Alexander Seier
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Alexander Seier

Band Rock Singer/Songwriter

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"Alexander Seier"

Pulse Weekly
(Lehigh Valley, PA)
April 26, 2006
Vanessa Ciccone

Hard To Imagine

It’s like a dream...
One day the phone rings, and in three minutes, the words you’ve been waiting so long to hear are finally uttered. You’ve waited your entire life to hear this one phrase. It’s finally happening; all those sleepless nights spent writing, the countless hours spent on the road, and all the money you spent on equipment has finally paid off. You finally have a record deal...then, the unthinkable happens.

After a few tell-tale signs, you start to feel that something is wrong. Then the phone rings and you find out that the record label that signed you no longer exists. The major label that owned it has cut it off like a dead, useless limb. How could this happen? You’ve already recorded the CD and the album was about to drop, then you get the really bad news – you can’t release any of the music you recorded with the label because you don’t actually own it...the label does. But how could you not own the music you created? This music is yours, and you put your heart and soul into it. Hard to imagine? For Alex Seier, this story is all too real. We recently caught up with the Lehigh Valley singer/songwriter, formerly a Lava Records recording artist, and he told us his story.


PULSE WEEKLY (PW): You were signed to Lava Records, which was a branch of Atlantic Records; how did you initially get signed?

ALEXANDER SEIER (AS): Things aren’t easy in this business. At the time, I was living in Washington DC working and writing new music. One day, I got a call from Josh Abraham saying that he had heard my record and that he liked it. I didn’t hear from him again until a few months later where he told me he still wanted to do something with the album. Finally, I bought a plane ticket to LA, and once I got there, I called Josh and we got together and talked – that’s what really stared the ball rolling. Then, five or six months later, I finally started recording a new record.


PW: At this point, things were really starting to take off for you...

AS: We finished the record and started pushing and developing the act. MTV wanted to do a You Hear It First piece on us. We did a Nickelodeon performance on U Pick Live, which was in front of 1.7 million people, and we had a spread in Details Magazine and had various radio spots. We did a lot to promote and set this record up.


PW: When did it all start to fall apart?

AS: When the label, Lava Records, went under. The label doesn’t exist anymore. You start to see things happening early on; these things don’t just dissipate in one day. You can definitely see it coming. That’s what started to happen. The next thing you know, the radio spots started to slow down. We had our single playing on national radio for a while, and then the plays started to slow down. You start to see things trickle through, and then, that was that.


PW: So pretty much anyone that had a record deal with Lava was cut off?

AS: There was a select handful of acts, like Simple Plan, who made it – but these were acts that already had platinum records. Guys like that were taken to Atlantic Records. But it wasn’t just the artists who were let go – most of Lava’s employees were let go as well. Project managers, publicists, art directors – all these people that I became friends with were just let go. It wasn’t just me who was affected by this.


PW: That’s tough. Were you really bummed when you found out that the CD wasn’t going to be put out by a label?

AS: In a way, it was the best thing that could have happened for the record and the act itself because nobody wants to work with a record they didn’t help build, and we still had work that needed to be done on the record. The people who worked with us on the album are music fans as well. When people who love music find something they like and they attach themselves to it, it’s theirs. Nobody wants to work with something they didn’t find or help create.

But, yeah, I was a little bummed when I found out the CD wasn’t going to come out. Some people spend their whole lives trying to get a record deal, and to have it taken from me was horrible. But, at the same time, I did some amazing things that a lot of people never get to do.


PW: Life is full of experiences, and if you can’t hold on to them, what’s the point of even trying to obtain them?

AS: Yeah and [all of those experiences] opened a lot of doors. A lot of being in this business isn’t about what you have at that moment, it’s about what you’ve gathered before and what you do with it afterwards.
It’s all about making relationships and proving to people that you belong there. It was those relationships and experiences with Lava that helped me to go on tour with Teddy Geiger and Hillary Duff. I’ll just continue to play and put myself in front of the right people.


PW: This whole experience seems really crazy. Do you feel a lot of people get turned off to the music indust - Pulse Weekly


"Alexander Seier"

The Morning Call
(Allentown, PA)
April 27, 2006
Len Righi

Rock singer-songwriter Alex Seier bounces back from major-label blackout

Lehigh Valley-bred singer-songwriter Alex Seier has no doubt about the most valuable lesson he has learned from his sometimes-turbulent tenure in the music business: ''People will offer you a lot of things and then tell you hang out,'' says Seier. ''But it's important to do things for yourself.''

Seier has been nothing if not industrious since coming to terms with the dizzying reverses that made 2005 so disappointing. The Klecknersville native has rebounded fairly quickly since his major-label debut, ''The Blackout Effect,'' was shelved; the buzz around his band, built via appearances on MTV and Nickelodeon and in Details magazine, frittered away, and his record company, Lava, went belly up.

Following that unpleasant turn of events, Seier played guitar in burgeoning pop star Teddy Geiger's touring band from August to mid-October, including a date at the Allentown Fair. ''I thought it would be a great experience, and I got to see what it was like to be on the road with Hilary Duff and Tyler Hilton and six or seven tractor trailers of gear,'' says Seier. At tour's end he headed to Los Angeles, where he spent a couple of weeks recording five new songs. Then Seier chose three of them — ''Take a Ride,'' ''Let You Know'' and ''Last Song'' — and added eight tracks from ''The Blackout Effect'' — including ''Take It Away,'' which he co-wrote with Stone Temple Pilots guitarist Dean DeLeo — to create ''Alexander Seier.'' He will showcase the album tonight at Allentown's Sterling Hotel, backed by guitarist Jeff Gerosky, bassist Tom Sandelier and Easton drummer Kevin Soffera, who has played with alt-rock band Seether and alt-metal act Breaking Benjamin. ''At the time I thought the record not coming out was the worst thing. Now it's kind of a blessing in disguise,'' says Seier over the phone from his Brooklyn apartment (he describes his room, an enclosed back porch, as ''a closet''). ''If I had tried to [market] 'The Blackout Effect' right away, nobody really would have touched it. Damaged goods, that's how people would have looked at it. Now, with the new songs, I basically have been shopping the music around and playing acoustic and with the band in New York City once a month.''

Since his days with his first band, Project 67, which he formed in 1998, Seier has written songs about two favorite topics, girls and relationships. ''That's always the easiest to write about,'' he says. ''I'm not super-political about things. I try to keep it to what people can relate to.'' Musically, compared to the grungier vibe of his ''Blackout Effect'' material, Seier's newer songs are more acoustic and pop-oriented. He describes ''Take a Ride'' as ''a little more WB than some of the others. It's something you could hear on 'Gilmore Girls.'''

The Northampton High and Kutztown University grad still does freelance graphic design work, but for now, that's on the back burner. ''I'm going to do the starving artist thing,'' he says. Nevertheless, Seier is ready to put a new iron in the fire. ''Just before I did the Teddy [Geiger] thing, the commercial agency CESD signed me here in New York,'' he says. ''I don't have any experience acting, but sometimes [producers] want people with a certain face or look.'' So far, Seier has auditioned for small TV and movie roles and commercials, ''everything from 'Law and Order' and Nickelodeon shows to 'X Men 3.' I haven't got anything yet, but you never know.'' Seier sheepishly admits that he did a ''ridiculously cheesy'' commercial for Easton bar Drinky Drinkerson's about a year ago, and that it still pops up on cable stations such as ESPN, MTV and RCN. ''I got a call from the guy who was casting it, Tommy Taylor,'' he says. ''I knew him because he was a DJ at [Allentown nightspot] Croc Rock, where I've played since I started. He asked me, 'Dude, can you do this for me? It'll be you in your boxers and two girls in a bedroom.' So I said, 'Sure. Why not?' ''I still haven't seen it yet, but my grandmother has. She even called me about it.''

At tonight's Sterling gig, Seier will share the stage with Adam Richman, a 2000 Parkland High School graduate who last year released his first full-length major-label album, ''Patience & Science,'' which he recorded in his parents' basement. ''Adam is living in the East Village,'' says Seier. ''We hang out a lot and he's doing well. We're working on some stuff. Maybe we'll get together and do some writing.'' - The Morning Call


"Cd Review"

Pulse Weekly CD Review
(Lehigh Valley, PA)
May 2006

Alexander Seier
"Self-Titled"

For all of you Behind the Music buffs our there, you know that the story behind every rock and roll band or artist is littered with tough times and a lot of industry bullshit. On the other hand, some people are discovered on the their second gig in a crappy, no-name bar in a no-name town in a no-name state. The point is that every artist pays his or her dues, and although it may seem like the road's been smooth for Alexander Seier, the story gets a bit bumpier.

Seier originally fronted the band Project67 a couple of years ago, and after that band (according to his online biography) "imploded," he went solo and headed for Los Angeles where he signed a deal with Lava Records. Unfortunately, due to the present state of the record industry, Lava folded and shelved Seier's record, leaving him with nothing. So he returned to the Lehigh Valley to formulate a new plan. He began to pen songs, and played out as a solo acoustic act, occasionally with a band behind him known as the Blackout Effect. He has recently released a brand new collection of songs and after all the Behind The Music drama, the fact that Alexander Seier is still doing what he's doing is a testament to his determination.

His newest disc, a self-titled, eleven-track collection of catchy-as-hell pop songs, brims with sunny pop energy that could easily soundtrack any reality television romantic moment. (You know, like when two lovebirds hold hands, on a beach, at sunset, right before the credits roll.) The music is simple; a couple chords, a catchy melody, and the occasional musical break. It's nothing that stands out too much, but that shouldn't downplay the recordings at all because Seier is writing pop music, which revolves around the voice and the melody. His vocal ability is the centerpiece here, and the music is in full support of this. (Seier is the show, no doubt, and he can knock it out of the park.) The songs range from dramatic pop gems (From Here), to warm and heartfelt tracks (Let You Know and Farewell Song), to just simple catchy rock music (Settledown). There's a California vibe on this recording, or maybe it's just a sunny pop vibe. Either way, it's a welcomed vibe.

The entire record is chock full of the catchy, poppy, melodic content that every good pop record should contain. This, hopefully, is Seier's meal ticket back to the big show. Cheers to Seier for releasing such a solid pop record.

-four out of five stars - Pulse Weekly


"Alex Seier"

The Morning Call
(Allentown, PA)
July 1, 2006
Len Righi

Alex Seier

After Project 67 and the Blackout Effect, Lehigh Valley native Alexander Seier moved to Brooklyn and eventually recorded the material that turned into the full-length solo disc, ''Alexander Seier.''

Seier wears his heart on his sleeve on the record, which is powered by pop chords and romantic lyrics. ''Take a Ride'' mixes classic summer elements, girls and cars, as Seier expresses his impatience for love, a recurring theme throughout the disc.

''Close'' has Seier waiting patiently, while on ''Settledown'' he is too eager and gets rebuffed. Ringing chords and driving melody move both songs along nicely.

By the last third of the disc, Seier starts changing his tune, as he tries to get over the girl. On ''Last Song,'' he sings, ''This is the last song I'm writing you/So I can drain my heart of all I knew.'' The song is epic in its dramatic chorus, and the final two tracks, ''Waste My Time'' and ''Farewell Song,'' drive home the feelings of separation.

''Alexander Seier'' is the classic summer romance put to pop music — not always original, but contagiously catchy. - The Morning Call


Discography

Alexander Seier
"Self-Titled"
2006

1. Won't Be Around
2. From Here
3. Take A Ride
4. Close
5. Take It Away
6. My Loss
7. Let You Know
8. Settledown
9. Last Song
10. Waste My Time
11. Farewell Song

*have received National Radio Airplay with the song, "Close," as well as local airplay with many of the others.

go to:

http://ical.mac.com/aseier/Shows

or

www.myspace.com/alexanderseier

to see my calendar of shows!

Photos

Bio

• grew up in Klecknersville, Eastern PA

• has lived in Washington DC, Los Angeles, FL, and New York City

• SHOWS
has shared the stage with Lifehouse, Maroon 5, Teddy Geiger, Hilary Duff, Tyler Hilton, Breaking Benjamin, Vanessa Carlton, Fuel, Justin King, Adam Richman, Aslyn, The Click Five, Lisa Loeb, Jordan Knight, John Secada, Samantha Mumba, Reel Big Fish, Catch 22, The Badlees, SR-71, The Flys, Lifer, Jimmy's Chicken Shack, and Abandoned Pools

• SONGWRITERS/PRODUCERS
has written songs and worked with acclaimed songwriters SIMON PERRY, SCOTT CUTLER, ANNE PREVEN, MICHAEL SHIMSHACK, KYLE KELSO, KRISTIAN “BOOTS” OTTESTAD, DEAN DeLEO, WES HUTCHINSON, JON KAPLAN, NIV DAVIDOVICH, and others

• ASCAPLUS AWARDS
has been the recipient of ASCAP’s ASCAPLUS Awards 7 years in a row (2000-2007)

• CESD TALENT AGENCY
was signed to CESD TALENT AGENCY in NY and LA

• JOSH ABRAHAM
has worked with acclaimed producer (Velvet Revolver, Staind, and Michelle Branch) on The Blackout Effect’s “self-titled” album and is a member of his Production/Writing team

• DEAN DELEO
famed guitarist for Stone Temple Pilots, co-wrote and played lead guitar on the song “Take It Away”

• TEDDY GEIGER
was the Music Director and play guitar for the Columbia recording artist TEDDY GEIGER’s national tour with HILARY DUFF & TYLER HILTON. He was brought in to help with arrangements, vocal coaching, and develop the performance

• MTV’s “YOU HEAR IT FIRST”
was selected to be featured in MTV’s “YOU HEAR IT FIRST” as The Blackout Effect