Alicia Bognanno, Bully!
Engineering your own major label debut is no picnic
By Libby Webster, 12:30PM, Wed. Feb. 3, 2016
Bully makes brash grunge-pop, and leading the Nashville quartet is Alicia Bognanno. Fearless go-getter, the singer also acts as lyricist, frontwoman, guitarist, and audio engineer, with a staggering drive that garnered the band a record deal with Columbia Records. Bognanno’s crew elbows into the Parish on Thursday with New York’s Diet Cig.
Austin Chronicle: Is it true you didn’t pick up electric guitar until you were 20? How long were you playing before Bully became a band?
Alicia Bognanno: I’m 25 and I was writing Bully stuff when I was 22. We’ve been a band for a little over two years now.
AC: You jumped right in!
AB: Yeah! I had played a little in other bands, not really guitar, but sang and stuff. I didn’t do any touring, so that was all kind of new with Bully. But yeah, for the most part, Bully was a lot of firsts for me. It’s all a learning experience, you know? It’s such a process, especially the first time you sign with a label, or get a manager, or work with a booking agency.
AC: You engineered you Columbia Records debut, last year’s Feels Like. Was that the biggest recording project you’d worked on?
AB: I think it was. Prior to that, I had mixed a lot of things, but the budget wasn’t there for any other projects to do everything with tape, on a console, and in a huge studio. I think it was the first full record that I worked on. Usually it’s mixing a couple songs for an EP. Before I was working on my buddies’ stuff and whatever would come my way for, you know, cheap, and I would just do it in Pro Tools.
AC: Was it scary to approach a project of that size that’s also your major label debut?
AB: [Laughs] Yeah. It was terrifying, but once you’re done with it, it’s the most rewarding feeling ever. You just feel proud to have put yourself through that, because it’s not easy. In the end, it’s definitely worth it.
AC: Are you writing new material yet – while on tour – or do you need to take time off to sit down and concentrate on the compositional side of things?
AB: At the level we’re at, we’re not touring in a bus, we don’t have our own hotel rooms, we don’t really have any space from each other, much less time to sit down and write, so it’s really difficult to write on the road. Some of it gets done, but it makes the process way slower than it should be or than it normally is when I’m home. Whenever we have time off, that’s what my main priority is. We’re coming up on a break after this tour, so that’s all I plan on doing for the next couple months. Usually it just comes and goes, and when it comes you have to just drop everything and focus on it, because I can’t force myself to write anything ever.
AC: Your songs seem to be personal narratives. Do you ever feel hesitation before recording these stories or performing them at a show?
AB: I get asked that question all the time! It’s really funny. I don’t know why. If there’s stuff I don’t want out there, I won’t put it out there, you know? I definitely remember a point where, at first, it was a little nerve-wracking. I think if you’re writing something honest or from personal experience, whether or not the listener wants to judge you or look down on you for it is their call. It’s out of your hands. I’ve always admired very honest songwriting and lyrics, because I think it can be difficult to do. And if you’re not gonna write something that’s honest and brings some sort of emotion from you, then just don’t write it all, because you’re gonna have to play that song every night.
AC: Any idea of a general direction for the next album?
AB: Yeah! We have a new song that we’re playing in the set now. I have some new stuff in the works, but it’s just so hard to tell, because so many things I write I just throw away and don’t end up keeping. I think I know that I want it to be a little more complex than some of the really, really simple, basic poppy Bully stuff. That’s really all I know.
That’s all I’m trying to do as a songwriter: challenge myself and make myself play lead parts instead of simple rhythm chords all the time. Do whatever I can to be a better musician. I know that sounds corny. For Bully, it’s nice to take ourselves out of our comfort zone and do something a different way. Make sure we’re growing as musicians instead of just staying in the same place all the time.
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