Sultry rock siren Alison Andrews is set to release her debut album this Friday at Metal Asylum (rock & metal night) at Cheers Bar, The Lodge, Al Nasr Leisureland. She will be supported in the night by rocker Fatiniza, acoustic maestro Danny Shirran and top tribute act, The Rock Spiders.
For more information on the event, check here.

We caught up with Alison to find out more about her and the bands ahead of the launch:

Tell me about Alison Andrews’ band – when did you start, who are the band members?
The primary members are myself and Jaye.  Jaye and I met in 2004 and in 2006 formed the Cape Townband ’The Shade’.  We leftCape Town and The Shade in 2007 and moved to Taiwan where we played and performed all around the country.  We moved to Dubai in 2008 and began work on our debut album, which was recorded in New Yorkin 2009.

It has taken this long for us to get all the pieces together (the album was entirely self funded, so it took us a while!) and finally it is ready to launch!  We put together the members of Alison Andrews band so that we can play live shows and showcase the music from the album, and we’re extremely happy with the talented group of performers we have got together!  Emma Tame is our harmony vocalist, she has a long history of performance as a dancer and singer.  Aya Lowe is playing violin, which sounds sensational!  Dwynn Trazo is playing guitar – he is an absolutely fabulous guitarist, and finally we have Ashraf Helmi, an amazing musician who has played percussion with us previously, on percussion and piano.

 What do you think makes you different?
Well, we don’t really sound like anybody else.  It is actually really hard to find a comparison when trying to find bands that we sound like.  I have been wanting to place a Reverbnation ad in order to publicise the upcoming launch, but you have to list five other bands that you sound like.  Well, I have been asking everyone, and so far we’ve managed to come up with TWO bands.  The Cranberries and The Corrs, which is funny because I don’t really see the similarity to either, but I guess it’s always like that!  So I think the sound is definitely quite unique. 

How did you get the name for Love’s a Cure, what does it mean to you?
Love’s A Cure is actually a line from the song ‘Emily’s In Trouble’.  And this phrase means a lot to us as it is what we powerfully believe.  We decided to name the album Love’s A Cure as the theme running through all the songs is choosing to put misery, anger, rejection, hatred, fear and sadness behind you and move forward into love, letting love be the cure.  Jaye and my relationship with each other has been one that has had an enormously positive impact on both of our lives, totally changing the course of our lives for the better.  Of course it isn’t only romantic love that can have this impact, I have seen the impact on people’s lives after having a child and experiencing the power of that kind of love and having it change them for the better.  The way I love my cats has an enormously positive impact on me.  Any time we allow ourselves to love, which is really just reconnecting with who we really are, as all of us at our source are pure positive energy and love, we allow ourselves to heal from past pain and we connect with happiness.

Tell me about the tracks on the album, am sure each has a story behind it!
Emily’s In Trouble is about taking a chance and deciding to just take a leap of faith and fall in love!  Without knowing how it will work out, without knowing whether or not you will be hurt, just deciding to go for it!  And the trepidation and fear that is involved in making that decision, as well as the anticipation and excitement of a new relationship.

Not The One is a story of being in love with someone and they’re in love with you, but the trust has been broken.  You’re trying to make it work but there is too much hurt on both sides and you can’t get past it and you’re realizing that maybe it’s just not meant to be.

Lose Once is about a relationship that has just come to an end and trying to deal with the intense misery that has resulted.  It’s about when your thoughts feel obsessed with not letting someone forget you, you want to strike back, make them pay for hurting you, but you realize that the only person you’re hurting with these thoughts is yourself, so you realize you have to let it go, but you’re just not ready to do it yet, but you know that eventually you will.

Restless is about how in sadness, betrayal or fear it doesn’t matter who we are, whether we’re rich or poor, young or old, we all feel pain the same way.

Running From Empty is actually the first song I ever wrote and it is one of the oldest songs on the album.   It is about trying to imagine something better for yourself.  You have hope, you feel like your life CAN change for the better, but in the meantime you’re trying so hard to escape how you feel that you’re actually running in the opposite direction, towards more misery.

Jenny is about being free spirited, living in the moment and connecting with the joy of being alive!

Trip Me Up is about being taken advantage of and unappreciated in a relationship, but realizing that in spite of that happening you’re always still your own person, they can’t really take anything real away from you.

Stone Walls is about trying to save a relationship when it feels like you’ve become strangers.

Hard Road is about holding on to the past, chasing the ghosts of your past, which can threaten to break you when you’re constantly reliving past pain.

Into The War is about the war we sometimes have raging inside our heads.  Feeling oppressive loneliness but too afraid of the world outside which can hold so much horror that we hold back everything that we could be instead of making it like we want it!

Lemons In My Pockets was inspired by the saying ‘champagne tastes but lemonade pockets’.  It is about having big dreams in spite of being told that you’re not good enough/thin enough/rich enough/anything enough to achieve them.

Giving It All Away was originally called ‘The Other Side Of Ruin’ which is a line from the song.  This song is all about empowerment.  It is about realizing your own power.  So you’ve been abused, belittled, betrayed, but you don’t have to take that anymore.  You’ve decided to remove yourself from that.  You’ve realized that you’re in charge, you don’t have to take it anymore, and you choose the other side of ruin.  You choose happiness over sorrow.

We love the album cover art, who came up with the concept and designed it?
Jaye came up with the concept, I absolutely loved the concept immediately, and we explained it to Guillermo Munro, the designer, and he came up with something even better than we could have imagined!

What would you like this album to do for the band?
The internet is the best thing that has ever happened to musicians!  I plan to harness the power of the internet to get this album to as wide an audience as possible!  I would like to have songs placed in movies and television and I would like this album to open doors for us for more high quality live performances as well.

What would you say is your predominant style/genre?
This album definitely has a folk rock/pop sound.  Our producer called it folk rock with a punk edge.  Well, the funny thing is our next album could be TOTALLY different.  We absolutely love all kinds of music, and so the next album could be totally metal or country or something! Hahaha!  Actually we have such a lot of material written, we can’t wait to record our next album.

Who writes the lyrics and music in the band? Is it a collaborative effort?
Most of the songs are written by Jaye and I together.  A couple are written by me alone, such as Lemons In My Pockets and Running From Empty and some are written by Jaye alone such asHard Roadand Into The War, but for the rest, it is both of us.  He might write a verse and a chorus and I’ll just grab it and finish it, or vice versa.  For the live performances, we’re sticking quite close to the album, but there is always room for personal interpretation and Emma, Ashraf, Dwynn and Aya have been doing some awesome stuff on their instruments!

Do you have a teddy-bear?
I have a tiny one that lives on my desk!  Otherwise no.

Catch out interview with Alison LIVE on www.dyb.fm/metalityuae on October 5th at 7pm UAE time! Check out some of her songs here: