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The Making Of....The Alice Kona Band

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ATL | 15:41 UK time, Tuesday, 2 October 2012

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Picking which track we open the show with each Monday is a big deal. It has to be something punchy and instant to reel listeners in, convince floating voters and the initiated that Across the Line is worth sticking with and that Northern Irish music is engaging enough to justify a chunk of their evening. This Monday we opened with . This was an even bigger deal given it was the first time we'd ever played the track. So even though it wasn't established, we deemed it strong enough to act as our mission statement.

The song is called 'Film'. To celebrate it's general greatness we've asked John (vocals/bass) to volunteer some information about 'The Making Of' his wonderful band....

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The first record I ever bought was "Americana" by The Offspring, on cassette. The grimy, cartoon artwork really affected how I pictured the songs and band in my head long before I ever saw what they looked like. Bit disappointed at the giant shorts when I did.

When Stu (Alice Kona Band-guitar/vocals) got a guitar for his birthday when we were about 14 or 15, he was better at it than me after about a day, so I put down my Pacifica and borrowed a bass. Our band 'Freaknotes' played one gig above a restaurant in Hollywood. We covered ourselves in fake blood and stole a few plates for souvenirs.

The last gig we watched together was when we played with them on Arthur's Day. They were awesome as always, and it was great to see Captain Handsome (Herb) playing bass again!

If I were to pick one Northern Irish band to share the stage with every night, it'd probably be . We are all crushing on them pretty hard at the moment. Easily the best local band around right now.

If we could have anyone join our band, I'm pretty sure the consensus would be some mad genius type like Arthur Lee, and I'm sure Ryan (Vocals/Guitar) would get Kanye West in in a heartbeat.

The first cover we did in this band was 'Buried Alive' by The Black Lips. I recall a competition on who was able to sing the chorus the best. There were no winners that day.

We don't normally do covers anymore, because we can never agree on what to do, but we butchered 'Folsom Prison Blues' at an acoustic gig recently. I think Johnny Cash would've appreciated the spirit, but maybe not the execution...

My favorite gig that we've played was probably the 's final gig at Radar a while back. It was a great send-off to a great band, and our current drummer Nathan's first gig with us too. Bit of baptism of fire for him in way, but he handled it with typical sleepy aplomb.

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'Film' is downloadable for free at

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