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New Zealand’s Mojo Alice brews up a potent combination of primal rock & blues, style, character, & balls. Think AC/DC, Pantera, Warlock, ZZ Top, and Motorhead. Guitarist Bro – D talks us through the early days of the band, as well as his own personal musical memories.
What are the origins of the band, how long have you been playing together?
Fate and the Universe put us together, we all answered the same advertisement just like all the great rock n roll stories. That was about 4 years ago.
What should people expect when they check the band out? How would you describe yourself?
Our sound really is just what we sound like when we jam together. We’ve literally fallen into this awesome riff groove thing, the lyrical content builds off that and generally has some sort of dark voodoo bent to it – just because that’s how we roll!
The new music scene is bursting at the seams with fresh talent, in what ways do you feel that a band has to stand out from the others trying to build a name?
You’re right, there is so much music out there and it’s so accessible which makes it difficult to stand out. You can’t just chuck an album on Spotify and hope it will blow up. With 40,000 songs being added every day that ain’t gonna work no more. So it’s the same as anything, you gotta put the hours in and work at it building one fan at a time with social media, radio, rehearsals, and it is frustrating at times, but if it was easy – everyone would be doing it.
What are you working on at the minute that people can check out?
I’ve just had shoulder surgery from an old injury I needed to get sorted and will be out for another few weeks, then it will be straight into writing and planning gigs. We also recently signed with “434 Management” in the states which is co-owned by Paul Crosby – Drummer for “Saliva”. So that’s been really exciting for us.
What band out there at the minute do you feel that you would be best suited to open for?
Well, it’s tough at the moment as there are no bands in NZ that have the rock/bluesy thing like we do, so that means we gotta go straight to the top…….ZZ Top, ACDC, Airbourne are all consistent with our sound, not to mention it would be a dream come true!
Who do you feel is the next band to break out?
Mojo Alice of course haha!
What are your first musical memories? And what was the light bulb moment that made you go “I want to do that”?
That was probably seeing Guns n Roses (which was just the Axl Rose show with a backing band), and he had Sebastian Bach opening for him. It was my first concert and a lot of fun…. probably in 2007.
What was the last gig that you attended as a fan?
Tool! That was back in March, we went on the Friday night then got the opportunity to go with a friend Saturday night also. That was really special as she was friends with Danny Carey the drummer, so we got to go backstage and hang out with some of the band afterward!
The album that you have in your album collection/Spotify playlist that would surprise most people?
Michael Jackson……but everyone has some MJ stashed away in their playlist somewhere right?
What are your plans for the remainder of 2020?
Our plans for the rest of 2020 is to play some shows over the Summer, and start writing for the next album which we cannot wait for!
How active are you on social media and where can people connect with you?
We are pretty active on social media….you have to be these days to really get in people’s faces and stand out from the crowd. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube & Spotify.
Mojo Alice website here.
