Exclusive Interview

Can you tell us about the inception of Alice and what inspired you to start this rock-blues project? I started my career as rock-musician in Frankfurt am Main, Germany with different blued bands. In the 70's inspired by the music of Bands such as Led Zeppelin, Yes, Gentile Giant, but also hard rock bands such as Pink Floyd. Much of my music is, however, grounded and based on early Blues music by John Mayall, who was the most important man promoting fantastic Blues guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Jimi Page, Jeff Beck, and many others. My first experience was when I overcame the Baby Dylan / Leonard Cohen Phase on acoustic guitar and was fascinated by the sound of Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter and later Steve Ray Vaughan. The Music of Alice is influenced by the sound of the 70's.

Where did you grow up? I was Born in Prague, former Czechoslovakia and had to emigrate to Germany since my father was a leading economist and reformer during the period of "Spring of Prague." Jiri Kosta (Born as German Jew in Prague in the 20 of 20 century) has survived the holocaust (Auschwitz) and was in the beginning a leading economist. We had to leave the country when the Warsaw Part Troups have invaded Czechoslovalia August 21, 1968.

What themes do you explore in your lyrics, and how do they reflect your personal experiences? My title The Hermit, is influenced by my down personal life which has been very difficult. I was very successful in my professional life as chair of Slavic Linguistics and General Linguistics at the University of Potsdam Germany, where I received a call in 1993 after the Unification of Germany. I have had a nice Family with a wife and three children, but when I came back from Princeton as visiting fellow in December 1999, my wife who comes from Frankfurt, West Germany, did not want to live in East Germany and left me and took all 3 children with her without asking me. The lyrics of the song The Hermit, are influenced by this difficult phase of my personal life.

How does the atmosphere of Berlin influence the music and ethos of Alice? I live in Falkensee, State Brandenburg, Germany, nearby Berlin and this is a very little place with not more than 40,000 inhabitants. There are a lot of forests and lakes, with wonderful atmosphere. I am influenced by the nature of this town in the Federal State of Brandenburg, only 6 km from North-West Berlin in distance. The cultural and especially musical life of Berlin, did inspire my music too.

What has been the most memorable performance or experience for Alice so far? I have had very good concerts in rather famous concert halls, especially in Berlin, in the famous concert hall called "Quasimodo" in which a lot of blues bands used to play in the years between 2016 and now.

What challenges have you faced as a rock-blues band, and how have you overcome them?The most difficult time was the time of covid which influenced the new design and music style of Alice. It is in fact now a one-man band and I play all Instruments: guitars, bass, drums, Keyboards and synth. And I am the Vocalist, too.

How do you stay inspired and motivated in music in such a competitive industry? I try to do my music based partly on my experience as classical musician (violinist) and I try to keep in touch with the latest development, but most of all, I do not Imitate the new sound, I am quite conservative and try to be faithful to my down taste and style.

What advice would you give to aspiring musicians looking to create their own unique sound? The most important thing is to stay true to yourself and only make music that you are 100% confident in. It is not advisable to imitate something because the originals are usually better than any imitations. Stay true to yourself and enjoy life and your music. Live in your music, that's also the advice I got from my personal friend Steve Hackett, from Genesis. And second: use your music to stay healthy.

What are your hopes and aspirations for the future of Alice? My hope is that we will soon live in peace again and that our children and grandchildren will also have a positive future. I repeat: stay true to yourself and don't imitate anything. Be optimistic and everything else will follow itself. And work hard and self-critically on your style, sound and the message of your music.

https://www.reverbnation.com/alice29