Singer/songwriter Steve Aliment has been a mainstay of the west coast music scene for over two decades. His new project, Steve Aliment’s Albro Swift Exit is a guitar oriented rock and soul band based in Seattle. The band features Bart Hyde and Duffy Delgado on guitars, Perry Morgan on drums and and Steve on bass and vocals. Steve Aliment’s Albro Swift Exit has been recording and releasing one single per month for the last 18 months. All singles are available on iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon, Google Play, Tidal, iHeartRadio, YouTube, Deezer.
Where are you based?
Seattle, Washington. USA
How long have you been making music?
We played our first show at The Substation, in Ballard, in July 2018. The songwriting started in February 2018 and we started rehearsing and recording in April 2018. The band consists on Bart Hyde, guitar, harmonica and back up vocals. Perry Morgan, drums. Duffy Delgado, guitar and back up vocals, and me, Steve Aliment on bass, and a little guitar and organ. We are all mainstays of the Seattle music scene. That’s just this project. The guys and I have a lot of history…Seattle, Tacoma, San Francisco.
What genre would you consider your music to be?
Well, I guess we are a Rock/Soul/pop hybrid…leaning more to the rock side. Guitar oriented rock with a smattering of soul inspiration! I write about relationships, good and bad (“Seashell,” “150 Tears,” these kind of songs). I write about struggles one might be having with dependency, like the song “Help”.. I write love songs…I mean that’s often the ball game. Love, love lost, love found. Some is pure fiction with some real life mixed in, “First Photo of a Human Soul” for example.
What inspired you to pursue a career in music?
I don’t know…All of it. Growing up. The good times and the tough times. Broken relationships. Broken dreams in the music business. Life and even death struggles. Religion. Politics. I should say that my mom was a big influence. She was a Country and Western singer with a group called The Bluebonnet Girls. I have one of their records. They were the house band on The Sheriff Tex TV show here in Seattle. They were a real singing swinging cowgirl trio! Everything I learned about singing and especially singing tight vocal harmony started right there with my mom. She had us in the church choir, she’d assign parts to me and my brother during long rides in the car and we’s sing up a storm. She introduced me to The Everly Brothers…LIFE CHANGING!
What are your biggest musical influences?
As a band, we are inspired by rock groups like The Beatles, Iggy Pop, Bowie, The Stones, Small Faces, Free, Mink DeVille, Tom Petty, and The Ramones. But also very much by the soul groups from Stax records, Muscle Shoals, and and the Detroit scene. I love Smokey Robinson, love The Temptations, love The Four Tops. We dig that sound and you can hear it in our harmonies. Steve Marriott is my vocal hero and he’s probably the greatest most soulful white singer of all time (sorry, had to make that distinction). Paul Rogers too.
Are you signed to a label or are you an independent artist?
Independent. All our songs are available on iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon, Google Play, Tidal, iHeartRadio, YouTube, Deezer and 150+ other on-line stores & streaming services. Follow us on Spotify! We have a show coming up on January 24th at Tim’s, March 28th at The Airport (Tacoma), April 10th at The Spanish Ballroom (Tacoma). April 17th at Slims (Seattle). There are more. See upcoming shows on our Facebook page – Steve Aliment’s Albro Swift Exit!
What have been the biggest challenges in your music career?
Cutting through the clutter of some 40,000 songs per day being uploaded to Spotify. It’s really hard to get heard, get playlisted. That’s show business.
How many songs or albums have you released to date?
21 singles in the last 18 months or so. Our next single is coming out in February 2020.
Can you tell us a few things about your latest release?
Our latest release is called Heartbreak City. It’s a guitar pop song about, well, some of the ups and downs of life, love, the music business.
Any plans for new music or upcoming projects we should know about?
We are finishing up three new songs in the studio now that I’m very excited about because it has us getting back to some very hooky, guitar oriented pop songs. Short and sweet. One is like 2:17! The mixes have been sounding great. We have been releasing one new song per month since June 2018! Let’s see how long we can keep that up! That’s our MO, one new song a month. We have another song in pre-production now. That one will come out in April.
