Alien Boy: I’m not interested in being indifferent
A conversation with Sonia Weber
Welcome to Human Pursuits, the column that features need-to-know names and stories in media and other creative spaces. Today, a conversation with Sonia Weber from Portland-based rock band Alien Boy.
Indie rock can hardly contain Alien Boy’s aspirations.
Led by Sonia Weber, the Portland, OR, quartet approaches DIY punk music with a sense of major label grandeur. Between melodies that recall Third Eye Blind and guitar solos that evoke Oasis and The Smashing Pumpkins, the band is more KROQ than K Records. Unsurprisingly, this sensibility is present behind the scenes as well. Songwriting trips in Washington State. Music videos galore. Did I mention they have three guitarists?
Third full-length, Do You Wanna Fade?, finds Alien Boy poised to reach new heights, and it has already garnered positive reviews from fans and major publications like Pitchfork. Anecdotally, I’ve seen several conversations online suggesting the band should be bigger, that the songs are simply too catchy to ignore. I’m not always the best judge in that regard. But as someone who hears a lot of music, I find context is a great way to foster connection.
And so, we had much to discuss.
Our edited and condensed conversation touched on Sonia’s work as a music educator, honesty as the best policy, Green Day’s golden era, moments in music, being try-hards, and more.
ES: I usually don't talk to people on the West Coast. It’s a treat to be in the same time zone.
SW: I’m usually pretty good at keeping track of time differences because I teach music lessons and some of my students are on the East Coast. I had to flip a bunch of them around, though, because I have three more interviews coming up this week. I texted our PR guy, James, and I was like, “This is all that I need, right?” and he said, “All the days are right, but all the times are wrong.” Like, what! Laughs.
ES: I feel that. Either you work the schedule or the schedule works you, you know?
SW: Definitely. And that day it worked on me.
ES: So you're teaching guitar lessons?
SW: Yeah, I teach guitar, bass, and drum lessons. Only some of them are online… I teach band classes, too. I used to work at School of Rock, but now I do my own thing. I have two bands that I coach.
ES: What does a band coach entail? I’ve never really heard of that. How do I become a rockstar?
SW: It’s not like a traditional lesson. I’m showing students what they need to be in a band. That, and I’m trying to stoke their creativity. I don’t want them to feel like they need to do things a certain way. I get a group together, either because they’re already friends, or kids that I taught who are a similar age, and let it take shape from there. I want them to play and care about what it sounds like.
I have one group that’s been playing together for four years. They’ve been writing their own songs. They started during the pandemic and eventually caught a flow. They’re about to graduate, and Caleb [Misclevitz], my bandmate, is going to record them.
ES: Unreal. So it’s a lot of walking them through the mechanics of being in a band.
SW: Yeah, and a lot of it has been teaching young men how to communicate with each other, which is definitely above my pay grade. Laughs. I feel like it’s the most important thing I’m teaching them. Like, no, I can’t tell your band that you don’t want to play with them. You have to tell them yourself.
ES: You’re basically a manager and a producer wrapped into one.
SW: And a therapist.
ES: This is some real Behind The Music stuff.
SW: I’m constantly Behind The Music. In all aspects of my life.
ES: What is your advice for communicating? Is it as simple as “Just be honest”?
SW: Not being avoidant and understanding that being in a band is a group project. It’s super vulnerable for everybody. Everybody’s egos are involved. Sometimes they’re vulnerable creatives. It’s such a tender space, and people often enter it without realizing how intimate of a connection it requires… You need to be able to ask people for what you need, and you need to be able to trust them.
A lot of these kids don’t have favorite bands. They don’t have something that they want to sound like. Like, how did you even get here?
ES: That's a heavy concept for a 16-year-old.
SW: It’s been a real trip. I’ve been teaching music for a long time, and it’s been interesting to realize what is important to me. I don’t care if they grew up to be shredders, I just want them to have a good time once a week and a space where they’re free to be creative instead of doomscrolling on their phone. I want to be a good influence.
ES: So many people would benefit from that. We’re in an age where nobody has hobbies. We’re pressured to monetize everything, but sometimes it’s cool to just play music with your friends for an hour every week.
SW: The energy has also shifted in the sense that many of these kids don’t have favorite bands. They don’t have something that they want to sound like. Like, how did you even get here? Growing up, all I wanted was to sound like Green Day. These kids are writing songs with no reference points. It’s one of the trippiest things I’ve ever experienced. Some of them don’t even like guitar music.
ES: That’s so interesting. You’re just sitting there like “So anyway, here’s Wonderwall.”
SW: They think ‘Wonderwall’ sounds like shit.
ES: But so you were a big Green Day fan? What era?
SW: I started listening to them just before American Idiot came out. When that happened, I made it my whole life, my whole identity. I learned how to play all of those songs. All of the instruments.
ES: ‘Holiday’ was the first song I learned how to play on the guitar. It still is a low-key influence to this day.
SW: I wish I could have all of my students learn their whole discography. You can do so much with that foundation.
ES: I was more of a blink-182 guy in the long run, but I know Green Day probably had better musical chops. Both bands were writing better songs than 99% of their peers, though. Nobody is writing songs like that anymore.
SW: I’m a big blink fan too. Both bands hit on something extremely special. I almost view them as separate from the pop-punk conversation. That shit is just fucking good.
ES: Let's talk a little bit about your record, though. It's got some slappers.
SW: Thank you — I tried my best.
ES: A lot of the songs feel very anthemic to me. There’s a sense of catharsis and release, not unlike those Green Day records you love. What do you think?
SW: I wasn’t necessarily going for that, but it’s what comes out. Green Day is a foundation in my songwriting, I wouldn’t be surprised if it weasels its way in there. Caleb and I always ask ourselves, “What is the moment in this song?” We’re reaching towards a moment that the song is built around.
ES: I can hear that on a song like ‘Changes’. You have all these little parts strewn about the song, and they all come together at the end in this big moment. It’s sick.
SW: I’m so glad you like that. I had everything in that song up until the guitar solo written for a while. I wounde up teaching on my students ‘Jellybelly’ by The Smashing Pumpkins and it has this unusual five chord transition. It makes the song feel like it changes. I wanted to replicate that, so I got A.P. [Fiedler] to write a solo around that idea. It could’ve easily been more straightforward, but I wasn’t saying no to anything.
ES: It feels very maximal. We’re in an age where even a short guitar solo feels indulgent, so I appreciate that you’re willing to go there and write songs with a lot of different parts.
SW: I talk about Third Eye Blind’s first record a lot. All those songs are super poppy, but all of them have a moment in the middle where you’re left wondering where we’re gonna land. I love that. How can I make this a journey for the audience?
ES: What’s your writing process like? Are you sitting there with a guitar writing lyrics? Or are those two expressions different?
SW: It's almost always chords and lyrics at the same time. I’ll make a basic beat in Garage Band and write two parts, and then I’ll workshop it from there. Only one song on this record was finished first as an instrumental. ‘Another Brand New Me’.
ES: I wouldn’t have assumed that.
SW: We finished it on a writing trip we took in November 2022. It was the last day, we had recorded the demo of it. I sat down and was like, “Okay, I need to get this done.” I had an idea that worked, and went from there.
ES: Tell me more about this writing trip.
SW: It was awesome. We had initially planned to release another record quickly after Don’t Know What I Am but the whole thing took a long time. I decided to kick-start things by going to Anacortes Unknown Studio in Washington State and just trying to write. I had the music for ‘Another Brand New Me’, seventy-five percent for ‘Rhythm of Control,’ and a couple of others. I hit up my friend Nick to see what it would cost to stay there a couple of days, and it wasn’t bad, so we went there and set up all our gear. It was like that Beatles documentary. Laughs.
ES: Oh my god.
SW: We were hustling. We were playing so much. It was so fun.
ES: You’re such a rock star. This is an extremely ‘90s approach.
SW: I want it, you know? If no one’s gonna give it to me, I’m gonna take it. I’m gonna create it for myself.
I just want to see people commit. I’m not interested in the idea of being indifferent. Some bands can pull off the slacker thing, but for me, I want to explore every corner
ES: I noticed Alien Boy also has a lot of music videos for a smaller indie band. Why is it important for your music to be represented that way?
SW: Yeah, our friend Sjur Hjeltness has directed 10 of them for us. It came about because he DM’d us randomly in 2018, and I thought it’d be sick. I was curious. We formed a really sweet friendship. He’s always been able to do it on whatever budget we have.
I don’t want Alien Boy to just be the songs. I want the whole thing. That world-building aspect is a big reason why I get enthralled with bands. I consume rock documentaries and movies, and podcasts. I get swept up in bands who have a cultural moment. It’s happened recently with bands like Turnstile and Fontaines D.C. They’re able to take up all the air in the room. That’s when rock and roll is the coolest.
ES: The iconography of music is so interesting and inspiring.
SW: I just want to see people commit. I’m not interested in the idea of being indifferent. Some bands can pull off the slacker thing, but for me, I want to explore every corner. If I don’t, it’s going to keep me up at night.
ES: I feel that. I wish I could say fuck it but I’m a try hard.
SW: Totally. I want to be nonchalant, but I’m such a try-hard. I was thinking about that a lot on this recent tour… That’s kind of the main thing about me right now. Laughs.
Sonia Weber is a musician and songwriter. She lives in Portland, OR.