Photo Credit: Alvaro Masa

Middle school is where our personalities really start to take shape, and for George Alley – it was all about the music. From singing the pop delights of the ‘80s to uncovering his punk side, music has been the driving force that’s led to his 2024 self-titled debut. We talked not only about his musical start and ‘George Alley’ but also about what’s better for songwriting; good or bad relationships. Find out what George had to say about that and then some in this back-and-forth exchange!

Kendra: Auditioning for ‘The New Mickey Mouse Club’ must mean that you were born eyeing the stage. At around what age was it apparent that music was going to be a part of your narrative though? 

George Alley: Music became an escape for me around 7th grade. I always had music in my life; I took piano lessons as a child, my grandparents played Arabic music like the Lebanese pop star Fairuz, and my mother was a songwriter and frontwoman in a band called Electric Shit in Detroit in the early ’70s. 

What changed for me was that music became a way out, or at least a way to imagine escaping the bullying I faced as a clearly gay, vaguely ethnic-looking kid in a Catholic Italian neighborhood in suburban Cleveland. There’s a video of me on YouTube from 7th grade, performing Debbie Gibson’s “Shake Your Love.” I made that thinking it would somehow help me get an agent. By 9th grade, my taste shifted to The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees as I started hanging out with some goth kids, but I knew as early as 7th grade that music was my portal to somewhere else.

Kendra: Whenever you hear pop or dance, the mind doesn’t necessarily even imagine punk music. However, here you are (and here am I because I love it all), not only a fan and musician of it but a professor teaching punk and creativity. I feel like we’re about the same age and I might know, but what punk bands from when you were first getting into the genre do you still hold close when it comes to creative muses?

George Alley: Punk is as much an attitude and a questioning of authority as it is a genre. Punk actually had a style, thanks to people like Vivienne Westwood, before music was even attached to it. In the UK, we might think of Sid Vicious, Boy George, Joe Strummer, Siouxsie Sioux, and Billy Idol as making different kinds of music, but they were all hanging out in the same gay clubs in London in 1976—because they were all outcasts. 

House music, reggae, punk, and techno weren’t created by the dominant culture but by subcultures that were often underrepresented due to race, gender, sexuality, and more. So, for me, all those genres are counter-cultural music! 

Growing up, all that music was considered old, but the bands I was seeing in my late teens, like Boredoms, Suede, Massive Attack, Orbital, and Underworld, still inspire me. I’m also drawn to music that’s more aggressive and unsettling, like Diamanda Galas or Throbbing Gristle. I love music that expresses true rage—not aesthetic rage like death metal, but the kind that makes you feel like the pits of hell might open up beneath your feet.

Kendra: Not so much punk, but “Wishlist” did have a rock-inspired, very ‘80s industrial feel. The meat of the song though comes via the lyrics. This is a tale we’ve all woven ourselves into, being into someone who screams “all wrong” but feels so right. When it comes to songwriting, what moves the pen more – good or bad relationships? 

George Alley: Ha! I mean, there’s not much of a story arc to “I’m happy in my relationship, and I want to tell the world”—at least not for me. That’s just not my type of song! I wouldn’t say the love interest in “Wishlist” is a “bad” person; if anything, I was just as bad for being with someone who was already committed. 

But despite all the drama, I had a great time! I enjoy exploring “bad relationships” because I like presenting myself through both positive and negative lenses. When a songwriter always portrays themselves as the victim, I stop believing them. Sometimes, I’m the villain of the story! In the video for “Wishlist,” Gökhan Yildizli captured that noir drama, with me driving away (or toward) the handsome Yusuf Kayi at the L’Ermitage in Beverly Hills.

Kendra: Your self-titled debut drops after the first day of fall, but if you had to award yourself any “Summer Trophies” for the album, what accolades would you give it? “Best Album to Dance with Friends in Berlin,” “Album You Won’t Put Down,” things like that…

George Alley: To steal a line from my song “Summer Trophies,” I’d give the album the Machiavellian merit badge to all “the players who’ve played the same.” This album is dedicated to all the “players” out there!

Kendra: On top of music and teaching, you have a lot more on your plate, including podcasting and writing for Loverboy Magazine. With the latter, do you find it easier to make your album, given that you have your finger on the pulse of music at the moment, or did you push aside everything journalistic and focus solely on the music?

George Alley: It would be strange and unfortunate if, after having hour-long conversations with so many established artists about the creative process and album rollout, I wasn’t influenced by it. In some ways, writing for Loverboy has helped build a community for me.

Kendra: Side note: With it being prime back-to-school season, what song from your past immediately transports you back to getting ready for class in the morning?

George Alley: My first car was a gunmetal Buick Century T-Type with a leather interior and very tight steering. I’d often be zipping around, usually late, blasting “Hag” by the Breeders. I loved screaming, “You coastal cutthroat! You dirty snitch!” while navigating the hills.

Kendra: Lastly, with ‘George Alley’ out on September 27th, what else can fans expect as we finish out 2024?

George Alley: A lot more! There are six more videos and a mini concert filmed at Ground Floor Studios earlier this year that will be on YouTube. There are multiple remixes coming, a live performance dance party in November, and the band is discussing tour dates for early 2025! It’s going to be a busy year and it’s been fun to talk to people who’ve been listening to the music!