"Pop music is hard to emulate. It is performed by super-talented folks, with such dynamic, acrobatic vocal abilities, that attempting to emulate it is a tightrope act fraught with peril. I cannot say that I am a fan of popular music for the most part, but I understand why it is popular.

"This is another reason why I find attempting these covers to be so difficult. I like to force myself to do something that is uncomfortable for me. In the past, I have covered Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Lorde, and others. I would invite anyone to try to cover one of these songs!

"This time, I wasn't sure who to cover, so I just Googled, 'What is the biggest pop song of 2022?' The search came up with 'As It Was' by Harry Styles. I had never heard a Harry Styles song in my entire life and if anyone would have told me a few years ago that I would be doing such a thing, I would have laughed.

"But I actually connected with the lyrics! I found them quite sad and bittersweet, especially these days after suffering the deeply personal loss of my mother. When you suffer such a personal loss, one often feels very alone coping with the pain. So I actually found the overall mood of 'As It Was,' particularly the hook, to be quite on point with how I have been feeling lately. 

'In this world, it's just us, you know it's not the same as it was'

"Man, that really hit the spot for me." - J Hacha De Zola

+++

J Hacha De Zola - Vox, Guitar
Stefan Zeniuk - Saxophones, Clarinets, Woodwinds
Jerry Ramos - Drums, Bass, Keys / Synths, Percussion, Guitar, Programming

Produced by Jerry Ramos & J Hacha De Zola
Mixed by Jerry Ramos at Mercury Recording Studio in Rahway, NJ
Mastered by Blue Jade Mastering

As It Was

J Hacha De Zola - As It Was (A Harry Styles Cover)

Alberta & The Dead Eyes is the giant-sounding band that in reality is the majority work of one real-life carpenter, David Boone (or D. Boone as he often signs off, evoking another literal and figurative giant of musical history, D. Boon of The Minutemen.)

In fact, Boone’s songs contain that same ramshackle joy and conversational, inclusive tone that Boon’s do. It’s the sound of a natural talent letting it fly.

“I’m a carpenter by day and sometimes even by night,” Boone says. “A fine carpenter at that, but a better musician.”

You may want to leave the page now to find out more about Boone, but don’t bother. He made the right choice. The choice that none of us made and many wish we had. Boone is nowhere to be found on social media. 

He lets the songs do the sharing.

Alberta & The Dead Eyes will release its new 11-song album Give or Take on March 15, 2024. The album will be preceded by “Ghost Kitty,” a four-song EP of additional songs on Dec. 22, 2023.

The songs on Give or Take represent a man in withdrawal from a two-packs-a-day cigarette habit that went on for 15 years.

“Mama, did it fuck me up more than I expected,” Boone confesses. “I wrote the entire record pretty much curled up in a ball.”

Grieving his relationship with nicotine while composing, Boone kept company with his influences, numerous and varied. So numerous and varied that mentioning a handful isn’t going to help you any more than looking for Boone online will.

“I love Billie Holiday. And The Stooges. And The Band. And Outkast. And Duke Ellington. And Cole Porter. And David Sedaris. And Bill Watterson. And the Detroit Pistons. And John fucking Prine.”

Boone doesn’t mention The Minutemen, but likely would, if prompted.

“I mean Jesus, should I keep going?”

Get it?

The thing about Boone as musician that isn’t likely is how much Boone as carpenter makes it into his music. He doesn’t mention the Grateful Dead either, but the steadfast focus that underpins Boone’s freestyle nature is kinda Alberta & The Workingman’s Dead Eyes.

“I’m a complete ‘no one is coming to save you’ type of person,” he explains. “Keep your head down and
do your job. Musician schmoosician. Do what your supposed to fucking do. Write good songs. Play good
shows. Show up on time. Be humble and be fucking nice.”

A real-life carpenter keeping it real-life real. Refreshing.

It should be even less surprising now that musician Boone rejected Instagram squares for T-squares just like he painfully swore off smokes cold turkey for the clean lungs that arrived with the songs, or as Boone sees it, he arrived to them.

“The songs are just there, hanging out, waiting for someone,” he says.

Now that someone is you.

Alberta & The Dead Eyes will release its new 11-song album Give or Take on March 15, 2024, preceded by “Ghost Kitty,” a four-song EP of additional songs on Dec. 22, 2023.

Alberta & The Dead Eyes - So Cool

Fanatic is a music marketing company established by Josh Bloom in 1997 to build fan-to-fan connections between artists and the media. For 25 years, Fanatic has continued to help launch and maintain careers through the strategic advocacy of creative talent.

J Hacha De Zola - As It Was (A Harry Styles Cover)

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