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Baseball Pro/Musician Chris Alvy Interview

by Alex Cosper

Conducted July 26, 2016 on Facebook




ALEX: Ladies and gentlemen, with me today from Miami is musician Chris Alvy who has also played pro baseball for the Chicago White Sox, NY Yankees and Detroit Tigers. His band, The Super Fuzz, will be playing in Hollywood on August 4 at the legendary Whisky A Go Go. Chris thanks for joining me.

CHRIS: Hello Alex, by the way, we are also doing IPO FESTIVAL in LA. DAVID BASH runs it and it's great event nationwide.

ALEX: Great, Chris, we'll talk about that more. So you're originally from Cuba and grew up in Miami. Tell us a little about your background leading up to Major League Baseball.

CHRIS: born in cuba grew up in major musical family dad was a baseball lover and got me started just slowly went up the ranks little league/high school/got college scholarship to play ball and eventually got drafted by the White Sox to play pro ... in a nutshell, lol.

ALEX: What were some key highlights of your baseball career? And what years did you play?

CHRIS: I got drafted in 86 I believe and played through the 90s with various teams then went and played also in Mexico/Santo Domingo/Venezuela various years. Highlights would be doing all the travelling I did so young and experiencing awesome lessons in life along with of course playing with some of the big boys in New York Yankees/Detroit Tigers/Houston Astros. I was in the 40 man roster on all 3 teams that was a great experience.



ALEX: I undertand an injury forced you to leave baseball to pursue another career. How did you choose music?

CHRIS: I broke my hamate bone, I think that is how it is spelled lol and that set me back a bit. As far as music, growing up in a musical family this was second nature to me. I wrote many crappy songs on the road playing baseball, lol, but that's how I learned a lot about songwriting.



ALEX: How many bands have you been in?

CHRIS: I've been lucky to be in few bands, I set out to create a vehicle for me and my songs and I was lucky enough to quiclkly find at least a steady nucleus that has been with me for many years. Todd Taulbee drummer and Darrell Killingsworth bass. we started with BEYOND SALVATION then we did a project called HI-FI SISTER and then it became CHRIS ALVY BAND and now we are THE SUPER FUZZ.

ALEX: Tell us about the CD/album awhile back you put out called Super Famous.

CHRIS: Few different guys but the foundation has always been pretty steady. this record we released bout year ago, maybe little less. It was produced by Ryan Sambrook and myself and it is a continuation of what we did with our first SUPER FUZZ release ART NOISE. except we polished it up a bit more and condensed the material to be a bit more commercial musically and lyrically very CHEAP TRICK WEEZER REDD KROSS vibe loved the end result and reviews have been great you can checkhem at thesuper fuzzmusic.com.

ALEX: Here's the song I keep posting on Facebook from ART NOISE called "Something's Missing." It reminds me of the Beatles, who I understand are an influence on your music.



CHRIS: This song was written by Fernando Perdomo, who was a member in our band and also produced ART NOISE and myself fab tune one of my favorites. it was mainly his idea I just filled in the blanks with a bridge and 2nd verse ditties/lyrics great tune I will be performing this with him next week in CALIFORNIA. He is doing release party at HOTEL CAFE for his new cd VOYEURS which by the way all of the peeps should check out great stuff



ALEX: Do you consider your overall sound to be more blues or how would you categorize it?

CHRIS: I think my songwriting style tends to lean towards lots of melodies and harmonies like BEATLES, BEACH BOYS, THE ZOMBIES etc ... but my guitar playing style has always been on the bluesy side. I don't consider myself a great guitar dude I like to think of myself as a songwriter mainly. never been interested in being great at guitar, but I try real hard to write good lyrics and songs that people can connect with.

ALEX: What inspires your songwriting? Obviously, Beatles were very creative and every song was different, which isn't true of pop artists today. Do you try to convey social messages or inventive concepts in your lyrics?

CHRIS: I try with every lyric to say something that means something to me personally. I am pretty proud and satisfied with what Ive been doing so far, but it is not easy. There is something in my personality and about me in at least 90% of the songs I've written so far, so I feel good with that. I am always trying to improve though and I got a lot of that to do, lol. The older I get the deeper I try to get into that as a songwriter, I think my new stuff will be even better in that sense.

ALEX: I know you do covers as well as originals. The most famous song from Cuba that Americans know about is "Guantanamera" which is a song about peace. I'm curious what you think of it and if you've ever played it.

CHRIS: Never played it, maybe once at a party but no. That song I believe has verses written by a poem by JOSE MARTI who was a revolutionary in Cuba fighting for independence. One of the greatest poets to come out of Cuba. It is a staple of Cuban tradition and he is a well respected hero in my country from what I know.

ALEX: o where do you want to take your music, Chris? I heard your song "Take Back the Music From the Big Wigs." It sounds like kind of revolutionary.

CHRIS: haa thats a demo I made many years ago I believe lyrics need to be updated I'm more in the now with our new material we shot first video SURPRISED YOUR BOYFRIEND'S STILL AROUND which you can find somewhere on YouTube land I am in the moment with our new songs and as far as taking the music anywhere, well I just want people to listen to us and have another option then what is out there that's all. There are many great songwriters I know and tha's what I like to listen to and get into. Guys like FERNANDO PERDOMO another LA guy CHRIS PRICE which I think is fab and many others.

ALEX: You are certainly taking your music on the road, coming across the USA in the next week. Tell us about your tour and life on the road.

CHRIS: Life on road is a great cool hang out, with a little spice with THE FUZZ this band is unique in a special way lol but always very fun We are doing our last local show this Saturday in Ft. Lauderdale then we head out for a short West Coast Tour. I will be sitting in to do few tunes AUGUST 3RD with FERNANDO PERDOMO at HOTEL CAFE in LA then on AUGUST 4TH THE SUPER FUZZ will play THE WHISKY A GO GO 9pm and we finish up with a great venue on AUGUST 5TH FAIS DO DO doing INTERNATIONAL POP OVERTHROW FESTIVAL with David Bash. So we got got 3 shows in 5 days and a few days off to hang and enjoy the scene with some very cool friends we have there LA.



ALEX: What is the International Pop Overthrow Festival about? That sounds like an interesting festival since today's pop definitely needs to be overthrown (it's too corporate for me, but that's just my opinion, lol).

CHRIS: This has been going on for a while DAVID BASH is the one who organized it and it is a yearly festival of very cool power pop rock bands from around the world. Always a great crowd and great group of fans that love the genre.

ALEX: Well, I want to catch up with you in LA since I'm just down the road in San Diego. Aug 4 is my birthday, so that might be a fun bash.

CHRIS: it starts this weekend and if I can recommend a show at MOLLY MALONE'S I believe it is Saturday you will have Chris Price and his band along with awesome rock and roll writer/musician Ken Sharp and Fernando Perdomo performing with couple other acts these guys are all the epitome of power pop it's gonna be great too bad I get there Wednesday, lol. We would love to have you meet and check out the band and our manager it will be The Whiskey and I promise I will get you in, lol, happy bday.

ALEX: I've got it on my calendar. So, what do you see in your future as far as music?

CHRIS: I am just trying to build a loyal fanbase for me and my band (Eric Sanchez Alex Ibanez Darrell Killingsworth and myself) I just want to release good music with this new lineup to people and give them another option so they can see there is other stuff that is not on radio that is very cool.



ALEX: Chris, your music rocks and I want you to keep on rockin' ... Any closing thoughts?

CHRIS: Write for SONY MUSIC ATV and I have been with them for over 3 years and that is great for me as a songwriter, but what satisfies me the most is what I am doing at the moment. Closing thoughts are come out if you are in LA and check out THE SUPER FUZZ go and LIKE our page on facebook and comment and stay in touch with the band it means a lot to us.

ALEX: Chris, thanks for joining me today ... this interview will appear on my site Playlist Research on this page starting this weekend. Best of luck to you !!! super thanks buddy for the opportunity and all your kind words greatly appreciated by us. Cheers to all keep rockin.'

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