Alex Siniari

This is the first in our newest category “Interviews with NJ Artists”. This is with local arist & singer-songwriter Alex Siniari, recently highlighted in the Philadelphia Inquirer with his Father.

So how long have you been playing guitar?

I’ve been in love with the guitar for a long time but our most recent affair has been the only time we’ve ever taken each other seriously. My Father played in a band back in his younger years and later on in life, he had a friend named Paul Leka, he and his band (Steam) wrote a song that became famous some time ago. Ever heard, “Nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye!”?  That guy. Anyway, he gave me a guitar when I was a boy but I didn’t have the sense to practice. I used to think strumming the strings open was a song. After a while, I lost interest completely and forgot about the guitar all together. I would tell people I could play because I wanted to so badly but I had no idea. I’d try to play here and there but had no clue.

How long have you been writing songs?

After flirting with the idea for a long time I finally bought my Ibanez and started trying to write songs. I never learned to read music and I still haven’t but at some point something clicked and music started to make sense to me. I still can’t sit down and write a song after a feeling or concept intentionally, it just has to come and I have little to no control. The song writes itself through me and I dig that, but often people don’t understand why I don’t write about myself or even get what I am singing about. I clearly remember telling my friend, JY that I could do this, I could write songs and play out. He is an incredible drummer so we’d jam here and there and I’d work up the nerve to play in front of people. I wrote one complete song with lyrics, that I have since completely forgotten, and a few instrumentals that either were lost to my poor memory or later developed into songs I play now, like “Free” and “Hand Over Mouth”. Free was the second song that I wrote, then came “So Far” so I’ve been writing somewhere around the two year mark.

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