Alex Spangler Of BODAGGIT

Interview With Alex Spangler Of BODAGGIT

SBS:  Welcome to our pages!  Whether you’ve been here with us in some way before, or you’re brand-new to the site, it’s probably best to get an introduction from you so that we get everyone on the same page to start.  Tell us a little bit about the history of your music, and what’s happening with it lately!?!

BODAGGIT:  What’s up!  My name is Alex Spangler and I’m one of the guitarists, and the lead singer in BODAGGIT, a power pop/punk band from Lexington, KY.  We take a lot of influence from bands like old Weezer, Jeff Rosenstock, Rozwell Kid, and Thin Lizzy.  Really, it’s stuff that we can try to make catchy and hard-hitting while still being as melodic as possible.  My favorite thing in the world is guitar harmonies, so I try and use that as much as I can.  I think it’s probably the thing that makes us stand out a bit.

We just dropped a new album in early May called Chemical Solution to a Spiritual Problem, via Lexington-based label, Transcendental Revolution.  I think musically, sonically, and production-wise, it’s the best thing we’ve done.  Me and the drummer/producer, Evan Ray, have really put in a lot of work to up the production quality, all while keeping that DIY/self-produced sound that we both really appreciate in other peoples’ work.

I did a couple EPs, almost completely solo, back in 2022 and 2023, but wasn’t super jazzed about them.  I was still really finding myself in a lot of ways and definitely wasn’t happy with the production quality, especially since I was using the play-along drum presets on Garage Band (me and Max became good homies (IYKYK)).  Me and Evan moved in together in 2023 and started working together more extensively and at this point, I finally had access to his Ableton and all his studio gear as well as his expertise.  He’s really taught me a lot and it’s allowed us to come up with some stuff that we’re super proud of.

SBS:  Let’s talk about the before and after of where you’re currently at.  What’s something about the music that you’re making now that you don’t think you could have done five years ago, and what’s something you think you’ll be able to do with your music five years from now that you can’t do today?  How have you grown as an artist/band, and what steps do you take to continue your artistic evolution?

BODAGGIT:  I think the biggest thing is the overall accessibility.  Once I found out how to write with harmonies, back during early COVID, I tended to overdo it.  Everything was an attempt to be some epic guitar line with too much packed into these simple Punk tunes.  Listening back, much of it was a collection of hard listens, but it taught me a lot about the songwriting process and just overall musicianship and I’m grateful for that time period.  I think the biggest thing now compared to five years ago is just the quality of the songwriting and feeling more comfortable with where I’m at as a songwriter.

In terms of looking to the future, I think the biggest thing is just continuing to network, get on some bigger shows, being able to hit the road more, and get more involved in the festival circuit.  We’ve been lucky to play some really fun shows over the past several months with this current lineup of Alex on guitar and vocals, Brad Wilburn on bass, Evan on drums, and Jordan Napier on lead guitar.  Recently, we got to play with Pat and the Pissers out of Indianapolis and that was a lot of fun.  There are some cool regional/in-state fests that we’re slated to play late this year and that’s something I’ve always really wanted to do.  It would be cool to continue building on that over the next few years and hopefully combine that with some more out-of-state runs.  For now, it’s mainly just trying to establish our sound, playing some cool local shows, and trying to take advantage of the regional circuit, mainly with places like Louisville and Cincinnati.

SBS:  If you were to assess the overall health of the independent music scene right now, what would you say?  What are the positives and the negatives about the current state of independent music, and what do you feel like artists & bands can do to contribute to the community & help it grow beyond the music being made?  If you’re not actively looking to listen to the music of other independent artists/bands, is it really all that fair to expect anyone would listen to yours?  How do you help the scene around you grow?

BODAGGIT:  One of my biggest pet-peeves is when people say that Rock and Roll is dead.  I think that’s a crock of shit because every scene in every city/town, whatever, has people that are putting themselves out there and making music and art that they’re proud of.  I know in Lexington, there are a big bunch of bands that I always enjoy seeing, especially in the university sect.  Despite being several years older than a lot of them, I always leave their shows feeling inspired and I think that’s what it’s all about.  You want to make art that resonates well with and moves people to do something.  In that sense, Rock and Roll will never die because there will always be the capacity to spark hope and inspiration in others.

I think the biggest issue is just the access to venues, especially all-ages venues.  Here in Lexington, we only have a handful of spots and really only two that consistently do 18+ shows.  These types of venues are instrumental to having healthy, productive, and growing music scenes and communities.  We have a few really cool house venues but it’s not like they can have shows all the time because it’s a lot of work and you’re always trying to avoid stuff like getting hit with noise complaints that could eventually turn into citations.  That’s probably the one thing I would like to see more of here in our scene is just more access to more “Punk venues” that do all ages, or at least 18+ shows.  A lot of the spaces we have here cater more to the family-friendly or SEC college student vibe.  They can be fun sometimes, but it doesn’t really afford people and bands like us a lot of opportunities or exposure. 

SBS:  What do you consider to be the biggest accomplishment or achievement you’ve had with your music to-date?  How do you personally measure your own success – is that something that even can be measured?  Is it awards, accolades, chart position…or is your definition of success based on something entirely different?  Should success, however you define it, be something that artists are continually focused on – or is success something that naturally occurs in the course of doing what you love to do?

BODAGGIT:  I think this is something that varies from artist to artist and I think I’m still really defining what success means to me.  I think our biggest accomplishment so far has been being able to establish ourselves as a consistent and hopefully important part in our music scene.  When I was coming up, I didn’t have a lot of older role models in the scene to show me the ropes and help me establish good habits and learn all the important pieces of etiquette that go into gigging.  We’re currently in the middle ground between the younger bands and the old heads and it’s been cool and really rewarding trying to help when and where we can with some of the younger bands in the scene here.  Stuff like trying to help newer bands get some of their first shows, offering advice when we can, helping to run doors/sound at house shows, etc. kind of serve as small pieces of accomplishment because it means a lot to be able to pay it forward and help make the scene here a better place.  One of my biggest mantras has always been to leave things better than you found it and that’s something I’ve really been trying to do as a part of the community here.  Commercial success, making lots of money from your work, and getting to play the biggest venues in your area are things to strive for, but they’re not always necessarily attainable.  If the only thing you’re able to accomplish is making your community a better place and leaving your mark locally, I’d say there are worse things.

SBS:  When you’re working on something brand-new, and something about it just doesn’t feel like it’s coming together the way that you think it should, how do you know when it’s time to give up on it, or how do you know that it’s time to dig in even harder and find a way to make it work?  Are there distinct red flags you can hear when something’s not working?  What are the signs you look for that tell you to stop forcing the material?  What would actually encourage you to keep going with the process instead?

BODAGGIT:  I kind of take the HOMESHAKE approach to writing music.  I saw something a few years ago about how Peter Sagar only works on music when he wants to.  Everything in life is filled with stress and deadlines, so it’s nice to be able to approach music as the one thing that can be enjoyable as much as possible.  I’d say usually when I hit a wall with songwriting, I tend to let it chill on its own for a while, or at least find a stopping point sort of where I’m at.  I’ve had a few songs sit incomplete for months and I’ll be sitting at work or about to go to sleep, something to that extent, and then it’ll just randomly hit me.  It’s weird how that works.  Serj Tankian from System of a Down describes it as a sort of gift from the ether that you have to take advantage of when it hits you.  It might sound corny, but I think there is some truth to that.  The songwriting inspiration is much more sporadic now than it used to be when I was younger, so I usually have to stop what I’m doing and either hum the idea into my voice recorder or lay down a super shitty demo of whatever was just on my mind.  There’s a sort of immediateness to it that I really like.  I try to give ideas the time that they need and not be too hasty on deleting or completely moving on.  I’d say if I go back and listen in a few weeks and don’t at least feel some sort of inspiration or continued connection that I did when first visiting the idea, it might be time to move on and save me and Evan the storage space on the computer.

SBS:  One of the points of general consensus in the art of making music, is that we all get our sound from somewhere…we hear what we like, then more often than not, we take tiny pieces of what we love to find our own voice & approach to go on and make music in our own way.  Essentially, what I’m saying is that it’s absolutely natural to be inspired by other artists/bands, and almost every artist/band ends up having that inspiration show up in their own work in some way, shape, or form.  What the real key is though, is retaining your own organic perspective – you still wanna be original too, right?  So how do you go about doing that?  Are there artists or bands that you know have been an influence on your style & sound?  How were you able to incorporate that influence without becoming too noticeably derivative and still be yourself?  Should we embrace and celebrate our influences more than we do?  It’s almost like we try not to admit influences exist in the pursuit of being original, but it’s like, bruh…if it’s there, we can hear it.  We all borrow something from those that came before us to some extent, don’t we?

BODAGGIT:  This is something I think about all the time, and I think it’s interesting to see how other artists find that balance.  It feels almost completely impossible to reinvent the wheel anymore.  Things come and go out of style and then eventually come back around, but passion and authenticity are timeless.  I’d say the holy trinity for my songwriting is the intersection of Weezer’s Blue Album, The Strokes, and Thin Lizzy.  Much of what I write can find influence from at least one of these bands at any given time.  One of the best compliments I’ve gotten about Chemical Solution… is that some of the songs remind you of something that you can’t quite name, I think especially with the song, “End.” (I like to draw from my influences but it’s nice to know that it’s not always so on the nose).  I think it mainly just comes down to being yourself, as cliché as that sounds.  Let your influences lay out the blueprint for your work but take your own experiences and let those be the driving force.  There’s nothing wrong with sounding like other people as long as you’re doing your own thing and being sincere.  You like what you like and should be proud of the things that make, you are who you are as long as you’re being yourself and are at least trying to offer something new.

SBS:  Has there ever been a time where you wrote something inside one of your songs…maybe it’s a lyrical line, or maybe it’s a riff of some kind…something that you did, where you surprised yourself?  I like to think we all have a moment or two where we can stand back and be amazed by something we created, and appreciate the fact that maybe, just maybe, we exceeded our own expectations of what we thought we could accomplish – you know what I mean?  Get as specific as you can so the fans out there know what they should be paying attention to when they hear it – what’s your favorite thing that you’ve written on the inside of one of your songs, and why does this particular piece resonate so much to you?

BODAGGIT:  I think I have to focus on “Mean Creek” here.  It’s the closing track on Chemical Solution…

I wrote the first version of that song back in the spring of 2018 and recorded several versions of it that I was never fully happy with.  I think the simplicity of the chorus really stands out to me: “I drive a Honda – You Drive a Hyundai – Maybe, baby – We could get together someday.”  It just has to do with longing for something that you can never have and wishing for a better present.  I think I wrote that line in traffic one day when I saw a cute girl driving a Hyundai (I’m a Honda man, myself) and it’s pretty stupid, but I’ve always liked it for some reason.  I’m also super proud of the solo in this song and I feel like it ties a nice bow on the album.

SBS:  I’ve been having a lot of great debates lately about whether or not everybody that’s making music has the right to be heard…and you’d probably be surprised by how different people seem to feel about this issue.  I know where I stand on it, and I think you can all probably get an idea of what my position would be from this free interview we’re doing here & the way we run things at sleepingbagstudios…but regardless, I’m putting this question out there to you, because I’m interested in YOUR perspective.  Just because you’ve made a song, does that mean people should listen?  If your answer is yes, do your best to explain why you feel that way & why we should make a sincere effort to listen to the music of others.  If your answer is no, explain why you feel that way, but also explain why people should still be listening to your music if that’s the case – what would make your music the exception, and not follow the rule?  Is there any value to an idea that’s not finished, or a song in its demo stages, or maybe something that’s not recorded in a top-shelf studio or with good equipment – somebody still took the time to make that song to the best of their ability with the means they had to create it – should that be listened to, or not?

BODAGGIT:  I think everyone has the right to have their music be heard but it’s up to the artist to create something that has the magic that creates replay-ability.  That’s one of the hardest parts of writing and putting yourself out there.  It’s important to see what’s out there and to give people’s effort and vulnerability the time of day because this shit is hard.  In terms of some of the difficulty, you’re sharing a space with so many established artists that have fans all around the world and it can be tough to carve out time and space in your listener’s day-to-day.  When you’re bored at work and you have the choice between a local band and Led Zeppelin, Zep is going to win out almost every time.  I think this is what is so rewarding when you have music that people seem to enjoy, however.  I’m proud of everything I’ve put out, but this is probably the work that I’m the most proud of and I think the overall reception of the album this first little bit has been better than anything I’ve done in the past.  Getting the replay value out of your music can be hard for different reasons and I think that’s why it’s so important to not only put your best foot forward when writing and releasing music, but also to gig consistently and try and get your stuff in front of as many people as possible.

SBS:  There are ups and downs in the dynamics of almost every album we listen to, with very few exceptions.  Even those exceptions, probably still come down to more of a personal preference about what we enjoy about music and how we personally hear it, rather than anything being completely and totally “perfect” – you know what I mean?  Does an album actually need to have some kind of up/down dynamics in terms of what’s appealing to the masses in order for the best of the best songs in a lineup to be fully appreciated?  Wouldn’t every artist & band avoid the ‘down’ side (less accessible/less popular for example) if they could?  Does the ‘down’ side represent something else perhaps, like the story of an album or journey of an artist?  Is the ‘up’ side of a record as potent or noticeable if it doesn’t have a ‘down’ side to go with it?  Would a completely balanced album somehow be boring if it didn’t have the ups/downs that most have?  Do we HAVE to like every single song on a record for it to be considered complete?  Are the dynamics of an album something anyone can really steer in the direction they want to, or are all artists & bands simply going with the strongest material they have created at the time?

BODAGGIT:  I think a lot of this depends on the artist and I’m not sure if there’s a definite answer.  As long as you’re putting out stuff that you’re proud of, then that’s probably the most important thing.  It can be hard to write stuff that is “hit worthy,” and that’s when doing your thing and being genuine comes in.  It’s cool when albums sort of have that ebb and flow in terms of accessibility and/or tempo but there’s some really good stuff that keeps a consistent theme or energy level throughout.  There’s also something to be said about writing albums that are super genre-defying, sort of like a King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime by Faith No More.

SBS:  I wanna send out a shout-out to YOU from me personally – I appreciate everyone that has taken the time to talk tunes with me throughout the years, and I appreciate the time YOU have taken with this interview too.  Because this one’s a little different in the sense that it’s been sent out to multiple people and is a little more generic in that regard, I have no doubt whatsoever that we probably didn’t get to talk to you about something you wanted to talk about – so let’s fix that!  This final space is what we call the SBS Open Floor – a spot where you can say anything else you want to say to the people out there.  It can be anything at all…your main websites…something else you want them to know about you and/or your music…your favorite bands in the scene right now…the secret 11 herbs and spices to the Colonel’s secret recipe – you get the idea, and it’s probably best you choose something that suits you rather than take any of my suggestions, but feel free to take the SBS Open Floor for a ride.  Whatever it is you want the people to know, now is the prime time for you to tell’em!  Thanks again for everything – keep in touch!

BODAGGIT:  This has been a really fun and interesting interview, and we really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us!  I wanna shoutout the scene we have here in Lexington and some of its people.  I’m grateful to be a part of the community here.  It’s tough sometimes because it’s a smaller college city and because it’s in between larger markets like Nashville and then Louisville/Cincinnati.  I’d like to encourage any musicians reading this to come through!  We have some really awesome people and bands and we always try to be super hospitable.

I also want to shoutout Jeremiah and Transcendental Revolution as well as his band, Small Steps.  He runs the label we’re signed to and he’s always fantastic to work with.  He sets a good example for up and coming bands and has been a big part of the scene for a while.  Check out the label and check out Small Steps – it’s Pop-Punk excellence.

I also want to shoutout a few of the college-aged bands we have in the scene, especially Topsoil, Valus, Jarley Yung, and K Vincident (I’m sorry to the others – there are honestly too many to name but I love you).  Seeing some of the more “up and coming” bands in the scene really inspired me to try and put my best foot forward on this album.  They write such good shit and it creates an environment that pushes you to write better stuff yourself.

Also, shoutout to True Threat and Naptaker.  They fucking rule.  And to Kristopher and Ayo Varillas for always getting us right with the photography.  Their Instagram accounts are @kryptic.kriss and @ayoflyo.  While you’re at it, also check out the other two Varillas brothers @paintbrah and @heavyonyourhead.

Thanks for your time, this has been really fun!

Shred till yr dead!

859 for life!

Find out more about BODAGGIT at their Facebook page here:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573506222416

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