The Aspiration Explained - Angels and Alibis 2024
The Great Forever Band
Greg Loiacono - Guitars & Vocals
Jim Bogios - Drums & Perccussion
Brian Rashap - Bass Guitar
Reid Genauer - Vocals & Guitars
Produced By Greg Loiacono, Enginerered and Mixed By Scott Hirsh, Mastered By Anthony Puglisi. Recorded at Tiny Telephone Studios All Rights (C) (R) Assembly of Dust LLC.
Angels & Alibis: An Aspiration
To state the obvious Angels and Alibis is an album. But music is more to me than a “thing” and if you’re reading this, you must feel the same me thinks. Music holds you wherever you are, it meets you on high and/or in the ditch. Here’s the thing folks ah… things are kinda weird out there - yes? In the midst of a psychedelic uncertainty that surrounds I’m committed to Angels and Alibis acting as an aspirational call to the collective. An ethos I named Conspire To Smile several years back. The notion is simple and rings with the Taoist simplicity of the “Real’” real. For those who need it and best believe it music is more than sound -its a mood-scape and a way of being that delivers wild hair up your arse freedom and the soothing calm of belonging at the same time.
The call to the collective is come come come come come on in, you can take your shelter or move your feet and lose your mind. Listen to the call but don’t come because you are beckoned come because you belong. Come for old and sturdy friendships and new ones born in and of each other As an anchor to orient against the aspirational possibility of Conspire to Smile. The aim of 1% more positivity for each of us below are the three quotes that while varied in their origins call to the mind’s eye mirror we call music.
"A person is but the product of their thoughts. What they think, they become." -Mahatma Gandhi
"Try not to become a person of success. Rather become a person of Value.” -Albert Einstein
"If you get confused listen to the music play." -Robert Hunter
Stream Angels & Alibis 2024
In preparing to unleash Angels & Alibis, pressing replay has proven a diamond of a time machine. In the release I’ve found “release” A renewed aspirational conviction to find my own conspire to smile. The qoutes above play to me, sometimes louder than the album itself. Be you stuck in the mud or fast for the move, may Angels and Alibis be a home and may your ears always be filled with a stone-cold groove.
I’m a singer, songwriter, storyteller who happens to love screaming guitar. With this album I wanted to lead with the mindseye sensations that an epic story can elicit without losing the hammer-like quality of rock. I wasn’t sure exactly how to do that. But I was certain I needed a partner who understood the mechanics of a singer/songwriter rock album Enter Greg Hips. I’m a long time fanboy of The Mother Hips. He and his bandmates as Mark Twain figures of rock. One fated day I called my friend Greg Loicano and asked him to produce the record. I’m happy to report he agreed and the two of us made for well-paired musical co-conspirators. Compatible but distinct personalities and stylistic counterpoints. I’ve never relinquished as much creative license in the studio as I did to Greg. Being an observer (read student) of the songwriting and production on his records I trusted him to make the right decisions. And he did. We set out to create an “intimate bravado”aesthetic. Like Butch Cassidy to The Sundance Kid. Rock and roll swagger to desert poetry. Or more profoundly Our aim was to invite the listener into the album through a combination of dynamic songcraft, nuanced playing and airy production value.
Angels and Alibis is a Gunslingers Waltz. Rock and Roll swagger meets sun drenched California crackpot poetry. This album isn't just my voice amplified 3 stories. Its a full-blown conversation. To be fair its a conversation anchored around my penchant for lore and maybe more importantly my willingness to reveal myself. A dude who’s found reward for being both vulnerable and strong in the hummocks and hollows of songscape. It’s a conversation wrapped in Gregs confidence and unconventional musical voice. Translated by a badass band of simpatico minds. Captured with a deep field of vision and revealed in high relief definition by Scott Hirsh. Love it or hate it we hit the mark.
Minds eye video by Reid Geauer via Wrrly
The album garnered the moniker “not exactly new” in that it was slated to be released in 2021. The initial recording sessions began Feb 27, 2020. The events that unfolded in the days that followed those sessions were ah… less than ideal? However sometimes less is more and here we are with a return to form in “24. I hope you find the same pleasure in the “time and time - time rewinds” nature of this album in listening to Angels and Alibis as I have in the living and re-living of its creation. -
With a big KickstartHeart - Reid