Saturday, February 25th, I had the opportunity to talk with the members of Modern Alibi before their performance opening for The L.A. Maybe and Anything Goes at Amos' Southend in Charlotte, NC. We talked about their brand new single "Seventies", how the band came to be, and much more.
What made you decide to start a band/create Modern Alibi?
Holden Scott: I think I should take this one. Back when Covid hit, I started writing songs and I had a passion for writing music, creating something that's my own and as some time went by I started playing with other musicians and I realized my love for performing live. Along the way I've met a lot of new friends and this band eventually formed and now we're playing those songs that I wrote during Covid live on stage.
So how did the current members of the band come into the picture?
Holden: You know what, why don't we all answer this? Like I said before, I started the band and the next member was Sloane so let's start with him.
Sloane Letourneau: Yeah, I joined the band about 1 year ago in the beginning of the summer when there were two different members and I've been with it ever since.
Christian Sturt: Josh and I are the new guys.
Josh King: Yeah, this is actually pretty interesting because the first gig I played with the band I wasn't even a member. I was filling in for the previous bassist and, while I did have to cram an entire set into one week of practice before the gig, it was really inspiring because I hadn't played in a rock group in years really 'cause I had been doing freelance stuff for so long. So I really enjoyed playing the gig with the band and I think we clicked very well, I felt very connected on stage. I also did it with a broken ankle and I learned, like, 40-something songs in a week.
Holden: I hit him up panicking.
Josh: Yeah, after the gig I kind of asked Holden if I could join but I think he was already kind of thinking of asking me.
Christian: I walked into an open mic one day and these guys were playing there, I kind of knew who they were through Instagram, but I heard Holden's voice and that's the first thing that caught my attention because it was really good I really liked it and they had a good setlist so I was like, I wanna get in contact with these guys and then we kind of met at the perfect time when there was a lineup change going on for Josh and I. Next thing you know, we're here!
Alright! Who are your biggest influences in music?
Holden: From a songwriting perspective, my biggest influences are probably The Beatles, they always have been. More recently, I've been listening to a lot of alternative rock and a lot of bands from the early 2000s. I love The Killers, I love Arctic Monkeys, I'm strongly influenced by Twenty One Pilots, Catfish And The Bottlemen. That's me. Josh?
Josh: Oh, man, for me it's weird because it's kind of all over the place. I started playing video game tunes and then that kind of turned into a jazz thing so I really dig jazz, I still dig the video game stuff, but recently a lot of my playing is more influenced by more alt-rock. Mainly since I've joined this band I've definitely dug into my alt pocket, I listen to a lot of Arctic Monkeys. I'm also into a lot of fusion stuff so, I don't know if you've heard bands like Snarky Puppy, The 4 Korners, Yellowjackets. That's what I listen to.
Sloane: I like a lot of bands from the '80s, I think the guitarists are sick. I like a lot of early 2000s pop-punk such as Blink-182, All Time Low, Green Day. I listen to a little bit of everything.
Josh: Who's your favorite guitarist from the '80s?
Sloane: Probably Mick Mars.
What do you like most about performing on stage?
Sloane: (In a whisper) The attention.
Christian: That's part of it.
Holden: There's a thrill to it. I personally love sharing musical experience with the audience, honestly, that's so big for me. Having that connection if the audience is into it and the feeling of writing something, performing it on stage, and seeing the audience moving to it and reacting to it, preferably enjoying it, that does a lot for me. That's why I do it.
What is it like behind the scenes of filming your covers? How do you decide location, etc.?
Christian: We usually will decide what song we're gonna do, obviously, and then we'll kind of all brainstorm possible locations that we can shoot. Most of them are outdoors, so we are freezing our butts off filming these but it looks like we're not because of video editing.
Holden: Shout out to Amy Terry
Christian: Yeah that's my girlfriend, she films all of those and gets all the cool angles.
What's your dream venue to perform at?
Sloane: Wembley.
Christian: I think Royal Albert Hall would be really cool.
Josh: Madison Square Garden
Holden: Ah, you beat me to it.
What is your favorite song to perform live? It can be a cover or original.
Holden: I'm gonna jump in and say that my favorite song to perform is a song called "Seventies". It's an original song by our band and it just dropped yesterday so tonight we're gonna play it, we've gotten a few messages from people who are excited to hear it live and I'm just extremely pumped to play it so, as of right now, my favorite song to play is "Seventies".
Josh: I agree. I think all of us really get into that one, especially since we all kind of have an affinity with that song just because of the process that it's been through since we started playing it live.
Do you have any pre-show rituals?
Sloane: I like to watch Christian breakdance.
Christian: Yeah, I rip it up on the breakdance floor.
Holden: Josh likes to practice his sword routines.
Christian: We also play Nintendo Switch.
Sloane: We actually do that one.
Christian: And we drink a lot of RedBull.
Holden: Mario Kart has really shaped this band I feel like.
Christian: It's almost torn the band apart
Holden: It ruins relationships
Christian: I almost quit 'cause I was just too good at Mario Kart. These guys were just so bad.
What is your creative process like? What do you have to do to get in the zone?
Holden: I feel like nothing's better than at 3AM. I feel like that's when the ideas start flowing, no one else is awake, it's just you. You're in a room with your thoughts, a pen and paper, guitar. That's when the ideas come in.
Josh: I'm kind of with you, sometimes just being alone. For me, I don't write lyrics, but with the instrumental stuff sometimes putting myself in a new setting, being outside, it always helps to get different stimuli. You never know what might trigger a thought that could turn into a hit song.
Christian: Shout out to the voice memos app on iPhone because inspiration kind of hits me in some of the oddest places like, I'll be in church and I get an idea or like I'm just driving on the highway and I'll be like, "you know what that would be cool" then you just kind of do a really terrible version of it onto your phone.
Holden: I've gotten some voice memos from Christian that are just like (beatboxing).
If you could open a show for any artist/band, who would it be?
Sloane: I Don't Know How But They Found Me or Harry Styles.
Christian: Twenty One Pilots, Greta Van Fleet. Pretty much anyone who's made it already would be really fun.
Alright, well, I think that's all the questions I have. Thank you for taking the time to do this with me!
Holden: Thank you Musaholic Magazine for having us and thank you for these wonderful questions.
Josh: And thank you all for listening to "Seventies" 'cause that's what you're gonna do after watching [or reading] this (wink, wink).
All photos of Modern Alibi by Bella Wagner
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