Crossfade: Okay, let's give our readers a little taste of you. Who are you, where do you come from, and where's the best place to get pizza and score a hooker?
I'm Alex, I play guitar for Remembering Never. I was born in Miami, raised a few years in St. Louis, Missouri, but I eventually came back, though. You always come back to the place you started, I guess? The best place for pizza is definitely Primanti Bros, in Fort Lauderdale. We have one across the street from our warehouse spot and I visit that place frequently. They always recognize me because I wear the same basketball shorts for practice. Our warehouse is too damn hot and those shorts are the ones I have. Hookers? I dunno, that part of my life is behind me now and most of the spots I used to visit got busted by la migra.
Let me get a list of all the musical projects you've been involved with and what releases are available.
I first started playing bass with a project called Kill the Script; we never got to record though. Jason Boyer was in that band with me and eventually we started Target Nevada. I also played guitar in Dance Floor Justice with my friend Chip, who started the band with me for fun and that eventually grew in popularity somehow.
I also had a band with Chip and Jason called All Hell Breaks Loose which was my first project under singing duties. After AHBL, I briefly played guitar with Glasseater but [that lineup of] the band didn't get to do shows because the other members got tired of it; it disbanded quickly. Dead Weight was another band I did for a while and did some tours and released a record.
Definitely all projects were fun. With Remembering Never, we're going a different route on the new material on all fronts, tuning, style, singing, song structure, etc.... It's going to be interesting to see the reaction from previous fans.
All Hell Breaks Loose released two records with Surprise Attack Records and Goodbye Blue Skies. Songs are available on the band's MySpace and Surprise Attack Records.
Dead Weight are Dance Floor Justice full-lengths were released on Double or Nothing Records. Glasseater has previous material released on Victory Records and Fearless Records. Target Nevada was also part of the Surprise Attack records lineup; one full-length and EP are available there.
Remembering Never's current albums are available on Ferret Style and the God Save Us vinyl was pressed specially through local label Dead Truth Recordings.
I remember the show after former drummer Joe Lamadrid passed away, and while the energy was incredible, I've often wondered how you and your bandmates in All Hell Breaks Loose coped with his loss.
That's a hard question to answer. Our final show was a representation to us of how much AHBL impacted the scene. (And we weren't even aware of it!) It was also amazing how so many people came to pay their respects and weren't around to see the band during its original run.
I still have people come up to me, to this day, or e-mailing, saying how they discovered the band and how we influenced them to play music or, influenced them to check out other hardcore bands. I spent so many years of my life telling other bands I admired that very same thing.
The fact that Joe was with us and a part of a band that had that sort of impact, is something more special within itself. I know he would be proud to know his band(s) influenced kids as well. That kind of an impression left behind is something infinitely more valuable, which makes it the best way to remember him and a little better to cope with him not being around anymore. I still have a hat from All Hell's merch that I wear constantly as a way to keep him with me.
Okay, you're a film buff. Which are your favorite(s), all-time movies in the following categories: a) Western, b) horror, c) pornography, d) films involving midgets, e) French language films and f) films involving the rape and/or mutilation of food items?
All-time favorite movies are always going to be the Graduate, JFK, and the Exorcist. Those three movies at face value are great additions to their genre, but they offer so much more between the layers.
In my opinions, those films hold some of the best performances from their actors, best cinematography, best writing, best directing, and everything else that all the people involved had to offer.
Westerns? Definitely the Wild Bunch and Unforgiven. To go a little more close to this generation (which criminally lacks Westerns these days) I'd say John Hillcoat's the Proposition. Horror? Romero's Dawn of the Dead is the be-all, end-all of great epic horror films. Then you have John Carpenter's The Thing and In The Mouth of Madness. Georges Franju's Eyes Without a Face and Roman Polanski's Repulsion.
Porn? Life and Times of Drunky The Bear of course! And anything with Sasha Grey.
Midgets? Time Bandits! Gilliam at his weirdest and finest. And would The Tin Drum with David Bennent count? Even though he didn't play a midget?
French? I'm a huge fan of Gasper Noe. Irreversible and I Stand Alone are absolutely fantastic! Jules et Jim, La Haine, and a lot of New Wave French horror is resonating in me lately. Films like Inside and Martyrs are up there with the Italian giallos of the '70s and the Japanese ghost films of the '90s.
Food? C'mon...everyone knows The Stuff is the best abusive food film ever!
Who are your favorite Florida bands and who would you like to or would have liked to perform with?
Some of my favorite Florida bands (if not most of them) are broken up at this point. But as far as the ones still around, I've always loved Poison the Well. Those guys are true musicians that go in so many different directions as musicians but always kept their sound and essence as a band. I also love Torche too, mainly because they're so loud and heavy. I still have a soft spot for Malevolent Creation too.
Lots of the bands from the past were really what I loved and shaped and influenced what I play to this day. Morning Again, Strongarm, Tension, Vacant Andys, Bloodlet, Death, Cynic, and Solstice! I love Solstice, thanks to Chip who showed me tons of great Florida metal stuff, years ago.
Any projects for which we should be on the lookout?
Check out the new Remembering Never record called, This Hell is Home, which should be out sometime this year. We're really proud of the direction that record is going. It's still heavy but it's definitely going to be different.
Furious Dudes is also a great band to look up. Their new record is great! Lots of great stuff coming out of Florida these days. Dirty Habits, Hit Play!, Arsenal 88, Thick as Blood, and Hivemind. All good stuff coming out of here. Hopefully more as the scene continues.
Check out Remembering Never at the Talent Farm July 10with tons of other bands. You can find the info at www.myspace.com/rememberingnever954.