Alexander Biggs
Alexander Biggs is one of the most talented solo musicians in Australia today. Releasing his incredible self-recorded and self-produced debut album "Hit or Miss" out today (Feb 3rd) make sure to give it a listen, I'm sure you will love it as much as I do. Hazy Days Music would like to thank Alexander for taking the time out and having a chat.
Latest single "I've Been Holding onto You For Way Too Long" was released on the 20th of January and was co-written with Sam Burtt and Will Cuming. What is the story behind this single? How did the co-write come about? Does collaborating with friends make you feel more connected to the song?
"I've Been Holding onto You For Way Too Long" was a really cool song to come about. My publisher "Native Tongue" knew I was close to wrapping up my record and invited me down to their annual writers' retreat. I was given free rein to a studio where I could work on the record, which was a huge help because I was finding it difficult to mix out of my room. The camp was up on the Central Coast of New South Wales, and the first night I was there we all ended up staying up way too late drinking and hanging out, they had the new DMA'S song on repeat, blasting it out into the bush until like 4am.
"I've Been Holding onto You For Way Too Long" was co-written with my friends Sam Burtt (Sam Phay) and Will Cuming (LANKS). When I found out that Will was also at the camp, I reached out to him and said: "if you have a free day, let's write".
After that late night, I woke up and was excited to start this co-write. The main riff and vocal melody I wrote while sitting at the kitchen table before we went into the session and that's when my good friend Sam jumped into the co-write. We recorded in the lounge room next to the kitchen, and on the original demo, you can hear all these extra noises from people in the kitchen doing the dishes and all kinds of stuff throughout the day. I remember it being a weird day and that reinforced this serendipitous moment of this song coming together. Everything just clicked rhythmically with the song and I really wish they stayed in there for the final version but those noises were all over the vocal tracks, and I ended up re-recording the vocals at home.
That experience co-writing with Will and Sam was the beginning of something really good for me. I learned to relinquish the ego that comes with writing songs on your own. It was good that I was working with Will, he is a master of his craft and is really welcoming in the studio, for me to have two really good friends working with me was great.
I still have that original version somewhere, and I would love to put it out one day. There's a lot of vibe to that version. I think the vocals were just super pitchy so that's why I ended up re-recording them. I don't own any vocal pitching software, and I refuse to pay for Melodyne or any other program haha. I don’t refuse to buy it out of being some traditionalist or anything like that haha, it’s just because I can’t afford it, so I have no choice but to redo it.
I don't tend to always feel connected with every co-write I do. I guess I was just channelling something that day that made it feel really important to me, and this was not just another slapping together words. (which is fine too, but I don’t tend to release the songs that are made just for fun).
Debut album "Hit or Miss" is out February 3rd (today!). It's an amazing record! I find every time I listen I'm picking a new favourite song off the album. How did you find making this record? Did COVID affect the time of the release at all? Do you have a favourite track?
"Hit or Miss" has been a culmination of 3 years of material and I've probably written over 60 different songs for this record in various forms. It's a close record for me, very personal and I feel like it's a good imprint of those years, a good timestamp of where I was and where I've been, and hopefully, it's special to everyone else as well.
COVID/Lockdown in a way pushed the album out. Initially, I wanted to go full steam ahead and release the album in 2020. In the end, we decided it was best to release more singles and allow each song to breathe on their own before the whole thing came out. I wasn't rushed to put the record out, and lockdown did make me question if this was a good time to release music. I think whether the record came out last year or this year, it wouldn't have made too much difference to me. 2021 felt nice. There was something about the number that felt good to me to put my debut record out this year.
This record has been a rolling construction throughout the years, and that just speaks about how I work. Nothing is finished until the absolute endpoint. When I first put out my second ever single “Tidal Wave” I recorded the drums the week of the premiere on Triple J. I just procrastinate I guess, that's my superpower haha.
Especially with this album, but for all my releases, my songs feel like a big collection of friends. Each song has its own personality, and it's cool to remember them like you would remember an old friend, reminiscing about our time together and how that makes me feel. That's probably why I never have a favourite song of mine. They are all so different to me.
I think that's going to be the exciting part. It's just dawning on me that the album is coming out in a few weeks. To have one person, in a day that was changed by one of my songs, hearing it differently from the first listen and is moved just a tiny bit, makes it all worth it.
You have one more collaboration on "Hit or Miss" for the song "All I Know" ft Wilsen. Are collaborations something you have been seeking out to do more of? What was the experience like working with Wilson?
I was in New York when I worked with Tasmin Wilson from "Wilsen" on "All I Know". We had two days of co-writing booked in and on the first day, we kind of pissed it away, nothing was coming, and we were still finding our groove together, we had only met each other that morning. It can take a bit of time to get on the same page when you only meet the other person that day when co-writing. I'm glad we stuck it out because, on the second day we clicked and it all came together, we wrote the song in half a day and got it recorded.
I remember leaving the session, and before returning to where I was staying in Queens, I spent the afternoon walking around Manhattan with my headphones on, listening to the demo we just made on repeat for hours. I knew then we had made something really special together. I'll release that demo on Bandcamp at some point, that version is a bit janky and off, we both had to redo our vocals from home in the end. It still has a lot of charm, that version is just a bit staticky.
My publisher “Native Tongue” hosts these annual writers retreat camps, where all their artists are invited away. It's a revolving cast of artists, not everyone is always there, but they get in as many of their artists and songwriters involved as possible. That was kind of how I got signed to Native Tongue in the beginning. I was invited down to one of these camps just so they could test me out I guess ("trial by fire”). It's located up on the central coast of New South Wales, I think it's called “The Grove Studios”, INXS used to own it, probably still do. It's an amazing place to go and work on music. It has six studios, on this beautiful estate with ponds, lush bushland, and everything you could want really. I love going to them.
Co-writing environments can be interesting. It has it's pros and cons when it comes to whether we are writing music for me or for someone else.
When it comes to me, I am a solo type of person, and when it comes to Alexander Biggs, I like to do it solo. My writing style is a lot of ruminations and meditations on my own thoughts. And you can do that in a room for sure, but I never write music looking for singles or anything, and I don’t need anyone to help me write a hit, because that's not my speed or why I write music.
When Native Tongue first signed me, a lot of things were happening around that time. When I first got into co-writing I found it very hard if I was the artist in the session that was being written for. I never used to sort out co-writes with other artists/songwriters, I just used to get put in a room with someone, and they'd tell me to do this thing and don't worry about it, it'll be cool. I don't want to derive any of the efforts that go into organising collaborations. Personally, I just was so not ready for any of that experience at the time.
These days I love writing for other people. I’m a big song nerd and it's cool to flex a bit of pop writing every now and again, because I don't always get that opportunity to write in that style. I did a good session with Eliott the other year. Eliott is a really special artist.
Do you have any big plans to celebrate the release of “Hit or Miss”? Recently playing a couple of shows in Victoria since restrictions have eased, how were they and how’d it feel playing in front of a crowd again? Can we expect an album tour to be announced soon?
I’d love to host a listening party. That's something I have always dreamed of doing. It would be great to have everyone who has helped out on the album, people who have supported me over the years and loved ones in the same place, plus a few fans as well. It would be really nice to play “Hit or Miss” and listen to some other music, just enjoy each other's company for the night.
I still have a few vinyls available on Bandcamp if anyone is looking to grab a copy.
We are looking to book some in shows for an album tour. Currently, it’s just a bit hard right now with all the different rules and restrictions in place. Keep an eye on my socials for any updates.
I’ve played two shows in Victoria since the lockdown restrictions have eased. The first show I played was with RAT!hammock at the end of last year, and I recently supported Bec Stevens at Stay Gold. It was great to see that everyone is as keen as ever to head down to live music. Both shows were sold out, and it reinforced that I do enjoy playing live music. I missed it last year, but I was begging to think I only missed it because I hadn’t played live in such a long time. I definitely want to play as much as possible in 2021.
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