Willie Alexander - Press

Boston Globe, Boston Phoenix, Boston Herald

David Wildman, Boston Globe

Around Boston, Willie "Loco" Alexander is known as the Godfather of punk. His credentials practically mirror the history of rock and roll: He toured in a version of the seminal rock group the Velvet Underground, recorded for Capitol Records in the 1960's with his garage-band the Lost, then for MCA in the late 70's with his punk rock group the Boom Boom Band, and expanded his sound to include experimental jazz textures in releases throughout the '80's and '90's with the Persistence of Memory Orchestra." Now 56 and still rocking, Alexander has just released his latest CD "The East Main Street Suite" on the local label Accurate. The work features dreamy electronica-style soundscapes layered with Alexander's trademark raspy nasal vocals, jagged lyrics, and rhythmic, boogie-style piano playing. There are also saxophone swirls and jabs by Mark Chenevert and Ken Field, drums and the occasional trumpet by jazz legend Herb Pomeroy. Pomeroy is a Gloucester native who has worked with such greats as Charlie Parker and Duke Ellington. Though Alexander is a bit of a legend himself, he said he found himself around tongue-tied Pomeroy. "We both live in Gloucester now, and I see him on the street carrying his trumpet," says Alexander. "I'd wanted to play with Jim, but I'm shy, basically, so I wrote him a letter. After seeing him on the street a few more times, I finally got him to come and play. He recorded his parts quickly. He was in and out of there in an hour." As he was throughout his long career in music, Alexander tends to write about local people and places he knows well. His latest CD is filled with insights into Gloucester and Somerville, where he lived until recently. The song "Who killed Deanna" is a noir-rock tale of a mysterious unsolved 1996 murder of a young girl Alexander and his wife had known in Winter Hill. The girls' parents heard he recorded the song and showed up at a recent performance, later coming to visit Alexander at the group for mentally retarded adults where he works part time in Somerville. "It was a really beautiful thing that we made a connection," he says. "I was really glad that they thought it was OK for me to do that song." One cut "Honeysuckle Rose" came out of a recording during which Alexander had been making up lyrics and music spontaneously. The rambling piece eventually led him to sing a skewed version of Fats Waller's Honeysuckle Rose. Doherty layered guitars and other instruments over the off kilter chord changes, and Alexander named the concoction after the Waller's classic, even giving the old bluesman co-songwriting credit for the tune. "It went all over the place, with the first verse talking about Arkansas ads the second verse Porter Square, " Alexander says. "Then I started breaking into Honeysuckle Rose. Man, I don't even know the chords to that song!"

Brett Milano, Boston Phoenix

Never mind that Willie Alexander's a Boston punk legend-what's important is that he remains one of the more idiosyncratic, boundary-pushing musicians in town. His current style sits somewhere in among punk rock, avant jazz, Beat poetry, and trip-hop. And his songwriting's taken on some new depths: these tunes look unflinchingly at age and mortality, but they always sneak in a bit of hope. "Amber & Ebony" airs some late-career disillusionment without giving into bleakness; "Who killed Deanna" builds a liberating rocker out of a still-unsolved Somerville murder. "Josephine & Jono" and "Ocean's Condo" are both about Gloucester, and they share the feel of that town, bright on the surface, seamy underneath. For light relief there's "Bass Rocks", an improved remake of Willie's summer-fun single from the mid 80's. With Alexander's piano and saxes of Ken Field and Mark Chenevert taking place of guitar, the Persistence of Memory Orchestra remain a fluid outfit. They can do a groove noir a la Morphine, but they can also bring back the rocking abandon of Alexander's Boom Boom Band ("Honeysuckle Rose" would have worked great when he was opening for the Ramones). And while we're speaking of those days: "WA Anyway" opens with a verse somebody had to write sooner or later: "I used to play the Rat in Kenmore Square, but I can't play the Rat 'cause the Rat ain't there." The good news is Alexander is still here."

Tristram Lozaw, Boston Herald

"A thirty-five years into his incredible rock n' roll journey, Willie Alexander could have one of those end of the Century lists devoted solely to himself. He played in the seminal garage band the Lost, psychedelic crew Bagatelle and the post Lou Reed Velvet Underground. Alexander recorded as the "Loco" leader of the Boom Boom Band and recorded for France's New Rose label through the '80s. Today, he combines a wealth of styles and poetic vibrance in his Persistence of Memory Orchestra, named after a Salvador Dali painting. On his new CD, "The East Main Street Suite" (Accurate), Alexander is adept at combining fringe stylings into wooly odes to his hometown of Gloucester. Along with the inventive guitar, drums and loops of co-producer Jim Doherty and stellar horns - trumpeter Herb Pomeroy and reedsmen Ken Field and Mark Chenevert - Alexander twists prose and keyboards to make "East Main St." rock alongside its jazz, poetry slamming, smoky psychedelics, electronic treatments and world beat flavors. "My life influences have been the same all my life- rock n' roll, jazz and Latin," Alexander said. "I didn't consciously try to do different feels on the CD, it's just the way they added up. Someone mentioned there are klezmer elements there, but I don't even know what klezmer is." The Persistence of Memory Orchestra helps Alexander celebrate the new CD with two shows this week, Sunday at the Ocean Club in Gloucester and Monday night in a free show at the Green Street Grill in Central Square. Alexander's music also will be heard on the soundtrack to the upcoming Henry Ferrini film "Lowell Blues," accompanying beat reading text by Jack Kerouac."