The one and only Very Alora
Interview conducted on Jan. 08, 2020
by Dan Locke
There is a strong female voice on the rock horizon, and she goes by the name Very Alora. As evidenced by the release of her debut single, “Don’t Make Me,”(http://bit.ly/MamaDontMakeMe) and a forthcoming EP – all produced by legendary producer Michael Wagner (who has previously worked with the likes of Metallica, Dokken, and King’s X, among many others) – Very Alora means business. And what would you do if you saw a mashup video of Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” + “Seven Nation Army” from White Stripes from a wicked cool looking rock chick? Answer: you press PLAY!
Dan Locke: Can you tell me about your upbringing?
Very Alora: I grew up in a small town called Poetry on a ranch. I don’t look like I grew up on a ranch, but I used to show horses and played a lot of volleyball. I have 2 older half-sisters I love to visit when I can because they were both moved out by the time I was old enough to remember. They also have another sister, she’s closer to my age and I adore her too. She’s basically my sister too. Growing up was a lot of me making trouble, getting in trouble than trying to never get in trouble again. I went to a private Christian school for most of my schooling, but I went to a public high school Freshman and half of the Sophomore year before I homeschooled to give myself more time to work on my music.
You have been performing since 2012. Tell me about your musician’s development?
The first song I ever performed was a Paramore song, Fences. From there I realized I really wanted to play in a band, and that was my goal for a while. I had a band from 2014-2016, but we were all teens and things don’t always work out perfectly. I continued playing solo but I still want a band even today, Now I play with a bunch of guys from Nashville, their hired musicians but they mean much more to me than that. I adore them and hope to continue moving forward playing with them.
Why do you pick the name Very Alora?
Originally I wanted to just go by Alora, My first name. But I found some bands already out there under the name Alora, So I realized I’m very me, so Very Alora came to be.
Tell me about Poetry Texas ( a small ranching community near Dallas)? How is live music there?
There really isn’t any live music there, growing up there was one gas station and a private school, but that was it. I played a lot in Deep Ellum in Dallas but that was a ways away from home. Around an hour or so of travel time, but it was very worth it.
What was the first and last concert you went to see a band perform?
The first was probably in 2013 when my parents took me to see Styx in concert. The last couple are mostly friends bands, I saw Paramore in Nashville last year, But since then I have seen my friends band Jet Black Alley cat play at the End in Nashville, I would’ve seen them even if I wasn’t friends though.
What is Septien Entertainment? As I understand it, some of the past students have included Demi Lovato, Jessica Simpson, Beyonce, Selena Gomez, Kacey Musgraves, Ashlee Simpson, Kidz Bob, and Nick Lachey.
For the most part, it is a music school, they have vocal, guitar, and songwriting lessons there. They also have their own artist development program as well.
Did you meet any of the famous alumni while you were in the program?
I never got the opportunity to sadly. I met a ton of amazing people, but most of the alumni are busy and rarely around anymore.
What does Living without a box and not even looking for it means?
To me, it means living outside of the box, so far outside of it that it doesn’t matter anymore. I want to live my life without looking or acknowledging what the norm is.
Tell me about the making of “Mama don‘t Make Me”?
So Mama Don’t Make Me came about in a writing session I had with Mark McGuinn and Ray Horton. I was reminiscing about high school and how often I tried to get out of it. I don’t remember exactly who brought it up but we started talking about one of their kids and how taxing it was to get them up and the song was born. It did have some different lyrics in the first verse originally but we did some tweaking and a song born from a few hours became my absolute favorite on the EP.
How was your tour with Texas Hippie Coalition?
It was insanely fun, I didn’t know what to expect because they have a very different style from my own, but they were fantastic people. It was a lot of fun, especially being my first tour things went pretty smooth with them.
Was this your first tour?
Yes, it was, it was a little stressful and exhausting but I want to go back and do it over and over again. It was honestly a dream come true.
You are about to start a tour with Smile Empty and Tantric. Are you ready for it?
I’m ready. Especially coming off the last tour I know a lot more about the road than I did the first time. It helps that I’m going on the road with the same band in my van. Having that solid team to help me through it makes me confident in this tour. Of course in my time back home I’ve been working my vocals and performance hard. I’m excited to show people what we can do.
Will you be doing the whole tour with them?
Yes, I will be, January 16th to February 8th.
How do you stay healthy on the road?
Well, I did a pretty bad job last time, but this time I plan on stopping at the gym when we have time. We try to stay in hotels so I’m going to be getting up early to work out before we travel for the day. As for the food, it’s not too hard. Most fast food places have healthier options nowadays.
What is your go-to food?
I love some fried chicken but that isn’t the best for my voice or energy to I try to steer clear on the road.
How do you handle the groupies?
I’m still a little unknown so the bulk of my “groupies” are friends or family. We ran into a few fans on the road, they were super sweet and amazing to be around. So there isn’t much to handle, it really just feels like meeting a new friend.
Who would you like to do a full tour with either as a support band or your band is the headliner?
It would be a dream to open for Paramore, Not impossible, but I have some growing to do before I’m ready to tackle that.
How do you see yourself in 5 years?
I see myself doing an international tour, hopefully at least. It’s been something I have wanted to do my whole life and I’d love to have done my first trek by the 5-year mark.
Anything in closing you like to say?
Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to speak. I never would have dreamed I’d go this far if you told me when I was a kid starting out. It’s really all thanks to my supportive family and my manager John Dwinell at Daredevil Productions, that I’ve been able to make it this far – so far.
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