A Chat with The Alpines (26.01.24)
Blending Americana with folk, synths and disco, US-based duo The Alpines take us on a kaleidoscopic journey of heart-pounding awesomeness with each melody. With the powerful vocals and guitar of Bri McCall and the killer guitar skills of Danny Patino, The Alpines are a sizzling sonic sensation. We speak with The Alpines about their debut album Heading North, upcoming plans, thoughts on AI in the music industry, and much more!
OSR: What drew you to music and how did The Alpines come together?
McCall: I started music quite young. My parents put me on piano. I went to a Catholic elementary school where music was a big deal. I started choir in 1st grade, and in 3rd grade, I picked up the clarinet. As I got older, I also played a little saxophone here and there depending on what the band needed. In 8th grade, I began to play guitar. I really wanted to write songs, but I felt like I needed an instrument to do so. I had stopped playing piano when I started playing clarinet in the school band, so I didn’t remember enough or have a piano to play at home since our house burnt to the ground when I was 9 years old. Luckily, I have some amazing parents who supported both my brother and me in the interests we took upon ourselves. I ended up majoring in music in college. It was a small program and there weren’t a ton of resources, but my professors did everything they could to provide me with opportunities to support my singer/songwriter style.
Lyrics have always been the most important part of my songwriting, sometimes to a fault. In a band context, this can hold me back at times because I struggle to think about the whole band when I write. Luckily, Danny is great at this so we are able to fill in each other’s weaknesses. I think this is partly what makes us such good music partners.
Patino: So my first guitar instructor focused on flamenco style, at age 13. At the time I thought this was completely useless and annoying as my favorite band at the time was Dragon Force and I did not see how this would benefit me in any way. Little did I know that developing dexterity with my right (picking) hand would become instrumental in differentiating myself from my peers. Having said all of this, my musical influences have very little to do with my technical abilities.
OSR: What inspires you to create music?
The Alpines: Music is how we make sense of the world. There’s no other way for us.
OSR: What can you tell us about your album Heading North?
The Alpines: Heading North is a concept album that tells the story of 4 weary travellers who decide to leave a city after an apocalyptic event and head north in search of a better life. We wrote Heading North before Bri left on a 400-mile hike across half of the Pacific Northwest Trail (Montana and Idaho). A lot of the songs were in preparation for her hike. She was alone in grizzly bear country hiking upwards of 25 miles a day through snow, water, and mud. The sense of adventure before her hike was most likely the inspiration for the lyrics of Heading North.
OSR: What do you hope people take from Heading North?
The Alpines: Well, I mean I hope people think our music is cool! Also, I hope we effectively portray the story of finding a home within yourself. It doesn’t matter what happens or where you go, if you are not satisfied with yourself, you will spend the rest of your life searching for something better.
OSR: Which of the tracks on Heading North speaks to you on a personal level?
McCall: ‘Everything Has Changed’ has ended up being more personal to me than when I wrote it. I felt quite distant from the lyrics when they were created, but as I went through different events in my life, I found my own song lyrics becoming more and more relatable and personal. ‘Homebody / Habits’ is pretty much everything I do not want to be. That track is the story of someone who decided not to leave the city. That song is a personal reminder not to give up and settle.
Patino: ‘Panic Attack’ and ‘Lose Yourself’.
OSR: I’m unsure if either of you has performed as a solo artist or part of a larger band, but what are the challenges and benefits of performing as a duo?
The Alpines: Both Danny and I have diverse backgrounds. Bri was more solo, while Danny has experience in a lot of other bands. We mostly perform with our full band. We both want to do everything we can to get the band off the ground. It’s important to find like-minded people when creating a music project. We went into the project with similar goals and ambitions and this has allowed us to cover more ground than we have in any previous project.
OSR: What are your thoughts on AI in the music industry?
The Alpines: Bri uses AI all the time. Not only for band things but also as a teacher. Our last three band posters had AI help. Our press releases have AI help, it’s actually a pretty cool tool. Sometimes instead of going to a thesaurus or rhyming dictionary, AI can generate the same thing and usually faster when writing and searching for the right word.
We aren’t very concerned about AI’s ability to create art. Good art requires a human element that AI just doesn’t possess. AI requires artists to be unique and think as individuals in their craft, which is what true artists should be striving for in the first place. A lot of the music industry is people trying to imitate what has been successful in the past. I mean we are constantly doing this as well, we are no exception! If AI can create what has already been created, then we should be focusing on new human creations across all art forms. That is what a truly creative artist should be able to accomplish.
OSR: What makes The Alpines unique as a band?
The Alpines: Superficially, we have a female lead singer who plays guitar and a killer lead guitar player. The two leads can pass the spotlight back and forth to keep the audience captivated. I think what truly makes The Alpines unique lies a lot deeper than that. We work daily on our music. We are incredibly thoughtful in what we choose to put out and if our sound is accurately representing our band. At the end of the day, we have set up our lives and our daily habits to put as much energy as possible into the band and I think that time and energy shine through the external image of the band.
OSR: What song do you sing when in the shower?
The Alpines: Honestly, we sing so much all the time neither of us even sings in the shower. Danny loves singing to The National and Bri loves singing to The Lumineers.
OSR: What is your favourite binge-able TV show and why that show?
The Alpines: We have both been watching the newest season of True Detective recently.
OSR: What does The Alpines have for us in the future?
The Alpines: We have the next four album concepts lined up. We have our 2nd album written, but we are in the process of rewriting most of it. Dark disco folk is the direction we want to lean into.
Many thanks to Bri McCall and Danny Patino for speaking with us. For more from The Alpines, check out their official website, Instagram and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
