Cross-country: Alberta Cross
The searing gospel, gushing organs and straight-up Americana of Alberta Cross cries out ‘Nashville’ or ‘Neil Young protégés’, and the last thing you’d expect to find behind the bluesy swagger of tracks like The Thief & The Heartbreaker is a band of straight-talking Europeans.
But that’s how it is. Swede Petter Ericson Stakee and Londoner Terry Wolfers met through a chance busking encounter (”one day I turn up and there is this tall bloke with a hat and long dark coat busking in my spot”) and went on to form Alberta Cross, with Sam Kearney, Austin Beede and Alec Higgins filling out the band’s line-up.
With a couple of acclaimed releases at their back (the 2007 EP Leave Us Or Forgive Us and 2008’s mini-album The Heartbreaker & The Thief) the band have relocated to the US and are now sitting pretty as part of the Ark Recordings roster, with a slew of US and UK (supporting indie megaliths Oasis) tour dates ensuring plenty of converts to their New World sound.
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earz-mag.com: I understand Petter (Ericson Stakee) and Terry (Wolfers) were the driving force behind Alberta Cross forming. How you two meet and what made you want to make music?
Petter Ericson Stakee: “We met in London’s beautiful east end.”
Terry Wolfers: “I would go out busking almost every day to get a bit of cash and had managed to find a couple of great spots where people would be quite generous. One day I turn up and there is this tall bloke with a hat and long dark coat busking in my spot. At first I thought this guys gonna get a smack. As he started singing I thought, wow this bloke can really sing! So I decided to wait and hear a bit more before I confronted him.”
“After he had done a couple of songs I approached Petter and really wasn’t concerned about the spot anymore but was he writing any of his own material. And so it began. We didn’t really start the band with the idea of getting a record deal, (we) just wanted to write great music as most of the bands playing around at that time were more about riffs and dance beats, we felt we were more about soulful songs with beautiful melodies.”
earz-mag.com: The more obvious influences in Alberta Cross’ music are Americana, country and folk. Are there any bands that people would be surprised to see on your list of influences?
TW: “I don’t think you can be surprised by what artists get influenced by, you can take influence from every area of life! Growing up you hear so much music, from the stuff your parents, grandparents listen to; your brothers and sisters, music at school, radio and tv. It covers so many genres of music over a great amount of time. For example the classical violinist Nigel Kennedy is influenced by rock, especially Jimi Hendrix. Great artists and musicians will take influence from everywhere.”
earz-mag.com: What is the song “The Thief & The Heartbreaker” about?
PES: “It’s about a lot of things really, but the main bit of the song is about being in a place you dont really feel happy being in. A place on the map or maybe a place in your mind/life.”
earz-mag.com: You’re currently on tour in the UK and quite recently were touring in the US. Do you have any good “road stories” to share? What was touring the US like?
PES: “Touring the US has been grand! It was all new to us so that was inspiring. We’ve seen (played with) alot of good bands this year. So that’s cool. Hmm road stories… Well I could tell you a lot of things about our tours in the UK last year but in the US… Our last west coast tour was cool. I remember one day we stopped at at service station in a valley in California and Austin (Beede) our drummer kept goin’ on about the valley fever. And that his dad caught it a few years ago. And he was in bed for month. People get it in the valley over there cause if its a windy day the wind blows around loads of dust with crap. Anyways to cut it short we all walked around with our mouth closed every time we were in a bleeding valley. And everyone drank loads all the time to keep it away. It was fucking brilliant!”
earz-mag.com: What’s next for you guys- will we be seeing a new Alberta Cross album in 2009?
TW: “Yeah, the album will be our April-may time. Once we return to new york after the Oasis shows we will start pre-production for the new album. It seems to have been a long wait for us but it has been well worth it as moving to the US and getting the new musicians in the band has really played a big part on how this album will sound. The material and band are the strongest its ever been and I feel this will be one of the finest albums to come out for a while! We have some more shows coming up in the US before the end of the year but will mostly be getting the album finished so next year we can concentrate on touring our arse off!”
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Alberta Cross @ Myspace
Ark Recordings Homepage
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? MP3: Alberta Cross - The Thief & The Heartbreaker
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Purchase The Heartbreaker & The Thief @ iTunes
Purchase The Heartbreaker & The Thief @ AmazonMP3
Posted in Interviews & Music by Martin Skivington on October 21, 2008.
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