INTERVIEW: Quiet Riot guitarist Alex Grossi joins with James Durbin on new ‘Scars’ project
Alex Grossi likes loud music, a fact confirmed by his role as guitarist for Quiet Riot. The hard rockers have been going strong for years, playing concerts and festivals around the world, and Grossi is right in the middle of the musical frenzy.
When Quiet Riot is taking a momentary break, Grossi is able to accomplish some side projects and flex those artistic muscles. His latest offshoot is Maps to the Hollywood Scars, a duo collaboration with American Idol finalist and new Quiet Riot singer James Durbin. They recently released a five-song EP, and volume two is on the horizon.
The new EPs showcase the dark side of Hollywood and the music industry from two performers who have been there and done that for years.
Recently, Hollywood Soapbox spoke with Grossi about his new project, his future plans and how he became a hard rocker. Here’s a sample of what he had to say.
On the origins of Maps to the Hollywood Scars …
“I’ve known James since 2011. I met him back when he was on American Idol through a mutual acquaintance out in Los Angeles, and we kind of saw each other here and there. And then last fall he was doing this Vegas residency type of thing, where I live now, and I went out to the premiere night of the show. And we kind of reconnected and ended up jamming a song together, and I got his email address and started sending him some demos that I had been working on. And he fired them back at me with great lyrics and great melodies, and we decided, why not make a record. We got about 10 songs in the can. I flew him out here to Vegas. We blocked out a studio, and the rest is pretty much history.”
On plans for volume II …
“We’re going to put Volume II in a couple of months mainly because nowadays people buy two or three songs at a time. … It’s sad to say, but full records aren’t what they used to be. People can go on iTunes and cherry-pick what songs they are going to use, which is the song they’re going to buy. And a label can cherry-pick what song they’re going to push. It’s not like back in the old days where they would put out one single and then another single, and sort of develop a band. It’s more contrived these days.”
On the recording process …
“We didn’t use a real drummer. We programmed the drums, so that was the main time-consuming part of it. But because I already demoed most of the songs at my home studio, I knew the parts pretty much in and out already, so the actual recording itself didn’t take that long at all. The editing and mixing is what took a lot of the time. … We weren’t going for our old-school classic type record. We wanted to go for something more contemporary, more acid rock, if you will. You know what I mean? So the main time-consumer was the editing and mixing, but the recording was very quick actually. I blocked out five days for James to do vocals, one day per song, and he did all five in about a day and a half.”
On meshing styles with Durbin …
“There’s a slight age difference, and James, he’s more acid rock school. I grew up on Guns N’ Roses and Mötley Crüe and Kiss and Aerosmith. He did as well, but he also listened to more modern bands that I’m not as aware of. We would mesh our influences together. Like I would suggest singing something taking more of an old-school approach, and then he would do the same with a guitar tone, trying to get me to do more modern stuff. So the combination of the two really made an interesting sound. It worked out great.”
On his busy schedule with Quiet Riot …
“Quiet Riot is very, very busy. We always are. We’re one of those bands that works all year round. Yeah, we did it during the week. I mean, Quiet Riot does weekends usually, and actually James is the new singer in Quiet Riot. That sort of led to that, which is nice. It was easy because Desert Moon Productions is very close to where I live, and it’s very easy to block out. You can kind of go in for like 12 to 14 songs at a time and not be bothered by anybody.”
On possibly touring the new material around …
“We did our EP release party out here in Vegas a couple of weeks ago. We played a couple TV news stations and whatnot — just acoustic, me and him, with two acoustic guitars — and it went great. And I actually said to myself and to James, I said, ‘You know, everybody’s out there with a full band. I’ll be honest, it’s a pain to bring a full band on the road with crew and all the hotel rooms and the tour bus and everything.’ So we thought about doing a couple acoustic shows because they went really well, and his voice and these songs work really well acoustic. A lot of bands can’t pull it off. Because James is such a great singer and he can play guitar, we could actually do it. We can pull off a lot of stuff that most bands can’t. … If we found a couple weekends here and there, I could easily see us coming out and doing some stuff like that.”
On his early days in rock ‘n’ roll …
“I knew I wanted to be a professional musician/rocker since I was 12 or 13 years old. The first time I saw Guns N’ Roses on MTV and went to go see Poison live, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. Now it’s not the easiest job to pursue. It’s kind of like saying I want to be an astronaut or a basketball player. Yeah, I do look back, and I look at those people I played with and that I continue to play with, and I’m always very, very grateful. … It’s not luck. I sacrifice a lot to do this. I mean, I’ve missed weddings. I’ve missed funerals. I’ve missed birthdays. I’ve missed births, for that matter, to be able to commit 100 percent to being in a touring rock band and recording rock band. I mean, I moved to Los Angeles when I was 22 and never looked back.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Alex Grossi has partnered with James Durbin on Maps to the Hollywood Scars. Click here for more information.
