Call Me Alice

It’s rare to hear an unsigned band work so well on all fronts –– material, musicianship and production. Not unlike Evanescence in approach, Call Me Alice does it with not one, but two female singers. “Falling” is a drop-dead commercial radio hit; “Out of Sight” and “System” are strong. Nothing alternative here; the tunes are polished in all respects and very accessible. Few unsigned acts gel like this on record. - Music Connection Magazine

Frontwoman Crosby (just Crosby) paves smooth vocal tracks over high-caffeine music, but bandmates Epiphany, Aughustine, Jude, and The Thrawn (yes, a first AND last name!) blend in music and harmony that sound like a subversive yet glorious chorus.

The main theme of All Against 5ive is the struggle against conformity. Each track feels like a frenzied cry of rebellion against the corporate world. The opening track, "Falling," contains the arresting image of a tiny moth in someone's hands. And "Out of Sight," offering the sight of a "cellophane waif," demands, "How dare you ask me how my day was when all I think about is flying?" For those in the executive boardroom who may have missed the point, "System Backup" drives it home with "We try to gain our individuality each day, but ultimately in the end, it's swiftly ripped away."

Musical surprises await longtime CMA fans, from the more mature vocal arrangements to the classically influenced piano work on the bridge of "System Backup." This band is truly five as one -- a solid band with a powerful sound. - Jennifer Layton

Okay. This album was a nice relief. I listen to this album about 3-4 times before I even realized that I had. You have modern sounds, very professional recording quality. Listening to the first song you may even think of our good friend Gwen Steffani. This 5-piece band delivers a powerful sound, ahead of their time, but still bring in familiar sounds. You will get a good mixture of guitar and electronica used very well. The CD case is one of those cardboard single-folds, full-color, very tech-driven. I like it.

To twist the whole sound they did a musical rendition of “There Was An Old Lady…” the nursery rhyme. That is fun to listen to. The energy stays high during the duration of the 8-song album. Now, something I should have mentioned earlier, when you put the CD in, make sure you have Flash. You get a nice window that allows you to interactively learn about the band. You can do this while you listen to the music. Surfing through the Flash experience you find yourself being pulled into a futuristic techno realm with code names, intense position descriptions, and enough strong appearance to make you really grow attached to their concept. So where are they REALLY from?

Favorite Track: 7, “ We Grow Stronger”
- Erik Beyer

Before entering Cane's, I spent the beginning of my evening chatting in the cold with local electo-industrial rockers, Call Me Alice. They're playing a gig at Club Lingerie in LA on the 20th and bassist Epiphany clued me in on some things I had always suspected about playing the "LA Scene". Namely, you have to pay to play. Places like the Whiskey will charge a band $500-$700 just to play and sometimes also require them to guarantee a 100 person head count or the show will be cancelled. Sure, that's not really that many people, but when you're a band still making a name for yourself outside your local scene, not to mention the competition from the other shows on The Strip, that can be challenging. And some venues will stick it to you even further by taking 20% of your merch sales as well. That last tidbit irked drummer The Thrawn, who had been unaware his band had been subjected to such ridiculousness last time they played LA

Call Me Alice took the stage next in all their dark, yet spritely glory . A trip to their web site would have you believe this is a gloomy band caught up in a Blade Runner-like story. But luckily they leave that experience to their existence in the digital world; in the real world they're a happy group (except for maybe The Thrawn, but I think moody people make better drummers anyway, so he can keep his pout and his attitude. It looks cute on him), expressing themselves through their sample and rhythm driven music. Their frequencies were a little rough and muddled and singer Crosby's vocals were lost during the first song, but considering the band was not given a sound check, they gave a good performance, making little adjustments throughout to improve some of the sound glitches. I don't understand why they weren't allowed a sound check; there was plenty of time, and it's fundamental for the style of music they play. Still they were very professional and didn't bitch and moan about it and managed to put on a show that the audience enjoyed - which is all that is important. - Amber Shaffer

Quote: "I called them goth in my first review, but there’s definitely something more going on here".

Another artist submission that I tore open at the mailbox. Call Me Alice has been one of my indie favorites since I reviewed their first submission a little over a year ago. With Sweet New Disease, the explosive, operatic electronica rock group has grown more visually dramatic with the addition of Aughustine and more vocally sensual as Crosby pushes her voice to new levels of feeling and power.

How perfect that the first five tracks were mixed by Michael C. Ross, who has worked with Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, and the rest were mixed by John X, former collaborator of Marilyn Manson and Korn. Solid, grounded rock music meets the dangerously passionate and frighteningly theatrical. The dead-on description of Call Me Alice.

With their new addition and such experienced studio partners, CMA whirls free with the notes, throwing everything into the mix and suspending an oil painting of sounds in the air. Fire rages through “Speed,” which has a smooth, sensuously writhing feel. Then we get thunderstorm sounds mixed with childlike, dancing keyboard notes in “Bott.”

“Ballad of the Thrawn” is the most experimental, opening with an opera, sweeping it away in a tidal wave of electronic energy, and then breaking into a Spanish flamenco sway in the middle, with Crosby moaning the lyrics in Spanish. “If I don’t like it, am I wrong?” she challenges. God, I would love to see this live.

Whether the sound is sweet or angry, there’s always a sinister shadow hovering over the landscape. CMA’s spirit is captured perfectly in “Fly,” the reworking of an already unsettling childhood lyric about the old lady who swallowed a fly, perhaps she’ll die. (Why were grownups always teaching us creepy songs like that?)

They connect to childhood again in the face of fear in “We Grow Stronger.” Under the gathering stormclouds, Crosby sings of emerging from a huddled place of universal fear and pain. “Somebody help me, explain to this child, that the world is still good and you cannot run and hide,” she pleads.

I called them goth in my first review, but there’s definitely something more going on here. This dark family lives and breathes their characters every day. The music is just part of the story. Even if you’re scared off by their appearance, something in the words will echo feelings you’re very familiar with. They already know you. Step inside. - Jennifer Layton