RIPLEY 's official page - Listen to their wicked, fierce pop punk songs!
Sept. 8th performance!!
11:30 pm, Joe's Pub, New York City
Catch Alice now, before she's off & running
up & down those whacky suburban stairs!
CD's available here, the RIPLEY EP & Outtasite,
as well as Alice's solo CD, Everything's Fine. Link also takes you to numerous cast recordings, her two CDs with Emily Skinner, & guest performances on several other albums.
RIPLEY is a self-produced pop/punk band with a sound that downtown NYC audiences have dubbed “Green Day in bed with Keely Smith”.
The band’s influences – Deborah Harry, David Bowie, the Pixies - include eccentrics from rock’s classic era, but RIPLEY's sound has a decidedly 21st century ring. Namely, the ring of a siren bell sounding for a generation lost in the shuffle.
Songwriter Alice Ripley most recently received multiple award nominations for her portrayal of Diana in Second Stage’s Next to Normal. Ripley made history in 1997 when she was nominated jointly for a Tony award honoring her work as Violet Hilton in Side Show.
With the newly sharpened edge of RIPLEY’s latest digital offering, Outtasite, the music rocks much harder and cuts the figure of an attention-getter with a killer voice. Ripley sings with a growl and a lilt for survivors of Susan Faludi’s “Backlash” era – the daughters of the single mothers who wanted it all. The result is a blazing trail of Blondies Pretending to DO it all.
The band also includes rock solid drummer Shannon Ford has performed, recorded and toured with a starry list of artists, including Paul Simon, The Gatlin Brothers and Phoebe Snow; Christopher Schelling is a new wave throwback whose keyboard styles range from "car alarm" to the ever-popular "Chopsticks"; and Paul Shellack on guitar.
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excerpt about RIPLEY from an edgeboston.com article. Full article here
Sept. 22, 2005
In addition to taking her theatrical career in new directions, Ripley is expanding her musical career as well. With her husband (drummer Shannon Ford,) keyboardist Christopher Schelling, and bassist Skip Ward, she has formed a rock band, called RIPLEY (“The name wasn’t my idea,” she was quick to explain.) whose first album is scheduled for release in October.
“It’s rock music – and a complete departure from something like this. I guess I would describe it as a mix of Green Day and Queen. It definitely has a gritty, rock sound to it; but it has a syncopation in the lyrics and vocal delivery that has a slightly Keely Smith quality.”
The band has been a labor of love for Ripley, who sings the vocals and wrote the songs for the group.
“Someone told me that my music sounds like a cross between Keely Smith and Green Day, and that was a good thing to hear because it’s hard for me to talk about my music. It’s like talking about your child. It’s such a subjective thing for me to talk about my own music; but it has a gritty, rock feel and a smoother vocal delivery. I do lots of harmonies and effects with my voice.”
Taking her career in this new direction has certainly been a challenge for the actress, who has taken a second home in Los Angeles recently in order for her and her group to better position themselves in the music industry.
“I’m learning how to play the music business game, and as a producer hearing the sound we’ve created – because we’ve created a sound with the band that I haven’t heard anywhere else – and figuring out how to channel it. I’ve always been a song addict and music lover and have had many different influences over the years, and feel that I’m finding my voice as a songwriter. It’s liberating because as an actor you go in and audition and you wait for someone else to invite you to join the team, when you’re the source of the creative impulse you get everyone else to jump onto your idea, which is really refreshing to me after all the years of being an actor. Part of it is that I enjoy getting my own way, which is why we’re producing and releasing the album ourselves.”
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I.M. interview excerpt
Feb. 24, 2003
full interview: Fynsworth Alley, Theater Chat
[ROBERT ARMIN] Niki asks: I've been hearing new album rumors? Are they true?
[ALICE RIPLEY] I have a long list of new songs that are way ready to go
We're trying to decide exactly what to do with them
[R.ARMIN] You write very personal songs.
[A.RIPLEY] Those are the ones I share.
But I write alot of made up songs too
[R.ARMIN] And have a very different sound than your Broadway fans are used to.
[A.RIPLEY] Yes! I think it's a good thing.
Generally, I'd say that theatre people would do well to open their view a little.
[R.ARMIN] It's quite wonderful to hear your different sides... and I don't mean the side with Emily.
[A.RIPLEY] Especially musically.
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Past shows:
Broadway @ Birdland
Mon, Nov. 22, 2004
source: Q&A with Alice Ripley
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a few pictures here
info, songs, lyrics & more pics at the official RIPLEY site
