Review Fix chats with Jen de la Osa and Henry Beguiristain who discuss their new video “Falling Out of Love,†as well as their new single “Agua Mala†and upcoming show at the Knitting Factory.
About the Band:
It’s closing in on three years since the residents of Flint, MI, were flung into a devastating man-made disaster that left them without drinkable water in their homes.
Jen de la Osa and Henry Beguiristain of Aloud think that’s more than tragic — it’s criminal.
They’d been obsessively watching news coverage of the crisis, feeling frustrated that it wasn’t attracting many headlines. As if on cue, their friend Kendra Jones (co-lead vocalist of Brooklyn-based indie ensemble Cold Blood Club) called them up feeling equally restless, inquiring about collaborating on a song to address the ongoing crisis.  For Kendra, the tragedy felt personal, not least because Cold Blood Club had watched the crisis unfold during what were some otherwise wonderful experiences of crisscrossing Michigan while on tour and forging deeply personal friendships and ties with the people they met there.
To pre-order the EP (after Feb. 8), Click Here.
Review Fix: What makes your band special?
Jen: I’d say it’s the vocals. We do a lot of harmonies and backing vocals. Henry and I have been singing together and writing songs since we were teenagers. We’ve learned to sing together with ease and read each other well. An attention to vocal harmony is a big part of all the 60s music we grew up on. Something else I’d say is that while we are very much a rock n’ roll band, we have several soul influences and you can hear that peppered throughout a lot of our work, particularly on the upcoming record.
Henry: 50% of Aloud is left-handed, 50% of Aloud is named Charles, and 50% of Aloud was born in May. That’s gotta be some kind of bizarre statistical anomaly, right?
Review Fix: What is it like to work together as husband and wife?
Henry: In the before times, Jen and I would get together to work on music—write, record, whatever—and it was fun. And now it’s still fun, except now, if one of us screws up a guitar part or something, blammo: straight to divorce city and our entire lives fall apart. It was in the wedding vows. The Justice of the Peace was fucking appalled, but it adds an exciting element of danger to everything. It’ll have to do until mass marriages are a thing. Y’all don’t know what’s coming.
Review Fix: What makes “Falling Out of Love†a unique track?
Jen: I’d say it’s the lyrics. On the surface it sounds like the pangs of a break up. A couple grows weary with each other. One of them loses interest and seeks to dissolve the relationship, etc. The twist here is if you follow the clues the entire song is voiced from the perspective of a narcissist singing to her own reflection. Our narrator has a revelation about just how awful she is and decides “we’re on the outsâ€.
Henry: That vocal was recorded live and one take too. That’s also pretty cool.
Jen: Yeah, but those horns are so Otis Redding!
Review Fix: How is the video coming along?
Jen: We’re making progress! We decided to do a virtual reality video for “Falling Out of Love.†It’s a brave new world in that field, so lots to learn along the way. So far, everything has been filmed. It’s in post-production and that’s probably the part that will take the longest. Soon though, we hope to have it out.
Review Fix: How do you feel about your upcoming show at the Knitting Factory?
Jen: I’m very excited. We wrote this song, “Agua Malaâ€, about the Flint Water Crisis and it features two of our favorite people, Tom and Kendra from Cold Blood Club. What’s going on in Flint still isn’t over. They still don’t have clean water. The Knitting Factory show is a fundraising event for The United Way of Genesee County’s Flint Water Fund. In addition to what we raise that night, any proceeds from downloads of “Agua Mala†will go straight The United Way as well. We’ll be playing the tune that night and will have a horn section with us as well (a rare treat). The whole line up is great, so I’m very pumped for Feb 9.
Henry: Yeah, I’m pretty pumped about the lineup. Kris Gruen, Peppina, and Young Mister are great, and I’m thrilled they’re on board. What happened in Flint is distressing, and it was an entirely preventable situation! At the very least, I hope this keeps Flint on folks’ radar.
Review Fix: What are your goals for 2017?
Jen: We’ll be wrapping up tracking on our upcoming album. We’ll be releasing a 7†single for “Falling Out of Love†and touring in April as well as moving to L.A. in May. Lots to do!
Review Fix: What’s next?
Henry: Hopefully, raising a buttload of money for the United Way of Genesee County’s Flint Water Fund!
Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to say?
Henry: Mass marriage. No pressure, but… think about it.
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