly talented dancers and acrobatic artists who have worked with world-renowned troupes such as Cirque du Soleil.
Their music is available to hear at (no www.) soundcloud.com/dancetronauts. Many of the postings are offered for free download. These include Space Gear, the lead single from “Cleared For Transmission.”
T-Pain
It is four years since rapper T-Pain issued his last studio album, “Revolver.”
A new LP will be out in September but fans can now hear his recently released 20-song mixtape, “The Iron Way.” Featuring a host of guest artists, the recording is available for free download at www.datpiff.com/T-Pain-The-Iron-Way-mixtape.680203.html
