ALYXX – From The Theater to The Pit

The first thing everyone notices about ALYXX is her purple and green hair, but what they end up remembering most is her incredible voice.

A heavy metal artist hailing from just outside NYC, ALYXX’s vocal prowess consistently draws comparisons to the likes of Amy Lee of Evanescence. Before any blistering guitars, or fast-paced drums came into her life, however, she actually had a classical upbringing.

Growing up a dancer, and a theater kid who was into musicals, becoming the “Creature of the Night” she is today was an interesting turn of events.

I caught up with ALYXX over Zoom, and she opened up about her unlikely musical origins, and how they inform the music she makes today. She also revealed the concert that changed her life, the plans for her upcoming tour, and the inspiration behind her recently released single, the aforementioned “Creature of the Night.”

From what I’ve read you were brought up on classical music. So what was life like for baby ALYXX? What were your original experiences with music? 

Baby ALYXX used to be a dancer. I used to be a ballerina, so I think that’s where the classical music came into play.

Growing up we always had music playing in the house, and my dad listens to everything, but he loves classical music, so I was just kind of around it growing up.

I did theater, too. I was a dancer into theater, so it was a very musical household, mostly my fault. {laughs}

When and how did rock n roll, and metal come into your life? 

As I got older my taste got heavier and heavier. I was really into Linkin Park, and Korn when I was like 11, and my sister had a huge influence on my musical taste.

Also, MTV, VH1, seeing (the video for) “I Hate Everything About You” by Three Days Grace, I was like – ooh, I like this! I still listened to like Britney Spears, and Backstreet Boys, because, you know, I was still like a kid, but my heart was in the metal world.

I saw my first concert at 11. It was Linkin Park, and Korn. My dad took me and my sister to it, and it was like my eyes opened up. I was like – this is amazing!

That definitely sparked the whole love for rock.

You pretty much just answered what was going to be my next question, which is how did your family feel about your genre shift? Clearly, if your dad took you to the concert he was more than okay with it. 

Oh yeah, of course.

My mom also did theater. She sang, and she likes the theater side, and the pop world. With some of my music she’s like, “You sound beautiful, (but) I don't know what you're saying,” because she’s so used to the theater, where everything’s very over-articulate.

But my parents are the most supportive parents I could ever ask for, and they will follow, and love anything that I do.

That’s awesome. With your passion for performing starting at a young age, how young were you when you were crushing the competition at school talent shows? 

I did the school talent show, I think when I was in fourth grade. That was the first talent show thing that I did. I sang a song called “Born to Entertain” (from the musical Ruthless!). It’s like a big, belty (song), so I was a theater kid … like you can picture it with (tipping) the hat. It was rough.

I just always loved being on stage from, I guess … I mean that was the earliest memory. There’s also a recording of that, so that helps my jog my memory.

I’m guessing it has not been uploaded to YouTube. 

Honestly, no. I’m sure my mom has it somewhere.

It’s embarrassing. I’m pretty sure I cracked at one point, because I ran out of air.

I’m probably gonna try to find that video.

You ran out of air because you were in fourth grade. You had tiny lungs! 

I know, and I was belting. I was the token belter. I loved belting everything. My low range was nonexistent. I had one thing, and that's all I did for a long period of my life.

How do you feel your classical background, and your theater background inform the heavy metal, and the rock music you make today? 

I think in terms of lyric wise, especially doing theater, I think I’m very intentional with the lyrics, and the melody with it, because in musical theater you’re singing a song, and you’re singing a phrase, for a reason. It’s not just because it sounds pretty.

I mean, there are some that just sound pretty, but everything is very intentional. So when I’m writing a song, I’m trying to think – why?

If there's a key change, why am I changing keys? Does it make sense with the lyrical content? I think very analytically about that, and in terms of composing I love a very dramatic, and larger than life sound.

It’s funny, yesterday I was trying to write a song that was more relaxed. I ended up making like this whole orchestra thing, because, I don’t know, I love drama.

I noticed you said compose. So in addition to being a songwriter, you also write all the music? 

Yes.

When you when you write a song, and you write the music, do you have a full time band at this point, or are you employing different musicians as you go along based on the songs? 

I have a guitarist, and a drummer that I work with. I program drums, and guitar on Pro Tools … so when I come in, I’m like, “This is the song. This is what I had in mind,” and they put their own flair on it.

Zacki (Ali) is an amazing drummer. He does things I could never even think of. The same with Brandon (Hawkes) on guitar. So they add their own flair to it, but I normally come in with like the song done.

Women in heavy metal tend to be presented in a certain way. What are your feelings on some of those stereotypes? 

I just I got to a point where I just don’t care what anybody says, or thinks, so I just ignore everything.

I mean, I’ve definitely gotten some comments on a YouTube video, or just something I post, like they make a comment about me physically, and I’m just like – “OK, cool. Like, do you feel good about yourself?” then I move on with my life.

I was also I was thinking back to maybe five, ten years ago, when if a magazine was going to write about women in rock it was like, “Here are the 20 hottest women in metal,” and things like that. 

Yeah. They kind of do that with everyone, now that I think about it. They will sexualize both men and women at this point.

TikTok is weird, too. I don't know if you go down that rabbit hole, but fandoms are very strange.

I have never gone down a TikTok rabbit hole, so when you talk about fandoms being kind of strange what are some of the things you've seen, and how does all that maybe change the way you navigate the internet? 

It’s not a bad thing, but, you know, Bad Omens fans, Black Veil Brides fans, I think they don’t understand personal space sometimes.

Especially nowadays, people want you to be on the internet all the time. Like – What are you doing? When did you wake up? What did you eat?

I’m a very private person, so that’s something I’ve always struggled with – trying to be a presence on social media, but also kind of hide my real life to keep that sanity going.

I feel like as generations come, people are becoming more expecting of you to be completely 100% online all the time.

Your most recent single is “Creature of the Night.” Tell me about the inspiration behind it. 

So that one kind of stemmed from … again, like we were talking about before, women in metal … growing up there’s always people that aren’t exactly supporters, like fake friends, so to speak, so I wrote this song being like – I’m gonna do this. I have a good support team around me. I have people that support me, and I don’t need that negative energy. I don’t need people putting me down, and I’m not going to stop doing what I’m doing just because you’re not a fan of mine, or you’re not supportive of me.

Again, it’s not just me specifically. I have friends that go through this stuff, too, where they’ll have fake friends constantly putting them down, being like, “Oh, you sure you want to do that?” Sometimes it’s jealousy. Sometimes it’s I don't even know what, but the song is just being like – I’m going to do my thing. You can either love it, or hate it, but this is me.

Do you have another single on the way, or are you going to let this one simmer for a while? 

I’m going to let it simmer for a while.

I actually have a full EP, but I’m in the process of revamping some of it, and writing new songs, because I’m getting very picky about what I release.

I was really happy with “Creature of the Night,” and I want everything to be up to that standard. I’m currently working on two other songs at the moment, and then revamping another one.

So the EP will be released sometime around late summer? 

Yeah, definitely. Probably like July at this point.

Before that you’re heading out on an eight city tour from May 23rd through June 1st. So what is the ALYXX live experience like? 

I’m very excited for that. The last four shows I’m headlining. This is going to be really cool.

I wish I had more lights, and crazy stuff like that, but with all of my shows I try to have it become an experience. So you come in, and it kind of transports you into another world.

That sounds so cheesy, but I just try to make it feel like a vibe, and it’s really cool to connect with an audience, and to see them. As much as I love doing things on social media, it’s nice to see someone in person, and to feel that connection, because you can’t really get that anywhere else.

That leads beautifully to my next question. I’m sure plenty of folks come up to you after shows, so what are some of your favorite stories from fans about how they’ve connected with your work? 

I’ve definitely found a lot of people tell me that some of my songs, like “Serenity,” helped them through a tough time, or that whenever they were sad they would listen to one of my songs, which was such a strange feeling, because I have that feeling towards other people. To see that someone has that feeling towards me, it’s like an out of body experience. But it’s just really cool that people are affected, and can relate to the songs that I write.

Let’s close with something embarrassing. You mentioned that as a kid you had Britney Spears, and stuff like that in your collection. In the present, let’s say you’re driving to the next tour stop on your upcoming tour – what’s the most embarrassing thing you might be caught singing along to in the car? 

Hmm. I guess any Broadway show. I listen to Pippin, the musical, a lot. The song “Morning Glow” is like one of my favorite songs, and I sing that constantly, so probably that.

How often does your band ask you to change the music, or is that non-negotiable? Is it something you’ve already put in the contract, like, “You are not allowed to ask me to change the music”? 

They’re really open. I mean, I listen to all types of stuff. I’ll listen to Celtic music, I’ll listen to Viking metal, I’ll listen to pop, I’ll listen to Brian Eno, very eclectic stuff.

At the end of the day, we’re all musicians, so we’ll listen to anything.

For more ALYXX, including everywhere you can find on her on the internet, check out linktr.ee.com/officialalyxx.