{"id":140,"date":"2025-12-17T13:45:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T13:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitesmusic.com\/?p=140"},"modified":"2025-12-17T13:45:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T13:45:14","slug":"an-interview-with-alex-blizzy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitesmusic.com\/?p=140","title":{"rendered":"An Interview With Alex Blizzy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Q:<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>What inspired you to become a musician, and how did you get started in the industry?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A:<\/strong>&nbsp;As soon as I saw Elvis Presley on TV at age three, I listened to as much as I could from that early rock n\u2019 roll era and I knew I wanted to experience the magic of that on a deeper level.&nbsp; Later as I got older, it was the singer\/songwriters from the late 60s\/early 70s that really made me want to focus on songwriting as an intense craft.&nbsp; I began playing guitar at age 12 and singing when I was in high school \u2013 I just tried to become better at both as best I could and that led to playing in numerous bands, usually as a lead guitar player and singing harmony vocals.&nbsp; Through that, I was able to meet a fair amount of musicians while forging my own songwriting identity.&nbsp; I began to get better as an audio engineer as well, and all of that culminated in allowing me to do what I really wanted \u2013 which was to have a direct path toward releasing the music that mattered most to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q:&nbsp;How would you describe your sound, and what sets you apart from other artists in your genre?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A:<\/strong>&nbsp;I\u2019d describe my sound as somewhere between \u201cHeartland Rock\u201d and \u201cIndie Americana.\u201d &nbsp;My influences span most of the umbrella of rock n\u2019 roll\u2019s roots.&nbsp; My bandmate, Tom Glynn, likes to refer to it as \u201cIndie Southern.\u201d&nbsp; I think that is a decent description.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q:&nbsp;What was the inspiration behind your new album, \u201cA Step Behind,\u201d and how did you approach the songwriting process?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A:<\/strong>&nbsp;A number of the songs touch on the idea of missing out on opportunities and being on the outside looking in, such as the title track.&nbsp; I saw folks around me moving up the ladder of life when I was a few rungs further down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/2yPbhtuiGUiHWrd6cpgiTi?si=PbLrnHpiR5a-zzFaf7S71g&#038;utm_source=oembed\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q:&nbsp;What is your favorite track on the album, and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A:<\/strong>&nbsp;That\u2019s tough \u2013 I\u2019d say my favorite song on the album is Never Felt Better.&nbsp; There\u2019s a lot to unpack emotionally in it and I think reflects a feeling many of us have had at one time that is a bit elusive and difficult to translate.&nbsp; I think it\u2019s one of the better songs I\u2019ve ever written for those reasons.&nbsp; My favorite track though is probably Drinking Town because I just love the energy of the drum groove and the lead guitar parts on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q:&nbsp;How has your music evolved over the years, and what can fans expect from your future releases?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A:<\/strong>&nbsp;Well, this is my debut release, but in comparison to how I wrote when I was younger, I\u2019d say that while I consider my harmonic sense one of my greatest strengths, in the past sometimes I leaned on that too much outside of other compositional elements.&nbsp; I feel as though I have more tools now that strike a better balance, and some of those harmonic choices are able to land harder because of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q:&nbsp;What has been the biggest challenge you\u2019ve faced as a musician, and how did you overcome it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A:<\/strong>&nbsp;I think early on when I was developing and at a point where I could do it with some degree of professionalism, I still questioned what it was that I did well and where I should direct my focus.&nbsp; I probably wasted valuable time early on because of my own self-doubt &amp; lack of understanding of my own artistry.&nbsp; One of my friends and frequent co-writers, Benjamin Burke, told me around that time that I just needed to keep writing \u201cAlex songs.\u201d&nbsp; He was right and that gave me the direction I needed to be able to get back to what I did best and narrow my path toward what really made me tick as a musician &amp; songwriter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q:&nbsp;What advice would you give to aspiring musicians who are just starting out in the industry?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A:<\/strong>&nbsp;Don\u2019t let the metrics of the day define your idea of success.&nbsp; If you\u2019ve gotten this far, you know your art and what that is to you and to truly resonate with others, you have to believe that with a religious conviction.&nbsp; There will be no greater salesperson for your music than you, so don\u2019t postpone your passion for pet projects intended to drive numbers.&nbsp; Keep the faith and if all you\u2019re ever left with is music that you\u2019re proud of, how could you not see that as a success?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q:&nbsp;How has your background and upbringing influenced your music?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A:<\/strong>&nbsp;We used to take long drives from Northern Virginia to Buffalo, NY where my extended family all lived, and I would sit with a Walkman and cassette all nine or ten hours of the drive and absorb those songs; both in terms of how they felt to me as well as how they were structured.&nbsp; I knew then that I wanted to write my own songs.&nbsp; When I eventually did begin to play the guitar and begin to write, I felt like most of the initial preparation for that took place on those long drive listening sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q:&nbsp;What has been your favorite performance or tour experience so far, and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A:<\/strong>&nbsp;Well, my band and I are really just getting started playing this music locally here in Nashville, so I\u2019d say it was probably a few years ago when I was playing in a project band named The Forest, and we got together and covered Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety.&nbsp; It was a close group of friends and I really learned a lot as a guitar player while participating in that, and I felt like I became a better musician in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q:&nbsp;What are your plans for the future, and what can fans expect from you in the coming years?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A:<\/strong>&nbsp;I plan on following up on this debut with a sophomore release, hopefully, to be released by mid-2025.&nbsp; I\u2019d like to say earlier than that, but I\u2019ve learned it\u2019s better to taper expectations.&nbsp; I have several of the songs written already &amp; have begun the demo process.&nbsp; It will likely further expand upon what I\u2019ve done on my debut.&nbsp; I like the band that I\u2019ve been able to establish here, and my hope is, depending on schedule &amp; budget, that we\u2019ll be able to do a fair amount of live tracking together when it comes time to record the real thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Q:&nbsp;What inspired you to become a musician, and how did you get started in the industry? A:&nbsp;As soon as I saw Elvis Presley on TV<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitesmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitesmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitesmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitesmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitesmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitesmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142,"href":"https:\/\/bitesmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions\/142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitesmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitesmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitesmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitesmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}