Rochelle Mills

Who within the country music genre has influenced or inspired you?  Within the country music scene I absolutely adore big little town. Obviously I’ve been writing music while before discovering them but I think they’re album tornado was absolutely brilliant and in my opinion really raise their profile across the world. I suppose it’s more pop country but I absolutely love it it’s my go to album when I’m in the car especially when I’m in America.    Can you talk me through your songwriting process, do you like to start with a lyric or melody or is it different every time?  Songwriting for me is different every time it depends who I’m working with, although I usually just work with Stew. It can either be me going in with a melody or him with a melody and guitar. Usually my melodies come to me in my head and I record them on my iPhone. It’s kind of strange because those melodies can come when I’m asleep most recently I was on a boat and I had to stop the boat in the middle of the ocean obviously it was a small boat while I record of the melody otherwise if you don’t it disappears. So yeah it’s pretty hard to define how any songwriting session is going to go but usually comes from Melody with me anyway.     Can you remember the first song you ever wrote?  This is a funny question the first song I wrote was “ I’ll never love again!”  It was when I was 10 and I was dating a girl and then she kissed one of my mates which at the time I thought that I was going to die and so I remember leaving my dad‘s pub. When I say pub I wasn’t there drinking obviously I was 10 but I remember walking down the street actually nearly crying and the lyrics and Melody just came out. To think back to then it’s quite cute and sad but of course that song never made it to any album or any release for obvious reasons!!   Country music is all about storytelling, I know ‘The Way You Move’ isn’t strictly country but can you tell me the story behind that please?  Absolutely to be honest with you I think most songs is about storytelling and for me the way you move is kind of just a feelgood track that encapsulates the moment when you’re out and about generally in a club and you see that person could be a boy or a girl that really captures your eye and the way they move just drives you insane. I don’t know I write a lot of songs about being hurt been a romantic being happy and I just decided this time I just wanted to make it about going out on the weekend I’m finding that special person almost like Love At first sight.   Can you remember a live gig that you watched that changed your life?  Absolutely I think remembering myself watching live aid was just unbelievable. From the minute it started I think the pinnacle was when Freddie Mercury with Queen came on and sang we Will Rock you those type of concerts are ingrained in our history and we must never forget them and always go back to keep the remembrance. I can’t even imagine how Friddie must of felt on stage because I know when I’m on stage it’s an exhilarating feeling. And the maximum card I’ve done is about 20,000 so that was a whole other experience and a whole lot more people so I can only imagine it was electric on stage and I would love to have been there.  You’re supporting Will Young on tour, how excited are you about that run of dates?  I am so excited about the Will young tour, I’m also in two weeks about to go on tour with Anastasia which really freaks me out because growing up we listen to all of her music especially my mum so she is probably more excited than me but I’m so excited. Anastasia tall is around Europe which I’ve never really thought so that’s gonna be exciting. But I’m super excited for the Will young tour as it’s around our own country and I get to meet all the lovely people that have been following me for years maybe even 10 years now, wow that’s a scary thought!  So yeah I’m excited, I’m happy, I’m nervous I just can’t wait.    You’re working on a new album, can you tell us more about that please?  Yes, I’m working on a new album, I’m so excited about it. I’m working with the Legendury Sam Williams who is producing it and also now cowriting which Stu Boyle. This time around were really having a lot of fun we don’t necessarily have a timing on the album so it gives us a lot of time to get it right but all I can say with seven tracks in every song is a hit and they get better and better every time so I’m super excited for you guys to hear it. We’re just making this a cool funky disco electronic ambient sounding record with throwing everything but the kitchen sink and I really can’t wait for everyone to hear it.   What’s next for you?  So what’s next for me is continuing to finish the album I’m currently going to be on tour from the 18th of August with Anastasia and then Will Young to the end of the year then in December I’m going to take a well deserved and will need a trip to Asia I’ve got some business as I recently signed a publishing deal so it will be very interesting to see how the music goes out in and around Singapore another Asian territories . It kind of makes me really excited as I really love Asian cuisine. But if you’re really interested in keeping in contact and watching

When did you first know you wanted a career in music?  Dorian:  When I was 14 years old I started a band with school friends and we did a small concert at our school auditorium for Talent Day at the end of the school year, we played Alice Cooper’s School’s Out  and the place went crazy and that’s when the music bug really  bit me I guess. Years of practice later and here we are!  Adam: When I was just 10 years old, I remember  mum and dad had a singing duo act in Liverpool in the sixties around the time of The Beatles and, in fact, my parent’s duo group on more than one occasion played the same clubs. With both parents singers, well, wouldn’t you know, I found a could carry a tune and I’ve been in music ever since.      How did you guys first meet?  Dorian:  I had just moved to Spain with my family in 2017 and I was looking for a band to join, I saw Adam singing in a cover band at a club on the Costa Blanca of Spain and I thought “That’d be a good band to join if only there was an opening”, luckily for me, the guitarist in the band left to return home to the UK and, through a friend, I was put in touch with Adam and soon I joined his cover band which ultimately resulted in Aliens Don’t Ring Doorbells.    What kind of music did you grow up listening to?  Dorian: I’m a guitarist so I’ve always been drawn to guitar driven music whether it’s classic rock, jazz or fusion but at the same time I love melody and harmony so I listened a lot to the Beatles, Styx, Kansas, Supertramp, Return to Forever to name just a few.  Adam:  As a singer, I am always drawn to great melodies and great vocalists; I listened to a lot of pop growing up like Simon & Garfunkel, Take That and many others along these lines. I must admit I’m a pop Fan, but I truly love all music that I can sing along to and join in with.    Who within the country music genre influenced or inspired you?  Dorian: Musically, I would say Johnny Hiland is a great influence on me and I use a few licks I’ve learned from him; he’s really great. In terms of a vocal type band I would definitely site the band Alabama has a strong influence.    Can you talk me through your songwriting process, do you like to start with a lyric or melody or is it different every time?  Dorian: Always a great question because everybody does it differently, for example, when I write I like to see what can be done to make the song interesting. There are a number of ingredients you can start with: rhythm, melody, chord movements/harmony. I find a lot of current music is too rhythm driven often at the expense of melody and harmony.  What’s interesting to me is to use rhythmic hooks along with more harmonic movement. Once I have the essence of the song (harmony and rhythm), I then look at all the chord movements and within these chords of course are individual notes from which I create a melody. I often sit with Adam as we fine tune words and melody to ensure we both are happy  Adam: When I write songs for Aliens I often picture a song in my head as a series of pictures to which I sing a melody line into the voice memo on my phone.  Once I bring this to Dorian and the rest of the band the process of developing the song becomes a joint effort.    Country music is all about storytelling, can you tell me the story behind Hello 2 You?  Adam: The song Hello 2 You was written at a time when my family and I were going through a challenging time with health issues. The song is about never giving up and believing in yourself such that no matter what your age, you can rediscover a new part of you that can make all the difference.    What’s the strangest thing you’ve written a song about?  Adam:  I think our song ‘It’s Your Night’ was strange in the sense that it is written about an alien encounter between two species on an unknown planet who somehow find each other. We tried to get this message across in the It’s Your Night music video and people generally agree it’s a strange but cool music video.     What’s next for you?  Dorian:  We toured the UK and Europe in 2022 and now we are very busy working on our second album which will be released in March 2023.  We have just release the first EP from the new album with the single ‘Hello 2 You’ and the b-side song ‘Don’t Touch’; both are seeing good airplay in the UK, Europe and the USA. This is very important for us as it sets the groundwork for our hoped for tour of the USA in 2023 for the first time so there’s lots to look forward to with the Aliens!