
Ashley Albert is the founder of the New York-based band
The Jimmies. Their debut album,
Make Your Own Someday is a whole bunch of fun, and their videos are, well, their videos are something to see, and a lot of that is due to Ashley herself.
Let's put it this way -- when I asked Ashley to send some photos to accompany this interview, she sent me one that featured her wearing a fake mustache. Deedee Doodle (of Doodlebops fame) might have many positive attributes, but being willing to send a photo of herself wearing a fake mustache is not, I am willing to guess, one of them.
Read on for the story behind the band's creation, the recording of the debut, the name of their next album, and, yes, the picture of Ashley wearing the fake mustache.
Zooglobble: What were your musical influences growing up?
Ashley Albert: I had music coming at me from all sides when I was a kid- my dad was a record producer and I spent a lot of weekends in the 70’s asleep on the couch at the studio while bands like CSN, The Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton and John Cougar rocked it out. I also fell in love with a lot of unknown bands he worked on that never saw the light of day. My mom was really into the reggae scene and we actually lived in the Bahamas for a stint while Bob Marley was recording “Rastaman Vibration”. I was exposed to a whole lot of decidedly “adult” music. When I was writing the songs for
Make Your Own Someday, I remembered that the songs I liked best were the ones that at least mentioned something that seemed kid-like to me…i.e. “Rock the Boat” by The Hues Corporation (“Boats! Boats are for kids!”) or “Just the Two of Us” by Grover Washington Jr. (“The number two! This is like a counting song!”). I also went through a heavy Dr. Demento phase in junior high, followed closely by an affinity for musicals, Carly Simon, Led Zeppelin and Cat Stevens. I’m just all over the place in the music department.