My Pop Five
My Pop Five
Alix Page: Stranger In The Alps, John Carney, 500 Days of Summer, Peter Pan, and Jane Austen Movie Adaptations
Listen To Alix's Latest EP "Bug"
When songwriters reveal what shaped them, magic happens. Alix Page peels back the curtain on her artistic development in this intimate conversation about the films, music, and stories that built her creative foundation.
From her early days leading worship at a Christian middle school to finding her voice at Orange County School of Arts, Alix shares how releasing her first single "Stripes" in 2020 marked the beginning of her musical journey. What truly transformed her approach was discovering Phoebe Bridgers' "Stranger in the Alps" – an album that showed her a new path forward. "I hadn't heard anything like that until then," Alix reveals, explaining how Bridgers' stripped-back authenticity gave her permission to simply show up and be herself.
The conversation weaves through unexpected connections – like collaborating with Mark McKenna from "Sing Street" after years of using John Carney's film as pre-tour inspiration, or bumping into Bill Nighy the day after watching him in "Emma." These serendipitous moments mirror Alix's songwriting approach: finding beauty in life's small, meaningful intersections.
What emerges is a portrait of an artist whose work blends the melancholic storytelling of Bridgers, the character depth of Jane Austen adaptations, and the emotional honesty of "500 Days of Summer." For fans of Alix's music or anyone fascinated by creative influence, this episode offers a window into how art inspires art across generations and mediums.
Listen now to discover the cultural touchstones behind one of today's most captivating emerging songwriters – and perhaps gain insight into the influences shaping your own creative path.
Follow My Pop Five:
@mypopfive on all platforms
We'll see you next time. But until then, what's your Pop Five?
Thank you, hey Buck. How do you feel, bug? You know there's nothing you should feel like. You can't tell me. And when you sleep, bug, what do you see, bug? I know you wake up sometimes feeling kind of empty. When you look in the mirror, somebody else appear.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone, we are back. It's another episode of my Pop Five and I feel so lucky because we are joined by such a phenomenal musician songwriter. I've been so obsessed with your music. Thank you so much for doing this, Alex Page.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me. I've been so excited. This concept is so fun. I've been looking forward to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's actually like a funny story Because, like when I was touring, you know, back in 2016, 2017, our label had kind of introduced us to a PR person once upon a time and they I don't necessarily agree with this, but at least created the inception of the idea, and she was like everyone only wants personalities. Now, you know, it's not about the music, you know, and so what can you bring to the band?
Speaker 2:that's not, you know not just your music, you know and one of the things that came up was, you know, an idea of a podcast, and so, reminiscing, for years, I was always just like I love geeking out about the things that you know. When I get really into an artist, I then go back and be like in every article what did they say that they were into? Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Yeah, to be like in every article. What did they say that they were into? Yeah, what movies did they watch?
Speaker 1:What books?
Speaker 2:did they read, and then I did the same thing, and so that's the inception, so I'm glad you like the idea. Yeah, I love it. Yeah, Well, thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 3:I'm going to geek out and sing your praises, probably too much. During this. We go Stranger in the Alps. John Carney, 500 Days of Summer, Peter Pan and Jane Austen movie adaptations.
Speaker 2:Love it, love it. It's always so fun to like see what people put down, because and I say this probably way too much in episodes, but I love seeing like, oh, I can see that, I can see the ties in between your music and the things, or even just like songwriting choices or production choices, potentially, you know.
Speaker 2:but then there's other things where I'm like I have no idea and I'm so excited to find out how this correlates. So, before we get directly into it, why don't you tell people a bit about your background? How did you kind of get into music and tell us a quick Alex story?
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh man, my name's Alex. I'm 23. I live kind of back and forth between LA and Orange County. I was born and raised in Costa Mesa, newport Beach area, and then, yeah, I was singing my whole life and then kind of ended up taking piano lessons and voice lessons and then went to a Christian middle school and started leading worship there, and that was my first intro to being on stage. And then from there, I went to a Christian middle school and started leading worship there, and that was my first intro to being on stage. And then from there I went to an arts high school in Santa Ana called OSHA, orange County School of the Arts, and that's where I fell in love with songwriting and discovered who I wanted to be as an artist for the first time.
Speaker 3:And then I released my first ever single, stripes, in February 2020, my senior year of high school, right before the world shut down, pre COVID and stuff. And then, yeah, that's kind of the beginning of it. And then started touring in 2022. Or just sorry, my cat is on my lap, no, you're good. I started touring and playing shows and just fell in love with that aspect and still play and produce my songs with my high school friends and bandmates and it's been amazing. Love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's so awesome and you really got things going quick. You know, you hear about these bands who are playing for you know, I think of like the 1975, for example they had like nine years of iterations and different bands, until like. I know it took off, you know pre projects, before the project yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:Well, cool, you know, I think one of the things that you I've seen and now you just stated is like how you've kind of kept a core group of people that you've played with, you know, and that's kind of your band, and who stuck with you, and the first one here on your pop five, I know, is kind of a similar situation in her relationship with her band. So yeah, let's talk about Stranger in the Alps, phoebe Bridgers, and why is this so impactful for you?
Speaker 3:Oh man. So there's honestly like it's kind of a great story I feel like the more I think about it. So I remember I wrote my first two songs like ever like, fully written voice, memoed out two songs ever Fall winter of my sophomore year of high school. I was 16 and just like had this debilitating crush and just got all of it out for the first time yeah that was one of them. Second one was about daisy from the great gatsby.
Speaker 3:I was reading that english class and was just really inspired by that and so I wrote two songs and then I submitted them for our music programs like original showcase, like all original songs, songs that students need to submit, songs and all this stuff Submitted that and my wonderful conservatory director at the time, rachel Kramer, who's married to Brett, who produced Stripes and all my first two EPs and stuff. He emailed me and was like Alex, I love these songs, like congratulations on writing, these are amazing. And then was like I just found this artist named Phoebe Bridgers. Her first album, stranger in the Alps, just came out. You have to listen to it. You remind me of her. And I was like okay, and listened to it and something just clicked, I think, for me.
Speaker 3:I grew up listening to Taylor. Obviously she was a huge influence of mine as well, but my family isn't super musical at all and so a lot of my music discovery was like what my parents were listening to and it was a lot of like Coldplay and U2 and Regina Spector and like older things and like kind of those like early 2000s, 2010s, like indie artists, which I love still to this day. But I feel like in my head when I look at it like there was taylor swift and then there was like, I guess, like a regina specter at the time, even like a cheryl crow, for instance.
Speaker 3:But there wasn't really that middle ground of like a girl who, or young woman who was, I think, in her early 20s when stranger in the alps came out, and who was, you know, writing her own songs the way taylor was, but was just doing them in a more stripped back but still very modern way, and she had this dark humor about her and I just I hadn't heard anything like that until then and so that really just I think she just seemed so accessible and that really, to me, was the starting point of like, oh, maybe I could, maybe this could be like the world that I lean into in the term of just like genre and you know, playing with her friends and like playing constellation room and stuff, which I and then saw her show in February or March 2020 no 20, it was 2018, um and I took Rachel, my teacher and my mom and it was so much fun and, yeah, I just think, the power of like seeing somebody that was, you know, not you know, a young person still, and then I don't know, I I don't know if I'm explaining this well, but I just think, like I always knew, for whatever reason, deep down as a kid, that I loved music and wanted to pursue it.
Speaker 3:But I always knew that I wasn't gonna go on american idol and I wasn't gonna do taylor like doing stadiums, and you know, I just feel like that wasn't the path that I saw for myself. And I think just seeing Phoebe, you know, play her guitar and dress in like casual outfits, I feel like that would. Just it just clicked for some reason for me, so that was a big one for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you pointed out really well that she doesn't. She's kind of created this own vibe of things, you know, and I think it's she's one of the first that doesn't feel very socially curated, you know that's not a, that's not a dig.
Speaker 2:You know I think there's been incredible singer-songwriters like you mentioned. You know you know the people in the world of like Feist or Sara Bareilles or like those people are, but you know, doing it in this way which kind of pulled from culture of probably the things that she was into with. You know more emo, melancholic music. You know what's very interesting about this is I typically gravitate towards melancholy and I think Phoebe is so her music is soaked in it.
Speaker 2:You know, both sonically and lyrically, as a teacher, to kind of, you know, throw that at you and be like, hey, this is think you might gravitate towards. What do you think it was that she connected the dots with? Was it that your songs had some of that in them? Or she just loved it so much and knew it's something you would vibe with?
Speaker 3:I think I mean me and phoebe's voice is definitely. I get phoebe comparison comments all the time and at this point it's I take it as a compliment. I truly just love her. My voice is, you know, sounded like this for forever. We just happen to, but I think that's the thing too. I think like this is a no shit, like this is not shade to any of like the indie, especially female singer-songwriters of like the 2010s, but there was kind of that like indie voice you know, going around and I feel like a lot of this like indie singer-songwriters I listened to, had that and and whenever when I was young, I was just like it just doesn't feel right to me, like I just feel like I am just gonna. I think I sang like this one song from that movie, moneyball, and a school talent show one year and I remember just being like this is just like a simple song.
Speaker 3:I'm just almost just like talking. It's just my voice and I was talking and here I am and I think that's that essence of Phoebe is, I think, what I gravitated so much where she wasn't putting on a voice she wasn't again, I love Taylor, but like she wasn't in a sparkly leotard, she was just showing up and playing guitar and singing her songs, and even the way she performs, I think like is very minimal, um, so that I'm just like looks in one place, like looks up, and it's really. I think that was a big too. Like I was such a stage fright ridden kid when I first got to my high school and we did these big shows where I had to sing like it's only rock and roll by the Rolling Stones, and I was like how the fuck do I do that? And then I think just I, yeah, I think at some point when I wrote these songs I was like, oh, maybe I can like play on stage with a guitar and I think just that connection to was really yeah, she like saw, for whatever reason, I think, a lot of my earlier songs to like those two especially, were just really wholesome and like soft and but not super melancholy.
Speaker 3:I wouldn't say my songs are like melancholy in the same way that Phoebe's are, but yeah, it's not like simplicity and kind of earnest quality. I think was maybe what she was thinking about.
Speaker 2:Her voice is so phenomenal, and I think yours is the same way, and so I do hear those comparisons, but both so much so that it's like the second you hear them, it's like everything else around me kind of stops, you know, and it's just like it sucks you in. You know it kind of it doesn't need to be big or loud or performative, but it's just like it sucks you in. You know it kind of it doesn't need to be big or loud or performative, but it's just like really real and honest, you know, and it just sits in like such a sweet spot you must have been looking for me sending smoke signals, sending smoke Signals back in circles.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I totally get that. One thing that I also saw the comparisons in is, I think, just lyricism. I think there's ways that it just both your songwriting kind of goes to places that feel real, you know, and it's not. These are lyrics that fit in a song, it's just like almost like diary entries in ways, you know, and they really paint a really beautiful picture. You can kind of enter the world of your songs and I think Phoebe's the same way where it's just like when I'm listening to Scott Street, it's just like I'm there you know or you know same thing with yours, like a forerunner 25,.
Speaker 2:You know, whenever you're in those songs you're just like I'm in this world. I can see the picture. It's almost like the movie that gets created. So yeah yeah it's just the sonics and but the lyricism. I think it's just like so, such good storytelling.
Speaker 3:Thank you, I appreciate that. Yeah, I mean, that's why. Yeah, I mean, her storytelling is, yeah, top tier.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you also have a Scott Street reference in one of your songs.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's the other thing. I think, when I wrote Jim Gloom in 2020, I think a lot of people in 2020 were just kind of reassessing their entire lives and like getting down to the core of like what makes them them and what they want in their life and what's going to stick around and what they want to change, and I think that was you know, I was 18, but that was still that still rang true for me, and so I remember like truly making a list one day and like just journaling, and I do a lot of lists in my journaling. No matter what it is, it's just bullet points and lists all the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember just like listing out things that were truly like important to me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think Phoebe's music is just been pushing like a pillar. I think also it's just in an age where so much of the music industry is I don't want to say rigged, but just a lot of it is just smoke and mirrors. You know, that's just how it is. I think obviously she's been signed to like to a label her career and stuff. But I think, like sure, she's truly done the work and she's played the small rooms and she's you know, her first album didn't blow up at the time by any means. She had a record out and it was rated amazingly on Pitchfork and all this stuff.
Speaker 3:But like Consolation Room you know, I was there, I was one of the youngest people there. It was like I feel like I was ready for her to be like the NPR Pitchfork, like indie darling, and then I feel like during COVID, the Swifties just blew her up and it was amazing to watch. And so I think, yeah, just watching somebody really like kind of play the long game, I don't know. I think that was really inspiring to me too and still is. I feel like I always, just whenever I go back and listen to Changer in the Alps or Punisher, I'm like, yeah, I think you also just really get rewarded at some point, maybe in the long run, for just doing the work and making really good music, and I think she's a great example of that truly by making the really good music.
Speaker 2:It's like some of that comes and yes, I know your label can pay for you to be tour support and things like that, but it's also, like you know, her relationship with Matt Beringer in the national got her to open for them, you know. And then same thing with Maddie Healy in the 1975. And it's just like they're like not only like the music doing the work but if, like, people end up being fans of you, you know, you end up doing a side project with conor oberst is better living community center so like yeah, and the sisa ends up calling you up just because she thinks you're cool, like it's, yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:So I think the things that she's done have been so cool yeah, I grew up such a big bright eyes fan that the first time I ever listened this record, she doesn't list features, you know. And so when I was listening to, would you rather? And then Conor Oberst's voice comes through.
Speaker 5:You're like whoa, you know, it's like such a cool moment.
Speaker 2:Do you have any songs that you remember from that first listen that you're like? This one really hit. You know what was your relationship on that first listen.
Speaker 3:I listened to the other night, actually just to go. I feel like I just I do like a. I mean I listen to her often but I feel like I've been in just like revisiting albums, that I like my top 10 albums or whatever, and so I've just been listening to both of them and I feel like I mean, obviously, from the get-go, motion sickness was like the hit. I like that one. That guitar comes in. You're like, okay, yeah, I'm sold. I I mean scott street for sure. I just think, felt the most. I don't want to say felt like I was like, oh, like I could do that. But I think that one was the one that I was like, oh, like.
Speaker 3:This is again what I've been like waiting to find that I didn't know existed, that I didn't know was being made, and um, I just, and then also just, I think, because I was 16 in a high school music program where so many people were dating and falling in love and collaborating and then breaking up and all this stuff, like I dated a drummer, and so, hearing that line come in, I was like like it, just it, like really just, you know, it was just like she had reached into my brain and like found this thing and then again I found it when I was 16.
Speaker 3:But now listening to it back and the whole thing's about her bumping into her drummer and I think now I'm like you know, seed friends and exes at events and music stuff and it's crazy and we've all lived this life and I don't know. I think there's something like magical about that too and I just I'm a sucker for like songs where musicians talk about being musicians and being in relationships with musicians. So I just think I ate that one up especially. Yeah, definitely Scott Street, definitely motion sickness. I think smoke signals too, honestly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's definitely when I was re-listening, you know, in prep for our conversation today. You know you often hear the like no skip for albums. You know this is definitely one for me where I'm just like, once it's on, it's just from beginning to end. I'm listening to it through. You know, no matter how much it hurts sometimes this album takes you places, you know, emotionally it's, it's so good from from top to bottom.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What would you say if anything you've taken from to be able to apply into your own songwriting or to your own production?
Speaker 3:I mean, I think I mean definitely, just as I mean when I was again recording Stripes for the first time when I was 17,.
Speaker 3:Like I just didn't know what recording a song was like and what different instruments could like be and what the right things to use were going to be, and so I think that was when someone was like, oh, like, oh, like she plays a baritone guitar on motion sickness, and I was like, oh, I didn't know that was a thing that existed, and so even as little things like that like I play a baritone for my shows now and it's amazing because I'm really bad at bar chords and so it kind of allows you to do different shapes and stuff um, and that's been amazing and I think.
Speaker 3:But also just the simplicity of her songs and I mean funeral is a great example too, where it's like it has this crazy intro, but then it's just her and her guitar and I think I'm definitely going back to the roots of like acoustic guitar and a vocal and like you don't need much more and if you do, you can just build it out from that and so, yeah, I mean I just think, with a voice and storytelling like that, I really truly think sometimes like less is more and so that's going to be something that I take with me forever, and because I love pop music too. But I think pop music for me feels like I would be putting on a costume if I was like layering, like a bunch of synths and stuff, more and more like these and I think my old stuff I explored a lot more and stuff, but I think now I'm figuring out, you know, what feels right for me and I think more and more I'm like might just be acoustic and vocal.
Speaker 2:Honestly yeah, so yeah, that's good. I do love when you have like the big band moments though, too, you know especially, yeah, no, I love it yeah, loud guitar for sure.
Speaker 3:I think it's definitely just getting to like, I think, writing especially to getting back to my roots of like I would come home from school at 5pm and like just run to my garage and write for hours on guitar by myself. And I think I definitely lost some of that when I started doing music more like professionally or just doing sessions and stuff, and so I think trying to get back to that inner child, like whimsy, of just wanting to go home and write for hours, which I think I mean whenever I hear about her routine, it sounds like that's, you know, that's the kind of discipline that she has. She just goes on, walks and writes, and I think that's really admirable too. It's definitely a craft that you have to work and practice and flex the muscle of, and so I'm definitely still getting into the group of that.
Speaker 2:but totally it's. It's finding it in a way that works for you too. That's authentic to you as well yeah, because like there's guys like guys like ben gibbard. You know of death cover cutie. He like is ritualistic in that he like almost clocks in every day at 10 to sit there and write, and it's like that doesn't always work for everybody either you know, so yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, finding what works for you. Truly, I feel like I haven't. I feel like I'm still figuring it out for sure. I mean I'm 23, so I have time. But yeah, I feel like it's a definitely like an up and down game, for sure. I have weeks where I don't write anything, and then I have weeks where I'm like journaling every day and writing so much and it just is. You know, it's whatever life throws at you.
Speaker 2:Well, great, well, let's go ahead and move on to the next one here, because this is one that I think is in contrast, while I may have heard some correlation with the stuff with Phoebe. This next one with John Carney director, screenwriter, irish film director. Tell me what it is that you love about him, why he's here on your pot five.
Speaker 3:Oh, I just love him. I'm trying to remember which one of his movies I saw first. I honestly think I saw Begin Again, first with Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo and Adam Levine, and then I think I saw Sing Street. I think my mom and I were trying to find a movie to watch one night and we were scrolling Apple TV and saw that and I was like, oh, that sounds fun. And scrolling Apple TV and saw that and I was like, oh, that sounds fun, and then watch that. And then I think I saw once like summer, before senior year of high school, but Sing Street's definitely the one that I go back to often. Sing Street, I feel like, has followed me, similarly to the Jane Austen that we'll get into later. I feel like just my whole life, and I remember I rewatched. I feel like maybe I haven't in a while, but at least for my first two tours in 2022 I watched Sing Street like the a few days before I left for both of them just to kind of I do it as like a reset.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think Sing Street in particular, I just love. I love 80s music first of all, and I love the music in that movie. I I think it's so again, just like earnest and simple. And I love seeing the process of him kind of starting with just being a complete ripoff of like Duran Duran, and then he shows him the cure and then he's ripping off the cure but it's like amazing and he's figuring it out and then by the end he's like really writing truly amazing and beautiful, wonderful, unique songs. And I just always cry at that scene where you're singing To Find you and I forget the girl's name, rafina, the girl. The love interest in it is like sitting on the bench listening to it while he's playing it and I just it's so beautiful and moving and yeah, I just I love it. It's so. It's such a comfort movie for me.
Speaker 1:Sing Straight, it's so it's such a comfort movie for me, seeing straight ends, truly Out where the wind was calling. I was on my way to find you. I was on my way to find you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's amazing how he makes music a character in these movies, right, both directly and in some ways indirectly. You know, I remembered seeing one of his more recent ones, flora and son um, I don't, and like same thing, like they're all so different, sing street beginning in, you know, florence, and they're all so different, but like music just has this this way of working into his movies in a way that's so unique, and every time I started to think like is this going to be another begin again, or another sing?
Speaker 2:street and then it's just, it's so different, it's like music's role in these lives, or as even a separate character within the lives of these characters, is so special and it's for someone like myself or like like you're expressing here, like the, the weight and the importance that music has in my life. To see it then reflected on screen is just yeah, it's so awesome, and so I love seeing that in his stuff too.
Speaker 3:I think that's what it is, too like. I just my high school experience just being around so many peers and friends, like close friends, who are family now, who just love music and loved playing music together, and I think you're so right Like seeing that on the screen and seeing the joy of starting a band, and like the hilarious moments of starting a band. It's just, it's like so magical and I feel like I'm going to go back to this movie my whole life and watch it when I'm 50 and reminisce on being in a band when I was 16. And it's just, it's really special.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's so much of it that's like in the actual music creation, but it's so much. That's the hangout side of it too, you know like 100 some of my favorite moments when I was, you know, young, with my first bands, is just like that. You know we were playing dumb covers and drinking mountain dew and hanging out in garages and, in between songs, walking to taco bell or whatever.
Speaker 3:You know it's just like all of that feels like oh yes, that that is the feeling that I crave more so than anything now even just the details in Sing Straight, like it's so funny, because then I also forgot that I have to talk about this too. But I, sometime in 2022, I think I got an email on my phone that was from this woman and she was like, hey, like I manage the producer, mark McKenna. Like he likes Alex's music. Would you like to work with him? And I was like, oh, that's funny, that's the name of the actors. And like one of the actors in Sing Street looked him up and I was like, like that is the guy that plays Eamon in Sing Street. Um, and so I got to work with Mark. He produced Pulling Teeth and we had a session, um, I guess last yeah, last summer together too.
Speaker 3:We're still like in touch and I feel like I have to hold back from like interviewing him about the filming process when I'm with him, because I just love that movie so much. But it's so funny to just know him and work with him. But I just always think about his character and his bunnies. I'm like I need to know who came up with that, if that was in the script, that, if that was John's idea, if that was like cause it's just so funny that he like has all these bunnies and he loves them and he's always like there's that one scene where they're in his room and the bunnies like in. It's just it's so genius and small, but I like it's. They makes that movie so much more special. Like the little things. Like too, the details are so good. Yeah, so funny.
Speaker 2:Really great stuff. I also loved he did part of part of the the modern love TV show.
Speaker 3:I don't know if I haven't seen that yet. I need to.
Speaker 2:It's pretty good. There's this one episode that, like I, will sometimes go back and revisit because it feels like such a cool, cool time capsule. I'll be at the. The circumstances were rough but, he does a COVID episode, you know, know, and there's so much of like tv that happened during that time that like would either acknowledge it or completely not acknowledge it. You know, like stuff that was created in that time, just like covet doesn't exist, you know.
Speaker 1:But this is one.
Speaker 2:It's like one of those small stories is about like people who go through the pandemic, and so it's just like sometimes nice to go back and be like oh yeah, this was a point of time that we lived, you know and wow yeah, so that one's a good too. So if you check it out, that episode's pretty good uh okay yeah yeah, I need to.
Speaker 3:I have seen flora and son also. Um, I've only seen that one once, but I feel like I've seen the other three multiple, multiple times.
Speaker 2:Yeah, modern love is the one that I still need to cross off the list I was just in ireland this past summer and when we were walking through the streets my wife's actually the one that caught it, but we were in the music store where he like steals the keyboard from and so like that's. It was so cool because I was just you know, I'm a drummer, so I was sitting there like hitting on the drums and she just like kept staring off to the you know to the window like she caught it way before and I'm like what are you doing, you know?
Speaker 2:and she's like this is the store from that movie we just watched, you know? And so funny yeah, it was very cool, cool that's the other thing.
Speaker 3:I also just love ireland. Like I think it's one of the like my favorite. I'm dying to go back. I was there for like like a good like three or four or five days with my boyfriend after my first europe headlines um last fall, and then or fall, I guess and then, yeah, I played it on my first Europe tour ever and just loved it. What a fun like. Dublin is just such a fun city to walk around in and I just love the people there and it's a beautiful place.
Speaker 2:Yeah, everyone there is so awesome and helpful and like.
Speaker 3:So friendly, so conversational, Like yeah.
Speaker 2:One of the things my wife and I like that first like kind of got our relationship going was we both really love the Sally Rooney novels. And so those are all in Dublin and you know in Trinity College and so like getting to go visit and see those places was really fun.
Speaker 3:So same with these movies yeah so cool stuff.
Speaker 2:Awesome, let's go ahead and move on to the next one. Perfect 500 days of summer. Uh, this is such a classic and uh, it was fun to go back and re-watch because I haven't seen it in years. But yeah, tell me, why was this movie so impactful for you?
Speaker 4:this is not a love story. It's a story about love. 500 days of Los Angeles, of promises Of uncertainty Of summer. Oh, let us go. Fox Searchlight Pictures presents 500 Days of Summer.
Speaker 3:I honestly need to rewatch it too. It's been a second for me as well, the first time I ever watched it. I remember this day so clearly. I was. It was like summer 2018. I was going through my first ever like heartbreak, the breakup that inspired like a lot of my songs yeah and I was 16.
Speaker 3:It was like my first big, like heartbreak. And then I had a dentist appointment like most heartbroken I've ever been and I had a dentist appointment and I remember just like crying on the car ride home from the dentist with my mom and sister. My sister like made me a milkshake. She was so sweet. And then I was like trying to find a movie to watch and I'd heard good things about 500 days of summer and so I just like watched it for the first time and obviously like great movie for a breakup. But I just feel like so many things I love about it number one great chemistry, like one for the books. Truly, I just think they're so fun. There's that one like video of them singing. Is it dream a little dream of me? There's one video of joseph gordon levitt and zoe dishanel singing together. That's just so sweet and precious and again, just kind of a time capsule of that like twee, like fun era that I like look back on so hilariously.
Speaker 3:But I love, and I love a movie that's not told in chronological order I think, it's such a fun method of storytelling I love like gotta grow like little women, same thing. I think it allows for such amazing parallels and cool storytelling opportunities and I love the part where, like, they're explaining the two like lead characters, backgrounds, and they like pause the screen and it's in black and white and all this stuff. And they show joseph gordon levitt, like watching the godfather for the first time when he or not the godfather um the graduate for the first time when he's like little and even like.
Speaker 3:I think one of my favorite scenes is when he's going to her party and it's like the reality versus expectations double screen and I just think that kind of storytelling is so special and unique and not used enough in movies. I just love when people take creative liberties and have fun with, like, the medium and, yeah, I just loved it. I love the music in it. Again, I'm a huge regina specter fan and she has two songs in there, I think. And yeah, I just I love it. The soundtrack is, I think, sweet Dispositions in there also.
Speaker 3:It's just a great yeah, just a great soundtrack. Yeah, and I think it's Regina Spector.
Speaker 2:It's like us is in the beginning and then Hero is in that scene where he's like running down the staircase and it's so good yeah, even the songs they choose it's karaoke or like really good stuff too, like yeah, it's the, it's pixies, right?
Speaker 3:he says here comes your man, yeah yeah, such a fun movie, I think.
Speaker 2:Like you mentioned too I think I forgot how many like little pop-out vignettes. They are like the, you know when he's doing his dance to you. Make my dreams come true animated bird.
Speaker 3:He sees himself as harrison ford.
Speaker 2:I think like it's so good yeah or the uh, when he's sad and depressed and it's like in the black and white vaudeville style and he has the balloon with the mime and so like they do a bunch of little pop-outs, that makes it feel like super cool and unique and not like anything you've seen before the little interviews too with, like his friends, yes, and yeah, matthew k goobler too.
Speaker 3:It's like so random. Yeah, I feel like it's one of those two where I mean same thing with sing street, honestly, where I feel like there's a romantic plot, obviously, and I feel like whenever I watch it, depending on where I'm at in my life or my relationships, I feel for a different person more or just like resonate with one person more. And I feel like if I'm in a summer, especially like I've been, tom, where I've just idealized somebody so much where, even when they're clearly not right for me or don't like me that much, I'm like but you're my soulmate, like please. And then I've been summer where I've been, you know, idealized in that way too and I just think it's a really interesting kind of like realistic look at I think a lot of just miscommunications and mismatches in relationships and the ending scene where she just like tells him that she met this new guy and she was just sure, all of a sudden is crazy.
Speaker 3:But again, that happens all the time, like some people just aren't the right match, and I think it's a really interesting take that I think a lot of breakup movies or romance movies, it's like you're the only person for me or like whatever, and I think this one's like might just not be your person and that's okay. Yeah, I wonder if I was like thinking about all of that when I was watching it for the first time or if that's more like when I've watched it recently. I'm thinking more more about that now. But yeah, I just I love it for all those reasons and it's like it's funny and it's sweet and it's heartbreaking and just a really good mix of all the things I love in there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all those things are true, and I think it's like a really cool time capsule too, like there's a moment where he's playing like Wii Sports with his sister.
Speaker 1:And I was just like oh, oh, my gosh this was a time like at that point.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, yeah, yeah, I noticed too like this was a time that people had cell phones but like they weren't really a part of the movie. Like you know, there's a point that he's like laying in bed and has like a landline above his pillow. Yeah, just a cool, a cool little like time capsule for things as well ikea did exist, though we had Ikea.
Speaker 2:Yes, we did, and that's something that's like you know you talked about, like the, the idealizing someone in a relationship, but I think there's also one of the things that they also talk about is like when you're so stuck in that, like hyper in love feeling, you also ignore everything around you. Like there's multiple times that I forgot until I rewatched it Like multiple people tell him, like what he's doing, you know, like he goes on that date and she's like she communicated with you from the beginning, like what she wanted, and he just goes to like let's go do something else, you know, and is ignoring it.
Speaker 3:Or his friends are like hey, you sound crazy, you know, with some of the things you're talking about and so like, like, even when there are not only warning signs from the other person, when other people in your life are kind of telling you and you still just are blind because you're so infatuated in ways you know yeah, I think also the scene where I just remember the scene where he's like they show like her eyes and her like knee and this birthmark and he's like I love her eyes, I love her like knees, I love her birthmark, and and then later he's like I hate her knobby knees and this weird birthmark, and I think even that kind of black and white thinking.
Speaker 3:I think when we're first grieving a relationship, we're like I hate this person, they suck, they ruined my life. And then I think it always comes a little bit after, or maybe never for some people, but I think for me I'm always like wait, no, there definitely were good things about it and just because you break up with someone doesn't mean that those things or things that you loved about them aren't true anymore. You know, I think that's like a really interesting but again just shows his kind of immaturity and just the phase of the grieving that he was at, where all of a sudden, everything that he loved was like the worst thing about her ever.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I'm in love with Summer. I hate Summer about her ever. And yeah, I'm in love with summer. I hate summer. I love her smile. I hate her crooked teeth. I love her hair. I hate a 1960s haircut. I love her knees. I hate her knobby knees. I love this heart-shaped birthmark she has on the neck. I hate her cockroach-shaped splotch on her neck. I love the way she sometimes licks her lips before she talks. I hate the way she smacks her lips before she talks.
Speaker 2:I love the sound of her laugh I hate the way she sounds when she laughs yeah, it's so funny that the one of the most astute people in the movie is his little sister, because she even has a moment where they're sitting on the bench and she goes like next time you think back on the relationship try to remember all of it you know like, and that's when he kind of can have he was able to actually have some growth. I know that's the other part too.
Speaker 3:I was like she's so little, yeah, yeah she says this one thing where there's like a line about like she's not like her soccer coach or something, but she's like so and so and so with jesus's abs, and it's so funny, like her line delivery is so good. Yeah, they really knew what they were doing with that casting too, because it's like I think that was probably pre or like during new girl for zoe de chanel but yeah, yeah, chloe griffin rath was like a tiny little baby in that.
Speaker 2:It's so cute yeah, and that's part of the time capsule stuff too. Like both her and JGL were the actor and actress of that time, I love them. Yeah, it's such a good movie. One last note on the sweet disposition front, which I thought was like a cool parallel, was when Phoebe was making Punisher. There's like some stories of all she gave for the vibe for Chinese satellite to her drummer was like just give me sweet disposition, give me sweet disposition.
Speaker 3:Oh, that makes so much sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so once it kind of hits in Chinese satellite, you start to get like some really loopy drums and that's all because she wanted the part where it's like and they're like yeah, that makes so much sense.
Speaker 3:That's crazy. It's all connected.
Speaker 2:All connected. Everything is somehow Awesome. Well, let's go ahead and go to this next one. I was unsure in terms of which iteration you were speaking about, but I want to talk about Peter Pan. Tell me about your intro to Peter Pan and why it was on your top five.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I definitely. So I definitely watched this like the disney animated movie at some point in my childhood, but I feel like I do. I love that movie as well, but I feel like I was pretty unaffected by that one in general. I was growing up in socal, a huge disneyland kid. Back when passes, you know, you would go three times and it would pay off the pass and yeah, um, my mom took me and my sister, my grandparents would take us. We would just go all the time and the Peter Pan ride was always my favorite and still to this day, like I will wait in the 40-minute line to go on the 30-second Peter Pan ride because I just I don't know why, I just love it. But yeah, I was definitely more a fan of the rides and the animated movie as a kid. Yeah, I was definitely more a fan of the rides and the animated movie as a kid, but then I watched the 2003 live action movie for the first time.
Speaker 4:What if you could escape to a faraway world without parents? Forget them, wendy. Forget them all. Come away to Neverland Without any rules, without anyone telling you what to do.
Speaker 1:Come with me, we'll never never have to worry about grown-up things again.
Speaker 3:Never is an awfully long time that is like, honestly, to this day, one of my comfort movies as well. I just love it so much. I think, first of all, I just love a period piece and I think the way that they lean into london in that time period and like the costumes and everything and the house and all of it is just so beautiful. I just again love the casting choice of what's his name jason isaacs is that his name playing both, yeah, playing both the dad and hook. I think that's such a genius choice and yeah, I think I just love.
Speaker 3:I think also I just love wendy and I just think I think when you're a little girl, like you want and you dream about like prince charming or whatever, like I think peter pan in itself is like you know wendy gets chosen. This boy like comes and scoops her up and is like I want to run away with you and then they go to this magical land, like that was my dream when I was like six are you kidding? And so, and I think also, like in this movie, though she sword fights, she's like, because I feel like obviously in the animated movie I mean there's a lot of stuff that disney has since like taken out and commented on and a lot of shit in there anyway, but I think because the whole thing is like they kind of she kind of becomes like the lost boy's mother and she kind of does in the live action one too, but she also is like fighting with them in a really cool way she's sword fighting and she's doing all she's like taking on the pirates, and I thought that was so cool.
Speaker 3:When I was little it was kind of like I also wanted to start fencing when I was little Never did, but because I thought Wendy was so cool in this movie and I think this was also before I had read Harry Potter or anything like that where it was like these really smart young girls, these really smart, outspoken, but also beautiful and cute and funny girls, and so I think, yeah, just watching that peter pan movie the first for the first time when I was little, I was like, oh my gosh, she's everything that I want to be ever.
Speaker 3:She was so cool. I think it also just it leans into. I think it's just what every live action remake should be, where you know they don't have peter pan and like green tights and a hat, they have him in this cool thing that looks like he made it from the forest where he lives and I think I just really appreciate the costuming and like the translation of the live action or the animated movie to the live action and like the liberties that they did take and, um, all of that and I thought it was really still, I think is amazing. There's obviously some some green screen stuff that's like crazy to look. Look at now. But even the music I just so wonderful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the score in that is so good. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think Peter Pan is such an archetype for that, you know, sense of wonder and what else is out there, you know like you know it's set in London here, but it's like everyone is as a child or even as an adult sometimes you, you can look out and know that the world is so vast beyond what's in your little bedroom or in your window and getting to explore that world. But like, yeah, the the hook character is, you know, scary and terrifying but also like humorous and you can like they do such a good job in just that story in general, in all the iterations, but I also love this one too. This is one that you know every now and then, even if I'm just like around the house, will still catch myself like humming or saying I do believe in fairies.
Speaker 3:No, I, literally I just got the chills. It's so good. Again, I love a lot. I love Disney movies so much Like to so much like to this day I still will like fall asleep to the animated robin hood and I almost put that one as my, as one of my five, but I didn't. But I just I love disney and I just think there are so many remakes now where they don't change anything about the story or like lean into one aspect.
Speaker 3:And I think again, why this one's so good is because they give wendy a why too, like there's the whole bit where like okay, after, like tomorrow, you're gonna have your own room and start going to, like finishing school, basically, and she's like wait, I just want to play with my brothers and like read our books and play like we're pirates and stuff, so they really do give her. There's like that weight to her decision, when and that scene too, when he's like standing in the window frame and the curtains are, it's just such a beautiful. There's like suspense to it. You know like for a second you don't know if she's gonna go and it just yeah.
Speaker 3:I think the way that they lean into like the fear of being an adult versus just like, oh, she's just a kid and she just went out her window one day with this boy she'd never met, like. I think they really do give that some I don't know, give that some weight, and I think that's why I think that's why I love Sing Street too. I think they make the relationship still really innocent and wholesome, but also they take it really seriously, which I just appreciate. I think there's so many movies for, and or about young people where the romance, part of it or whatever is seen as childish, and I just think even their kiss is so sweet and innocent. But it's still a heavy relationship.
Speaker 2:They get in a really big fight about real life things and, um, I just think it's all handled really sensitively and really well, um, in this movie as you're talking like the, the feelings I'm getting and feeling like go back to even what we were talking about with the, like early aughts of a band you know to. Like you're not wanting to grow up and remembering what it's like to frolic and play, you know and so much of early, create creative work and musicianship and friendship.
Speaker 3:Is is all of those feelings too yeah, they do a good job at capturing that, you know, and peter wanting to stay, you know in that space as well, so yeah, yeah, just they're acting too, and I remember like I've watched all of the behind the scenes videos of, like, the mermaids putting the makeup on, and I just think that era of movies too were like you know, they were doing full mermaid makeup and stuff and practical effects and I just love it.
Speaker 2:Very good. Well, I don't want to keep you, so let's get on to your next one here, which is Jane Austen's movie adaptation. There is so many of these, you know, and so I'm curious to hear, I know that like kind of getting into this world and you know similar, what we were talking about like artists is just like when you can kind of get sucked into their world and the world that they built, like sometimes you just don't want to leave and you want to sit in it. So I respect it. But I'm also like I'm curious what aspects have resonated with you? So what do you love about them?
Speaker 3:so this one was so hard I was torn between saying because I think I almost said like either little women or anna green gables, because I think again, just my thing, with like a period piece and a young girl and sisters and women and whatever. But I ended up going with this one because I haven't read any Jane Austen. So I wanted to specify that because I want to someday. But I'm still I'm like just now getting back into reading as a hobby because I was just so addicted to my phone for so long that I'm finally just now, like this year, starting to actually read more for fun. I'm working my way up to Jane Austen eventually.
Speaker 3:So Sense and Sensibility my mom showed me and my sister one night when I was like nine and then followed shortly after that was Pride and Prejudice. I haven't seen the BBC like a really long series one yet, but the one with Keira Knightley. And then I've seen both Emmas, the Gwyneth paltrow one and the anna taylor joy one of both. Um, again, I just think these are movies that like are so comforting to me and I think especially like my mom and my sister and I are so close and so we would have these nights like for a while, when my mom was not remarried and I was like between the ages of 9 to 14, we had so many nights was okay. Mom was not remarried and I was like between the ages of 9 to 14, we had so many nights was okay, what do we watch tonight? And it was like, should we do something new or should we just do Pride and Prejudice? And like that was kind of our whole thing. We just watched that movie so often and Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice both just capture sisters so well too and I think that was really impactful and fun for me to watch as a young girl.
Speaker 3:I think sensibility for sure like is interesting because when I first watched it, me and my sister were both like, oh, like, I'm more like the kate winslet sister and you're more like, um, my sister like is older and she was more like the emma thompson character and I kind of feel like we both agree that we've almost switched now in a way, and so I think that's kind of interesting too, where I know when I was younger I would maybe was more of the you know sensibility type, the romantic, like, creative, optimistic, and I feel like maybe we've just kind of swapped or something.
Speaker 3:But yeah, definitely, these movies have just followed me my whole life and I still watch them again, kind of as like they're almost almost like a cleanse for me. I feel like if I have like a shitty week, I just I'm like, okay, just emma time, just like refresh, get in bed with a cup of tea and like watch one of these comfort british period pieces, like they're just really comforting to me and also beautiful scores oh my gosh, I know they're and they're all shot too.
Speaker 2:I think there's so many things that it's so hard with. I mean, I know budgets change all the time and, like with the introduction of streamers, like just the priority value of things have changed, but going back and watching some of these movies, it's just like almost every scene I'm like this is so beautiful, like everything about it. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, emma also also. Can I tell like a kind of crazy story about emma as well? Yeah, okay, so I, on my first ever europe tour opening for gracie abrams in 2022, I was playing I forget which theater, but we did two nights at this one beautiful theater in london. Sold out, amazing crowd. I like cried during stripes one night because the crowd was singing and it was so crazy and it was amazing.
Speaker 3:But I was watching emma the one, the newer one, with um, yeah, um, in my green room one night of one of the london nights and you know just another like comfort. We're in london. I'm just gonna turn on emma, like while I eat my food and like you're ready, you're decompressed from the show, and one of the actors in that is her dad, is bill ny, and he's also just in so many of my other comfort movies, like Pirates, harry Potter, you know so many of them. My mom and I were just talking about how much we love him in that movie and, like I don't think in the Gwyneth Paltrow version of Emma they give the dad that much personality and he's so funny in this movie, like the whole thing where he like is always really cold, and so there's like one scene where she walks by and he's like just covered by these screens and stuff. So funny. So we watched emma, whatever, slept the next day.
Speaker 3:The next day we were going to paris and we're in the train station and we get there, we're like kind of running late and there's like a huge line to get on our train and we're like, oh no, imagine we like don't make the train to Paris, all this stuff, and this man's walking in front of me while we're in line. He's walking to get his ticket or whatever, and he drops his book. And I'm like, oh my gosh, sir, you dropped your book. Turns around, it's Bill Nighy, whoa.
Speaker 3:And so we literally just watched Emma the night before and I handed him his book and I was like, yes, I am. And he like shook my hand and was like thank you for saving my book and it was so nice and it was just so funny. And I think whenever I watch, you know, emma or Love Actually or any of the like the Harry Potter season or Pirates, like I just feel like he's he's just he's so sweet and it was so fun to meet him, and just like a fun reminder that like right place, right time. You know we've been five minutes earlier. We would have missed it. It was really sweet. But whenever I watch Emma now I'm like I have like a fun story about him and stuff.
Speaker 2:So it's cool that that's happening both with that, and then you know the reach out with the Sink Street. You know correlation. I know, I feel like it just is like another fun like memory to attach to something when you that you like already love. It was really really fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah, one thing that I I had no idea about until I was just doing some you know research before our chat, but like, clueless is loosely based on emma or uh, bridget bridget jones diary is loosely based on pride and prejudice and I'm like yeah, oh my gosh, I didn't even put those together, so it's, I just watched bridget jones for the first time and it's funny because his name's darcy in it too, like, and I was like, oh, it's funny how that happens. I just watched Bridget Jones for the first time and it's funny because his name's Darcy in it too and I was like, oh, it's the same last name and everything. And I didn't even notice until halfway through and I was like, oh, but yeah, so smart and Clueless is like a perfect adaptation too. It's so much fun.
Speaker 2:I watched this and I'm not recommending this movie. Although I'm not not recommending it, I watched this silly movie, y2k, that just came out.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:And it's about like going into 2000s, New Year's Eve party and technology actually starts, you know, firing back and killing people and it's like a silly buddy movie or whatever that just came out, but Alicia Stilversone is the mom and I was just like, oh my gosh, I miss her so much seeing her in anything, and it was just so crazy she's the mom in that. That's wild, like I remember molly ringwald is like a mom in something that I saw like a while ago and I was like in my head she was just always gonna be like 16 and in the breakfast club and it's crazy to see her like escalate to that.
Speaker 2:Wow, I know right, well, we'll get you out here, but before we do, we ask everyone five rapid fire questions. Okay, okay, so really quickly here. Alex, if you could be on a reality tv show or had to be on one, which one would you choose? Survivor, survive oh, I love that. Okay, cool. If people have never consumed any of your pop five, what's the one you'd want them to go experience right now?
Speaker 3:peter pan 2003 live action adaptation beautiful.
Speaker 2:What has been a favorite on stage moment or performance?
Speaker 3:okay number I number. I mean, yeah, I was, I turned 21. My 21st birthday, I was playing the Troubadour opening for Ella Jane, and the whole crowd surprised me and had someone, I guess, just brought and passed out party hats and party noisemakers, and so during my song Stripes when that happens also, it is a voice memo from my drummer's 17th birthday surprise party Just yeah, a really special night. And I ended up, you know, crying as I do on stage and it was the troubadour and I was turning 21.
Speaker 2:And it was just a really sweet happy birthday moment.
Speaker 3:So that's number one for sure.
Speaker 2:Amazing. Okay, you know it's your final show. Okay, the last one. You're playing and you're playing and you're closing with one final tune. What's the tune that you're playing?
Speaker 3:Of my own or a cover?
Speaker 2:Yeah, your own, my own, or if you want to do a cover, you can. Your choice.
Speaker 3:No, it'd be 25. We close I mean up to this point, we've closed every show with 25. And I feel like we'll probably for a while. So 25 is the closer yeah.
Speaker 2:Love it. What's one piece of advice you'd give a past version of yourself?
Speaker 3:Audition for that art school. Stay close friends with your band and do more activities more often Go to more museums, watch more new movies, say yes to more things and have fun. People want to watch you, have fun and succeed. People are rooting for you.
Speaker 2:Beautiful. I love it. Where can people find you follow? You listen to all your tunes, anything you have to promote.
Speaker 3:Everywhere. Instagram, it's Alex with two Xs, and then my last name, paige TikTok question mark, is Alex Rage with an R. And then yeah, spotify, apple Music, everything where you listen, alex Rage.
Speaker 2:Amazing. Thank you so much for doing this. I find it's increasingly rare to find songs or music that stops you in your track and gives you that feeling that you're just like gosh. I want to live in this world, and you know it happened so much when I was younger. But as I've gotten older and I listen to more and more music, it's just like so rare that something stops me, and so many of your songs have done that for me, so thank you for making them.
Speaker 1:Thank you for taking the time. That's so nice. It's been such a joy to have you. So thank you. Thank you'd be the man Fell in the drive. You think I scared you in the face, holdin' your face in my hand, tryin' so hard just to feel. You Said baby, we don't make sense, this is the end, so be it. I hate to think about reunions Bumping into you somewhere unexpected. You'll probably be somewhere downtown At a show where we'll both be drinking. I'll be about 25. Doesn't feel that much older. It's crazy how time just flies. It's scary how we both got colder, and I don't miss you at all. Thought I'd go crazy by the fall if you weren't here. So I got attached.
