Artist Spotlight: Alabaster Boxer

Courtesy of Nick Drum

Designed to blend and bend genre conventions Alabaster Boxer offers listeners a unique “yet familiar” listening experience. The Appalachian Preservation Project is proud to present Alabaster Boxer as this week’s artist spotlight.

The following answers are courtesy of founder Nick Drum.

How did Alabaster Boxer come together as a band?

The project actually started as a solo effort from myself working with Robbie Lanham at Monarch Entertainment. I had a bunch of songs I had wrote and initially set out to just record an acoustic solo album ala Elliott Smith. The first song we released “Within Myself” we recruited my good friend Chandler Beavers for Mandolin accompaniment and Philip Bowen for fiddle. Once we released that my brain exploded from there with the idea that became Alabaster Boxer. I knew I wanted to create a sound that didn’t really have a genre but more or less fused different genres together. Pop/Rock songs or Pop/Punk songs featuring traditional bluegrass instrumentation and adding elements of rock to those. Alabaster Boxer formed with me networking/recruiting my friends & contacts, pitching them the idea/songs and hoping for the best. They all came into the studio and laid down the parts I requested or gave them the reins to do their own thing and wow…. The result became something beyond even what I had imagined. So right now the band that plays out primarily features the players you hear on the album in some format.

What are the backgrounds of each of the members?

I think the best part about the boxer project is the members and their backgrounds.

Myself - I come from a more pop/rock - pop/punk background - playing in various bands in those genres throughout my career. With my last effort as an americana harmony driven band The Boatmen. I’ve been writing songs for 20yrs now. Which is crazy to think.

Drew Lawrence (drums/vocals) - is a super diverse musician all around but lastly played in a metal band. Though I would say Drew’s heart belongs to a genre of funk and groove driven songs. He’s currently working on a very jam heavy solo project.

Chandler Beavers (Mandolin) - a very accomplished bluegrass player and multi instrumentalist- Chandler is finishing up his solo project due out in June. Chandler also performs a lot in Virginia with Colby Helms & The Virginia Creepers.

Brian Bell (guitar) - Brian has been a veteran in the traditional WV bluegrass scene for many years. Most recently known for his work with Long Point Stringband. Brian was the first brain I called when I knew I needed advice for blended a bluegrass sound in these songs.

Jason Lockart (keys/vocals) - I’ve know Jason for many years since he moved to WV from NJ (where he had already been performing music successfully) and we always clicked whenever we’d play together randomly throughout the years in the pop/rock wv scene. However this is the first attempt we ever took in combining our efforts. We’re A LOT alike in our tastes and styles. Jason is truly a brilliant mind in the way he thinks in music and added so much to this album and sound. Jason is co-owner/founder of Kid In The Background media group in Beckley.

Bill Fraley (bass/vocals) - Bill(a true rocker at heart) and I have know each other and performed together in various projects for years. Another decorated musician who is absolutely my favorite bass player. I couldn’t imagine having anyone else in that spot. Bill currently also performs with the band Red Audio.

FM Turner (Fiddle/Cello) - FM is from Virginia and a former music professor. Another brilliant songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. I’ve known FM for many years and we’ve performed together often during The Boatmen days. When I knew we were going to add fiddle to the lineup he was the first call I made. FM currently performs with The Breakfast Club band in VA as a bassist and sits in with many others on fiddle most recently The Dead Reckoning.

Corey Lee McQuade (dobro/banjo/vocals) - Corey is another songwriter/musician from WV and the finest dobro player I’ve been around. He’s released many solo works and been paired with others from Tut Taylor to Tyler Childers. Corey was featured on our second released song Heartbreak Hangover and from there I knew we needed him in the project more. Corey performs often as a solo act and as a duo with Paul Johnson.

Randy Gilkey (guitar/keys) - Randy is truly a legend of the WV music scene and a future WV hall of famer. I’ve known Randy since I was 18 and he truly taught me a lot coming up through music. The last two bands I’ve been part of we were in together so I knew I needed Randy’s guidance once again for the boxer. A brilliant songwriter, musicians, producer in his own right. This man literally has his own Wikipedia haha. Randy performs solo and with the John Ingram band and The MFB.

Lastly the album wouldn’t be complete without the guidance of our producer Robbie Lanham at Monarch Entertainment. Robbie is best known for his musician work with Motion Theatre but now sits on the other side of the stage as one of the premier sound/stage/producers in the state. Robbie contributed 100% the most to the album but has only performed with the band twice as he is retired from playing live (and he just has too much other stuff going on honestly ha)

So that’s a wrap on everyone who contributed to the album.

What is the inspiration behind the name "Alabaster Boxer?"

I knew I wanted to pay tribute in some way to my late grandfather who raised me, Noah Salango and I also knew I wanted to express my own personal journey with the name. My grandfather was a tough old Italian man who is actually in the WV Boxing Hall of Fame. He never had a boxing nickname growing up so in a way I guess this is me giving him one. Alabaster itself is a tough old Italian stone, used in a lot of carvings but also contains lore properties of healing power etc. so I kinda used that to express my own personal journey through life and the boxer term to represent my grandfather. The Alabaster Boxer. Tough ol Italian stone. I think he’d approve if he were still around.

Why is the band described as a "music project?"

Honestly because we still are an idea and we haven’t truly formed “a band”. I wanted to make it really relaxing for everyone, without the pressures that come with being in a band. I also honestly didn’t know how the album would be received or if the music would go any further than just making the album but here we are. Very rarely will you ever see all 9 of us on stage together as we usually perform 6/7 members at a time. But it’s a pretty cool idea of just having this pool of amazing talent and whoever is available, whenever we’re available we’ll go play the songs. That being said we’re slated to finish up our last album release show May 5th in Roanoke, VA. Which after that date we’ll officially call the project a band, have an announcement sometime after that but before Mountain Music Festival in June. But in a lot of ways the whole project and lineup will always be alive and when it’s time to track that lineup will always be in the roster pool of brilliant minds who made this album what it is.

What artists are currently inspiring the band?

We put together a playlist on Spotify each month with local & regional groups we listen to and our inspired by. You can catch a variety of bands like Hello June, The Jared Stout Band, Sweet Tooth and more in there.

We also sprinkle in some more National acts like Larry Keel (who we performed our second show ever with), The Infamous Stringdusters, Joseyln & The Sweet Compression, Caitlin Krisko, etc. That’s the beauty of music, inspiration can come from any genre.

Oh and Ginger Wixx. An amazing young lady who absolutely has the IT factor. She recently sat in with us at our album release show at the shop and shewww. We’ll be teaming up more in the future.

How would you describe the band's sound/style?

Our style is really a melting pot of genres. It’s gonna sound like a mixtape you made from limewire as a kid, including some songs that you didn’t mean to download but ended up on the cd under the wrong file name anyway. Haha. But the general idea is to take pop/rock/punk and blend that genre with fusions of bluegrass, folk and americana sounds and there you have it…Popgrass? Emocana? It’s something there really isn’t a name for yet haha.

How do you hope your music impacts people?

My greatest hope as a songwriter is to just have your song impact someone or help them through a time or memory with the way it makes them feel. It’s not really about anything else other than that for me. I just hope out of all these songs, there is at least one someone can find and say “that song is my song and I can relate to it this way…or it made me happy because…”.

What life experiences inform your music?

Oh wow yeah. Really reflecting on where you were and where you are now. The journey continues as we get older and more mature. All the shit we thought was rough as kids and would write about then is actually happening now haha. I think it’s growing up. Having kids. Bring an adult. But not forgetting where you came from. When I was young it was love love love. Here’s a love song. Don’t get me wrong there’s still plenty of those I’m just not as obvious about it now haha.

Are you currently touring? Where can people find your show dates?

We’re currently finishing up our album release run of dates and then it’s festival season and really diving into the summer with a couple big shows like Mountain Music Fest. We’ll have some other shows sprinkled throughout the year but the main idea is looking into next year to make a bigger splash in and out of state.

Are you working on a recording project? If so, tell me about it.

Well honestly we have about 6 songs that are already in the can but they’re a much more Rock sound and probably won’t be released under the Alabaster Boxer moniker. However with just releasing Currency Of Dreams in April, I’ve already started writing the next album - so absolutely soon!