Words by Emma Hug Rosenstein. Photos by Tori McGraw
Setting: Baby’s All Right, New York, NY, 20 March 2025
Debuting their music in 2021, rock band ALEXSUCKS is as tight as a crack of a whip and as unapologetic in their ethos. Their raw lyrics are oftentimes wrapped up in an upbeat rhythm, the message seemingly designed to speak to all. Whether drawn to their bouncy tempos or their garage-rock sound, these surface elements act as a veneer for the deeper message.
Halfway through their spring tour, ALEXSUCKS was set to play at Baby’s All Right. Just as the doors opened, fans were already weaving through the metal barriers to enter and seize their spots at the front of the stage. In the greenroom sat the band, including Alex Alvarez (vocals), Topgun (bass), John Luther (guitar), and Jonny Ransom (drums).
As we step backstage to begin the interview, Alex sits at the single table along the wall in the greenroom, immediately fidgeting with a mini-skateboard. On demand he shows us a trick along the top of the wooden table, “I have a halfpipe in the bus,” he explains. Venue workers, bartenders, band members, and sound techs walk in and out of the greenroom, their quick motions anticipating the action-filled evening.
You began releasing music in 2021. Can you tell a brief version of that story and how everyone came together?
Well, [Topgun], who plays bass in the band, had reached out just to hang out and skate. And then we started just hanging out and skating. And then our old drummer I knew through skateboarding since I was a little kid. So we all were just friends through skating. And then as I was making music, it kind of started to progress to the point where I needed a band to play live. Then after that we kind of just started making music together.
We just started kind of hanging out and they became kind of an ear and a springboard for the music, as well as like, “yeah, let’s try and jam the songs that I’ve been making.” And then we met John after we had started jamming together, and we had known that he played guitar. So then he kind of just fell in our lap. We met him at a bar. John came into the picture last, and then we just started making music together. And it wasn’t anything serious. We all just…it was like a garage band. We wrote an album and then that became the first album. We put that out and it was the first eight or nine songs we made, and then slowly it turned into our job. And not really with much intention, it just kind of happened.
If someone doesn’t know you or the band, give one sentence why they should listen. What’s going to be your pitch?
Well, I mean, the whole thing is too…I think it sucks. That’s why I called it ALEXSUCKS. But what my new thing I’m saying is we think we suck—but if you think we suck, fuck you. We’re just having fun and we’re telling our stories. I mean the music’s always been just for me. I just make music that I want to listen to and that I enjoy.
Well, that’s a good ethos to have. Your latest release “Worm in the Sun,” I found the rhetoric to be about feeling maybe a little bit burnt out, but backed by these upbeat instrumentals. What was the idea driving the single, especially lyric wise? What did you want to convey there?
I mean, it is about being burnt and jaded from everything. And also just substance stuff. Just when you hit that point where you know that you’re burnt out. But a lot’s changed. I’m almost two years sober now, so I’m still telling the stories. But there’s a moment when you don’t look up for so long, I just kept my head down and I did what I did. And the repercussions of acting a certain way sometimes hit you all at once. And that’s kind of what it’s about.
Your EP, “Warm Beers,” was released in October of 2024. I interpreted this title as an analogy in terms of nostalgia. There are a lot of repeating themes that are woven through the songs, such as coming of age, a lot of ups and downs of perceptions. What was the inspiration behind this EP and how did those songs really get chosen and put together?
Yeah, I mean, it was supposed to be an album. And then I wasn’t ready to put out a body of work. So we wanted to put out an EP and we thought that it all kind of worked together. We started the EP with “Television of Memories,” which I had wanted to be the title. But starting with “Television of Memories” is the reflection of it all. And the reason it’s track one is it’s kind of starting the movie at the end of the movie. So most of the other stories are the stories of the chaos and then “Television” is the repercussions of the chaos. Most of the other stories are the tales of being a bad kid.
We wrote those songs immediately after finishing our album and going on tour. And the reason that that’s an EP too, and it didn’t become an album, is because it’s us finding our sound and figuring out what we want to do. And “Warm Beer,” it’s funny because it was a focus track of the EP and it’s a song I don’t think we would ever really do again. And it was kind of a curve ball, but it is just a collection of stuff and that’s why it’s an EP.
What does a typical songwriting process look like for you?
I mean, it kind of takes a really long time for me. Most of the songs start with a riff. Things are a riff for a while, and then I’ll mumble over them. We’ll make 20 ideas that are just a verse and a hook and a simple drum beat, super demo, and I’m mumbling over it. Then during that whole time, I’m always jotting down phrases and stuff. And then when it’s time to make a song done, I look through all my phrases and find a vibe to fit. Then that fleshes out, and then I’ll hit it in a week.
You’ve said that you’re very inspired by a lot of Tony Hawk games, especially your skating background. What other types of art mediums inform your music or your style?
Yeah, I mean definitely all mediums I try to push in our project because music is probably the last creative outlet I’ve had. I grew up painting and doing video stuff. I used to make stop motion when I was a kid. I used to paint a lot. I do all the covers. I’ve always just been into design and stuff, and so I think that now everything’s coming full circle. And I don’t think everything in our last EP has really touched that yet, but I think this album we’re gearing to put out, we’re really bringing in all elements of the world.
So what’s kind of changed for you in that process specifically now?
Just a lot of reflection and seeing what I like and what I don’t, growing to hate things and just figuring that out. That takes a while. It takes a while to develop what you want to say, what you want to do, how you want to do it. And I think I’m just now kind of finding that.
With a lot of your songs, you’re really putting yourself out there, a lot of stories from your own life. So If you give a piece of advice to somebody else, what would you tell them?
I don’t know. I mean, I’m definitely not one to give advice. I had to fuck up to figure out, you know what I mean? I dropped out of high school. I’d put myself through every worst possible thing I could do. And then just now in my mid-twenties and I’m kind of getting it together. A lot of people would’ve never thought I would’ve had any hope. And we’re a small band. It’s not like we’re doing anything that crazy, but I’m not going to bed at sunrise every day and being a bad person anymore.
Well that’s enough to be proud of, right?
Yeah, but it took me a while to figure it all out and then eventually you just sit with your own guilt long enough. You don’t don’t want to be that anymore. You ever read Siddhartha?
I know the story, but I’ve never actually read it.
That book hit me because it’s like, it’s a bunch of monks trying to find nirvana. They all think that they got to stay on this path to get there. And it’s like the one dude who reaches nirvana does everything he’s not supposed to do to then find the path. That book really resonated with me. I’d say that it’s taken a while, but I’m getting there.
What’s coming next?
Well, we’re doing an album. That’s what we have coming next. And that’s all we’re working on. We’re just finishing the tour and putting out an album, that’s it.
Keep up with ALEXSUCKS on Spotify, Instagram, and their website.
