That Girl, Alley

http://www.nqhproductions.com/alley.html





That Girl Alley is a one-woman band known to friends and family as Allison, or Alley Trela. Although currently unsigned, Trela has been honing her craft for the last few years, garnering the attention of producers at the acclaimed Long View Studios outside of Boston. The studio, who has hosted bands like Aerosmith and the Stones, should know talent, so it wasn’t surprising to have them sign Trela to a development deal. Now about to record new material in Los Angeles with another well-known musician, That Girl Alley seems ready to take the next step.


Did you come from a musical family?

My extended family is very musical but my immediate family isn’t. My sister tried to pick up a few instruments when she was younger. She played the flute and guitar for a little while but then she shoved it away in a closet. When I was growing up I went in there and picked it up and started learning how to play by myself. She got so mad at me because she didn’t have any musical skills at all and here I am picking up what she just started.

Why did you decide on the name That Girl Alley?

It’s funny because I don’t have a stage name, my name is pretty boring. Most people would say, ‘How funny would it be to hear on the radio that we’re going to go see That Girl Alley tonight or That Girl Alley is playing at so and so’s tonight.’ It was just a name to set myself apart from using my name as a stage name. It was kind of tongue in cheek, pretending to be more famous than you actually are. I don’t know if it’s going to actually stick.

Were there any other names in the running?

Not really. My music is really personal so I just use my first name. I don’t mind people knowing my last name but if you’re going to get as personal as you do with lyrics and stories you are telling about yourself it’s really important to be one on one. And where I play, which is small, intimate settings -- coffeehouses, art clubs – it’s how I want you to view me, as a friend. And I hope that you get personal with me too.

How would you describe your music?

It’s something that I can’t put labels on. If I were to describe it I would say it’s like a Fiona Apple-meets-Portishead type of thing. It has raw vocals. But my message is political and personal. I’ve never really intended it to be but when I start to write I write about things that make people think and stand up for what the believe in. It ends up being really political or really personal, sometimes things that aren’t very happy. Those are the things that we thrive on, that make us feel alive.

It’s always been important to me when I started playing that I would just write these things and write them to get them out of myself. Then I started playing and people were thanking me for playing, they felt in touch with these lyrics. ‘I am happy that you were singing about something that I felt so many times inside that I thought I was alone in this.’ Having that connection is great, it’s awesome.

I’ve noticed some of your musical influences – what is the attraction with those artists?

I can’t really pin it down to who influenced me the most but it’s really people who have a strong, raw, singing from your gut or soul and that you’re passionate about, I can connect with those musicians.

It’s really hard to pen it down to four or five people. My dad used to sit me down and listen to classic rock when I was younger -- Pink Floyd, Al Green and Van Morrison, so those are all big influences on me. Growing up I’d listen to a lot of industrial music. I was amazed that they could create music out of sounds that people wouldn’t normally think of musical. So I was attracted to that. In high school I’d listen to political punk music. I was attracted to the strong messages there. I studied opera in college and listened to classical music and was influenced by the symphonic structure. It constantly continues to evolve for me – doo wop and hip-hop and jazz and rock music.

Has the songwriting process gotten easier for you?

It’s different every time. Sometimes I’ll be falling asleep and there’s a melody going on in my head. I’ll get up and play it on my guitar or keyboard, trying to engrain it into my brain before I go back to sleep. Sometimes I start with lyrics and try to build music around it that emphasizes the mood. Sometimes I start with a melody and then put it away and match it up with lyrics later or there could be a rhythmic pattern and the words just come out.

I’ve been working with a couple of different producers at Long View Studios (Fran Flannery, Bonnie Miller) and they’ve been helping me hone how to write. I have a development deal with Long View Records. They’ve been helping me center myself – I space myself out and want to go everywhere in my music. But they’ve helped so I can talk about one thing instead of everything in one song. I really like my songs to be 20 minutes long and go all over the place. But they’ve - By Jason MacNeil