If you ask singer Sal Giordano when No Red Alice really formed, he’ll tell you it was two years ago, more or less. He says the band’s outdoor show at Beauty Bar—part of Punk Rock Bowling 2018— marked its first live gig together. The “first hurrah,” as Giordano explains it. “That was us.”
But don’t let Giordano fool you. The singer and guitarist has been writing and performing under the name No Red Alice since as far back as 2012, after his previous punk band, The Core, broke up.
“It was kind of like being single for a while,” Giordano says. “I [could] do this any time I want, play with my friends and have a good time.”
The trio just released its first EP, Don’t Be Here After Dark, on March 13. “Starting off acoustically was great, but this is what it was meant to be—a three- or four-piece rock ’n’ roll punk thing,” Giordano says.
Longtime No Red Alice listeners will recall “Still Cursed” and “Marry Me!” which appear on a 2017 demo, though both songs have been entirely re-recorded for DBHAD. “Got a heart and it’s a fist/If home is where the heartbreak lives/I’m packing up and heading west/To go find love and happiness away,” Giordano sings on “Still Cursed,” with his bandmates chiming in on the chorus for the ultimate emo anthem.
In 2015, Giordano ended up playing in now-defunct Vegas outfit Eliza Battle, joining drummer Chris Berg and guitarist Chris Bitonti—two members who now complete No Red Alice’s lineup.
No Red Alice had a release party scheduled for March 13, but all of its shows have been put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When nonessential businesses were ordered to close statewide, Giordano performed during a Facebook Live session, and the singer says he might do more online acoustic gigs while Nevada’s shutdown continues.
As for the EP, which was recorded at Digital Insight studios with producer Lazer Lavin, Giordano says it captures the band “pouring our heart out to you as a group. It has a lot to do with the loss of my parents, the loss of my friends to drugs, a lot of hardship and trying to overcome it,” Giordano says. “Just surviving.”
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