The Alligator Wine: High Volume Voodoo
If there’s every been a better time to discover a crazy, surreal kind of sound, now would be it. THE ALLIGATOR WINE are a two piece from the black forest that take a knees up wake and a psychedelic rock attitude and create some radically good fun. We caught up with vocalist, organist and synth player Rob Vitacca about the band’s new album, Demons Of The Mind.
“Although things are quite weird at the moment, we’re super happy that we can finally share our excitement with all the people out there!” Rob tells us excitedly about the record dropping. “We’re super happy and absolutely on fire! We definitely cannot wait to hit the road and share all the songs. I really look forward to playing all of them for you crazy reptiles out there!”
The band’s debut record, Demons Of The Mind, is filled with some big floor filling, head shaking tunes that are surface level bangers, but going further spiritually, some tender moments that draw on some more sobering ideas. There’s something oddly subtle underlying in this album in fact, that the music itself works in a mental exercising of some hard moments and powerful emotions. While the music itself it turbulent and crazy and easy to lose yourself in, it’s a cathartic experience for the band. “I mean for me music has always been the best emotional outlet,“ Rob adds. “Like the album title says, the whole record is about the inner demons I am trying to deal with.”
There’s a very crazy, wild feeling to THE ALLIGATOR WINE that only adds to the experimental sound they create. While that kind of raw power can be infectious between two people in a live setting, it’s hard to compress that down and capture it in the studio for an album. Rob had absolutely no concerns with how that result would come out when creating the record. “Oh, we absolutely love how it came out!” he beams. “Kristian Kohle, our producer, did a fantastic job, although he is more known for his metal productions – he absolutely killed it. I think we’ll never let him go!”
THE ALLIGATOR WINE‘s sound incorporated a big deep southern American vibe, particularly intertwining the feeling for the swampy, mysterious places that are a pretty obvious metaphor for the human mind. It’s also not afraid to take some leaps and play around, and not take itself so seriously, with ruckus big sounds and hooks. You can feel a seventies attitude in Rob and his bandmate Thomas Teufel [drums], where it’s really about making something to entertain yourselves and see what crazy, arty, mental music you can make.
“Well you know, as we are living somewhere behind gods back in the middle of the black forest there is not that much you can do – except doing music or just go nuts. Or both,” Rob jokes, although maybe he’s right about going a little out of your mind; after all, that’s where some of the best music we have originated from. “We love it a lot to experiment with all kind of sounds – especially with organs and synths. And there is Thomas. Every time we meet, he comes up with something new. Basically, he is like the sound architect of the band.”
Architectural is probably the best word for THE ALLIGATOR WINE. If you buy into the idea of music as a constructed fusion of mind and soul, this two-piece has managed to make something trying special in their organ dominant, pounding songs. In terms of that big sound, while there are obviously influences in there from certain genres and bands, it’s definitely by osmosis. “Well, I think it happened more unintentionally. “I mean I really love bands like THE DOORS, THE DEAD WEATHER, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE and even RADIOHEAD. So of course, at the end of the day there will be a big portion of psychedelic spirituality.”
Although there’s riffs and melody aplenty, it’s an interesting component to note that no six string guitars were used to create Demons Of The Mind. We couldn’t help but wonder, why would these guys give themselves that kind of challenge? “Well I think the best answer is that we really try to keep ourselves busy with what we are doing,” Rob says fairly, “I mean we talked a lot about that, how can we make this organ sound like a massive sound wall!? The only thing you can do is really start dealing with your stuff and knowing exactly what you want. We’re always looking for new challenges. Like Jack White once said, ‘There aren’t that many things left that haven’t already been done, especially with music.’ This motivates us a lot!”
Demons Of The Mind is out now via Century Media Records.
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