MORRIS, ALEXANDER

[ALEXANDER MORRIS]

ALEXANDER LIAM MORRIS
»»» TWENTY-ONE - NEVER LOOK BACK - LEAD GUITAR - SINGLE - CAMERON HURLEY

INTERVIEW TAKEN FROM AP MAGAZINE .

Just to start off, can you tell us your name, age, and what you do in the band?
"yeah, sure. uh, i'm alex, i'm twenty-one, and i play guitar."

Did you always know that you wanted to be in a band?
"not at all. my parents are both doctors. dad is a surgeon, and my mom works in the maternity ward, so the expectation was either that i'd follow in their footsteps, or at least do something that was within a clear shot of medical school. a lawyer, accountant, you know. shit like that. the band kind of just happened on its own. it was supposed to be something we did after school for fun, and somewhere along the road we ended up here. it's been crazy."

How did they react when you told them?
"that i was gonna do this instead? oh, they were pissed. i mean, i think they really just expected me to come back home broke off my ass and tell them that i was gonna go to school, after all. it was a streak of luck that that didn't end up happening, actually. i'm really grateful for it. this band saved me that humiliation [laughs]. that really would've sucked."

How do your parents feel about it now?
"i don't think i've won them over yet, but i think they're getting there. they've been out to a few shows, and i think that they see we're not just a bunch of teenagers looking for an excuse to fuck around. at least i hope so. i'm sure they'll end up reading this interivew."

Switching gears a little bit, let's talk about life on the road. I know this is one of you guys' first few tours. How's the experience so far?
"it's crazy. totally insane. the reaction's been awesome, especially from a band who isn't one of the fore-fronters around here, but the fan base that we do have has totally surprised all of us. i mean, these are songs that we wrote in our basements when we knew hardly anything about lyrics or music on a professional level, and people know all the words and are lining up ten-twelve hours ahead of time to watch our sets. we couldn't really ask for anything more to kick off our run here. fucking amazing."

What about the girls?
"[laughs] you know, it's funny. you hear about the girls and the groupies and the hookers that are supposed to be lining up backstage, and i haven't seen any yet. maybe we're just ugly, i don't know. no, but, actually, i think i maybe had one two girlfriends back in high school. one serious one, but i was never the guy who girls would line up for and fawn after or whatever, so. to suddenly be living this lifestyle where girls will shamelessly take their clothes off is a real trip. i mean, i'm a lucky guy, right? we've started to just count the number of bras that we get each night. in comparison, it's nothing compared to what these other bands are getting, but we have hope, i guess. someday."

Can we talk about that high school girlfriend?
"oh, uh. i guess, yeah. i've only had one serious one, and it was my junior year of high school. totally crazy because, here's this dorky kid in a band, and he gets this hot girl. cheerleader, straight a student, totally typical way-too-out-of-my-league kind of situation. but she was probably one of the coolest girls i've ever met. i was way too fucking awkward, too, but for some reason we worked, and we were together for practically two years."

Do you guys still talk?
"ocassionally, yeah. she's a really good friend of mine. but with everything going on and especially because we're just starting to tour, relationships get strained and things just don't always work out."

So it'd be safe to say you're single as of right now?
"Haha, yeah. As single as they come."

cara, seventeen, more to come, eastern/united states.