Ali Wadsworth self titled debut THE PHILLY RELEASE OF THE YEAR!

Saturday night, October 5th, something truly magical is going to happen.  The self titled Ali Wadsworth album is going to be released in grand fashion.  We're talking G R A N D!  Cocktail hour, a secret band, a roving party, and the much anticipated release of the most #EPIC album of all time!
The Ali Wadsworth band itself, is made up of members of Good Old War, the Lawsuits, Hezekiah Jones, Chris Kasper, and more!

We're not talking epic as in my favorite over-used adjective, but epic as in over 50 potential writers contributing to a project!  The cross-section of the Philadelphia scene involved with this project is huge.  We're not even talking 6 degrees of separation or 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon or whatever.  The number of artists directly writing for or playing on the album is staggering.  Don't confuse things though.  This is not some weak celebrity all-star album or some vanity project.  This is a full on collaboration with Ali Wadsworth, all stemming out of the huge respect that all the other Philly scene-sters have for Ali.  Likewise, even though none of the songs are written by Ali, every song is overwhelmingly Ali Wadsworth.  Some have taken so much new life with Ali that they seem like they were written about her.  Going through a break up, mid-record, this album became a document of what she was going through.  'Still Not Over You' has become her break up song, 'Long Hours' to avoid the ex, and 'Biding My Time' wanting to keep him away.

How did it all begin?    "Wadsworth’s solo album was successfully funded via Kickstarter as a project whereby she asked 10 of her favorite songwriters to write her songs. Within a month of starting this project, she received almost 50 songs from some of the most renowned songwriters in the city most of whom she didn’t ask, but heard about the project and submitted anyway; making the decision process quite difficult. As challenging as it was to choose just 10 songs, the decisions were made with Wadsworth’s mega-producers/engineers BILL MORIARTY and JOE BISIRRI (DR. DOG, MAN MAN, FLOATING ACTION, TALL TALL TREES, GRANDCHILDREN, DRINK UP BUTTERCUP, THE SHEEPDOGS, TOY SOLDIERS, THE LAWSUITS) the ambitiously mind-blowing album was finally completed, mixed, mastered, and pressed a month ago just in time for The Philadelphia Folk Festival where she had an unbelievably fortuitous pre-release."

How did these songs get to Ali?  To get the best answer on this I went straight to the writers themselves. 
From Sean Hoots: 'All Due Respect' was a song I just had laying around.  In its demo state it was a bit too hip-hop/r&b for Hoots & Hellmouth to use. The big chorus works well with Ali's voice, and that was what initially inspired me to offer it to her for her record.  The final version sounds a lot more polished than I thought that little gem could get.   She's got a great producer and session cats on her team, so it's not surprising that they were able to mold it into a proper rocker more suited for her style. I'm a proud papa.


Brian Dale Allen Strouse:

"I was made aware that she was making an album. I met her at a bar one night and we spoke about me sending her a few tunes for her to possibly use on her new album. I sent her a bunch she picked 'Hurricane Blues'. There was one song that I actually wrote for her. She decided not to use it, and went with Hurricane Blues, which was probably a good idea because her version of that is so good." 

As a habitual song writer, what's it like seeing your song being presented so well amongst the Ali Wadsworth album?  "It's great! She's a hell of a talent. Her version of 'Hurricane Blues' is how that song always wanted to be." 

Any other favorites from the new album?

'Blue (Still Not Over You') is one of my favorites. The whole album's good start to finish. Kudos to her."

From Kevin Killen:
Ali asked me to write her a song and I was honored considering the huge pool of writing talent she already had to draw from. I slaved over a piano for a while and truly thought of her when creating the song. In fact. The only time I was in her car there was a warbley, worn out old soul tape ... Yes tape, playing on the radio. She's a great singer and I'm amazingly honored that my song made the record. I wish her the best if luck but she won't need it because it's a killer record.


Where did all the magic happen? Philly bands and friends of Ali Wadsworth, the Lawsuits and Toy Soldiers had each worked with Bill Moriarty at Waking Studios, when Ali came in.  To get the details of making this album, I went straight to Co-Producer Joe Bisirri. 

"I first met Ali Wadsworth during the Toy Soldiers Maybe Boys sessions. She came in a couple times to do background vocals. I actually remember the first time I heard her: I was doing some editing in another room at the studio and I heard her wailing out in the live room. "Whoa, Robert Plant is here"

Ali came to us with Ron Gallo and said she was anxious to begin recording her record. At this point she had already done her Kickstarter and had done some demos and arranging with Dan Schwartz from Good Old War."

Had you heard any previous versions of the songs?  "There were demos of all the songs from the artists. 'Say Goodbye' is a Floating Action song that I believe is already out in the world. We literally just recreated the arrangement of that song with slightly slicker production. Kevin was working on his own version of 'I Ran Away' at the same time as us. That's one of my favorite songs on the record.  (He put his version out on his Laurelwood Road EP)"

How were the songs introduced into the project?  Did the author play a version first and let Ali take over,  or the studio take over?  Did Sean Hoots, Brian Strouse, Chris Kasper, etc,  take part in any of the development of the songs?  "The writers weren't involved in the process of making the album.  Dan and Ali had done a few of their own demos which also informed what we made. We pretty much picked our favorites of the demos and then would filter it through the band. If we had something cool after working on it for a while then we kept with it, if not we moved to a different song. Ron wrote the chorus of 'Where is Your Love' in 15 minutes. While we working on it we realized that the chorus we had was more of a pre-chorus, so we called him up and asked if he could come up with something. He sent us an iPhone voice memo a little while later." 

The musicians, were they all friends of Ali's or introduced through the studio? 

A lot of people played on the record. Many of  them were friends of Ali's and had played with her in the past. I fell into playing on the record by way of engineering it. You know, everyone's gone home and the song could use a couple more overdubs, "Oh, Joe plays." The album was recorded in a couple chunks, but the biggest chunk had Matt Scarano on drums, whom Bill suggested we bring in. Phil DAgostino played bass on the whole record. A lot of the more sublime trippy groovy stuff was done with Matt, Phil and I. Dan and Tim from Good Old War played on 'All Due Respect' and 'Where Is Your Love'. Josh Friedman from the Lawsuits played drums on 'Biding My Time'. Jaron Olevsky played keys on 'All Due Respect' and 'Where is Your Love'. Ron played piano on 30 Days. Dom Billet from Toy Soldiers played some percussion as well as drums on a Dave Davison song that we worked on for the record but didn't end up making it. 

Any unexpected matches? Kate Bernhardt came in and stole the record doing background vocals. Her part on the second verse of 'Still Not Over You' is awesome. 

Speaking of Kate Bernhardt, the songstress adds; while it was a thrill and a great experience to be asked to add some vocals to the album.  'I'm so excited for Ali.  This album really allows her to flex her vocals, showing of her range and dynamics."   
  

As an added bonus for this post, I got with RLS Video's Bob Sweeney to edit another video from the Sofar Sounds Philadelphia session! Extra Thanks to Bob and the Sofar Sounds Philadelphia team for team help sharing more Ali Wadsworth Ali Wadsworth "Biding My Time" Sofar Philadelphia (#408)

Thanks also to Ali Wadsworth, Sean Hoots, Brian Strouse, Kevin Killen, Joe Bisirri, Kate Bernhardt, and Marley McNamara for all sharing their time to give us some special insight on this album! 

Ali Wadsworth "Biding My Time"

Ali Wadsworth "Biding My Time" from Bob Sweeney on Vimeo.
 **

Ali Wadsworth Ali Wadsworth
Song title                                  writer
1.  'Long Hours'                        - Chris Kasper
2.  'Still Not Over You (Blue)'  - Adrien Reju
3.  'Biding My Time'                 - Claire Wadsworth
4.  'Just One Kiss'                      - Eric Hickey
5.  'I Ran Away'                         - Kevin Killen
6.  'Hurricane Blues'                  - Brian Dale Allen Strouse
7.  '30 Days'                               - David Cope
8.  'Where Is Your Love'            - Ron Gallo
9.  'All Due Respect'                  - Sean Hoots
10. 'Say Goodbye'                      - Seth Kauffman

 For Immediate Release

ALI WADSWORTH RECORD RELEASE SHOW 

WITH HER SICK BAND AT THE RUBA CLUB

Feat. Divers, Auctioneer, Thom McCarthy, and a Late-Night “Caber-ALI”

with a Super TOP SECRET Party Band, DJ Frosty and Tripledouble

Saturday, October 5th, 2013, 8 pm

ALI WADSWORTH throws down in honor of the release of her solo debut album and her birthday on Saturday, October 5th at the RUBA Club, 416 Green Street, Philadelphia, with a pre-show cocktail hour including snacks from local restauraunts, mind-blowing musical performances with all the bells and whistles of a high school musical,, a late-night dance party with only the best DJs, the greatest dance band in Philly, and a few other wacky Ali shenanigans. Doors/Cocktail hour starts at  8 pm, The show starts at 9 pm, and goes until 3 am. Tickets are $10.00.

Ali Wadsworth and her Sick Band are:

Ali Wadsworth- Vocals  (Unlikely Cowboy, back-up singer for virtually every band in Philadelphia, contestant on The Voice, yes, really)

Joe Bisirri- Guitar (The Lawsuits, Engineer/Producer of Ali’s New Record, as well as The Lawsuits’ and Toy Soldiers’ new records)

Daniel Schwartz- Vocals/Guitar (Good Old War, Unlikely Cowboy)

Phil D’Agostino- Bass (Hezekiah Jones, Chris Kasper, Ben Arnold, Pete Donnelly, Sharon Little)

Josh Friedman- Drums (The Lawsuits)

Kevin Killen- Guitar (Kevin Killen Band, Hezekiah Jones, Chris Kasper, Tin Bird Choir)

Vanessa Winters- Vocals (The Lawsuits)

Kate Bernhardt- Vocals (Juston Stens and The Get Real Gang, The Bernhardts)

On October 5th, Ali Wadsworth hosts the most epic night of her life. Besides consecrating the birth of her long-awaited self-titled debut solo album, she also will be celebrating her 32nd birthday with some wild and crazy antics brimming with ridiculous set-design, costume changes and four incredible bands who have such an astounding stage presence; this night will no doubt be a glorious spectacle of the most massive proportions. This night will not just be a fantastic show, it will be an experience and journey into Ali’s absurd world.

Wadsworth’s solo album was successfully funded via Kickstarter as a project whereby she asked 10 of her favorite songwriters to write her songs. Within a month of starting this project, she received almost 50 songs from some of the most renowned songwriters in the city most of whom she didn’t ask, but heard about the project and submitted anyway; making the decision process quite difficult. As challenging as it was to choose just 10 songs, the decisions were made with Wadsworth’s mega-producers/engineers BILL MORIARTY and JOE BISIRRI (DR. DOG, MAN MAN, FLOATING ACTION, TALL TALL TREES, GRANDCHILDREN, DRINK UP BUTTERCUP, THE SHEEPDOGS, TOY SOLDIERS, THE LAWSUITS) the ambitiously mind-blowing album was finally completed, mixed, mastered, and pressed a month ago just in time for The Philadelphia Folk Festival where she had an unbelievably fortuitous pre-release. Now, it’s time to party.       

                         

Together with a glorious cast of characters, Ali Wadsworth and her Sick Band will lead all in a splendid night of antics, song and dance. Featured in the night’s festivities will be:

DIVERS - http://www.diversband.com

If Leonard Cohen and PJ Harvey had a baby who grew up listening to The Smiths, Nina Simone and old Rolling Stones records, that baby might form a band that sounds like DIVERS, a newly formed rock quartet from Philadelphia starring local sweethearts Emily Ana Zeitlyn (The Weeds), Ross Bellenoit (Birdie Busch), Tom Bendel (Buried Beds) and Todd Erk.  DIVERS use equal parts stabbing lyric, extreme dynamic and darling melody to whisper to the sadder side of your soul.

AUCTIONEER - http://auctioneer.bandcamp.com

Auctioneer is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their music has been described as art-pop and has been compared to TheTalking Heads, David Bowie, and The Zombies. In 2011, the band debuted with The Auctioneer EP, and in 2013, released the album Future Faces, mixed by Jon Low. The band also toured the summer of 2013 with fellow Philadelphians mewithoutYou.

THOM MC CARTHY - http://thommccarthy.bandcamp.com/

“I really think Thom is a genius in every sense of the word.  He’s extremely unique, humble and often a nervous wreck leading up to every performance but once he takes the stage it’s pretty apparent he was born to be on one.  He’s a real character and a true showman.  He has a divine ability to command a room with just himself and a finnicky classical guitar.  He has this HUGE voice that can range from silk sheets to a primal howl.  Not to mention his songs are brilliant.  They’re timeless and classic, super accessible yet complex, he’s an old soul cast into today’s world and his lyrics have a lot of nostalgic language and imagery but somehow applied perfectly to todays world and what it is that’s right in front of him.  Thom McCarthy is Philadelphia’s finest hidden gem that needs some light shed upon him!”

-Ron Gallo of Toy Soldiers

Schedule of events for the evening are as follows:

8:00-9:00 DOORS/Cocktail Hour downstairs with free snacks from local restaurants

9:00 party moves upstairs, AUCTIONEER plays until 9:40

9:50-10:30 DIVERS

10:35-11:05 curtain closes THOM MCCARTHY plays trio set

11:10 ALI WADSWORTH PLAYS until 12:15/12:30

12:15/12:30 LATE-NIGHT “CABER-ALI” commneces downstairs with TRIPLEDOUBLE

12:45 SUPER TOP SECRET PARTY BAND (this is Ali’s favorite Philly band, but cannot announce their playing because of a very important show immediately after)

1:15 -???? DJ FROSTY and TRIPLEDOUBLE DANCE PARTY.