Allele Interview
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Band Name: Allele
Interviewed: Wally Wood
Interviewer: Charlie Steffens
Date: 2005-10-14
Previous Allele Interviews
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Allele is a band which was formed in 2002 by singer Wally Wood and former Otep guitarist Lane Maverick. Not long after its inception Allele would employ guitarist Kelly Hayes, who had departed from the band Cold. Along with bassist Tim Tobin and drummer Giancarlo Autenzio, this band from Jacksonville, Florida formed a fine team of musicians who not only played well together, but who had fun doing it, night after night.
The band's recent release Point of Origin on Corporate Punishment Records is a testimony of their commitment to making good music, and the album is sure to garner an audience as their live shows will in this coming year.
Allele frontman/vocalist Wally Wood shares the story of a band that could…and did.
The Gauntlet: How did you guys form Allele? How did this all happen?
Wood: Well I was in my last project, this band called Troubled Mind and we had kind of grew rapidly in Jacksonville and like the East Coast -- in the Southeast –it was such a complete 180 from what Allele sounds like, you know? But, it was really my first real project …I haven't even been doing this long in comparison. We had done that for a couple years and I wanted to do something a little different –something that had a lot more heart and melody to it. Lane [Maverick] had just moved back from LA from being in a band. So, anyway, a friend of ours had brought him to a trouble Minds show and he wanted to put something together. He's a veteran guitar player, he couldn't just sit down, so he really wanted to jump in and get something started. We had talked and wanted to us to start something on the side, but I'm very loyal to the band I'm in –so it was more like "Well you can join what we're doing", so he had joined the band and I think his ultimate view ended up being what my ultimate view was, and that was to form a new band with a completely different sound. So he and I had started Allele –we had booked our first show; Hard Rock Live in Orlando. We had a couple friends who are musicians and we had written seven songs in a week and went and played the show. From there we went through a couple bass players and drummers and the band slowly formed. We really wanted to get the name out there. Last year Kelly [Hayes] had come to the band …March, officially. We actually had ran into Kelly because it was a Planet Fest where we were doing the side stage, the local stage at that time and they had called him on the radio –and I had this idea –my wife did, actually, of like saying "Hey, why don't you play a song with us", because Lane and I were looking for other guitar players for a while since nothing was working out. So he had come to a show and decided that he wanted to jam—he really liked what was going on and the rest is history from there. He left Cold, and we just started jamming and playing and found our solid drummer and bass player at the beginning of this year.
The Gauntlet: How hard was it going to school, man … with your name, Wally Wood?
Wood: Oh, I didn't get used to Wally Wood until I was like eighteen years old, man. I'd get the whole "Where's the Beav?", "Wally the Gator", you name it. I got along with everyone in school, so it was never a serious problem.
The Gauntlet: If there's any issues of growing up and getting picked on—they certainly can be vented out on the stage.
Wood: Yeah, I do it now.
The Gauntlet: Lyrically you allude to some pain there. Do you write all the lyrics?
Wood: Yeah. If singer's write about themselves, they have to have a source and the easiest source is to come from the most obvious place, and that's yourself, you know? But I really don't write the lyrics about myself at all. There may be one to three songs that are self-oriented. The songs are written pretty much what the band is about, just other people. I write about things that I see friends go through, mainly just about other people's experiences.
The Gauntlet: Well it comes across as honest and the songs are accessible. There's one song on the album -- "Immune" …
Wood: Yeah, that's about my wife, okay (laughs). That's the one that's fully …yeah …
The Gauntlet: I nailed it, huh?
Wood: Yeah, you got it.
The Gauntlet: Great song.
Wood: Thank you very much.
The Gauntlet: The hidden track --the instrumental is really, really beautiful.
Wood: That was from Kelly to his daughter. Her name is Jaydin. "Jaydin's Song" -- It was something he just wanted to do and I was all for it. You know, it was a single take while we were in the studio, and we were thinking about dressing it up with this and that, but it sounded so great, just one single guitar, one single take.
The Gauntlet: Why Allele, and what does that mean?
Wood: The easiest way to explain it is that alleles are in your genes and you have different alleles for different eye colors, for different hair colors, for just anything that is physically defining are what alleles are responsible for. My wife's a Biology teacher, you know, we went through two and a half pages of band names. We kept going back and forth and Allele is what we kept going back to. And I really like the biological meaning, because you can reference it to just life –and we're all about people. We're a very people and family oriented band and group of guys. To have a name that wasn't so obvious and so meaningless was really a kind of cool thing to do for us, because we're very into people …like I think every band should be. We're very people oriented, so to have a name that has to do with every single person and every single piece of life on Earth was like the coolest name that we could possibly come up with. It's very diverse if you think about it. That's not to ramble on but that's really the reason we wanted to just stay with that name. Plus no one has it (laughs).
The Gauntlet: What kind of musical background did you come from?
Wood: I'm originally a drummer. My Mom's an amazing singer. She's played everything from Lionel Ritchie to Kenny Rogers to Whitney Houston to all the things people would make fun of me if they heard me sing. But, you know, these things have a lot of influence, really. They have a lot more influence than people would ever admit. It's all melody and passion -- the music from back then -- just like it is now and always, but it was so different then. It was growing up like that –I just really got the music, because of my Mom. I just started playing drums to Guns and Roses … you know every kid with a drum kit played "Welcome to the Jungle" –that's how you learned how to play drums, to Guns and Roses, you know …from my time. So I really got into drums and I had always played around with singing. I'm just a huge fan of old Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots, and that was my core –the old Red Hot Chili Peppers, you know what I mean? That was my thing. I love all the old stuff, but I really found something in the 90's –the end of the 80's, early 90's. You know there are certain eras that hit you to the core, and that's when it hit. So I started playing drums and eventually I'd sing in front of my little brother and sister and that led to karaoke one day, man (laughs). I was shy dude! I had never sung in front of anyone other than my family, ever. My wife, fiancée at the time, made me get up and sing four songs and no one booed me.
The Gauntlet: What were the songs?
Wood: "Plush", by STP, "Turn the Page" by Bob Seger … I did a Pearl Jam song and another STP song. No one booed me, so from that point Planet Radio in Jacksonville used to have this DJ, and she did this thing where she would allow people to call in and say anything. These guys called in and said they needed a singer, so I went and tried out and that was the beginning of me doing that. I was always really shy, but it was different –it was easy when other people started playing the instruments. You all of a sudden felt more even, you felt more equal like no one was just staring at you.
The Gauntlet: It sounds like the springboard was your Mom and playing the artists that had a lot of depth and weight in their music …
Wood: Lionel Ritchie …
The Gauntlet: Lionel Ritchie? Come on, that's beautiful.
Wood: That was probably the strongest back then, was Lionel Ritchie.
The Gauntlet: Sounds like you got a good soundtrack. It's kind of funny that you're not that "balls-out" –you're shy, like you say. I'm sure you get to address that side of you every time you go out and do a show. What's your ritual before you go out? What do you do before a show?
Wood: Nothing beautiful, spectacular or anything. I just chill out, relax. I don't drink, smoke –any of that stuff. I'm all about giving people the best show I can do. I cheat them if I do anything otherwise. So my ritual is to just stay clean and to really try to give people a really good show and connect with people by just being focused and clear. So my ritual is …first I'll just hang out with everybody, because I love to get that vibe – I just want to be around people. Then I'll go backstage, or wherever and just chill out an hour before the show, warm-up, and we all do a prayer before we go on stage, and get on there and have a good time.
The Gauntlet: You mentioned prayer. Is it more a defined thing or is it just a general prayer?
Wood: Oh, it's just a thankful gesture. We just go back and we let each other know that we're grateful to be doing what we're doing –to be able to have the gift what so many people wish they could do. We're grateful for it, so we say it out loud together.
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