ALPHAMEGA 101: A CLASS IN ALL THINGS ALPHAMEGA

ALPHAMEGA is Chrissy Warner (drums) I'm music magazine, alphamega, regeneration machine, chrissy warner, adam ryan, michael christian, before the mourning, butcher babies, halocene, josh gilbert, john boecklin, joshua buma, , joseph mcqueen, ironshore records, eye of horus, no longer broken, bad wolves, to the wolves, late to the party — ALPHAMEGA is Chrissy Warner (drums), Adam Ryan (vocals) & Michael Christian (guitar) (Photo Credit: Steve Thrasher)

“It’s all about making the best of bad situations,” insists ALPHAMEGA vocalist Adam Ryan. The band’s motto is “beautiful things come from ugly places.” The members have definitely battled in the musical trenches and experienced highs and lows. That’s exactly what got them to where they are now and the formation of this band. You get knocked down, you get back up again and you keep going. Covid threw this band, as well as the entire world, a huge curve ball. They had been working on getting the band off the ground and then BOOM! They couldn’t continue on the way thjey had planned because of Covid. Yet, they stayed strong, they persevered (a familiar theme in their musical lives) on May 25th, they released their debut album Regeneration Machine. The guys hit the road on 5/25 in Las Vegas on their first national tour for a few solo dates and then joined Halocene on 5/28 in Atlanta, Georgia supporting them on the Maleficent Tour. I was fortunate to catch the guys on 6/2 in Durham, North Carolina. We sat down before their show to catch up on things and they schooled me on all things ALPHAMEGA. You could also called it a crash course in ALPHAMEGA 101. School’s in session, so take your seats and get ready to learn!

Every super hero or villain has an origin and a band is no different hopefully minus radioactive spider bites and secret government experiments. Adam, I know you and Chrissy have toured together, but how did Michael enter the picture?

Mike Christian/ALPHAMEGA: I was in a band for a few years and we had a lot of singer changes. One of the guys in my band had previously worked with Adam. He jumped aboard and that’s kind of how we met we figured out that we had good chemistry musically and we enjoyed writing together. That band started to fade out a little bit so we decided to continue working and see if we could start something new. Then, enter Chrissy Warner over here.

Adam Ryan/ALPHAMEGA: And like you mentioned, Chrissy and I had toured together in the past in different bands but on the same tour.

Chrissy Warner/ALPHAMEGA: I was looking for a full-time project and Adam’s wife and my wife talked together.

Adam: Plotting behind our backs (laughs).

Chrissy: They actually made the connection knowing that we were both looking for something. They brought us back together and then I got to meet Mike.

They just wanted to get you two guys out of the house. They were tired of seeing you all the time.

Adam: They know what it’s like if musicians aren’t making music. They know how depressing it is and how bad it is to have them around when they’re not happy.

So when did all of that happen.

Adam: 2018 was when all the initial talks and all of that put together. We started writing music with a producer friend of ours, Josh Buma, pretty much over 2019 and 2020. We put an albums worth of music together and then this little thing called Covid hit. We were just about to start releasing all of those songs and doing that stuff and then Covid hit. We saw that the world was shutting down and we knew we weren’t going to be able to tour or do anything. We had time to kind of go back and go over everything and make sure everything was the way we wanted it. We knew that we were going to be at the mercy at whatever the world is going to be before we were able to get out there and start promoting it.

Michael: It took some pressure off of us. There were no self-imposed deadlines because I think we would have been antsy to start playing shows and hit the road. It forced us to hone in a little bit more.

So many bands starting out and even some mid-level bands that Covid just knocked out so I’m glad that you guys stuck with it and had some time to focus on everything. Now here you are out on the road jumping from coast to coast.

Adam: In retrospect now, we made the right decision to kind of pull back a little bit and release it at the right time and do some other things correctly.

My other music nerd question has to do with band names. Sometimes there is a story behind a name and sometimes it was just something randomly drawn out of a hat. What about ALPHAMEGA?

Adam: I knew when we were naming the band that we wanted to do something that was bold and powerful. At least for me, I feel like all of the biggest bands and the ones who have stood the test of time usually have a one-word title such as Metallica, just for an example. At least when I was thinking about us putting a name together I thought what are some of the biggest things out there? Alpha and omega; the beginning and the end. We just took the O out of it basically and put it together. It’s one of those things where it’s all encompassing. It’s the beginning, it’s the end and everything in between and even the possibility of what comes after this. At least for me that’s where I feel like the band name draws its origins from.

Was there a reason you chose John Boecklin to produce the album?

Adam: Johnny, you’re in my history and John managed Before The Mourning during the time when you would have seen us. He was in Devil Driver at the time. I’ve known John for about a decade and he and I are pretty close friends. So, when it came time to starting bouncing ideas off of people in the industry that I value the opinion of, I started sending him songs that we have been working on. John had heard one of the songs, the track that we’re going to open with tonight “To The Wolves.” He said the song is really good and he knew a guy who was just forming a label. He was looking for music and bands and he said he was going to pass him the song and he would take it from there. A few days after he did that, I got a phone call from the owner of the label. He said he just heard the track and he loved it. He wanted to know if there was other music we could send him, so we sent him all the stuff that we were working on. He really, really liked it and this was all during the heart of Covid so nobody is performing or doing anything. He heard all the songs and he was into it and he wanted to sign us to his new label. You take all that stuff with a grain of salt and you’re like yeah sure whatever and that sort of began the process. John has always been involved since that point. He was just like whatever happens down the road, let’s still work together whether you sign or not and we ended up signing. John brought along Josh Gilbert who was previously in As I Lay Dying and is now the bass player for Spiritbox and Josh was a co-writer/co-producer on the album as well. His partner for his company Sparrow Sound is a guy named Joseph McQueen. He’s done a ton of stuff, mixing and mastering, most recently Bury Tomorrow, Bad Wolves records and a whole lot of other stuff. So John brought along a nice dream team for us. We were able to work with all of those guys and make the album that we put out on the (May) the 25th.

How long did you sit on the album?

A: Before we released the first single of the music that we were recording for the album, it was 2 months. Our strategy was to be single releasing based and every six weeks or so we would put out a single with media surrounding it. We wanted to see genuinely what people’s reactions we’re going to be. It’s kind of a time where you don’t have to blow your whole wad on an album right away because who knows if anybody is going to like it? So we’ve just kind of taken this single-based strategy this whole time. We spent all last year building the band and the brand and the store and stuff like that. We have released seven songs off of the 12 track album basically over last year.

It’s such a different ball game than the way things used to be where you got one single released before the album.

Adam: And the different way that you were able to receive that kind of stuff. You had to go out and buy a single, you know what I mean? Yeah, definitely different times.

Michael: Different attention spans too. Spoon feeding it to them forces people to focus their attention on one song at a time for six to eight weeks or whatever and then give them a new one. If you drop 13 on them, a lot are probably going to go by the wayside.

Adam: It’s the same way as dropping a Netflix series that has all the shows in one shot. Somebody is just going to binge it immediately and go ‘so what else do you have? What’s coming next?’ You can’t pump out music that quickly.

Michael: Or Netflix shows.

Adam: Yeah, that’s true. So that’s why we kind of trickled things out like that?

How has the reception to the music been?

Adam: When we started releasing everything we had 34 listeners on our Spotify which is nothing. Today, a year later, we are over 225,000 listeners. The first song that we released, “No Longer Broken,” is sitting at about six million streams or something like that. So that first song, whether it’s the fact that it was the first song we released or whatever it is, seems to be resonating with people. That’s sort of the one that took off and that helped put us on the map a little bit.

Michael: Octane did play it a little bi.

Adam: Yes, they put it on Test Drive.

It’s always a good little push when you can get Jose (Mangin) on your side like that.

A: Yes it was very cool and it was cool for them to get us on there like that. It was definitely a nice start.

How many dates are on this run?

Adam: 13

By the time this gets goes live I’m sure most of the dates will have already been played. So, just like the next Netflix series, what’s next for you guys?

Michael: Right now, we want to tour but there’s nothing on the table right. We’ll probably go back and start writing a little bit too and if we get out on the road, we get out on the road. We’ll keep promoting the album during the downtime when we’re not in the vehicle and going across the country. We will try to get a couple extra songs to just get ahead of the game hopefully.

Any more videos in the works?

Adam: We definitely want to make at least a video or two for some tracks on this album.

Michael: And we’re probably going to be releasing a deluxe edition with some extra stuff on it maybe later this summer, dates to be determined. There has been some talk of it.

Adam: Maybe a vinyl of all of that too just because people like to collect the vinyl now. We made some physical copies of CDs for the collectors because people like to have something physical and it was a quicker turnaround to be able to get that out than it is vinyl.

Even cassettes are popping up by bands here and there.

Adam: I know vinyl now out sells all other types of physical media.

Michael: We have CDs and I was surprised how many people were buying CDs right now.

Adam: Which is really awesome, so thank you.

Are they ordering them or is it at the shows because I myself understand getting them at the shows because you can’t get a band to autograph and download.

Adam: For us at least we had a surprising amount of presales before the album actually came out for physical copies.

Michael: We have a website where people can go on and order CDs, t-shirts and merch like that.

Chrissy: We did a really good pre-order and shipped them out. We do all of that ourselves so if anybody wants to order anything go ahead and do it people.

We finish our interviews with something called Three For The Road. It’s three, kind of fun questions to throw at you. Who was your first celebrity crush?

Michael: Snow White, she was my first kiss at Disneyland. I know it’s a cartoon but I had a thing for black hair red lips and pale skin for a while

Chrissy: I can’t remember the name but there used to be this popular show. I think her name was Chloe in the TV show that my mom used to watch. She had this curly, curly hair but I remember being like oh wow she’s cute. She still acts to this day but unfortunately I can’t remember the name. If I figure it out I’ll yell it out

Adam: For my first memory that I can think of the first time I had a crush of a woman on TV or anywhere else I know it was Pamela Anderson on Baywatch. I know it because I’ve been told this story a million times. When I was four years old Baywatch was on TV and my cousin was babysitting me. She was like ‘yeah when Pamela Anderson first came on TV you just went and,’ not to be crude cause it was a different time folks, apparently I just looked at the TV and said ‘wow look at those hooters.’ I was four years old so please excuse me, I cannot be held accountable. So I would say Pamela Anderson was my first. When I was actually able to assess feelings and know what they were, I think Jennifer Love Hewitt was my actual real first crush when I was in the sixth grade.

Do you have any useless talents?

Chrissy: Drumming (laughs)

Adam: Being a vocalist in a band! I can start out; you can describe what you’re seeing because mine is visual. My arms they look normal?

Michael: No (laughter)

Adam: You know what I mean!

Chrissy: I can’t watch

Adam: So everything is in place.

M: He’s bending his elbows backwards.

So you’re a semi-contortionist.

Adam: So that’s one of the many dumb things that I have.

Chrissy: So I found out the girl’s name her first name is Carrie but I’m not sure her last name.

Michael: Carrie Russell? From Felicity?

Chrissy: There you go!

And she did have the hair all right.

Adam: I think her hairstyle also inspired everyone else to get the Felicity look.

Chrissy: Sorry to intertwine like that. That was in the 90s.

Michael: Kind of the Dawson’s Creek era. My useless talent is that I can blink really fast.

(He demonstrates and yes, it was incredibly fast!)

Chrissy: Oh man!

Adam: Wow! I’ve never seen you do that before!

Michael: I have a built-in strobe light, I used to go cross-eyed when I would do it but I don’t think I do anymore. Am I cross eyed you guys? Come on, multiple choice.

Chrissy: I can’t really think of anything. My useless talent is I have no talent at all.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=NFcZ6uAjHzg

Dude, all of your talents are useful! Last question, if music was over and this one’s funny cause Adam you’ve got the gun show going on. If you went into professional wrestling tomorrow, what would your wrestling name be?

Michael: Alucard which is Dracula backwards, I was a huge Dracula fan growing up.

Adam: So you’d be a mysterious figure like an Undertaker kind of character.

Michael: I wouldn’t be there they wouldn’t be able to find me (laughs)

Chrissy: I’d be Chrissy Mr. Pissy.

Adam: So you would have hissy fits and then throw people out of the ring.

Chrissy: Smash fucking chairs over their heads.

Adam: Man, I’m trying to think of what mine would be.

Michael: I kind of feel like you have a whole portfolio already made up (laughs)

Adam: All of the nicknames that I’ve ever gotten on tour.

Adam Bomb but that was something that’s already been done.

Michael: We did have a guy the other night at the show that asked if we got the Hulk to sing for us, so it so it could be something related.

Adam: Yeah something like that or maybe The Incredible Bulk?

Chrissy: Meatstick! (laughs)

Adam: Yeah, there you go. The carnivore, throw that in.

Michael: The Carni Vore and there’s a circus element.

Mike’s the one with the portfolio! He has all these ideas maybe; he’s a manager on the side?

(Laughter) And with that, our interview concluded. The guys put on one hell of a show! With the majority of the crowd there to see the headliner, it didn’t take long for them to totally win over the audience. Great songs, great musicianship, a great frontman and a very engaging set. Check out the banda on YouTube or Spotify or any of the other many streaming services and show them some love. In a day and age where technology makes up for the lack of talent, these guys don’t need the smoke and mirrors because they’re the real deal.

Interview by I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price