The Road to Workplay

<----the face of experience!! (our drummer Dustin and Joshua were the only ones to have played on stage at work play before 3/27)

I still have a little trouble realizing that we did play a show at Workplay...for real...no joke. When I was first getting into music on a listeners level, developing my own taste and opinions, I saw a local band called the White Oaks start off playing in coffee shops and by the time I saw them at Workplay I made a secret goal of opening for them on that stage one day. Little did I know that at the age of twenty I would find five other people who have the same drive and attitude towards music and we would play our original music at Workplay for only our second gig. Even when we formed Alice Gillee just months ago I doubt any of us thought things would go quite so well. After months of practice in a cramped storage unit and one gig on an iffy sound system under our belts we were on our way to the best venue in Birmingham. Arriving at 4 for load in, we parked v.i.p. in the garage only to be greeted by two pairs of hands to carry our equipment (spoiled!!!) after checking out back stage we were itching to get sound checked and out the door to pre game it up.

8 o'clock showtime! We came out rip roaring, full of energy and maybe some nerves. Played our set with hardly a hitch and received huge crowd response not to mention the owner told me personally he wants to have us back! Big thanks to all friends and family who came out - much love:) We all had a blast and can't wait to keep the music rolling.

Luck O the Alabama Mountain Games

This year AMG fell on St. Patrick's
Day weekend, a perfect time the go loose yourself in the woods with friends,
music and a good cold beer. Our group was the first to arrive and we promptly
parked in the first available spaces and set up camp in no time. Let the
festivities begin! The first night consisted of one group of unorganized people
trying to get a fire going and another group of unidentifiable people sitting
by the tents in the dark. Granted, they did have flashlights, and our fire was
constantly going out due to the metal bin we were expected to keep it in as to
not burn the grass. So I'm not sure which group was better off, though in the
end most of us looked up and the amount of stars in the sky was the only thing
that mattered. It was a breath taking view and in our own thoughts I'm sure we
all were thinking of nothing except the next day.

Three, Two, One Eyed Mary -
St. Patrick's Day at Boogie Bottoms was beautiful and even the heat couldn't bring
our spirits down. After a scary sound check that couldn't have ended badly, One
Eyed Mary kicked off the music for the evening with little more than a bit of
feedback here and there. Once the sound system was worked out we headed back to
camp to group up which actually proved to be a task because there are now six
people in Alice Gillee. I found a four leaf clover, we went over the set list,
waited around, sound checked, and played our show. I couldn't have gone better
for a first show either so I'd like to think there was some sort of st. patty's
day luck with us. The band that played after us was called Rescue Dogs, they
are another Birmingham band of around 3 years who rocked my face off. I found
out later that they had told Dallas they were intimidated to go on after us
because we did so well and we play original music. Taking the biggest
complement of our lives and running with it we prepare for WorkPlay and everything after. I couldn't be any more proud of the guys I have
the honor of singing with and I can't wait to find out what happens next.

Bec and the Flashback

At the awkward age of 13 I picked up playing guitar. I had already been writing poetry for three years and singing since I could remember. When I was a kid my family had 5 kids and my aunt and uncle only had one kid at the time. Every year when they took a vacation one of us would get to tag along. When it was my turn my favorite thing always no matter where we went was singing songs on the road. Riding for hours passing the time with goofy children tunes I’ve long forgotten about. But with those quirky songs came the lesson I never forgot: harmony. My aunt taught me how to sing a note then she would sing a different note but they sounded good together. For many many years this was the extent of my musical education but I sure as hell took it and ran with it. Singing more than talking, writing poetry more than studying I continued to be a person who looked forward to the journey more than the destination. Sometimes I still feel like I’m riding in the back of that old van with my aunt and uncle and cousin, perfectly content with singing songs and learning how to harmonize with the people around me in my own way, with my own voice. Once I started playing an instrument the game changed, I no long had to just sing my song, I could hear something in my head and feel a beat and then put it all together. Granted my songwriting skills were very elementary, however, I was still writing my own songs and if I knew anything about music so far it was that plenty of people can play but not everyone can write. This always seemed important to me and might have been a big reason why I continued to tumble head first into the idea that my identity was ended up to lie in placed I didn’t picture myself when I was a child. Aside from dating a musician in high school I had little direct outside influence on my musical career other than the church. I was thrilled to be introduced to anything outside the stuff I grew up listening. Groups like Coldplay, Dave Matthews Band, Blue Merle, Queen, Boston and Gypsy Kings were placed in my tiny library of mostly Christian artists and Michelle Branch. Then came Iron and Wine, Death Cab for Cutie, Paolo Nutini, Tracy Chapman, Frank Sinatra, Muse, Mars Volta, Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz, Ben Folds. When I was 17 a friend paid for some home studio time as a graduation gift. I recorded 10 tracks all originals and I must say they aren’t too bad for a first go around all on my own. Fast forward two years and I have my first band playing songs that I’d written all those years ago and then progressing into collaborative songwriting. Now, with a full band behind me I really just get to sit back and write, but it’s not quite that easy, this new situation poses a whole new set of challenges for me as a writer and singer and in the future an instrumentalist. In the fall of 2011 I fell in love with the band Chicago. Their blend of classical, rock, and jazz is perfect to my ears. A rock band with horns, my one wish for a band if I could make one. And here I am, with something like a rock band with a horn. It’s a start. I’m pretty much set on Chicago and their way of presenting music. Their form of writing and their precision in playing, their soul and unity as one living breathing song. But like my new favorite band says, “good things in life take a long time.” My musical education has only just begun and yet I feel I’ve learned so much already. I sit and pick away at my scales and scratch letters into words that might become songs if I can wrap a melody around it and it be something worth making other people listen to. If there is one thing I can carry on its their message I’ve found loud and clear - we can love one another. But how do you say that, how do get people on your side, how do you convince them of a just cause and what is their motivation? I hope to find a way through my passion to communicate the positives in life, the truth(in my eyes or otherwise), and the things I’ve learned about life.

Now Presenting: The Alice Gillee Project

featuring: Dallas Chamblee(electric guitar), Dustin Gorman(drums), Joshua Chandler(keys, vocals), Bob Taylor(trumpet), Ryon Moncrief(bass guitar), and Bec Simpson(vocals)

I first heard of The Alice Gillee Project right around when my first band, Bec and the Frets formed. The reason for this meeting was more or less because Joshua(my bass player at the time) and my drummer greg both played with Alice Gillee with Dallas(the original founder) and two other members as a southern rock jam band. A few months in and Alice Gillee as it was then broke up. With the full attention of the guys now on Bec and the Frets, the three of us focused on song writing and playing gigs, also we recorded a five track demo. Things were looking bright and our confidence boosted with each show and new song. However all good things must come to an end and Joshua and I parted ways with Greg at what musicians might call the crossroad in which you have to decide if your art is who you are and therefore your reason for living. Music is what we do so Joshua and I kept writing and recording rough takes of our songs on our own. We didn’t have to wait long for another band opportunity to come along in the form of The Alice Gillee Project who just let their bass player go. Dallas, Dustin, Joshua and I started the tedious task of building a set and practice, practice, practice. Once Ryan was brought in Joshua moved from bass to keys(his main instrument). shortly after Bob entered with his trumpet. So here we are: a six piece rock, jazz, funk, blues band(as best I can figure). Our first show is this St. Patrick’s Day at the Alabama Mountain Games. We are more than ready and so excited to present our music to you

When all else fails, music speaks.

B Side Studio 5 (lyrics)

1. (CALIFORNIA) california speak to me, i can’t write it out loud but i can put it down on stationary on this road alone you hardly miss a beat, with music in my soul and traveling in my feet there’s no sound like the wind and the rhyme of the road set a course for a place where the red sun goes

there’s a place where you end and slowly begin to unfold staring starry as scenery inspires california sing to me, counting down the miles

passing simply through ordinary oh this road is my home, all the places i shown all i need is a song and the company that i keep

2.(CHANGE) I have a jar full of coins that fell out of pockets into my bed

I found them just this afternoon I’ve been away from myself and the dreams in my head I go out walking for a while, these streets are tangled with places of love The things the left behind in me, my heart is tangle with traces of us I’ve never seen a winter grave The seasons change in spite of my mono tonal moods I have a reoccurring dream

The hasty summary that you dramatically wrote not all at once, but take your pace, everything is easier with the passing of time For all the love, once had its place, still I cannot forget the reasons I’ve cried

I have a pocket full of coins to leave inside of photo booths for someone else to find I have a different kind of change, a chapter waiting to begin, a new kind of life

3. (FORESHADOW TOO)I can’t hold your hand when you cry Cuz you don’t think I feel you

But what you need to understand Is when I’m by your side you know I see right through you When her pane goes down You know I go down too, with you Feel the dust in our eyes Are we searching for life I wait to play this sound Cuz everything I play predicts a future with you, predicts a future with you Everything I sing is the same, everything coming out of my mouth Is just a foreshadow too I see her plane falling now

And I’m falling too, with you Feel the dust in our eyes Are we searching for life Feel the pain and close our eyes We can start a new life

4. (NEW SONG) when i was just a young girl, my father said to me, “I’m leaving child but I’ll be around so go on peacefully” a bond of words, spoken like an electrified peace in my mind I’m half past eight and I don’t know what love is I’m all wrapped up in it, this thing they call happiness the first part is letting go one night in mid december my lover came around, I knew the time was coming I would let my demons out, a steady vow I’d spoken, my mother said to me “just wait one year and look in the mirror and go on peacefully” a bond of words spoken like an electrified peace in my mind ten years of hindsight I don’t know what love I’m all wrapped up in it, this thing they call happiness the first part is letting go the weary world has found me on this side of eternity, another life I’ll do it right, It’s peace love and free, my shackles all are broken, my soul said to me “forever is within your grasp so go on peacefully

5. (CARS ON THE BOTTOM) Sweet Victoria plays with Hannah Louis Jumping rope taking turns on the swing

Sixteen children, one to watch over them They’d breathe their last breath, they were half way to ten Who are you Thomas, no one knew your name Until you pulled the trigger, ending all the games I wonder if you knew that I’d read your story What were you thinking right before you made yourself history We all just want to be in those cars on the bottom Jumping off the cliff to escape all our problems We all just want to be in those cars in the bottom But I’m not ready to be one of them Why did you do it, Joel Henry Hinrichs What did you think that you’d fix Until you died you weren’t at all known

I know you now that you’ve driven off life’s road We all just want to be in those cars on the bottom Like falling off a cliff will solve all our problems We all deserve to be in those cars on the bottom But I’m not ready to be one of them Its a lack of purpose I’ve come to realize Mr. Williams writes, right before he died Oh, what’s the bloody point Oh, what’s the bloody point I’m standing on the edge of life Looking down at all these souls that have already died Heaven and Hell await their arrival As for myself I think I’ll stay here for a while

6. (ECHO OF THE GREATS) So many time we’ve been called to attention By a motivation to replace our intentions

Song struck lies become our invention The very imitation of an old creation Sanctification in my imagination A sudden immigration of creative procreation

And the words are lost To seek again comes at a cost All I ought and all I ought not

Come with a single piece of though Peace of mind, the hand written plot And the words take shape No longer confined to factory made Assembly lines and minimum wage The finish product represented by a different name He’s no creator keeping you inside a cage To spill out your soul page after page You are the poetic loner who roams the empty streets at night A dreamer at heart, your eyes imply A certain distance, a certain drawing in In comes just a moment passing like the wind The things worth fighting for never meet an end Cuz it’s just an echo of the greats - again If I picked you a flower from the riverbank I would give it as a promise If I gave you a plain white blanket

I would write all over it or under it But don’t you sleep with the light on i don’t need you any more Don’t you think that I’m crying I don’t need you anymore Don’t you think that I’ll never change I don’t need you anymore

7. (HIS LAST WISH)Keep the door open he says to me Find your way back inside when you find your peace So I’m walking these streets with a little more A little more reason to believe If I can find me and just be now Just be happy with my destiny We don’t always choose, just let it find you Sit back and accept the times All of our likes and all of our dislikes Aren’t all there is to this life Keep the door open he says to me Find your way back inside when you find your peace Would you dive in Would you wash away the past

I ask, I ask He’s asking me to dive on in Can make a new beginning When I find myself

No doubt my heart is free Would you go there with me Touch the bottom of the deep, deep Come up to breath- in Find our meaning

8.(MATERIALISM IS A GOD) What’s a boy without his crown What’s a girl without her frown What makes them play make believe The boy is the king and she is the unhappy queen She follows him around all day He doesn’t pay any attention He is sinking so far into a debt he can’t make up for

Even if he could it would do him any good A boy without a crown is a thunder coming down And a girl with a smile is a rainbow It’s the promise that this curse will shatter

And even when it hurts all that matters All that matters Is love

9. (MISSISSIPPI MAN) that old man, down by the river side he ain’t got no money, he ain’t got no where to hide his suitcase, yeah its full of blues and he lost his last pair of traveling shoes mississippi man say what you gonna do what you gonna do what you gonna do when the same thing happens to you the heavy smoke, it takes him home he limps alone on an empty road by days he plays, in that chair he sleeps he would never take a ride from you or me I said nice to see you, my old friend we said goodbye down by that river bend he turned from me, said “what you seek will only find you ending up like me”

10. (PEOPLE IN THE STREETS) before we get to heaven gotta work real hard, find it in ourselves and find it in our hearts, got to love one another and love ourselves, thats the hardest part, thats the hardest partbefore we get peace gotta wage war, unseen forces fighting for us, people in the street begging please, losing faith in humanity, turning on our brother like he’s the enemy, why is love so hard to see?

play us a happy song its been so long hey mister money man play us a happy song before we find the light, journey through the darkness, weary heads fall all we get are restless...nights are cold and in the soul lies eternities battle zone, one step back and two steps home, sway me just to find control, ashes fall lose my mind, trying to escape it all, empty bottles mountain in this valley where we crawl, no time to do what’s right, cuz you’ll always be a wretch in his sight i feel happy...so...good

11.("A SONG") these words in my soul, will they ever get out, lose all control, get em out of my mouth these words in my soul, so hard to contain, take all control, and there’s on one to blame in a hallway chilled with marble stone, cold hard cash won’t keep you warm there is no compromise between roads these words in my heart, beginning to burn, leaving their mark, and they never return these words in my heart, speaking all on their own, let them depart, let them go where they go in a hallway chilled with marble stone, cold hard cash won’t keep you warm

there is no compromise between roads how much does it cost, for a fiery young soul, to find his way across a desert of burning coal

son i’ll say this once again, there are two loves, in your heart and that of reason, which do you trust? the world is takes and takes faulty members can be replaced they built a road “happiness way” line for miles just to pay the toll there in an empty state of mind, to each his own perception of time effects of undecided loyalty slip away like expected pleasantries in a hallway chilled with marble stone, cold hard cash won’t keep you warm there is no compromise between roads

12. (TAN BYD) As the world spins the fires burn Eating up green, leaving charred earth, Ash in the sky as our globe turns With everything ending I found the worth of your love, your love I can’t believe that it took me this long for the haze in my eyes to finally clear There’s too many things I need you to hear I’m not sure just how long we will be here So let me hold, hold you dear. So many thing that I needed to say Any other way I can convey would just be too late So let me say that in this world I’m never able to find a more beautiful girl On the inside outside underneath I’ll hold you close as the world burns under our feet We’ll take it it to the streets even though the heat Threatens to destroy everything we believe. As the world spins the fires burn Quenching my soul for the flame that it yearns Cleaning the land and revealing what’s true I burned this world just to find you and your love

13.(TRULY) come away i’ll do my best to do our love justice and its just us you and i here we are truly i was made for this surely there are no stars that could grant this wish when souls collide, the universe shifts its eyes you and i, were born to fly have some faith i’m doing all i can don’t run away it’s more than I can stand if you doubt i’ll love you, if you cry i’ll cry too, if there’s fear i’ll turn on the lights if I doubt please love me if I cry please hold me, if I’m afraid, show me your light

14.(THE AUSTRALIAN AFFIRMATION) red, on your lips paint a perfect picture of well developed poise shape, of your hips

scoff at all the boys who think they have a choice red, on your lips

dance a practiced cadence to distract the lonely boys the sight, makes me sick they say life’s a stage but you’re life’s only play face it, you don’t know how to make it alone oh no, i think, i said what i mean, you are what you seem lets face it, no one knows how to make it alone, please, believe i said what i mean but now that i’m up on this stage i can see her eyes making their way through the crowd, to you now red, on your lips

paint a perfect picture of well developed poise shape, of your hips scoff at all the boys who think they have a choice a mocking, bird of life created opportunity for script to force its part unmake, your disguise you’ll find all they wanted is far from your heart face it, you don’t know how to make it alone oh no, i think, i said what i mean, you are what you seem

lets face it, no one knows how to make it alone, please, believe i said what i mean now that i’m up on a stage i don’t see your face in the crowd

wrapped up in a melody, close my eyes and sing

15.(HIGHLAND HOSPITAL) Think I’ll take a trip To the end of the road Your father has taken sick

A voice says on the phone And I’m driving down this avenue I used The news for my ears didn’t give a chance to choose I was running for the stairs, all my hopes and my cares fell behind me on the floor Behind closed doors lies a frightened soul from whose cold hands betray the man Running from the past and the memories that outlast a broken will Devil has come to make a deal, dare I say on a deathbed confusion burning in his head Reached out his hand, there’s nothing there, nothing there...something’s there Think I’ll take a walk Back into myself at home We need to have a talk Your voice says all alone Oh don’t forget the things you loose when you trust the blind to guide you

looking back through his life to see the wrong lost sight of the line between father and son recognition slipping in the highland hospital home when you loose yourself you’re someone else alone I was running for the stairs, all my hopes and my cares fell behind me on the floor Behind closed doors lies a frightened soul from whose cold hands betray the man Running from the past and the memories that outlast a broken will Think I’ll go to sleep For an hour or two The secrets people keep Fight their way through

The Beginning

Beginnings are tricky, they are uncertain mostly and hard to pin down. Where is the beginning? Of what you may ask next? I want to start at the beginning of this story so badly, however mine is one that must be told out of order. Like most things I'll start in the middle, as it turns out I was born in the middle of three girls of five children, in the middle of the year, in the middle of nowhere. Chelsea, Alabama to be more precise...fast forward twenty years, eight months and 22 days. I live just outside the city of Birmingham, on the southside with my best friend and band mate Joshua Chandler in a place we have come to call bunker junction. A bottom level apartment on the corner of a three story building not more than a hundred yards away from a railroad track which runs endlessly through the day and night. On this particular day nothing seemed out of the ordinary save one chance incounter. I was sitting in the car at a gas station waiting for Josh to get bills changed so we could do laundry, a very normal setting indeed. I watched a woman park her blue mustang next to me and get out in a huff, cussing someone out on her phone. Moments later I hear crying and turn my head to see a little boy maybe a little past 1 year old bawling for his mother. His arms were reaching and flailing to get out while his shrieks reached my ears. Bothered by the scene and the possible lack of love this child got from his mother, I could think of nothing better to do than to get him to see me and crank the music playing in the car which just so happened to be Chicago, my favorite band. I'm always trying to get people on Chicago now that I've become such a fan of them. I usually know that people are just entertaining my enthusiasm and will not look into the sound I rave about but somehow I knew this baby would understand and hear. The song playing was the last track on Chicago Greatest Hits, its called The Beginning. As soon as I turned the volume knob way up I saw the kid immediately stop crying and looking over saw a silly girl in a bomber pilot hat snapping her fingers and singing her lungs out trying to get him to stop crying and hear something beautiful. I would like to say this was the beginning of the story because it was one of those moments in my life I was completely certain about what was happening in that moment and because of that I became certain of the following moments (for very drawn out and personal reasons). Rewind to the previous year in March I experience a similar moment. I am still in school at UAB for creative writing, started a three piece band called Bec and the Frets at the beginning of the year, and am questioning more and more my position in life. On a forgotten afternoon I was sitting on the porch of a house on 11th place in south side. From inside the house the sound of the Alice Gillee Project practicing drifts out through the front door. It was on this afternoon I decided who I was: a musician, a singer, a writer. And from there lived my life in order to walk a path aimed toward devotion to music and writing. I accepted my new task of learning with open arms and became a full time student to life, society, and best of all: music. Surely this is a better beginning yet there is so much that has happened before and since that point. I decide now, having layed a setting of the smallest proportions, to tell this story from the now because out of all the things I have learned over the past two and half years it has been that all we have is the moment and in every moment there is never nothing happening. So with these eyes I now see the now and cannot escape it to the familar past or dreamy future. I face particular trouble when trying to tell a story this way though, the now got that way because of everything leading up to that moment so it shall be a tale of back tracking and reference shall it? I suppose it may be but we will have to wait and see. I suppose I want to get it right because there's no way to write your own ending and the most I leave behind are my written words, offered for any reader drawn here by music.