ALSO is a three piece alternative rock act from Los Angeles, California. The project of Drew Conrad, Mark Zelen and Scotland Stephenson, the unsigned trio (who may tour India soon) talk to us about the name of their band, life without a label and releasing singles instead of albums.

How did the band come together? What’s the story behind the name ALSO?
Scotland and Mark were both in many gigging bands on the East coast from the time that they were teenagers. Mark had a band in Pittsburgh that attracted major label interest and opened up for acts such as Nirvana, Green Day, Modern English and others. Ultimately though, the two of them independently decided to pursue something more and headed to Los Angeles with little more than music gear.  I (Drew) was having some success with my own band here in LA but needed a new bassist. Mark replied to my “bassist needed” ad and we hit it off immediately. There were various troubles with that band so we decided to start something new together. Scotland had just moved to LA and answered a “drummer wanted” posting and ALSO was born.

As for the meaning behind the band name? The word “also” itself implies possibility. The glass is half empty, true, but it is also half full. There is darkness in life, but there is also light. The band name ALSO was chosen to be a constant reminder that there are many ways to look at any given situation. What one may view as a failure, another may see as something from which to learn, and turn that seeming failure into success. This is a constant theme in much of our music.

How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it before?
We genuinely write from our hearts. We’re not looking for a formula to success. We write what we feel. If one of us has an idea, we try it, no matter what. Lyrically, the subject matter is not always light, but neither is life. We like to address the difficulties and uncertainties of life with a bit of hope. This of course goes back to the meaning of the band name. As for the feel itself, the band is indie rock – vocally driven with solid musicianship all around. The comparisons we tend to hear most often are The Smiths, Elbow, Echo & the Bunnymen and Jeff Buckley. We certainly take each of these as compliments! A poetic fan in Norway described our music as “Melancholic and sweet. Drew’s voice is like dark chocolate, and the instruments like vanilla. Great mix! When I listen to this CD I picture the snow melting and the sun rise. I love it because it fits so perfectly into my life. Summer in the city. Urban Indie. Gotta love it!”

ALSO is currently an unsigned act. That, of course, poses its own set of opportunities and challenges. With the internet and online tools do you think that bands, even in saturated markets like LA, are equipped enough to do without the backing of a label?
It is undeniably an interesting time in the industry. A couple of years ago, a person who was in the past quite well-known in music public relations told us after a gig “You know, I have to be honest guys…if this were back when I was in the music business, you would easily have been signed long ago”. That was both frustrating and flattering to hear. But at the same time, the opportunities today are amazing. We connect with fans on a daily basis around the globe via the internet. And when we’ve got enough interest somewhere, we get to work on booking a tour. In 2005, after playing locally for a couple of years, we decided to tour Europe. We simply decided to make it happen. And now, a few years later, the buzz is growing and we’re getting ready to go to Europe for the fourth time this summer. Would we like to have a good like-minded label behind us? Or management? Absolutely. But until that happens, we’re on our own and not complaining about it. If your readers like what we are doing enough, we’ll make a tour to India happen. Why not?!

You’ve recently spent some time in studio. Are you working on a new album? If so, can give us some details about it.
As a completely independent band, finances can be quite tough. For that reason, we’ve decided to get into the studio as often as possible and just keep releasing singles. We don’t want to wait until we have enough money to record a full-length album to get back in the studio. Once we have a few singles completed, we might combine and release them together as an EP. We’ve just finished recording 4 new tracks – ‘True’, ‘Mayfly’, ‘Frost’ and ‘I Love You’. They need to be mixed down but so far we are  quite happy with the tracks and will get those released as soon as possible.

Top five songs on your respective iPods right now.
Scotland
Elbow – ‘The Bones of You’
Keane – ‘Spiraling’
Return to Forever – ‘Jungle Waterfall’
Kings of Convenience – ‘I’d Rather Dance With You’
James Brown – ‘There It Is’

Mark
Cake – ‘Daria’
Psychedelic Furs – ‘No Easy Street’
Bad Brains – ‘Hired Guns’
David Bowie – ‘Criminal World’
Stump – ‘Alcohol’

Drew
The Beach Boys – ‘Let’s Go Away for Awhile’
Depeche Mode – ‘Precious’
The 5th Dimension – ‘Up, Up and Away’
Band of Horses – ‘Is There a Ghost’
Boston – ‘Don’t Look Back’

Download: ‘By Now You Should Know’ – ALSO
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ALSO on MySpace