Alice Austin, Singer-Songwriter

  Welcome back friends to our podcast, your world of creativity, where we travel around the world, talking to creative practitioners of all kinds about how they get inspired, how they organize those ideas. And most of all, how they gain the confidence and the connections to launch their work out into the world.

And today I'm so happy to be talking to singer songwriter, Alice Austin. Alice, welcome to the show. Thank you so much, Mark. Thanks for having me. It's nice to be here and talking to you. Thanks. You were born in Vermont and now living and working out of L. A. We've caught up with you mid tour, city to city travel, so I know that can be both exciting and tiring. So thanks for making time for us. You're welcome. As I was listening and reading about your music I was going to say it defies labeling and genre, but really I think it's because you enjoy writing and singing all sorts of genres from punk., some soft rock and country rock even. How do you decide, or, it's your choice. I saw on your Facebook, it's I do what I want. You're really making the decision on how that music comes out. How are you guided?

to do that? Great question. A lot of times with the creative element has to lead the way and then I have to figure out the rest of it later as far as how to present it and marketing. Because it doesn't make a lot of sense. I think a lot of artists find their genre and they stick to it.

But I just think that over the years, and this has been decades that I've been playing, not just years. I just. Like we'll have an inspiration for something and I'll just take off and run with it and not where know where it's going And it'll take shape in the studio And I don't even know what kind of song it is.

I just write songs and then I work with a producer who's great who Will help me stylize things if I don't have a particular vision about exactly how I want it to be for example And I think that finding your voice as an artist is really key if you're going to do something like that because I don't sing with any kind of like indie rock accent.

I just sing with a pure kind of voice, whether I'm singing metal or whether I'm singing, sort of country or Americana. It's still, people always say it still sounds like you. It doesn't matter, like for some reason. And I think a good example. For me is someone like Beck who has done so many different genres and it just sounds like Beck.

So that's always been something that is an important artistic freedom to me is to be able to just spread out that way. And like you said, your career spans many years, many bands many songs. How does the collaboration, you started with a band called Zola Turn Queen Tangerine, The Lavas, even these names are great.

And I can imagine how the collaboration might influence, the presentation or production of the song. How has that been for you? Yeah, totally. Collaborating with people has been the exercise in thinking that is going to take me somewhere else, and it absolutely has, but never in the ways that I think it's going to.

It's been an exercise in surrendering the ego to something greater and re and thinking that I'm good at it until I get inside there and I'm like, oh, this is really hard. This is really hard. I've lost control of this ego. this creative element and if I can get myself there it always is something like so much greater than the sum of the parts if I'm working with the right people.

So I think that's happened more and more the older I get and the more the more writing I've done and I don't need to do that. I have tons and tons of songs, but I feel as though I do need to do it as far as going somewhere different with the material and being able to. Everybody has a different bag of tricks to draw from.

I have my own, and when you're really working with someone who's able to set their ego aside, and you are too, it's mind blowing to see wow, this is this is nothing I would ever come up with on my own. Yes. Alice, maybe it's the maturity talking, but rock stars are not famous for letting their egos go.

What have you, what, what experiences have led you to trusting, letting go a little bit and letting some others guide. That's funny that you say that because ultimately I think that the rock stars are famous for letting their ego go because in a performance. When you're seeing somebody strutting around on stage, for example, they're not, they're like drawing from something greater than themselves.

It's not even, sure. we know there are so many egos involved and that's always a battle. But I think the people that have the most success are actually able to get to set that aside and see the difference between when you are in the flow of something that is beyond your own creation. And that's always the goal for me is that it's a dead end.

If I'm going to think of something that I'm creating is something that. I'm creating it. It's wow, instant writer's block. But if you're just like, I'm going to open myself up and see what's there and just pull something out of the ether because it's a constant stream of things going by. It's a river.

And you just, you've, That's the creative process. Yes. We were talking about your album, Break the Spell, released just at a year ago. And some of the things I've read about it really felt like it was a quote, sharp turn, from your past musical styling. Was that purposeful on your part?

Or was it just what you were talking about earlier, just I needed to express something in a different way? It definitely was a departure from anything I'd done because most of what I had done before that was very rock based and it was, it's, this is more of a synth pop album, very retro, very specific to time period, 80s and all of the equipment used was like analog synths.

Huge project production wise and that process That was a really clear vision and it was a huge collaboration with my producer, Dave Druin. He was very much intrigued by the 80s period, still is, I am too. But it was a newer thing for me because what happened in my musical history of all my inspirations was I missed.

the 80s pop, the whole like, I loved Roxy music. There's a lot of I loved Cyndi Lauper, but there was a lot of holes there because I was more rock based and more listening to Van Halen, ACDC. And I'll get to this part next. Cause I really want to talk about that. So I had this kind of like new fascination with this old music and a lot of it.

was like really inspiring to me to hear it through the filter of production and listen in the way that it's like the instrumentation, the songwriting, everything. So it was a challenge that I really wanted to do with Dave and he was really into it as well. So we actually wrote a

stylized the ones that I had written that were more like indie rock based to produce them in more of a, like a synth pop way. And he and the drummer and everybody in the my the engineer, Tim Phillips, they really nailed the whole context of it. And it just did what I had intended, which is it transports you to time and space.

It's like instantly this feels so familiar, but I've never heard it. I love those influences and I was curious too about, I guess from a content was there nostalgia? Was there events that you either said I wanted to remember and, tell the stories of, or as you said, maybe experiences missed and You wanted to relive them a bit.

A little bit of everything in that album. Some of it some of it was more current and then some of it was stories. It was fantastical. I guess some of it was, I overhear a lot of conversations from people and then create a story around it. It's not really, some of it isn't about me at all. Um, but.

the content isn't necessarily nostalgic. It's current, I would say, more immediate emotionally. Can you relate to a particular track and you share the story behind one of the songs? Sure. The first one that comes to mind is a song called Headlights, and it's probably, One of the heaviest songs emotionally on the record, which is about when you, your relationship gets to that place of where you're not communicating anymore, and you've I wouldn't say that you've given up, but you're just a deer in the headlights.

And it's that feeling of being frozen and what am I going to do here? Am I going to make the decision to take a risk and see how I really feel? Or am I going to bury my feelings and just try to get through this and see what happens? Fantastic. I'll listen to it again with different ears now that I know that background.

Yeah. And after releasing Break the Spell you wanted to release some other songs, but maybe even as we've been talking about the creative process, releasing and marketing some songs in a whole different way. This I, should I call it an album? Neon Pink? Yeah. It's collection of, a full album.

Great. Yeah. Tell us how you decided to take that direction. After I did all of the marketing and release of Break the Spell, I just felt it takes a toll on you doing all that as an artist because these days we're expected to do everything. You do everything, if you're an indie artist, you do all of your marketing yourself.

And it's not natural to me. It never has been. Some people are really great at it, but it's a reach for me. Just it's it's soul sucking to put yourself out there on social media. And you have to figure out a way to do it. That's authentic to you. And that's a real process. I am not there yet.

So it's like my recovery as songwriting. It's like getting back to, it's very grounding. It's getting back to what feels real. So I just had an outpouring of songs that were that felt, that brought me back there. And I decided to put out an album that was acoustic and it's just vocals and guitar, no production.

It's just. The simplest thing I could have done and the only marketing I did with it was I basically did like a, a few posts about it and I was like, here's my record. Barely has any lessons, but I honestly just did it for myself and I love the album. I made a little lyrics book with it as well, because I felt like the lyrics really meant something to me that was, it was pretty intense.

Making that. It's my first published book and it's actually out of print now. I only made, I don't know, maybe 20 of them and they sold out and I'm just going to leave it that way for now. I love that. And it's so interesting. You talk about, barely any listens. It's very humbling sometimes, isn't it?

But also as it is therapeutic, and you talk about it can be healing. It's interesting how music does that to us. Yeah it's reminds you of why you're doing it and keeps it real because everything I do, I want it to be from the heart. I'm not really my wins as an artist, sure, we all want as much success as we can get in this sort of, material way where you're being seen and heard by people and you're getting compensated for it monetarily.

But I don't think you can do that unless you really stay true to what you're making. And now you're out on the road. Touring and a lot of people say that's grueling. That can be as you to use your word soul sucking, but it also can be inspiring. The people, the the crowds, the applause.

There's something that kind of feeds and recharges on that too, right? Yeah, absolutely. It's it's a whole different like mindset than the writing and production and studio thing. And it takes a minute to change gears, but it's really a beautiful thing. It feels when I can think of it as a service for people, it feels really good.

Like I can get in my head and start feeling like, especially when I was younger, like I have to prove myself. There's this sort of competition feeling, but if I ever start thinking that way again, all I do is look at people, make eye contact with people in the audience and sing to them.

It's really simple. I love that approach. Certainly do. And do you have do you take time in these various cities to get out? Get a little creative inspiration from the different environments. Yeah. Yeah, I do. I, it's usually not of my choosing. It's there's travel days and there's days off.

So like when you're touring, you don't necessarily have a Friday or Saturday off. It's, Monday, Tuesday shows sometimes don't happen. So those are good days to like cruise around and check out whatever's in the area. Sometimes it's just like, a couple of hours during dark stage where you can go out and get dinner or take a walk.

And I definitely make an effort to, if it's not full on sightseeing for a day, I try to at least take a walk around a city and do some people watching. Yeah, take in the culture a bit. Love that. Alice, we've been talking about your current and past work. I'd love to look ahead. What sort of things are you percolating on to maybe pursue down the road?

I have two different projects I'm really excited about. And one of them that is The closest to completion is a band called Tears on Denim and I alluded to the fact that there is something 80s and rock and this would be the thing. So we've just finished our final mixes of this album and I am so excited about it.

It's like I want to play it for everybody already, but we're right now we're figuring out our strategy for release. It's an East Coast, West Coast band. It's It's already been happening with with my friend and producer, Dave, who is fantastic guitar player, songwriter, and singer. So we've been already writing together and playing with the drummer who has played with him for years and just decided Hey, wait a minute.

We're like already a band. So let's like officially do something. So we decided to make, to create a name for our band and have a full on collaboration. Three of us. And so that came together so incredibly fast. Like Dave and I wrote songs over the phone, like 30 songs, chose 10. And in a matter of a couple of weeks, I was there recording in Massachusetts.

So that is all pretty much ready to go. And now we're just like figuring out our whole strategy to put it out into the world. Yes. And another project I'm working on, which is really great, is called Home Again, and it's a trio with myself and two other women who we've just started and we've only played one show together, but it's three part harmonies and acoustic guitar.

And a little bit of percussion, super stripped down, but huge vocals. And so far the response has been amazing. Very grassroots feeling. And we'll see what happens with that. Not much of a plan there. It's just it's a real giver. Yeah. Yeah. And look at that range. Even in you say, what's next? It's we've gone from 80s hairband maybe to a stripped down trio.

What a nice range. Yeah. And I also have coming up, I'm the lead singer for Black Sabbath, which is all female Black Sabbath. And we have, been touring a bit. We're heading out to Europe on August 1st. We're playing Wacken, which is the world's largest metal festival. We'll be playing in front of 80, 000 people, so I'm super excited about that.

Again, it's like a service. People want their Black Sabbath, and I feel so honored to be the person to be able to sing that. And people can get their fix. Give the people what they want. Yeah. All 80, 000 in a stadium. Yeah, exactly. That sounds like a lot of fun. Good luck with that. Thank you. Alice, you've shared so many great stories and your creative process.

As listeners who might be wondering where do I take my music career to the next level? There's a lot of artists that maybe have played in the corner of my coffee shop here, but are saying, I really want to take it to the next level. Where would you suggest they look? I love this question.

I think there are so many different opportunities and avenues. And I think that we tend to undervalue ourselves as we've been trained to not value what this service is that we're doing. We think of it as something we're doing for ourselves, which is good. But I always, when I start to get blocked when I'm trying to book shows for myself or I'm trying to create new opportunity, I noticed okay, what's going on here is that I'm not valuing what it is I have to offer because there's so much conditioning around competing with other musicians or Whatever you're doing, you're the only one doing exactly what you're doing.

And there is a market for it. And open your eyes because it's a constant stream of opportunity. And it may not look like what you think it is. So if you keep your mind open and you really talk to people about them and what they're doing, even if it's a fan of yours, find out what they do. And, I think that there's a lot of, I know in the past I've done a lot of over efforting with that.

And not spending enough time with the art. And people think the opposite. They think I need to just dial in my set and then just go out and play every place I can possibly play. You know what? You're going to burn yourself out and you're going to end up doing stuff you don't want to do.

And then you're going to get discouraged. You're going to start comparing yourself to other people on social media. But it doesn't matter what other people are doing because there's a different path for you. And I am always trying to figure out what it is for myself too. And no way do I think I have made it.

I think that no matter what level you're at, you're always going to be reaching for the next thing. And I'm trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing too in this day and age. But don't talk negatively about the music business. Just look for your opportunities. There are little avenues everywhere, and it happens all day, every day.

Alice, that's so good. I would love to rewind that a bit and underscore these two words, service and opportunity. Nowhere in that advice did I hear you say, you got to post 16 times a day on Instagram. You got to post so many YouTubes. You got to send out so many emails. You didn't have a formula.

You had a mindset. And I love that, even if it's playing the 80, 000 person stadium, you're still saying I'm there to give the people what they want. Yeah, I mean, for example, like, when I, so Black Savage is the most materially successful project that I'm in right now, for now. But the way that it came about, for example, is that I had a feeling something exciting was going to happen.

I had this feeling and I didn't know what it was. So in a way I was attuned to something and A friend of mine sent me their Instagram profile and they were looking for a new singer and I was like, huh, interesting. I've always covered Aussie songs or Black Sabbath songs acoustically with doing a very different version of it because I grew up with it and I've always loved it. But never did I ever think like I would be fronting this band. So I was like, Ooh, maybe I'll audition for this. So I did an audition and two weeks later I was playing Cal Jam, which is this huge festival. I was terrified. But it was like a huge leveling up. And I think it was actually because of my mindset.

I don't think. I didn't do anything. I just was, it was a natural progression and I was looking for opportunities and people knew I was looking for opportunities. I didn't even, and so it was like networking. A friend of mine sent me this thing and not even a close friend. It was just a random thing.

So that kind of mindset is what I also am always trying to remind myself of Oh, you don't, you do have to work, but it doesn't feel like work as much when you're Letting things happen. And you mentioned the connections. One person recommends and they suggest and they link and they connect.

Yeah, this is a big part. People talk about, oh, it's who you know. But it's really being open to some of those opportunities, isn't it? Those connections. They come your way. And if you say, ah, Too busy or no, I don't really know them or I'm too scared or whatever you know, you might react But you've really got to be open to them.

Don't you? Yeah, I mean I am scared and I don't approach people I don't I would never I feel so shy and I shouldn't of handing somebody to my CD or something and asking for something. It's more like through an acquaintance that is Hey, I thought of you because you're friends of my other friend, I'm doing this corporate party.

And I thought, and then that leads to another thing that's more of that sort of thing for me. And that's just my style. That's what works for me. I'm happy that. I've found that. I feel super lucky. And I know that won't work for everybody. And it's not easy. I just know that I can't send out a thousand emails trying to get what I want because my heart is not in it.

I can't, it's not, it's going to come through somehow that I don't feel confident doing that. Yes. Even in our conversation, you've got a great heart. You've got a great spirit. And it's different than what I expected that I was going to talk to the punk artist and the heavy metal, band leader.

But it's been fantastic getting to know you and listeners. You'll want to check out Alice's work at AliceAustinMusic. com. And also a great YouTube channel and all sorts of great posts on the Alice Austin Instagram handle. Alice, fantastic talking to you.

Thanks for spending some time with us, especially as you're getting out on the road this summer. Thank you so much, Mark. It's been a pleasure. And all the best. I can't wait to hear all the new work when it comes out. Keep us posted, will you? All right. Thank you, listeners, too. Yes.

, take a listen to the music. I think you'll really love it. And, of course, now that we've heard the stories behind the songs, we'll really love it even more. And we want to thank our sponsor, White Cloud Coffee Roasters. You can enjoy 10 percent off your coffee order when you use the code CREATIVITY.

At checkout, just go to whitecloudcoffee. com. And until next time, we'll be continuing our around the world travels to talk to creative practitioners about their inspiration, their organization, their connections, and most of all, their confidence to launch their work out into the world. Until next time, I'm Mark Stinson, and we'll keep unlocking your world of creativity.