Alex Marshall
Interview & Words by Annette Hansen
In 2014, guitarist and pianist Alex Marshall split ways with his longtime bandmates in The Cab. He didn’t know what the outcome would be or who would be along for the ride, but he knew he was ready to try a new direction.
“Music was always a hobby,” Marshall says. “It was a hobby that turned into my job.”
When the thing he loved turned into his work, he felt inclined to make a change. “I’m super appreciative of the time I spent [in The Cab], but that was kind of my cue that I knew that there was some other path for me that I needed to take,” he says.
For Marshall, that new path was finding his own voice in music. Shortly after striking out on his own, Marshall began to create music and build a career for himself as a solo artist, but going solo was not an easy path for the singer. Marshall had to carve his own way from the ground up.
“With The Cab, we had a management team, we had publicists, we had a label…we had this army of people working with us, so when I left the group, all of those resources and that team were gone,” Marshall says. “I had to learn quickly the things that, not necessarily that I was taking for granted, but things that I didn’t have to worry about prior to.”
Over a two year period, the singer took charge of his career and built what would be his upcoming debut album.
“I was [recording the album]in pieces because recording an album is expensive,” Marshall describes. “I was recording my songs, and then I would do work for other artists and write songs and produce songs for them. Then, I would record two more songs. It was like a piece by piece project.”
While grinding away, making more music, Marshall experienced something that most aspiring musicians only dream of. One of the many performers that Marshall worked with was singer Katelyn Jae. Jae is managed by Wright Entertainment Group who also works with the likes of All Time Low, Akon and most importantly Justin Timberlake.
“I sang on one of [Jae’s] songs with her, not as a final product, just as an example of the duet that I was thinking. A month later I got a phone call from this European number,” Marshall explains.
The phone call Marshall received was a game changer. “I almost didn’t answer the number,” he recalls. “I ended up answering, and thank God. They said ‘hey this is ‘so-and-so’ from Timberlake’s camp, can you be in Amsterdam in two days?’”
Marshall was unsurprisingly in disbelief, but after some reassurance, two days later he was in Amsterdam. In the three weeks he spent there, Marshall got the opportunity to work with and learn under Timberlake’s crew.
“Everyone that works with [Timberlake] has been with him for a really long time, so everyone’s really close, like a family,” Marshall explains. “They all trust each other and I was basically being vetted by the management team.”
But for Marshall, the surrealism of this trip did not stop there. “I ended up getting the chance to play Justin [Timberlake] my stuff.”
So Marshall played Timberlake two of his songs. Timberlake and his team were impressed enough that Marshall found himself newly under WEG’s management.
“The two songs I played for him didn’t make the record, and I’m actually so embarrassed that I played him those two songs because I hate those songs,” Marshall laughs.
Whatever Marshall had lost when he left The Cab, he was starting to gain it all back in this one trip to Amsterdam. Most of all, though, the trip was exactly the reassurance Marshall needed to move forward with what he was creating.
“[Timberlake] didn’t owe me anything,” Marshall says. “He didn’t owe me a favor. He didn’t have to listen, and he sure didn’t have to say what he said and offer what he offered… That was the spark that I knew that I was going the right way and I needed to get it done.”
With a boost in morale and a new team behind him, Marshall continued working on putting his album together, writing and producing every track. These days it seems increasingly uncommon to find artists in the pop world who put their heart and soul into every bit of their music. For Marshall, he felt the best voice for his music was his own.
“I had this sound in my head that I couldn’t articulate to people that weren’t in my head,” Marshall expresses. “I got to a point where I was just like, ‘The only person that can get this done and depict what you’re hearing is yourself’.”
Marshall felt that that penning the album in his own words and his own melodies was how he could give his audience something genuine to latch onto.
“You get this cohesive, authentic vibe that you can’t really create with songwriters writing 12 different songs,” Marshall says. “If you do it [yourself], then it’s something that can’t be counterfeit at all.”
And it’s the fans that have stuck with him even after leaving The Cab that Marshall is looking forward to having hear all his hard work.
“I’m so excited to give [the fans]music because once you release the music it’s not yours anymore, it’s the people that are consuming it. The fans that you’re making and the fans that you have, that’s their music,” Marshall expresses.
It’s been an eventful journey for the singer-songwriter over the last two years working to make his dream a reality. Even through all the ups and downs, Marshall knows that he’s on the right path. For him, it’s really simple: he loves making music.
“[Music is] a passion and an obsession,” Marshall says. “When you’re making music and you feel that way about it, then failure and not doing it isn’t really an option.”
