I need you guys to stop whatever you’re doing right now and pay attention for the next five minutes. Marlon Alarm—love, learn and embrace the name. I guarantee Marlon Alarm will wake up every single one of your senses. From the hair, the fantastic taste in style, and of course that electrifying voice—Marlon Alarm is the total definition of a rock star. Marlon was nice enough to catch up with Her Campus and answer a few questions some of us were dying to know.
HC: For those new to your music I’ll let you introduce yourself.
“My name is Marlon Alarm, and I’m a pop singer and a songwriter from Miami.”
HC: You are such an inspiration to so many fans out there! Who are your inspirations?
“I’m very inspired by Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando and my grandmother. My grandmother was magical. I feel like every good trait in me is actually hers, in a way.”
HC: You obviously have some serious style. Aside from music inspirations do you have any style inspirations?
“Stylistically, I’m very inspired by history. I’m very motivated to find out why certain fashions look the way they do and I try to make sure that everything has some sort of significance. I take a lot of inspiration from people like Boy George and Pete Burns. A lot of the time, it doesn’t show – you know, Boy George would wear these hats and these long garbs, and I don’t – but I think it’s more of the method of fashion that I follow and take inspiration from, rather than any actual pieces.”
HC: On that note. We have to know. Where do you go shopping?
“I do so much shopping on the internet – mostly eBay. I also shop a lot at Goodwill. I do mix it up and sometimes I will shop at department stores. But for the most part, I like to get a good bang for my buck.”
HC: Has singing always been something you’ve been doing?
“No, not at all. I used to draw before I sang – before I did music at all, really. I actually used to ridicule it when I was younger. When I was in the fourth grade, my mother put me in karate, and my music teacher put me in chorus – it was something they handpicked you for and I guess I got in because I wasn’t tone-deaf. I remember going twice to chorus. By the second time, I was literally making fun of singing, saying, “Who needs singing when you can do karate?” At the time, I was so terrified of bullies, that being violent just seemed much more useful. I don’t think that way now, of course.
HC: Will you be releasing an album anytime soon?
“I’m always working on so much music. Right now, though, I’m trying to condense it. I want to release an EP, not an album, because I don’t think people generally have the attention span to sit and listen to a whole album – and whenever I do write an album, it is very much one cohesive piece. I want something that people will listen to from start to finish; that’s why I want to create an EP. I’m still not sure exactly how many songs it’ll have, but it should be out in very late 2012 or very early 2013.”
HC: What inspires you lyrically?
“I hate to be vague, but it’s truly everything that inspires me – especially with lyrics. It could be anything I see, anything I hear. Of course, any really significant experience will find its way into my music. But sometimes, I’ll hear a really cool phrase one of my friends will say and I’ll be so inspired from just that. My brain branches off of the smallest things. I’m very easily inspired.”
HC: You’ve performed in a lot different parts of Florida. Any chance you’ll be hitting the road soon?
“I wish! I still have never toured, but I’m dying to. I should be getting around to it soon, but given circumstances, I won’t be able to, realistically, for like a year. I would love to tour by next winter.”
HC: Cliché question time! A few years from today, where do you hope to see yourself musically?
“I hope I’m better. I hope that more people will understand why I’m doing this, because I’m not doing it just for the music. And I hope that more people will take me seriously as a songwriter – not as a clown or poster boy.”
HC: What is the best thing that has happened to you during your musical journey and the worst?
“The greatest thing has to be this one e-mail that I received from a fan. It was so touching. It was one of the first times that I felt that I was doing this for all the right reasons. She told me how my music helped her through some hard times. And it was just so beautiful for her to tell me that she could feel, through the internet, that I was honest and that I was myself. For my music and myself as an artist to transmit that to someone I’ve never met was so special.The [worst] thing would have to be filming the “Double Diamond” music video. Not the video. It was the process that was downright grueling. There’s one scene we did in an abandoned building, so it was practically outdoors. We had no food or water. It must’ve been at least 90 degrees, and there were wasp nests everywhere. It was something straight out of Man vs. Wild. We were running on zero sleep, and we were there from 6 AM ‘til 2 PM. Never again!”
HC: To everyone out there struggling to find their voice in this world. What advice do you have for them?
“The second you stop caring about the world and who’s listening is the moment your voice becomes your own. From that, people will come to stand by you, I promise. And in that sense, rather than finding your voice in the world, you create your own world to have a voice in, and there’s just so much more beauty in that.”
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