By Brent Thompson
Photo Credit: Charlie Lowe
Beach Slang is making a return trip to Birmingham following a captivating appearance at Sloss Fest this past July. Armed with a catalog of urgent, hook-driven anthems (favorable comparisons to The Replacements abound), the Philadelphia-based quartet will perform at Saturn on Monday, October 30. Currently, the band is touring in support of its 2016 release, A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings [Polyvinyl Records]. Recently, Beach Slang frontman James Alex spoke to us by phone from his Philadelphia-area home as he prepared to embark on his band’s current run of shows.
Birmingham Stages: James, thanks for your time. We are excited to get Beach Slang back here so quickly after your July appearance at Sloss Fest.
James Alex: We’re super excited to come back – Sloss Fest was amazing. We weren’t really sure how it was going to go for us. It was our first time down there so I hope some of that pours over into the club show.
Birmingham Stages: If you will, talk about the creation of A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings. Are the songs mostly newer or had some of them been around for a while?
JA: This one was new. On the first record, I had some bits that I’d been knocking around for awhile, but this one was all new. I wrote it on tour – we were touring so much off of the first record that I didn’t have that time of being at home in my studio. This record was written in hotel rooms and green rooms and I think that gave it an urgency that you don’t have when you’re in the safety of your space. We were in different cities meeting different people so I was drowning in fodder for inspiration and things to write about.
Birmingham Stages: Your band’s songs possess a timeless quality. I hear them and I think that they could have been recorded 30 days ago or 30 years ago. Is that something you strive for when you write and record or is it just the outpouring of all you’ve absorbed over the years?
JA: If it’s not strived for, it’s definitely not shied away from. These days, I find out about new bands almost by happenstance [whether] we play a festival or it’s a local band playing with us on a club date or something like that. It’s very organic. I don’t want to accidentally thieve from peers but I didn’t have that foresight when I was coming up and getting turned onto Rock & Roll and listening to The Replacements or Psychedelic Furs. That stuff is just super lodged into my bones, so when I write those things are going to pour out because those are the things that made me want to play guitar. The first time I heard [Pete] Townshend or [Paul] Westerberg I said, “I like this,” and it’s been a refuge for me ever since.
Birmingham Stages: How do you view the musical climate these days? Some artists tell me that the instant accessibility via technology is great but it’s also a difficult era to separate yourself from the crowd.
JA: Both sides have merit. I’ve boiled it down to a simple point – you make honest work that you believe in and if it deserves to have a place, then it will. It’s pretty much that simple. I love the idea that a kid can pick up a guitar and make a record in his bedroom in Davenport, Iowa and it can get heard by someone in Barcelona, Spain. Does it put a bunch of stuff out there? Maybe, but exploration in life is what it’s all about. In the old days, record labels ran the world so how many great artists did we never get to hear? Now there’s a shot for that.
Birmingham Stages: How would you describe your writing process?
JA: I’m one of those cats that lives in constant terror of it running out [laughs]. So when it comes, I’m going to soak it up and get on it immediately. I tend to wake up with things and it’s an all-the-time thing.
Beach Slang will perform at Saturn on Monday, October 30. Dave House & The Mermaid and Pet Symmetry open the 8 p.m. show. Advance tickets to the 18+ show are $15 and can be purchased at www.saturnbirmingham.com. Saturn is located at 200 41st Street South.