{"id":5712,"date":"2014-03-27T17:31:21","date_gmt":"2014-03-27T22:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alexz.net\/?p=5712"},"modified":"2014-03-27T17:31:21","modified_gmt":"2014-03-27T22:31:21","slug":"style-and-substance-alexz-johnson-xwhy-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.alexz.net\/?p=5712","title":{"rendered":"Style and Substance: Alexz Johnson — XWHY Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a great article all about Alexz from XWHY Magazine<\/a>. It’s definitely worth the read.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n

Style and Substance: Alexz Johnson<\/span>
\nby Natasha Bird<\/p>\n

Musician Alexz Johnson talks through her sniffles about feather-ruffling, wine-drinking and not winding up with her mug on a t-shirt at Target\u2026<\/p>\n

You might already recognise her face. And what an adorable little face it is. Even with nostrils reddened by \u201cthe worst cold of [her] life\u201d, her big blues give snottiness a kind of charm.<\/p>\n

Alexz Johnson is an actress. If you\u2019re a fan of the Final Destination franchise, you\u2019ll know she played Erin, the flame-haired lead, who meets a grisly end at the hands of a nail gun, in the third film of the series. Outside of the horror genre, she\u2019s had the lead in a couple of American TV shows \u2013 Instant Star and So Weird.<\/p>\n

However, for all her on-screen accolades, it\u2019s what she\u2019s doing largely behind closed doors, in the studio, that ought to be earning her the most acclaim. For Johnson, shrugging off her Disney days, has picked up a guitar\u2026and she knows how to use it.<\/p>\n

I caught her on skype in her brand new Brooklyn pad, here\u2019s what she had to say\u2026<\/p>\n

\n

Just recently arrived back in New York after her European tour, supporting pop-rocker Ron Pope, Alexz explains that the key to her happiness, far from what you might expect, is having very little at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh I had so much fun. We started in Glasgow and we went to Belfast, Dublin, Manchester, Sheffield, Germany, Sweden\u2026I was fine the whole time and then as soon as I flew back to JFK I got the worst cold of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve done two US\/Canada tours with a full band, but this one I was invited to come and open with just an acoustic set. So basically, I just had to show up, throw a jumper on and play my guitar. It\u2019s a great way to connect with an audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of the funnest, freest tours I\u2019ve ever done. Everyone just got along great. Mike, from [American alt-pop group] Wakey Wakey is like a brother; Ron and his band are really sweet. Me and [Ron\u2019s wife] Blair were the wine drinkers of the bus.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the things that the XWHY team, who went to see Alexz play at Shepherds Bush Empire, were amused and impressed by, was the way that, after the show, she promptly took herself round to front-of-house to man her own merchandise stall. A great way to meet new fans, of course, and also distinctly un-showbiz.<\/p>\n

\n

Final Destination<\/em> might still earn her the most sidewalk head turns, but she\u2019s actually been doing the music thing for a while now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have quite a history with the music industry. I was signed to Capitol records for a full album and then I was signed to Epic for a full album, but it never got a release. So, I decided to go independent and put out the Skipping Stone EP.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI went through Pledge funding to do my album, and I did that with the Kickstarter tour too. There is this real platform for independent artists to get their music out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard though. You have to have guts. I\u2019ve been really lucky and been able to work with some amazing people, but a lot of doors have been closed in a lot of weird ways. One minute you\u2019re signed to the same label as Sarah Bareilles and they\u2019re putting out her record, and then next, yours is dropped because someone lost their job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to ask yourself over and over and re-check why you\u2019re doing this. It\u2019s not like I have a trust fun. I didn\u2019t just decide one day \u2018oh I\u2019m going to do music now\u2019 and buy a cute dress and make it look cool. This is really, truly coming from my heart. I have given my life to this and it\u2019s not easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I relate to artists like Ray Lamontagne and Amos Lee. There\u2019s something incredible about seeing the vulnerability of an artist who is on stage and doesn\u2019t have a back-up plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Listening to Alexz\u2019s set, something that struck me was that she\u2019s relatively unplaceable. She doesn\u2019t seem to have a clear-cut \u201cimage\u201d\u2026per se. She\u2019s not rock, or folk, or really all that definitively indie. And despite her early acting career in Disney sitcoms, she\u2019s clearly not marketing herself at the \u201ctweens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m into a classic sound, but you should never be afraid to change,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a woman, I am constantly changing. The world changes and so do my influences. If you\u2019re a Tiffany [\u2018I Think We\u2019re Alone Now\u2019] and doing your little dance on stage to go with the song, it leaves you with not very much room.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI also think it\u2019s really dangerous if you\u2019re only selling your music to young females, because they grow so much and change, and let\u2019s be honest, the bands we loved so much at 18, we\u2019re kind of embarrassed by now\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I moved away from the labels. It\u2019s not about getting my face on a t-shirt at Walmart. If you\u2019re not ruffling someone\u2019s feathers in some way, then you\u2019re not doing anything of note.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Despite sharing a screen with some interesting folk, it\u2019s who she\u2019s put in studio time with which turns out to be much more interesting. For example, she collaborated on an album with multi-Grammy nominated Greg Wells, who has previously produced for Mayer Hawthorne, Katy Perry, Pink, One Republic, Pharrell, Elton John..the list goes on.<\/p>\n

Perhaps even more impressively, her recent work was a product of studio time with the renowned David Kahne \u2013 responsible for records by Paul McCartney, Sublime, Stevie Nicks, Lana Del Ray and so on\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI like writing my own music, but I like to reach out to producers that I respect and then write with them. They bring a beat to the table, and it takes me out of my usual norm of writing.\u201d
\n\u201cIn terms of what comes out \u2013 Skipping Stone was incredibly stripped down and acoustic. Heart EP is very soulful and I was able to bring in some soul backup singers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI love acting. There\u2019s just not a lot of good work available. I\u2019d love to play a young Stevie Nicks in a feature film, but right now I really just want the chance to do a full album and release it.<\/p>\n

QUICKFIRE QUESTIONS<\/p>\n

Dream Collaboration?<\/strong>
\nPeter Gabriel or Coldplay<\/p>\n

Dead or Alive?<\/strong>
\nElvis<\/p>\n

Happy place (besides being on the stage<\/strong>)
\nOn a yoga retreat in India. Connecting to nature. I love being outside.<\/p>\n

If you could wake up to one smell for the rest of your life?<\/strong>
\nWarm lemon trees in Cali. The sun hitting the leaves has a particular kind of smell.<\/p>\n

Visit Alexz Johnson\u2019s WEBSITE<\/a> for details about upcoming shows.
\nHer HEART EP can be bought on iTunes HERE<\/a>.
\nJoin her pledge campaign HERE<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a great article all about Alexz from XWHY Magazine. It’s definitely worth the read. Source Style and Substance: Alexz Johnson by Natasha Bird Musician Alexz Johnson talks through her sniffles about feather-ruffling, wine-drinking and not winding up with her mug on a t-shirt at Target\u2026 You might already recognise her face. And what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[72,302,812],"class_list":["post-5712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-article","tag-interview","tag-xwhy-magazine"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t