When Alex Kelly first moved to Buffalo from Long Island (born in Queens), she was focused on not only her education, but her future career that would in one way or another involve the media spotlight. Alex got her initial taste of publicity as a young model/actor in NYC. She figured that one of these paths would eventually lead the way to her first passion: music. Ever since singing in her church choir at the age of 13, she knew that her ultimate destination would be the stage, singing and hopefully producing her own songs. The one thing that she pretty much counted on was that her destination would definitely not have anything to do with Buffalo, NY.
After graduation from Buff State Alex moved straight back to NYC. “It appeared that there wasn’t very much going on in Buffalo in 2004,” she told me. “I went back to NY and was cast in the original version of American Gangster (then Tru Blu). Then the location, the cast and even the name of the movie was changed. So I came back to Buffalo to clear my head and be with my friends. All of a sudden some guy walks into the bar that I was working at (Essex Street Pub) and recognized me as a singer – I once sang a song to him while he was eating clams on the front patio of Merlin’s. The guy passed my name along to Robby Konikoff at Audio Magic. Through that spec, I eventually met Robby Takac who basically helped to launch my career with Amungus.”
Photos: Don Zinteck @ Photographics 2
What interests me most about Alex Kelly is her belief in the ability to network in a city like Buffalo where people have an honest desire for an artist to succeed. “In Buffalo more people are willing to share,” she noted. “It’s almost like a curiosity – they want to see real people playing real music. If you want to live and make your art then you have to make your choices. You can either live in a big city and play for your rent or you can make it work from where you are, build your self up in your own community, and travel about to spread the word about who you are and what you do.
“My choice is to spend three weeks in Buffalo and a week in NYC in order to cover all grounds. My plan is to live in Buffalo and at the same time to play in NY, LA and Toronto. I’ve released my second EP (first solo EP), which was self produced with the help of Justin Rose at GCR Studio. It’s called Sticky Butterfly – it’s a metaphor for my life at the moment. The song Sticky Butterfly is about the metamorphosis of the self – self-evolution. It’s like some crazy-ass music… it came from the beyond, I had very little to do with it really. I needed to get the voices out of my head. As for the sound, I would have to say that it’s like pop-rock-electronica.”
Currently Alex and her bandmates are in the process of preparing for shows, so keep a look out for her to be performing in the city this summer. She is one of the most determined performers that I have ever come across and is an inspiration to have in Buffalo. Her voice has the ability to make heads turn, whether she’s trying out a song while strolling down the sidewalk or playing out live in front of an energized crowd. Check out Sticky Butterfly at www.AlexKellyMusic.com and at ReverbNation.