It’s no secret around here that we are fans of the British band Alibi.
Formed at the height of lockdown, band members Laurie Blayney, Stan Thompson, Connor Stratton-Darling, Joe Toone, and Mickey Casartelli came together with an idea of something more than the shaky times they were living in and starting rehearsing together in a small, industrial estate in Charlton, London.
In the years following, the boys have gained some serious momentum, headlining some big venues in London and performing a sold out show in Cornwall.
Listening to Alibi always feels like a blast from the past in the best way, drawing from influences like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Stone Roses, and The Sex Pistols. The band melds together the the old and the new in a way that will keep your toe-tapping and your head banding.
Their debut single, Hyperspace Now, produced by Tuck Nelson, has been a long time coming and serves as a proper introduction to the band.
We caught up with Laurie and Connor to talk about what they’ve been up to and what the new single is all about.
Song version was produced by Tuck Nelson, assisted by Fergal McBride at Echo Ray Studios in London. Mastered by Ben at Rare Tone Mastering.
Band photos taken by Ed Aked (group photo) and George Robinson Hill (portrait ones). Cover art photography originally taken by Tony Davis.
BRIDGE: Give us a re-introduction to Alibi…
So we’re a five piece band based in Hackney consisting of Laurie, Stan, Connor, Joe and Mickey. Most of us are from a little town called Penzance in Cornwall, which is right at the end of England. I started writing tunes with Stan about three years ago and it all came from there. Me and Connor didn’t even know how to play a guitar at first so we just kind of learned along the way, winging it really, still are. We’ve been together for about a year and a half. We just wanted to shake things up and bring some excitement back to rock ‘n’ roll which we felt was pretty dead at that point (still is). Been playing live since February last year.
BRIDGE:How would you describe your sound to a first-time listener?
We have a lot of influences, we love the Beatles, the Stones, the Sex Pistols, Nirvana and all that, and of course bands like the Stone Roses and Oasis who we probably ‘sound’ like the most. We like to recon we share a bed with all of them in one way or another.
BRIDGE:What has the journey been like as a band the past couple of years?
We’ve always been a tight band, sort of hit the ground running from our first gig ‘cause we rehearse a lot. We recorded our first demos in November 2021, we’ve come a long way since then musically and technically but the tunes are still great. Normally bands start out with shit songs and throw them out along the way but we never really had that, me and Stan sort of vetted out the bad stuff early on before we met Joe and Mickey and started rehearsing.
BRIDGE: What are some big milestones for the band?
Since our first gig we’ve played all around London, headlined the Camden Assembly last summer, the Victoria in Dalston this January, we also sold out our first homecoming gig in December at a venue called the Trafalgar Rooms in the Union Hotel which was a big one for us – it was our first night we’d put on ourselves and the home crowd really made it a night to remember. As of writing this we’ve literally just come off from getting our first serious bit of radio play, Hyperspace was featured as a standout song on Dan Pascoe’s BBC Introducing show he does for Cornwall, Devon and Somerset which we’re pretty happy about. First steps and all that.
BRIDGE: Tell us about the new single, Hyperspace Now…
I actually wrote the melody for it years ago hanging out my arse (hungover) at work one day. I kept onto it for a while, didn’t have chords or any idea where it was going, just the verses and a sort of chorus, so it sat on a shelf for a later date. but I always thought it was cool, never doubted it. One day it just all fell into place, me and Stan got to it, and once he wrote that riff you hear in the verses we knew it was gonna be a big one.
BRIDGE: What do you want listeners to learn from this project?
To get a sense of who we are and what we’re about, this is just the start. The first album is pretty much written and ready to go. I’m sick of 99% of modern music, don’t even get me started on the charts. It’s all nonsense. Rock ‘n’ roll just feels like old men singing old bangers while most the people my age are writing tunes that just don’t excite me. Love songs you’ll forget in half an hour. We feel born in the shadow of bright times really, we wanna bring that energy back and give our generation something to chat about, maybe even be proud of.
BRIDGE: What plans do you have in the future that you can announce?
A lot of great tunes. We’re supporting Rolla next month, April 12th at the Lower third in Soho with This Feeling. Right now we’re mainly looking for a manager and for a record label, so that’s our focus. Anyone out there fancies giving us a shout you know where we are. Cause once we get this album recorded and produced it’s gonna speak for itself, no doubt about it. Wouldn’t mind playing Wembley one day either.
Check out Hyperspace Now here.
