RALLY

ALEC: We have to go back to 1993. I wasn't in the original lineup. RALLY were JV-Guitar & vocals, O’Leary – Drums and Phil McCrackin on the bass. They practiced in the cellar under Phil’s house. I used to go round there about 5 nights a week when they rehearsed. The set consisted of badly played Stone Roses songs some The Who and some Small Faces numbers. Phil used to disappear upstairs with his girlfriend and I’d step in on the bass. Eventually he was spending all his time upstairs extending his carnal knowledge, and I spent more time filling in until Phil was letting the new Rally lineup rehearse in his basement.

SHAUNA: How would you describe Rally to someone who has never heard you?

ALEC: RALLY are a guitar driven power trio playing honest music written from the heart that you probably heard a million times before. The difference is Rally work hard with every song to put that hookline in your head and make it stay there. 90% of the time it works.

SHAUNA: You used to be a guitar player, but for Rally you handle the bass. What made you switch to bass?

ALEC: Everyone knows Bass players always get the birds after the show, can drink more beer than guitarists, are much more intelligent than drummers and stunningly more handsome than vocalists. Did I mention we have charm?

SHAUNA: Vocalist J.V. writes a lot of the songs for Rally, but I understand you arrange them. How exactly does that work?

ALEC: Usually JV comes around and picks up the guitar. He just starts belting out what’s in his head and most of the time it's almost a finished article. I’ll rearrange things to keep the song flowing, add bridges, and come up with guitar riffs. Other times I’ll write a song and play it to him, He’ll say "Put it in the bin, I wrote this while you were playing." So yes, JV writes and I arrange. I have a vast collection of songs I wrote neatly *arranged* in the bin.

SHAUNA: How and when did you discover Artist Launch Radio?

ALEC: I probably saw a post on the old mp3.com artist area bulletin board. The site was still in its infancy and there was a good community spirit. I turned up a few times to the chartroom that runs as the show streams. Some of the best bands I’ve ever listened to were brought to my attention by internet radio. Dave, Bruce & Van have been very supportive playing our music and putting up with me in the chat room ;)

SHAUNA: Who are some of your favorite bands?

ALEC: I fell in love with the whole Manchester scene in the 2nd half of the 1980s. The Stone Roses, The Charlatans (UK), The Happy Mondays, The Farm, Flowered up, all of them way up there on my list.

SHAUNA: How is the new drummer working out?

ALEC: Only had a few rehearsals so far. For being 18 Gordon McNeil is an excellent drummer. He downloaded a handful of our tunes and turned up at a rehearsal the next day, never having met us before and blew JV and myself away. He had everything beat perfect. He’s breathed new life into an old dog and we'revery excited about having him in the driving seat behind us on stage.

SHAUNA: What is a typical Rally gig like?

ALEC: Things have changed a lot since we first set out. We used to view a gig as a free rehearsal and get extremely messy with alcohol until someone showed us a video of ourselves.  That was a real eye opener and we take things a lot more seriously now.

SHAUNA: Do you and JV really fight like the Noel and Liam? ;)

ALEC: This question pisses me off. We get a lot of people comparing us to Oasis and I can’t see any similarities. They have 5 members, we have 3. They are English, we’re SCOTTISH. They put re arranged Beatles lyrics to Led Zeppelin guitar riffs, all our stuff is original. They charge $19 for a 7 song album, we charge $7 for a 19 song album . . . . Apart from that, we fight all the time.

SHAUNA: What is the music scene like in Glasgow?

ALEC: It’s quite a busy scene. There are hundreds of venues in the city promoting all types of music. You can find the Glasgow Gig Guide on our links page at
http://www.mp3.com/rally

SHAUNA: Where do you see yourself in five years?

ALEC: Available in all major records stores around the world.

SHAUNA: Who is your favorite Beatle?

ALEC: Used to be Ringo. But that was a sympathy vote on account of his nose being almost as big as mine. No wait, his is bigger . . . yes, it’s still Ringo.

SHAUNA: What is your favorite TV show?

ALEC: I don’t watch a lot of TV. Its soul destroying. There’s too much tragedy on the news and not enough happy stuff. I like a good nature program or something about history. There’s a great show on called The Time Team, a bunch or archaeologists going around digging up the countryside. Totally fascinating stuff.

SHAUNA: Where can people buy your music and get more info about Rally?

ALEC: The album, “Long way to go” can be had online at
http://www.mp3.com/rally –
19 songs for $7. You can also read all the stuff that was missed in this interview there

SHAUNA: Any thoughts or words of wisdom to leave us with?

ALEC: Get out in life and take what you want. Seldom are the times when someone will hand things to you on a plate, and when they do there’s almost always a catch. The Beatles said “All the good things in life are free.” Rally says, “The best music in life can be heard on internet radio.")