Former Saginawian Alicia Warrington Talks About Keeping the Beat with Kelly Osbourne

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On the Road with Kelly:
Former Saginawian Alicia Warrington Talks About
Keeping the Beat with Kelly Osbourne

By Robert E. Martin

Saginaw's own Alicia Warrington

It is always gratifying to witness strong talent from the mid-Michigan area move onward to 'bigger & better' things, and former Saginaw musician Alicia Warrington is currently riding the wildest merry-go-round of all.

Now the drummer for The Kelly Osbourne Band, a process that was well documented when Alicia's audition was shown on the smash MTV reality show, The Osbournes, today her life has virtually changed overnight.

After working in such seminal local underground bands such as Fudge Gun and Dropping the Messiah, Alicia moved out to Los Angeles, California a couple years ago to embed herself in the West Coast music scene.

After kicking around with various groups, Alicia received a phone call from
Columbia Records asking if she would like to meet with Kelly, who was
shaping a musical career of her own following the success of re-recording
the old Madonna single, Papa Don't Preach.

Needless to say, the catapult to the top was a dizzy ride. "At first it was
really nerving. The MTV cameras follow us everywhere. I didn't even have
time to think because from the time I knew I had the job we were slated to
shoot a video in two days," explains Alicia.

"Suddenly I had a wardrobe, a stylist, a drum technician, and the realization that I would never have to set up, tune, or carry my drums again!"

Recently I had the opportunity to chat with Alicia following her recent appearance with The Kelly Osbourne Band at St. Andrews Hall in Detroit.

The performance itself was energetic, tightly crafted, and a joy to witness. Alicia set the flow with precise timing and fluid accents, while Kelly readily demonstrated a distinct tone, solid range, and inimitable sassiness to her vocal acumen.

Kelly Osbourne, Photo by Kay McEntee

Review:  Let's start at the beginning. Do you recall the first memory of
what it was that drew you into music?

Alicia:  I've always been interested in music for as long as I can
remember. When I was four-years-old my Mom bought me a little drum set and
I started playing on that. I'd always dance around in front of the mirror
with a wooden guitar my sister made in woodshop and listen to my '80s
hair-metal bands.

Review: How did your interest evolve from that point. The first band around
Saginaw that I remember you in was 'Dropping the Messiah'.  You sang with

a deep voice lower than most guys did.

Alicia: I was in a death-metal band called 'Purgatory' before that, but
Dropping the Messiah is where I started really doing a lot in terms of
music.  That was back in 1994. I purposely sang like that and I think it's
what drew people to the band in one sense. You know, 'What's a little
skinny girl doing singing like that?'

Review:  Are you fulfilled musically right now or do you still work on side
projects?

Alicia:  I don't have the time to work on anything besides Kelly's band
because we're always on the road so much.  I do like to write music,
though, and we have the month of May pretty much off, so I'll probably lay
low then and write some more.
I like this job a lot. The music is fun. Kelly is great.
Eventually, yeah, I'd like to write my own material again and get something
going.

Review: How did if feel doing the audition? Did you know you had the job?

Alicia: No, I wasn't sure I had the job. I got so nervous and played and
went home and didn't want to think about it too much. But then I got the
call back the next day saying it was happening.

Kelly Osbourne, Photo by Kay McEntee

Review:  Has this new level of music & notoriety changed your

life much?

Alicia:  My life is much busier now. I've been on the Tonight

Show with Jay Leno, we did the American Music Awards, Regis

& Kelly, toured Sweden

Review: Have you been able to meet many interesting people

thus far?

Alicia: Yeah, I would say so. I met Missy Elliott and got

to talk with her for about a half-hour. She was very cool.

And then I got to say Hi to Willie Nelson at the American

Music Awards.

Review: Do you get to hang out with Kelly much socially? What's

she really like?

Alicia: Kelly and I have the same bus on tour and we like

to cause trouble while people are sleeping. There's a girls

bus and guys bus on this tour and the boys have nine on their

bus and for the girls it's just me, Kelly, her friend Sarah,

and our tour manager. Kelly and I play tricks while they're

sleeping.

Kelly is really fun and crazy. MTV edits things the way they

want people to appear and I don't think she's as bratty as they

portray her on The Osbournes.  Plus, I've got no beef with

Sarah, the old drummer that I replaced. A lot of people ask me

that every day, but things are cool between us.

Review: What are your tour plans shaping up like?

Alicia: We're supposed to go to Europe for a few months from the end of
June until September. We'll be touring all over Ireland, Germany, Sweden.

Review: What's the road like? Is it everything you thought it would be? I
noticed at the Detroit show that you have a nice bus.

Alicia: We have a fabulous bus. We're pimping it and riding high, that's
for sure. We have DVDs, a VCR, stereo, surround sound, you name it.

Review: Is the road pretty taxing on you physically?

Alicia: Sometimes, yeah it is. For the most part I love it a lot. We get a
fair amount of sleep on the bus, drive to the next city and get our hotels.
What does bother me is that I'm not on my regular eating diet, which is
kind of hard.

Review: So is this everything you dreamed it would be, or is it different
from what you expected?

Alicia: I don't know if it's that much different. When it first happened I
wondered how it would change my life, but is honestly hasn't that much. I'm
in magazines now and on a few TV shows, but I don't feel differently. I
think people react differently to me, but for myself I haven't changed much.

Review: Is the band receptive to input? I know drummers have a difficult
role in a band.

Alicia: Well, all of us auditioned so none of us wrote the music and we
work really well together. We wrote a song the other day at one of our
rehearsals and all cooperate with each other.

Review: Do you think this will be a flash in the pan or do you view the
band moving onward and staying together for years?  They always say you
have a lifetime to record your first album and a year to do the second.

Alicia: There are no plans for a second album. We're just working on songs
here and there and not much has been talked about it. We'll see how far it
goes. But the band has the potential to go the long term, if it's what
Kelly wants. We're all good musicians.

Review: What do you feel is the most challenging thing about being in
Kelly's band?

Alicia: I'd say going out in front of 18,000 people a night as opposed to
playing Old e James Towne Hall.  The first time I did that it was freaky.
Our first show was with Avril Lavigne and Queens of the Stone Age at Nassau
Coliseum, which holds about 17,000 people. For that to be our first show
was nerve wracking for me. But I'm getting used to it now.

Review: Do you notice people in the audience?

Alicia: I try not to pay attention. I don't wear my glasses onstage, so
that helps. But I still hear them. That's the problem.

Review: What do you think of the state of the music scene today? Is it in a
good place?

Alicia: I think there's a lot of good bands out there now, only not in the
mainstream. The mainstream bands I'm not that interested in and tend to
follow the underground stuff more. There are a lot of bands like Linkin
Park and Slipknot that all sound the same to me. I do like some of the up
and coming groups, but not the stuff that's pushed in everybody's face
every day.

Review: Any final thoughts or things we may not have touched upon?

Alicia: I'm just glad to see everybody that came out to our Detroit show.
My whole family was there, so that was great.
I've seen so many shows at St. Andrew's Hall that it was fun to actually
play there.

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