Allison Weiss

By Charley Lee

Photo by Allison Weiss

Allison Weiss is very single-minded. She wants to make music that you’ll fall in love to, music that you’ll break up to and music that’ll infiltrate all areas of your life. Reaching out to you is Allison Weiss’ goal.

“I love songs that can capture a feeling in them so I’m kind of out to do that,” she explains. “I think my music is pretty catchy and anyone can relate to it. I want to create music that you can dance to while secretly thinking, ‘Wow, this perfectly describes that bad/awesome relationship I was in once!’”

Music has always been a very important part of Weiss’s life. From early childhood up until now, Weiss has always been around music. Her family gave her that first taste of music and she carried that passion on through high school.

“I grew up in a very musical household. My dad plays guitar and piano and drums, my mom plays a little too and would sing with him. My dad made up songs about everything — and still does — so me and my brother tended to do it a lot too,” she recalls. “Also I saw the movie Josie & The Pussycats and decided I’d be a rock star. I learned some power chords on a Les Paul and the rest is history! But really, sometime between then and now I was in a bad metal band, an even worse pop punk band, discovered emo, picked up an acoustic guitar, fell in love with a few boys, and wrote songs along the way.”

It was these catchy, “first romance” songs that propelled Weiss’ foray into the Athens music scene.

Weiss’ heartfelt mixture of indie pop and folk rock has made her quite a well-known musician in Athens. It’s safe to say Weiss’ music is like a blend of Mazzy Star and Avril Lavigne, but with better lyrics and catchier hooks. But it wasn’t that easy starting out; Weiss had to start from the bottom like everyone else.

“Yeah, doing open mics is how I started out,” she says. “I once did an open mic tour around Atlanta. After that it was off to Athens: Musictown, USA. The first night I got to college I entered a contest and won second place. The next week I won first — and 50 bucks! Yes! I basically worked my way up from there, playing in coffee shops and then eventually real venues. I played AthFest 2007 and it was crazy awesome. I played my first show at The 40 Watt last month. It was incredible.”

Weiss has since played in many venues in and around Athens. It’s her simple brand of happy-sad songs that has kept Weiss one of the most interesting musicians in town. Weiss’ debut release, an eight-track demo entitled An Eight Song Tribute to Feeling Bad & Feeling Better, is a nice collection of relationship-based songs, half of which Weiss had written while in high school.

“I still write about breakups and feeling like shit, but I also write about awesome relationships and how much fun it is to make out in parking lots and eat breakfast with people you like,” she says. “I try to keep the whininess to a minimum, but sometimes it just flows better to say, ‘You were the one that got away’ rather than, ‘I liked you a lot and maybe it could’ve worked out but I guess we might’ve broken up anyway!’ Every once and a while a different sort of subject matter will appear though. I have a secret song about how much I hate metal.”

Weiss now believes her newest EP will more accurately reflect where she is in her life. So far Weiss has plans to record a six-song EP, which will be her first release featuring her band, The Bandits, which includes her brother AJ on lead guitar/keyboards, Donovan Babb on drums and Alec Wooden on bass. When that is completed, Weiss hopes to start a summer tour with or without the band. On a non-musician level, Weiss plans to complete some personal goals.

“I’ve applied for a graphic design internship in NYC, so I’m waiting to see what my schedule will be like,” she says. “Getting the job means a short tour and a relocation to New York for a couple months. Not getting the job means long tour, most likely around the southeast, up the East Coast, through the Midwest, and maybe to Texas. Then it’s back to school in August, where I’ll play in Athens once a month and devote my weekends to playing out of town or doing homework. Yeah, right.”

www.allisonw.com