Ace Monroe Says Good Riddance to the Death of the Stereotypical Rock N Roll Lifestyle
Interview ★ Kenzie Gay ★ @kenzwrites ★ 1.5k Words
As the leading journalist and all around head honcho of major operations at this magazine, I always make the joke to my colleagues that we collect modern rock bands like infinity stones. The artists we cover tend to hang around in the same scenes, constantly shouting one another out to move us forward and onto the next act with hopes of an interview, gallery, or review. Today’s band has been long awaited by our readers and the team itself, serving as, potentially, the final stone (we promise there will be no humanity-altering snap, though).
A 5 piece rock act composed of frontman/lead vocalist Robbie Dylan, lead guitarist Josh Alfano, rhythm guitarist Jack Kaiser, bassist Erik McIntyre, and drummer Jonathan Tatooles, Ace Monroe has been taking their local Nashville scene by storm along with the rest of the country due to their grit that mixes tradition with innovation. With a new album under their belt as they tour the United States, we sat down with all five members to answer some heavy hitting questions.
(left) Ace Monroe (right) Ace Monroe’s “Wild Card” album cover via Garret Hayes
Wild Card is your newest album. Can you share a moment during the creative process of this record that sticks with you?
Josh: There’s so many to choose from! The first one to come to mind though has to be the recording process of Teasin’. All in all it’s a pretty barebones recording of the just the 5 of us. There’s not a lot of extra tracks in it so it’s one of the truest representations of what the band sounds like in a room. That’s exactly how we tracked it too. It was super late at night all together in one room just going for it.
Jack: For me, that moment was when I wrote the breakdown lyrics and melody for If You’re Gonna Swing. I remember it so clearly because it felt like we were stepping into uncharted territory, doing something completely fresh that we had never tried before as a band. There was this rush of excitement, like I could feel the energy shift in the room. It wasn’t just a cool part; it felt like a breakthrough. That section captured a raw intensity we hadn’t tapped into yet, and it was that intensity I wanted to drive up this record. We surely drove it up…
Jonathan: Recording the intro of If You’re Gonna Swing always stuck with me. It was a very challenging, but fulfilling endeavor to try and come up with a memorable drum intro. There is a video on our Instagram that Josh recorded of me trying to figure out the drum fill. the coolest part is that he captured on video the take that we used.
Robbie: A moment that stands out to me was when Jack and I finally got the chorus locked down for Try. The guys were downstairs laying down drums and bass I think and Jack and I were upstairs working on figuring out where to go from the verse. When we finally got it we couldn’t stop smiling. It was so much fun to record.
Erik: When we were tracking the song Try it was my wedding week. As you can guess things were pretty stressful that week, so to release some pent up energy I came in the night before my wedding looked at our producer and said “I’m playing drums let’s set up drums.” So we set up a plethora of drums and mics, and let me go off. I played drums for like 2 to 3 hours and what we came out the other side with was the intro, solo section, and outro of Try as well as some other aux perc stuff buried in there.
Nashville is notoriously a city of dreams and music. How does living in such a place influence you as artists?
None of us grew up in Nashville but we all moved there in our late teens/early twenties. It’s 100% an “iron sharpens iron” type of town. There’s such a great community of absolutely incredible musicians who all willing to help each other be the best they can be. It’s competitive too but it’s for sure a friendly competition.
You’re currently on tour for the new album. What are you most excited about? Any fears, expectations?
We’re so excited to take these new songs out on the road for the first time. Songs tend to evolve a bit on the road as we play them more and more and we start adding little improv things here and there that change things up a bit. It’ll be fun to see where that takes us! We’re also so excited to be playing cities we’ve never been to before and finally getting back to a few that we haven’t been back to in while.
DIY culture fuels rock n roll these days (aside from a select few). Who are some smaller acts on the scene that you think are doing a fantastic job as artists?
There’s so many that we love! Velvet Daydream, Lombardy, and King Falcon just to name a few.
There’s a common notion in the rock world that rock n roll is actually dead. What’s your opinion on this?
There’s a little bit of truth to that. The stereotypical rock n roll lifestyle of excess and debauchery is dead and to that we say good riddance. With that stuff out of the picture it really allows us to focus on what’s really important about rock n roll, the music. And we can definitely say that the music is alive and well. We’ve seen people of all ages come out on all nights of the week to see a rock n roll show purely because they love of the music. It’s a really incredible thing.
Apart from music, are there any other forms of artistic expression you partake in? (fashion, film, drawing, dance, etc.)
Josh: I’ve always been really into photography. I recently picked up a film camera that I’ve been taking on the road with us. It’s been so fun to capture some of these “in between” moments on the road.
Jack: Aside from music, I am a videographer/filmmaker. I have my own video production business outside of the band that I do on the side. I am also a motion graphics producer, I make lyric videos and work with VFX! My favorite project I’ve ever worked on is the lyric video I made for If You’re Gonna Swing
Jonathan: Golf. In my mind, Golf is an art. The swing itself is poetry in motion. Each hole, a chapter in an 18 chapter epic. The entire spectrum of human emotion can be experienced on these hallowed grounds. The course itself is a canvas in which the club is your brush.
Robbie: In another life I enjoyed acting on stage. I’ve been in plays since I was a child. Whether it was a musical or Shakespeare I wanted to be apart of it. Apart from writing in the band I enjoy writing in other forms such as short stories, screenplays and poetry. Does cooking count?
Erik: I’m a big clothes guy I think there is a lot that goes into forming a great outfit. I mean there’s so much you can say with what you’re wearing.
What has been your favorite memory with Ace Monroe thus far?
Josh: The first time we got to play in New York City was so special. It was a few years ago and we hadn’t been touring for very long so we didn’t know what to expect going in (other than a 17 hour car ride). We got to spend the whole day out in the city. So much rock n roll history in NYC and you can really feel the energy of it. We ended up having a sold out show at the Bowery Electric. It was the first time we experienced a room slammed full of people not in our hometown that knew every word to the songs. It’s something I’ll never forget.
Jack: That moment when we got our official Ace Monroe debit cards
Jonathan: My favorite memory was climbing Mount Bierstad with Jack and Robbie in Colorado. It was such a beautiful view at the top, but it was the journey that made it memorable. I will always cherish it.
Robbie: Honestly it’s not one moment. If anything it’s the time in between. The long drives in the van waking up to see mountains, the desert or the ocean. I think Dave Grohl said in that documentary “what drives us”. It’s like being pirates. Going place to place with only what you got in your back and having to win over the crowd every night on a new stage. The five of us against the world. It’s cliche to say but the truth. It’s intoxicating
Erik: my favorite memory is making the guys drop me off at an urgent care in Lubbocck Texas so I could deal with a rather painful undisclosed injury. The nurse helping me announced to everyone in there what said ailment was (it was very embarrassing), and my personal info was part of a data leak from that urgent care like 2 weeks later. the guys did pick me up with chick fil-a though so it was chill.
Do you have any advice or tips/words of wisdom for young people wanting to get into music, specifically the rock world?
Take care of the music and it’ll take care of you. Hard work beats talent every time.
