Alyssa Jacey ~ Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Currently auditioning people for... ~ Bass
Nick Bearden ~ Drums, Electric &/or Acoustic Guitar
Other guests may include but are not limited to:
Bill Jones ~ Electric & Acoustic Guitar, Paulo DeRosa ~ Electric Guitar, Johnny C. ~ Violin & Piano, Tom Griesgraber ~ Chapman Stick
MY DEBUT ON DRUMS @ THE COACH HOUSE ON 9/4/08! I took a break from singing and playing guitar to do THIS!...
More videos at http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=alyssa+jacey&search_type=
Influences
I just discovered someone truly amazing, beautiful, talented...her voice is SO soothing, her lyrics are absolutely worth listening to (we all know I'm picky about lyrics!) and her style is one of her own. Allow me to introduce you to Meiko who recently performed on the Bonnie Hunt show. She's freaking killer. Go now to myspace.com/meiko. Outside of her, I have been listening to Jason Reeves a ton lately, falling more and more in love with his voice and lyrics. I am still all about KT Tunstall's Drastic Fantastic album and Ingrid Michaelson's Girls and Boys. They both have so much to say, and I dig it all! When I come up for air, I play Colbie Caillat, Ernie Halter, Sarah McLachlans live CD's, and after seeing Garth Brooks live in Vegas on 7/17, I'm gonna start listening to him a hell of a lot more often then I already was! Of course, my initial influences were Sarah McLachlan and Jewel, and that's why I love covering their stuff. I also really enjoy Jack Johnson's new album Sleep Through the Static because of the melodies and his lyrics. Local musicians are always fun to go listen to, so I rotate them in my player too!
Sounds Like
Mostly, I hear "Jewel back when she released 'Pieces of You' in 1995." When I first started doing kareoke in 2004, I was told I sounded like "a mix between Michelle Branch and LeAnn Rimes." My first two albums were very pop/country and at performances such as the Del Mar Fair I was told I sounded like "a mix between Shania Twain, Shakira, Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette." In 2006 when 'The Soul'EP was released, my sound had transformed into that of pop-soul and I started being compared vocally to Sarah McLachlan, Amy Lee(Evanescence) & the female version of Jack Johnson. In 2007 comparisons were made to Joss Stone, Tori Amos and Ani Difranco vocally, which I take as the greatest compliments ever since those chicks all ROCK! This year, 2008, I have been compared vocally to Sia Furler, Colbie Caillat, Natalie Merchant and Corinne Bailey Rae. As far as writing goes, I hear Joni Mitchell often, (again, gigantic compliment) b/c I am a "story teller." Anyway, you tell me, I suppose I can see some of these artists in me but I am always trying to steer away from "sounding like..." and developing my own sound.
NEW BIO! 7/21/08
Hi! I'm Alyssa! You probably figured that one out by now, since you're on my page, but hey, why not get rid of any confusion right off the bat, just in case? So, obviously, as you can see, I sing, and play guitar, but it never started off this way. I spent the first 18 years of my life attempting to perfect the art of dance, starting at the tender age of 4. My parents put me in sports too, like soccer, volleyball, basketball and gymnastics, but they fizzled out mid-college years. Dance was the only "sport" that stuck around until music appeared. I was taking jazz, ballet, tap and hip-hop classes 6 days a week for the majority of my life until college. When I moved to Rohnert Park in Nor Cal to go to Sonoma State University for my Freshman year in '00-'01, I started teaching hip-hop as an undergrad my second semester, and even did the whole cheerleading thing! In order to pursue dance more seriously, I knew I had to be in So Cal so I moved back to San Diego and continued school at Mira Costa (city college), going full time for one year and part time for another, ended up quitting and moved to LA in 2003. I moved there because I didn't think anyone would take me seriously if I was trying to make it as a professional dancer/choreographer who lived in SD. While there, I worked 3 part time jobs, and spent all the money I had on rent, shopping, wine and good food. With all my energy spent on partying with friends, and working 3 jobs, it was inevitable that I would quickly loose my passion and totally forget the entire reason why I moved there in the first place. In mid, "What the do *$!* I do now?" I somehow found myself back on stage but not to teach or perform hip-hop. It was to sing karaoke. This was probably THE most unexpected thing ever. I never would have seen this next part coming...
I was a cocktail waitress at a place on the 3rd street promenade called Gotham Hall, which is now closed down. They began having karaoke on Wednesday nights, and apparently, from what I was told, I had a good voice. Yeah f*%'n right, what did they know, I thought. Sure, I sang to myself here and there but never knew anyone was listening! Anyway, I pretty much had no choice one night, my co-workers all ganged up on me and I was literally forced onto the stage the first night we had karaoke. I was really into country back then, and loved LeAnn Rimes, so I sang her song, 'Life Goes On.'
It was a weird feeling singing in front of people since I had never done it before in my life, but it didn't feel uncomfortable or anything, and I remember that. I got off stage, and a few people asked me the same two questions that I would get asked for the next year of karaoke singing; 1) Where can we buy your CD's? and 2) When is your next show? "ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Um, thank you and everything but I'M A DANCER!!! I just did this for fun. Do you know anyone in the dance industry?" Would always be my answer.
I moved back to my home town yet again, good old classy San Diego, at the end of '04, signed up for a full semester at Cal State University, San Marcos, and continued doing karaoke on Tuesday nights with my best friend Lauren at place in Carlsbad called The Alley. Again, same questions, where can people see shows or buy CD's. I'm not the kind of person who picks up on things very quickly, I usually have to be told the same thing one billion times before I "get it," so it took me 6 months of karaoke in LA and another 5 or so months of being told I should be a "singer" in SD until I FIIIIIIIINALLY took the hint and did something about it. My one connection to the music industry managed this female pop-singer. We all met at a casting call for a TV show and exchanged information and her manager hired me to teach her dance and choreograph for her live performances . He ran a studio, and I remember hearing her stuff and it sounded pretty good, so I called him up, and I remember exactly what I said. "So, I've been doing karaoke and all these people keep telling me I should be a singer. I know you know me as a dancer and I know I've never taken singing lessons or done any recording, but...would you be up for recording a dancer trying to turn singer?" I think he probably laughed at me but eventually got around to saying yes, he would do it. So school started in January of 2005 and I was taking classes Mon-Thurs and would drive up to LA every Thursday night after class and stayed until Sunday, recording each day, and I did this for 3 months until my demo was finished. You can hear the 3 songs I recorded, 'The Longest Kiss,' 'You're a Part of Me' and 'Believing in You' by going here; http://www.alyssajacey.com/music_audio.html or buy the demo by going here; https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=FNuGLp_znC9RVQfF73DcAqfmtuaYa2M6pNG-3wFqAETESobLUK6mXeyw5Km&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f80512b0980fcab74abc3e59231243d18f6f77031ece6ad9e. I owe signing up on myspace to my friend Crysta. Once she knew I had a demo, she kept on me for 3 months until I finally signed up (again, I had to be pushed FOR EVER until I finally did it) and I would later find out it was the best promotional tool I've ever signed up for. Ok, so that summer I submitted that demo to the Del Mar Fair (now called the San Diego County Fair) and my simple request for one 30 minute show came back with an offer for 8 shows, 2 hours each. I freaked out! I had to get in some serious practice before the fair performances, so my very very first shows, were at the Westgate Hotel in Downtown San Diego singing on Monday nights in a little lounge area which still continues to this day. Julio and friends set up their guitars and amps, and pluck friends from the audience to sing mainly Spanish songs, some American and a couple French. I show up and sing a song a'capella that I wrote while in LA, called 'Beer and Wine,' and a few Monday's later I got to sit in with Julio, and sing 'Stormy Weather,' and 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' with Daniel Hendrick on piano, who would later become my vocal coach, and an extremely dear friend. I did this every Monday for about 2 months to prep my confidence and just about every thing else before I could get up on stage at the fair and asked a buddy of mine, Mitch Budd, to rock guitar for me, and somehow we pulled off 16 hours of music that summer. At the second to last show, I remember seeing my family in the audience, I was just ending the show, it was dark, the lights matched my purple top (I know, should've been blue!) and when I sang 'You're a Part of Me,' the song I wrote about my Grandma after she passed in '04, my dad's and brother's eyes were tearing up, the emotion was high, I sang it better then ever that night. I'll put up a pic soon...but my point in writing that was the overwhelming feeling I got from being on stage and seeing my words affect people. I know it was easier to affect my bro and dad because they're family, but that wasn't the last time it happened and each time it does, it gives me butterflies. I think that moment was the first moment I remember having a conscience thought of, "this is what I am supposed to be doing with my life." I've now performed at the fair every summer since.
So I head back into the studio for the next few months to record my 7-song LP, 'Closed eyes... ...open Heart.' For this CD, I combined the first three songs from the demo with 3 new ones and a ballad of 'You're a Part of Me.' The new songs were called, 'What Went Wrong,' 'Beer and Wine' and 'A Song About a Boy.' You can listen to each track and purchase this CD at www.alyssajacey.com, and all my lyrics are posted here...http://www.alyssajacey.com/music_lyrics.html. Now it's August of 2005 and I got booked at the Belly Up Tavern for this new artist night. I got to sing three songs and I had a friend play guitar for me again. I got involved with Listen Local San Diego and Barfly Productions who at the time were booking local singer/songwriters/bands at local venues, and Barfly booked me at Canes down in Mission Beach a couple times, and both booked me all over Pacific Beach. That October I was given an acoustic guitar by one of my dad's best friends and world famous classical guitarist, Pepe Romero (http://www.peperomero.com/), and he also gave me my first guitar lesson and I've been self-taught ever since. After practicing locked in my room for 3 weeks, 6 days a week, 4-6 hours a day, I was able to perform my very first show on guitar, alone, for 30 minutes, at the Sandbar in Mission Beach and I played all covers (like Who Will Save Your Soul by Jewel, No Rain by Blind Melon, Hang by Matchbox 20 and a few others). You can see pics from that show on alyssajacey.com. One week later I was booked at SDSU for their Case Series (I now play there every other semester, and you can also see photo's from this show on my website) and I had written my first two songs on guitar by then so I played those, ('Prove Me Wrong' and 'Understand?') afew covers that I love to sing but can't play (Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper, More than Words by Extreme and Give Me One Reason by Tracy Chapman), and my new 3 songs from my LP, accompanied by another guitarist.
Thank goodness for word of mouth and myspace because after 2005 was over, I started booking gigs left and right. I played every where I could, and by August of 2006 I had performed at almost every acoustic venue in San Diego, and celebrated my 100th show at Twiggs Green Room where I had a residency, and still do, but now it's called 'Across the Street' and/or Mullers College. I also had my 3rd release, an EP I called, 'The Soul,' which has the tracks, 'Integrity,' 'Sunset Blue,' 'Understand,' and two versions of 'Prove Me Wrong,' on it. I got booked up at Chico State that October, and I also performed at Whiskey Jacques in Ketchum, Idaho that December.
By the end of '06 I had my music on regular rotation on multiple internet radio stations, started getting a pretty decent amount of press, was averaging writing a new song per week, and never let a day go by without practicing. 2007 was incredible. I had been invited back to Ketchum to play so I did a couple times, I began performing in Los Angeles monthly (residency at the Room 5 Lounge, vids can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/resultssearch_query=alyssa+jacey+room+5&search_type=&aq=f), 'The Longest Kiss' was played on 103.7fm and 'Sunset Blue' on 94.9fm, and I did some live interviews on KETCH and KSKI in Ketchum (watch here: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=alyssa+jacey+radio&search_type=&aq=f) I released a live CD and have since been working on my first full length (out who knows when!), I had been on KUSI TV a few times performing on their morning show, (first performance can be seen here: http://www.kusi.com/news/insidesd/4928161.html and the others here: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=alyssa+jacey+kusi&search_type=&aq=f
I played the Viper Room and Knitting Factory in LA, and have just been having the ultimate time performing and writing. At this point you may be asking yourself...does she do all this herself, or does she have a manager? No I don't have a manager (but I'd love one!) and yes I do book every single one of my own shows. I love it! I'm probably skipping a lot but this is getting long so I'll make the rest short. The last thing I wanted to mention about 2007 was that I graduated from college with a BA in Communications! If you're a myspace member you can see the pics in my graduation photo album.
OKAY so that brings us to this year! It's freakin' 2008 people, how quickly did time pass us by?! Wow. Alright. So here's a summary of my 2008 year...January:I started teaching hip-hop again, started recording a fresh new demo (which will by out by September), started teaching myself bar chords and I'm continually writing/practicing and I'm averaging 2 new songs per week, Jared became my bassist and Nick became my drummer (two INCREDIBLY talented people and good guys), February: was on the Bad Ass Frank show (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N1TlZLJjcU), March: PLAYED THE ROXY THEATRE!!! on Sunset on 3/27, I was in the So Cal Acoustic Music Live competition and got in the finals @ the Derby (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu1tbsTajGE), April: 5 shows, one being the NSAI showcase, May: 4 shows, one being for the Jenna Druck/Young Women's Leadership Forum (http://jdfleadership.org/programs-services/leadership-forums/a-conversation-with-alyssa-jacey/), June: I got in the TOP 10 SAN DIEGO BANDS to open for KENNEY CHESNEY! July: PLAYED AT THE HOUSE OF BLUES AND THE HOTEL CAFE!!! and will be performing at the COACH HOUSE ON SEPTEMBER 4TH 2008 opening for Sara Haze! It's been one hell of a year so far, I feel blessed every day, I'm so happy that I found this passion, to be doing what I'm doing and I am grateful for everyone's support. Including yours and how long you've spent reading this gigantically detailed (although I left out a lot), long a** book of a biography! ;) I hope to see you, and your crew, dressed in BLUE at a show near you! Until then, smile, enjoy life, and listen to and support local music!
