ALOKE

The seeds of Aloke's second full-length ALIVE were sown in the summer of 2007. The New featuring Christian Zucconi of the indie rock collective Grouplove, headed to Chicago to record with legendary producer and noise merchant Steve Albini. But the album was ultimately shelved when things fell apart, as they often do for young bands.

"Aloke all grew up together in a working class town thirty miles north of the city- Ossining, New York, best known for housing Sing Sing prison, " Zucconi recalled about the band's humble beginnings and the artistic town which fostered their creativity. Today, bassist Paul DeCourcey makes and build guitars there. Lead guitarist Alex Walker is a classically trained and touring guitarist and drummer Alex Charpentier is a film maker and producer and a beast behind the kit. So there is something in the air, water… or whatever in Ossining, which appears to be a breeding ground for artistic pursuits.

Aloke got serious in 2004. "We had known and played together in high school and listened to all the same music," Zucconi noted. "In the mid-'00s, we made a go of it. Our influences were grunge, hardcore and post-punk-like Fugazi. I started playing guitar because of Nirvana. Honestly, we were awkward kids. Music was our survival mechanism. We didn't do it to impress. We had no lofty commercial aspiration. We needed to do it and enjoyed it." 

That's the most pure reason to embark on a music career, with Zucconi furthering, "We become ourselves when we all play music, it's how we communicate. It is cathartic. We would get in the room and improvise for hours."

While not signed or managed, Aloke still sought out the services of the iconic Albini. Zucconi said, "We were all huge fans of his records and we loved his sound- he was the best guy to capture ours. The band's biggest problem was trying to recreate the live sound in a studio setting. We are crazy live band; you'd have to see us. We sent him our first record, which we recorded live in a studio with a bunch of our friends there with the intent they would enhance the live feel. He responded well and we went out to Chicago to live and record in his house for two weeks."

You'd think the Albini association and the resultant music would be that which vaulted Aloke upwards to the next rung on the music industry ladder, right? 

Wrong.

The next year, Aloke, who honed their chops touring the East Coast, released a few of the songs on an EP and sent them to press and booking agents- no one bit. A year later, Hooper invited Zucconi to go Greece for six weeks and the seeds of their participation in Grouplove were planted. After returning from Greece the band decided to part ways being too broke to continue touring. Zucconi and Hooper worked on new music together and included some Aloke material which somewhat accidentally got a new lease on life as Grouplove tracks- songs like Colours, Itchin on a Photograph and Gold Coast.

Now, fast-forward to 2015, and Alive is coming out as is, in an untouched and unchanged format. "I love the guys in the band," Zucconi said. "We were made to play with each other and we respect the work."

Much of the album centers on the nine-year relationship Zucconi had prior to meeting Hooper, so it captures the transitional time in his life, from heartbreak to a new beginning, infusing the album with raw emotion that is as real as the processes used to record it.

Zucconi summed it up best, saying, "It's relevant because music is cyclical and it's not dated. I want to see if people respond or give a shit at all. But it'll get its chance."

Alive is what the "kids today" need to be exposed to. No laptops. No clicks. No software. Just real rock 'n' roll.