“Aliens don’t ring doorbells” is a band name with a story to tell – but is it one of sage advice or the ravings of a space cadet?
According to the new band’s guitarist and songwriter Dorian Foyil, the answer is both.
“I happened to be on a subway platform in Manhattan with my two young sons, and a gentleman was walking down, talking to himself,” says Foyil.
“He stopped just in front of us and said, ‘It’s because aliens don’t ring doorbells!’ to my six-year-old son.
“We never saw him again. I think he went up in a puff of smoke or something! But what he said made a lot of sense to me.”
And so aliensdontringdoorbells was born. Formed in Costa Blanca, Spain, the band is made up of Foyil, who hails from Pasadena, California, along with lead singer and “resident Scouser” Adam King and Birmingham-born keyboardist Christian Pearl.
All are seasoned musicians but the band is a fairly new venture. Their debut album, Arrival – not to be confused with the ABBA album of the same name – was released just last year and quickly charmed audiences with its story-driven pop-rock tracks.
And after cracking the US Top 30 twice since then, the boys are now taking it on the road, supporting indie-rock favourites Scouting For Girls.
Last week, the ‘aliens’ crew touched down in Fat Sam’s, warming up the crowd – and hoping to lure a few back to their musical mothership as bona fide fans.
Before the gig, we chatted to lead singer Adam and guitarist Dorian to find out about the songwriting, secrets – and old-school guitar solos – that make up aliensdontringdoorbells.
Make an entrance: aliensdontringdoorbells
You guys are pretty new on the scene, especially in the UK, but you’re making an impression. What is it people are connecting to?
Adam: We all write songs, but we all have different influences – and different memories.
We try to write songs that tell stories, because we’ve got a lot of stories to tell. And we try to portray that in the songs, so that people can listen to them and actually visualise it.
Dorian: In ADRD, we have three singer-songwriters, and we all come from different backgrounds. So I’m from the United States, Adam and Christian are from the UK, but we all met in Spain on the Costa Blanca.
And when we started to write, the different influences came out in the music – and people really like that.
What’s the writing process like then, if there’s three of you? Is it collaborative or do you write separately?
D: Well for example, Adam tends to write with his smartphone – he’ll sing melodies or words into that. And then Christian or I will sit with him and go through it, and we’ll pick out the chords and maybe add a few of our own.
Christian writes more like chords and melodies first, and then Adam and I – largely Adam – help fill in the lyrics. And then the songs I write, I bring them to the band and we all collaborate on them.
And at the end of the day, when each of us brings a song to the band, what it starts as is not the way it ends up. So all our songs are penned by the three of us. It really is a trio and a partnership.
Which song from Arrival is your personal favourite?
A: For me, performing really comes into it. So Slipping Away I love, which is a great throwback to the kind of Police sound.
Story is also a great one to sing because it’s got so much emotion in it and the audience have been getting really involved in it.
Listening-wise, I know it sounds a bit silly, but I love listening to the whole album. We’re old school, when we put an album on, we go from start to finish.
D: Because I’m the guitar-player in the band, so I like all the guitar-centred songs, like Consummation and Slipping Away. They all have a bit of stretching out in the guitar parts which I love to do, and audience reception has been very good for it.
I think music moved away, in recent years, from instrumentals, but our band is all instrumentalists – we don’t make music out of a box!
That’s really interesting – are you finding there’s an appetite for that kind of musicianship on stage?
A: Yeah! The response we’ve had to the guitar solos has been great, which you maybe wouldn’t think. But people want to hear live music by live musicians, they’re cheering and clapping and it’s absolutely brilliant.
D: It’s something different for them. Things move in waves, and there was a time when there was too much of that. And now there’s a thirst for it, so we’re capitalising on that.
You guys feel like a band for music geeks. Have you got an instrument or a piece of equipment that you just can’t be without?
D: Speaking for myself, it would be my guitar-
A: Which one? You’ve got about 100!
D: I just love playing guitar, especially in front of people.
A: For me, because I’m the singer, I have got my own microphone that I’ve had for about 25 years – but I’m actually not using it on this tour, because they didn’t let me.
D: It was making too much noise!
A: Yeah, so it’s here in spirit. And I always wear a scarf on stage. I’ve never done a gig without my scarf. I’ve had the same one forever and I always wear it, so that’s my little thing.
I don’t know where it came from, I just have it. I panicked the other day when I was leaving the hotel room, because I suddenly thought: ‘Where’s my scarf?’
And I did actually leave it behind, so luckily I thought about it, because if it’s not there…
What do you want the audience to get out of your gigs?
D: It’s a great honour of course to play with Scouting For Girls, but the most important thing for us to do is to earn a fanbase.
And you can try to do it online but really, there’s a difference between somebody who streams you on a playlist and somebody who will come and see you. Proper fans, you know? And the only way to really get that is to go out and earn them.
Tell me something people might be surprised to know about you guys.
A: We were No 1 in Argentina about four months ago! So there you go!
It was risky to launch an album amid Covid, but you guys seem to be making it work. What’s the recipe for success there?
D: I would say over the last year and half, on the highway of music, there are very few cars. And we were one of them! And so maybe we got more attention than we would’ve otherwise gotten. But when people listened, they stuck with us.
A: Also, we were quite prepared. Not prepared for a pandemic obviously, because no one knew about it, but prepared in that we had lots of videos made already. For the launch of the album, we wanted to have everything ready.
D: Sometimes people say, ‘luck, timing or talent?’. And you need a little bit of all those things.
A: Nah it’s definitely all talent! Just pure talent.
What advice would you give to people trying to make it?
A: Well if you want to ever achieve anything, stick at your goals. But especially with music, write stuff that’s true to yourself.
No matter who you are, you’ve got stories inside you that nobody else has got, because they haven’t lived your life. So stick with that as much as you can.
D: I would say that you know you’re on to a good thing if your own song, when you play it, can bring a tear to your eye. That’s when you know you’re getting close.
A: You’re getting sentimental now!
D: It’s true, though!
Arrival, the debut album from aliensdontringdoorbells, can be found on all major streaming services. Tickets for upcoming gigs can be ordered from the band’s website.
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