Here on Rocks Off, we ask local heroes for their top five absolute desert island discs, the records that made them the musicians they are today. This week; German Alexander, vocalist for Otenki.
Thrice, Vheissu You can't just ask a musician to pick inspirational music. It's like asking a mom to tell you who her favorite kid is. She has a favorite, secretly wants to slap one of them, but she's never going to tell you which. Music is like that. Sometimes we want to keep those secrets to ourselves because some of them are our dirty little secrets but here goes.
Thrice inspires me to be a bit more aggressive with the music I write with my band. I love mean guitar riffs. Thrice definitely has that mixed in with some really tough sounding vocals.
Bill Withers, Greatest Hits I'm always trying to deliver real soul vocally in the studio. It's something hard to drag out of yourself or recreate outside of a live performance. When it comes to soul many automatically say James Brown, but for me it's Bill Withers. He is my go to guy when I need to feel passion in the studio.
Third Eye Blind. Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind is a guilty pleasure of mine, and some for some of the guys in the band as well. They use a lot of beautiful chords in their music, and the progressions are very clean. Favorite songs by TEB are "Motorcycle Drive By" and "Losing a Whole Year".
Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory The guys and I love Linkin Park for a multitude of reasons. They have evolved their sound over the years. They never stick to a formula. They seem to work differently from every other rock band. They're not afraid to try new things. I'm always interested in what their next record will sound like. Very talented dudes.
The Kooks, Inside In/Inside Out The United Kingdom has always had some really great talent. When I think of good U.K. pop rock music I think of The Kooks. They have a very nice experimental sound. With great guitar effects along with catchy riffs they that get stuck in our heads.
Otenki plays tonight at Fitzgerald's with In Memory Of, Brumes and Anova Skywa.
