Alexis and I chatted about his music, charity work and more! His musical talent has landed his songs placement on numerous TV shows! Make sure to check him out after you read the interview :-)
Q: What caused you to become a singer and songwriter?
A: Songwriting found me first. The first spark came in the form of a toy piano that was handed to me by a babysitter when I was six years old. I proceeded to play it until the batteries ran out and at that point I guess my parents decided they should sign me up for piano lessons. I discovered the guitar when I was an awkward fourteen year old and shortly afterwards I wasn’t so awkward anymore. I equate this to be about the same as nerdy Peter Parker getting bitten by the radioactive spider and then getting superpowers. I didn’t truly find my voice until college, when I started performing under my own name.
Q: What has been your favorite place to play a concert?
A: Great question. This month I’ve been performing a series of house concerts for my fans…. Which all have a very organic vibe. I also recently performed a sold out concert at New York City’s Gramercy Theater with last years American Idol winner Lee DeWyze. I guess you could say that I’m really getting the best of both worlds here. I honestly love each of these settings. An enormous crowd of people is such a huge energy to be a part of. At the same time, performing in someone’s living room for a much smaller audience is so organic and fragile that I find it (for lack of a better word) romantic. I would have to say it’s a toss up between the two.
Q: What charities do you support and why?
A: Lyrics for Life is a charity run by my management team (Team Soundwave) and founded by Sister Hazel’s lead singer Ken Block. They hold great events that donate the proceeds to pediatric cancer! I’m really proud to have had the honor of performing for it.
I also wrote a song for the Special Olympics’ Dreamride album which I also performed at a luncheon for the CT Special Olympics chapter. This was a really touching experience and I’ll never forget seeing how the excited the athletes were to see musicians like myself supporting them.
Lastly I support Breast Cancer research because my aunt is a survivor!
Q: Out of the shows you have had song placements on, which was your favorite?
A: I don’t know if this counts here but the first song I ever had as a placement was for a feature on Xbox LIVE in 2008. This was the first time I ever received emails saying things like “I saw you on my TV!”. I’ll also never forget about the episode of ‘The Real World’ where the two main characters made out to my song ‘My Direction’. That was both amazing and frightening to see. Frightening because I never considered myself a fan of reality shows and now they make up a big part of my royalty checks.
Q: What is the best and worst part of tour?
A: The best part is performing in front of new people every night. I love meeting new people and there is no better way to do that than sharing personal experiences in the form of song.
There has been many tours in the past couple years and it’s always a great time, so it’s hard to say what the worst part is. I will say that being on the road with musicians definitely forms a great sense of family. However, being around the same people for 24 hours a day can get a bit tiring. You get a strange look into people’ habits. As of this date, July 18 2011, I am proud to say that I have never peed in a water bottle in the back of a van.
Q: What has been your favorite fan meeting?
A: Arin Segal. Does this count right now as us meeting? On a serious note, my favorite fans are the ones that come back show after show, reminding me that I should keep doing what I do. It’s refreshing to see my songs connect with people on a personal level like that.
Q: Who are some of your biggest inspirations?
A: Too many to name but I’ll try: Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Tom Petty, The Beatles, I was raised on Brazilian Bossa Nova so there’s some Antonio Carlos Jobim in my iPod. My favorite concert was seeing Paul McCartney.
Q: When you come up with a new song idea, who is the first person you play it for?
A: Let me pull back the curtain for you and tell you about my process. A song gets written. I’ll record it as a phone or laptop demo and play it for myself. That’s right. I come first. What an ego. I guess technically my next door neighbor hears it first though, since the walls are very thin in my apartment building. After that I’ll usually send it to some friends. I have a couple advisors at my management company so if I have a new demo they might hear it next. This is of course if the song isn’t made up on the spot on stage.
Q: What social networks do you have and how do you connect with fans?
A: I try to be as many places as I possibly can. My official website right now is a landing page that links to all my biggest social network pages. My artist facebook page (facebook.com/alexisbabini) gets updated the most frequently. I’m also pretty active on twitter… You can laugh disapprovingly at my attempts at humor and tweet me back at @alexisbabini
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: So many things. I’m 1/3 of the way through my house concert tour so this is definitely keeping me busy. I’m also finishing up a new single right now and making plans to go back into the studio for an album. I played mandolin last week in a recording session…. I have never done that on one of my own songs before so that’s exciting. In addition to that I have plans to be on tour again this coming fall!