Another Alec Thread
 

It's common information that Hugh did most records during Alec era. But listening/reading interviews, was it really Hugh all the way? Alec about These Days: "I'm not doing the record with them this time." Jon about Always and Someday I'll be Saturday Night: "He knew we had to have someone else to play on the record." Alec after recording Slippery: "We hang out when we're doing records."

At least Al did backing vocals cos Jon liked his voice in the 80s, but did he do demos? Was it Hugh who came up with bass lines and taught them to Alec? SWW and NJ took several months to record, Hugh was busy with others too, so did he give Al any chance to have a collaboration on the albums?

Great to see an Alec thread :D That is a bit of a mystery; According to Hugh's discography and playing style, he recorded all albums except Fahrenheit. Alec did say to a fan in 1993 about a song that he wrote the bassline for it, and there are several SWW-era pictures of BJ with Alec in the studio and possibly one picture outside the studio in late 1991 / early 1992 with the band and Hugh playing basketball, though it's pretty unlikely that it's Alec on it since the body shape and eyes don't really match, his face isn't visible on the pic sadly. About the demos, we will probably never know for sure who recorded them, probably Hugh judging by the lack of the high pitched backing vocals. Lol
https://imgur.com/a/Acppnj5
https://imgur.com/a/xdZKM8i

He surely was with the band and at least sang on the albums. By the time Alec gave that '94 interview, it was not such "common knowledge" that Hugh actually had been playing on the records.
And on KTF - it's definitely Hugh on the album version. Live, Hugh's intro always sounds like on the record and Alec's was always a bit different and a bit more sloppy. You could tell it wasn't his.

AFAIK, Hugh wrote the bass lines, yes. Of course, back in the 80s and 90s, BJ spent quite some time on arranging stuff in the studio; it wasn't quite like today where "studio door opens" to "all recording wrapped up" takes less than two weeks. But he's a session bass player; he'd be used to come up with parts on the spot.

There's no doubt that Hugh played on all the albums except Fahrenheit, but I always wondered if that meant he played EVERY bass part on those records. On the debut everything except Runaway could have been Alec, Slippery till KTF??!! Who knows, but it was always in the back of my mind that Alec wrote and played SOME bass lines on the records. But that would seem unnecessary to a certain degree but again, who really knows the truth except for the ones that will never tell it!

I wonder if any member of the band reads this forum and would tell the truth.

Yeah, I'm sure they'd be going: "We've been keeping our secrets for nearly 40 years, but on JT, they wanna know the truth. We GOTTA tell them!" :rolleyes::mrgreen:

"Hey guys, you know the place where we'll get made fun of just for looking at a band mate weird? Yeah let's spill some secrets over there!"

I'd love Jon to read some of our comments about his vocals, knowing that his reaction would be priceless :D

Alec had broken some bones in a motocycle accident, so he had to learn a new way to play. Maybe that's partly a reason for his slobbiness during KTF tour. Another reason is that he hadn't sobered up. Although Richie has problems with alcohol, he's usually not been too drunk to play live.

Apart from basically all the gigs with Orianthi...

Makes you wonder really why Jon wasn't transparent from the beginning and Hugh wasn't a permenant member from the start.

I get Hugh was/is a session musician but in all likelihood he would have took the gig if it was offered to him.

I always got the sense also that Jon never much cared for Alec in the same way he did for Richie, Tico and Dave.

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Alec had the right image at the time, Hugh didn't basically. As soon as the image wasn't so important anymore Alec was gone....no coincidence...

Jon said himself about Alec "He was THE rock star in the band. He was as crazy as the day's long. Guns, knives, alcohol, drugs, women - he did 'em all."
He had the experience, the reputation and the stage presence to really build a strong 3-man leadership on stage.
He came from Phantom's Opera - an amazing cover band. There are musicians who can play anything, but just really aren't good at coming up with ideas on their own. I guess Alec was one of them.
In 1994 - I think it was a bit down to both parties wanting to split ways for several reasons. Difference of opinion on the music, maybe the characters growing in different directions (as we've come to see with Jon and Richie as well), but also Alec's health. As some have said, he was still drinking a lot in 1993 whereas Tico had sobered up after the New Jersey tour and Richie usually wasn't too drunk to have it affect his playing until the mid-2000s. And I think that motorcycle accident had taken its toll on him physically. Not only in terms of his playing having gotten sloppier, but he was also a lot thinner and looked less healthy than a few years prior. The band's ambition to stand their ground after grunge and work tirelessly on it might've been too much for him to take on at that point.

Alec was basically responsible for putting the band together :) I overestimate a bit but he was the one who brought Tico and Richie in. He was a star, actually a local star and had experience. I read somewhere that Jon was pissed with musicians of his age who didn't take it seriously or didn't know if they wanted to commit to a band full time.
Alec was and had everything. I don't know the deal between him and the band at the beginning of SWW sessions. Hugh stated in a recent interview that there really were all six of them in Vancouver. Alec had his room above Hugh who couldn't sleep because Alec wasn't playing bass in the night learning new lines that Hugh had created.
Maybe he was just the performer, a cover band performer who just wasn't able to come up with his own bass lines and was used to play someone else's ones. However, he was part of the image of the band, he was an integral part of what the public picture of the band was and therefore there was no reason to get rid of him. Until there was one. The times had changed before his departure and he was obviously stuck in the 80s in terms of lifestyle and music in general. If you count his injury, getting older (he was the oldest one), maybe it just wasn't for him anymore.

I got into the band six years after his departure but I adore his times in the band, I'm an 80s man :) and you know, even he played only in Prayer in HOF performance and he needs a walking stick nowadays, his signature moves, posture.. it was all there. I really really wished they had played one song, Wanted for example, as the original five-piece band. There still is some magic to it.

That would have been incredible!

Imagine the show starting with Wanted.. Jon and Richie only on acoustic guitar for the first intro, first verse and chorus, then the rest of the band kicking in with a full band intro (the keyboards etc). Meaning David, Tico and Alec.
Then Hugh would replace Alec for IML (and Richie would use his talkbox). Then Phil, John and Everett join in for WWWU and Alec joins again for a full band Prayer.

I have other scenarios in my head :D

I wonder if he came up with the bass lines when he played in Message with Richie.

Couldn't agree with you more! :)

Alec did his tell-all interview in 94, maybe Richie will say something next. :mrgreen:

I legit think he's too scared to. If he had dirt that would protect the beating Jon gives him to the press you'd think he would.

That!
And that guy was 30 years in the band, so whatever dirty laundry he would wash in public, he was an integral part of that band for a long long time, so it wouldn't work without burden himself, too, or at least appearing like a hypocrite after those 30 years of benefiting from the band.