“Somebody once told me if music doesn’t work out for me, inspirational speaking might be a good thing for me,” jokes James Alex of Philly’s punky, spunky, gleefully ramshackle indie outfit Beach Slang, as he sits on an Austin porch after performing at Yahoo Music’s South by Southwest headquarters. At age 41, Alex (formerly of the ‘90s cult group Weston) isn’t squarely in the “millennial” demographic of most SXSW 2016 buzz bands — but his zest for life and irrepressibly joyous rawk ‘n’ roll spirit are indeed inspiring. Alex probably could enjoy a lucrative side career as a motivational speaker — but it seems like full-time rock ‘n’ roll is working out for him just fine.
“You don’t have to retired from being alive because you’re 35,” the bird’s-nest-haired, crimson-trousered, punk-button-bedecked Alex proudly assures. “It’s like this Hunter S. Thompson thing about ‘skidding into the grave,’ or when Bukowski said this thing about ‘living life so well that Death will tremble to take us.’ That’s what I’m doing… Just know you can go screaming into it until it ends. I want to remind people that that’s an option.”
As for naysayers who think punk and indie musicians should hang up their guitars or leather jackets after a certain age, Alex shrugs, “It’s bad to take advice from people who’ve compromised their dreams… I’m a pretty blissful cat. I’m living evidence that you can [keep making music], and it’s not shameful or embarrassing or dumb. It’s pretty right-on!… This mentality sort of always stuck in my head. I never, ever thought about giving it up, because I don’t know what else to do. Rock ‘n’ roll is holy to me. It saved me, it has kept me, and it’s been very good to me.”
In the recent past, Alex eked out a more typical 9-to-5 existence, doing graphic design, but the lure of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle he was clearly born to live was just too strong. “Some people call it the ‘God hole,’ like there’s something missing in you. For me, it was like that ‘rock ‘n’ roll hole,’” he chuckles. “Nothing to me can be like getting drunk, and hitting my guitar, and screaming it out, and meeting people, and traveling around in a van with my friends. I’ll go down that way, because I want to. As far as we know, we get one crack at being alive. So I’m not going to apologize for the things that make me happy.”
And while Alex may not be giving a TED Talk any time soon (although that would actually be awesome), he’s definitely inspiring fans of all ages with the exhilarating, life-affirming, working-class rock of Beach Slang’s fittingly titled debut album, The Things We Do to Find People Who Feel Like Us.
“A weirdo fringe benefit of this thing is people will come up to me that are in their thirties or forties, and they’ll say, ‘I pulled my guitar out of my closet and I started a band again because of seeing you do this.’ There’s magic in that,” marvels Alex. “You don’t have to graduate college and then be like, ‘OK, this thing that completely lights my heart up, I have to pack it away now.’ Do it more! You’re gonna need it. If you’re gonna be suffocating in a cubicle somewhere, then what better time to come home at night and turn it up and hit a chord – that thing that brings you to life? Yes, I dig that people have to make a living and keep the lights on at home – but remember that keeping your soul lit up is just as important.”
When Alex first came up in the ‘90s, playing in Weston, it was a fantastically fruitful era – perhaps the last truly great era – for alternative rock. Since then pop, R&B, and hip-hop have dominated the charts and festival circuit, and “rock ‘n’ roll is dead” has become a familiar mantra among pessimistic industry pundits. The unflappable Alex, however, believes the genre is very much alive.
“I hear that ‘rock ‘n’ roll is dead’ bit a lot… but how long are we gonna allow ourselves to be plasticized and American Idol-ized and Auto-Tuned? I think we’re at that point where we’re hitting back,” he says. “People want rock ‘n’ roll to be real and honest and sloppy… Yeah, it doesn’t sound like this perfect EQ’d record when you go see a show. But it shouldn’t! You’re having a live, human experience. It’s that Replacements or Guided by Voice ethos: It’s going to be brilliant or it’s gonna be a car crash, but somewhere in the middle of that, you’re going to feel something. That’s very important to me. I’d rather play a sloppy mess of a show where people are like, ‘I had the best time just falling over and being happy,’ than one where we sounded pitch-perfect.”
With Alex’s admirable attitude and unabashed love of rock, Beach Slang are gaining a wide-ranging, downright tribal audience of misfits who share his ethos and passion. And that’s a very good thing for the future of rock. “Rock ‘n’ roll will never die,” Alex asserts, “because every time people think it’s on life support, there’s gonna be kids who come along who’ll go, ‘Nah. I’m never gonna let that happen.’”
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This article originally ran on Yahoo Music.
