alchalant

United States

Profile Information:

I am an:

Indie Artist

Artist's or Band's Name

alchalant

City & State

Detroit MI

Country

US

Music Genre(s):

Rock, Punk Rock

Bio:

For more information, visit www.alchalant.com
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Before alchalant set about trying to revitalize the “rock” part in their hometown’s famous nickname of Detroit “Rock” City, before the new album, before leader Alex Matijow even began working with the band’s other two members, he had a moment of clarity.

All of those goals were set back in 2008, amidst a moment of blinding pain. Riding home after a night of drinking, Matijow suffered a near-death experience after crashing his bicycle. He walked away, but just barely, with a broken nose, five cracked teeth, an upper lip split up to his nose … and a brand-new grasp on what his goals should have been all along.

Alex refocused on what was important to him, and that started with rock music and alchalant. The band, a muscular mix of 1990s rock and punk, will begin touring the Midwest in the summer of 2012 behind a new self-titled record, available now on iTunes and through the alchalant.com site.

Compared favorably to Social Distortion, the Clash, Green Day and Offspring, the Detroit-based outfit mirrors its frontman’s steely intensity. The goal is to push, and push hard, on the boundaries of rock by mixing in hardcore, metal, even elements of improvisational music.

At first, alchalant was simply an umbrella description for Alex’s complex but completely solo musings. He composed and recorded alchalant’s self-titled eight-song 2011 debut – along with arranging, mixing and mastering the project – all alone. Eventually, however, the project also served as a template to be developed further once Matijow finally decided to construct a working band.

Matijow was eventually joined by bassist and vocalist Todd Errion and drummer Chris Hobbs, who got together through social networking circles. Alex knew Hobbs from grade school, and the two had played together in the school symphony. Todd met Matijow in 2005, but had worked previously as a lead guitarist in the metal band Glutton For Punishment. Errion switched to bass for this new project with Alex, after discovering new challenges in the jazz-influenced grooves Matijow had already laid down on the album alchalant.

Together, they have uncovered new wrinkles to Matijow’s initial vision for alchalant – something that brilliantly plays out in the standout statement-of-purpose track “Dawn.” A frank discussion on making the most of your talents, the song’s insistent theme: Always live life to the fullest.

It’s a concept Matijow confronted on that scary bike ride four years ago, and something he’s now fully realizing alongside Errion and Hobbs in alchalant.


By Nick DeRiso

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