COUNTRY and Southern rock musician Alex Williams was looking for a way to switch things up—personally, professionally, and sonically. He just didn’t expect the act of changing things to lead him right back home.
“I lived in Nashville for about nine years and moved back to Indianapolis for a stint in 2018,” Williams says. “I kind of wound up here in Pendleton temporarily. I’m not sure where the next move is yet, but I’ve got children, so I’ll be here for a while.”
Certainly, living in Pendleton has its quiet perks, like being able to pass by the house where he grew up whenever the mood strikes.
“Lots of good memories there,” says Williams, who tore out of the country gate with 2017’s Better Than Myself. “There’s probably been a hundred people that have lived in that house since I lived there.”
Memories from that house helped spark Williams’ new album, Space Brain, out July 18 on most streaming platforms, vinyl, and for digital download.
“My dad had this crate of CDs down in the basement that I would always go through,” remembers Williams. “That’s how I discovered a lot of these heavy metal bands. The album covers were so cool. These guys looked like action figures or something.”
Action figures on an album cover soon became larger-than-life performers onstage for Williams. “I remember going to see Mötley Crüe, and Cinderella, and Poison,” he recalls. “It was an elevated thing compared to just listening to the records.”
It’s no surprise that Williams—and the ’80s metal soundtrack that raised him—is heading to Indianapolis for a hometown show at Turntable on July 18 to celebrate Space Brain, a collection of ’80s metal anthems reinterpreted in a way that somehow feels so right for this moment.
Take, for example, Williams’ version of the Mötley Crüe song “Wild Side” that he delivers more like a sermon.
“That one has some pretty heavy lyrics,” Williams says of the gritty track, which paints a chaotic picture of life on the edge. “I feel like it still resonates today, especially after stripping it back to just an acoustic guitar. Reworking that particular song was just crazy.”
Indeed, throughout the making of Space Brain, Williams says he kept uncovering the weight of lyrics that might be overlooked if not for someone—like him—to bring them back into focus.
“In the ’80s specifically, the lyrics would get lost behind the noise,” Williams says of the songs that make up the backbone of the album, including reimagined cuts from Guns N’ Roses, Ozzy Osbourne, and Motörhead. “I just wanted to highlight those lyrics with these tunes.”
The presence of some unexpected voices makes Space Brain even more intriguing, including Cinderella’s lead singer Tom Keifer, who joins Williams on a countrified version of the band’s hit “Nobody’s Fool.”
“[My producer] Ben Fowler is actually neighbors with Tom,” laughs Williams. “A lot of pieces had to fall in place for this album to even happen. But I’m so glad they did.”
