Alcoa, Derek Archambault of Defeater’s solo project, announces record
We reported about this earlier, but there seems to be a release date now.
Singer/songwriter Derek Archambault is no stranger to the spotlight; he has spent the last 4 years on tour with progressive hardcore/punk band Defeater, and has had a solo project called Alcoa going for even longer. After countless years of being on the backburner, Alcoa will release Bone & Marrow, its debut full-length album, on February 26th, 2013.
Bone & Marrow was recorded in mid-2012, first in Derek’s hometown of Portsmouth, NH, then at Mike Moschetto’s The Office Recording (N. Andover, MA) and at Jay Maas’ Getaway Recording Studio (for vocal tracks and mastering). This debut album will feature eleven songs.
It has a few tracks I’ve been fucking around with for the past few years, along with new stuff written specifically for this record. I wanted to try out what it would be like to be a real band, so I wrote as we recorded it.
Not unlike earlier Ryan Adams and Rocky Votolato efforts, Bone & Marrow is country-tinged with pop sensibilities; full of songs about life, love and regret. Also prevalent on the album is the addition of instrumentation like upright bass, banjo, fiddle, pedal steel, piano/organ, and charming guy/girl dueling vocals (featuring Archambault’s longtime girlfriend, Alyssa Eygnor), making it Alcoa’s most complete and mature effort to date.
Alcoa started ten years ago while Archambault was on tour with one of his many bands. He’d found himself listening to more and more artists like Gram Parsons, Elliot Smith, and Johnny Cash.
I wanted so badly to be able to write songs like that. I didn’t know how to at all, but it didn’t stop me from trying and churning out a bunch of shitty songs that I was too afraid to sing. One day, while driving through Alcoa, TN, I decided on the name and started the process of figuring out how to not write a loud punk or four-chord jangly pop song.
He honed his writing skills, released a few demo recordings as Alcoa, then the project took the backseat to his other musical endeavors at the time.
Over the course of the next few years, Derek played various instruments in various bands before landing the role as vocalist for an up-and-coming band from Boston called Defeater. Since their inception in 2008, Defeater has been the main priority for Derek; the band has toured the U.S. and Europe several times over and have released three albums on Bridge Nine Records. In 2011, Defeater released their double LP Empty Days & Sleepless Nights, which features one album of punk/hardcore tracks, and another album that’s a 4-song acoustic effort that put a lot of emphasis on Derek’s actual singing ability.
Defeater had done an acoustic track on our first full-length, Travels, that was received really well by fans. Singing that song almost every night for two years, then releasing the acoustic album on Empty Days, definitely made me much more comfortable with my voice
These things, coupled with inspiration to write and desire to record, gave Derek the confidence he needed to pursue Alcoa as a more serious undertaking. And throughout such a busy time on the road and writing and recording with Defeater, Derek took some time to get a few more demos done as Alcoa.
I’ve always tried to keep Alcoa stuff with me while on the road over the last ten or so years. Most recently, I sold the newest demo on the Defeater U.S. tour with Bane and along our European tour as well.
The last 4-song Alcoa demo was pressed onto a few hundred CD’s and sold out on the road.
Check out songs from Alcoa’s demo, It Keeps My Friends Worried below:
ALCOA – ON TOUR
November 23 Denver, CO @ Ichi’s Pit w/ Brightsider, Jake Garrett
January 27 Boston, MA @ The Sinclair w/ La Dispute, The Menzingers
