When I was a kid, growing up in a house with Cat Stevens, Neil Diamond, and Simon and Garfunkel, the first time I ever heard Kiss's "Detroit Rock City," it was a moment of musical epiphany. It was just so vicious, aggressive and mean. It changed the way I listened to music. I've had a few minor epiphany's since then, when you come across a band that just brings something new and revolutionary to your ears.
What have been your musical epiphany moments?
Also, when I first heard ‘Heroin’ by The Velvet Underground, I was lying on the floor, I was exhausted and I remember how beautiful it was, and then by the end of the song, how much I wished I’d never put it on. It was music simulating the experience of taking heroin, and at about 17 years old it stuck with me how amazing it was that someone could do that with music, and that it can inject you into different mindsets, worlds and characters.
Listening to ‘Karma Police’ by Radiohead while parked outside a huge sewage and waste disposal facility. For a minute there, I lost myself.
Talk to us about the song-writing process for you. What comes first, the idea? A riff? The lyrics? How does it all fall into place?
It’s always different. The idea tends to come as the lyrics form; I trust my instincts first off, and then once I’ve identified what I’m singing about, I go through the song over and over, making sure that I’m happy with every aspect of the way I’m telling the story, and if it’s full of (bad) puns that’s even better!
Who has influenced you the most?
The Beatles. We aspire to their ability to adapt and change sub-genre. My favourite album is The White Album, because it’s a constant surprising and loveable confusion. Every decision taken feels so random to the extent it’s almost funny, and I love when music does that. Our track ‘You Make Me Feel So Alive’ takes a funny turn midway and that’s still one of my favourite things we’ve done, especially when it sounds like a film soundtrack and then switches straight to being a crunchy prom night rock-n-roll 50s sound.
Where do you look for continuing inspiration? New ideas, new motivation?
Our new EP ‘Late Night Triple Bill’ was inspired greatly by films and the film industry. The lyrics in Star-Strangled Hanna reference tons of movies I love: Sunset Boulevard; Braveheart; American History X; The Godfather; Citizen Kane; X-Men, to name a few. Meanwhile ‘Juniper’ is based on Reece Witherspoon’s character from Mud, and Fuel on the Fire was inspired by Nightcrawler and is based on a song my Uncle Jon wrote 24 years ago. So film is where I go if writer's block hits.
We’re from Milton Keynes/Newport Pagnell. Newport Pagnell is where they make the Bond cars so that’s cool for a film addict like me. Newport Pagnell is like the town from Hot Fuzz; everyone knows everyone ‘round here, and so it has the best and the worst aspects of living in middle England, (as opposed to Middle Earth). It lives and dies on it’s pub culture as an escape for many, and so our song ‘Drunk Generation’ was inspired by a fun but albeit self-destructive pub culture. Our video for ‘People Change’ expresses our love for where we live, shot in and around our favourite place in Milton Keynes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfDtUZKuG0k
Where'd the band name come from?
Sam (bass) and I used to play FIFA 08 on PS2 a lot as kids and our favourite track from it was ‘Ali In The Jungle’ by The Hours, which was all about succeeding against the odds. Then when we wanted Ali to join the band, as he was older than us, we appealed to his ego and named the band after him. I find it funny when people at gigs come up to me and call me Ali though, as that does happen a lot.
You have one chance, what movie are you going to write the soundtrack for?
Assuming it’s released already and we’re rewriting the soundtrack, I think we’d be best suited to Captain Fantastic with Viggo Mortensen. If you haven’t seen it, it’s amazing!
You now write for a music publication (The Ripple Effect?). You're going to write a 1,000 word essay on one song. Which would it be and why?
Alone Again (Naturally) by Gilbert O’Sullivan (who’s name sounds way too similar to Gilbert & Sullivan doesn’t it)? - I’ve had to stop myself from listening to this song because it’s an absolute powerhouse of pain. It’s so horrible. Verse 1 is about committing suicide from the top of a church! Verse 2 is about what you aspire to, being a shattered dream, and then goes in deep for the question of if God really does exist “then why did he desert me?” And then it’s about the futility of his parent’s lives. Honestly, for a song you’d hear played using awful effects on a hotel keyboard in the Isle of Wight, this song is brutal.
If you wanted something more cheery I’d write about Sir Psycho Sexy by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and how it’s an epic vaudevillian creation myth.
I did my university dissertation on Bob Dylan so if you need anyone to write 1,000 word essays on songs for you, I’d be more than up for it.
Luckily Ali hasn’t spontaneously combusted and none of us
have died in a freak gardening accident. The highlight of our gigging career
thus far may have been our support gig for popular ‘drunk folk’ artist Beans on
Toast, in our hometown of Milton Keynes. Sam
didn’t get stuck in a giant alien seed this time round, but his guitar did give
out in the final song and so he played air guitar on that one. You can see it
here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1aAV4Kocz8&list=PLRx-_vSY5fYZTmBBKnYKpiWWyVKxdnSkG&index=7
Tell us about playing live and the live experience for you and for your fans?
We live for playing live! It’s such a great affirmation of what we do and there’s no better way to play our songs than to share them with fans new and old. I like an intimate gig where you can make the crowd laugh and have some audible on stage banter, and get the fans involved. But a big show is great too and we put so much energy, dancing on top of the piano stool, swapping instruments with one another all the time. If you’re enjoying it and putting the energy in, the audience will feel the same, and even get their torches on for the sombre numbers too.
What makes a great song?
Catchiness, meaningfulness, originality, personality. If it sticks with you and captures a moment, time, place or meaning then it’s done something good. Ultimately I think there’s some truth in the idea (as expressed by Andrew Bailey/Rolling Stone) that “the test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good.”
What one single album do you wish that you'd written or performed on, and why?
I know earlier I said The White Album, but The Beatles never really played that live. So I’m gonna say A Rush of Blood To The Head by Coldplay. Five years old when that came out, it made me want to take learning the piano seriously. It manages to be so simple, yet so semi aggressive at points, and so ridiculously emotional too. Even people who hate Coldplay find it hard to argue with the power some of their music has live, and I’d love to have written and play that album live.
What piece of your music are particularly proud of?
‘Late Night Triple Bill’ has been a particular achievement for me as I wrote a lot of that for guitar and I’ve had to learn the guitar for that record, so it’s an awesome time capsule for me playing guitar on a record for the first time. I love it in ‘Juniper’ when the piano kicks in and I feel like I’ve just walked under a waterfall. The western inspired arrangement of ‘Fuel on the Fire’ is awesome with the brushes and slide guitar, mixed with jazz rhythms and gorgeous bass. ‘Star-Strangled Hanna’ I think is one of our best lyrically, combining an awful lot of wit and references in order to talk about a serious subject.
Who today, writes great songs? Who just kicks your ass? Why?
Haha I hate having my ass kicked. I think it’s pretty rude how The Strokes are still awesome. When I first heard ‘Why Are Sunday’s So Depressing’ from their new album, which showcases about 3 different voices Julian can do, whilst constantly evolving as a track and being effortlessly cool, I felt simultaneously amazed and unworthy.
Vinyl, CD, or digital? What's your format of choice?
Vinyl. Just the ritual of it is great, and I also do think the sound quality really is better.
I don’t drink alcohol, but Whiskey because there’s more bad jokes that can be made about it (see our song ‘Drunk Generation’). Also it smells the most interesting.
We, at the Ripple Effect, are constantly looking for new music. What's your home town, and when we get there, what's the best record store to lose ourselves in?
Milton Keynes. So we’ve got Shakedown Records and they’re really great; super worth a visit. They’ve always got some great old records too if you’re a bit of a collector (like me when I’ve got the money).
What's next for the band?
‘Late Night Triple Bill’ has just come out so it’s getting the music video for ‘Star-Strangled Hanna’ out there and connecting with our fans around the release with some gigs too. For gig dates, see our Bands In Town: https://www.bandsintown.com/a/5975632-ali-in-the-jungle?came_from=257
Any final comments or thoughts you'd like to share with our readers, the waveriders?
Hope you enjoy our music! If you do then here’s our Buy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/aliinthejungle where you can get early access to releases as well as more behind the scenes stuff!
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Website: https://www.aliinthejungle.co.uk/
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