Written by Richie Oliver
Released on June 11, America Part Two's newest single, "Criminalized," has hit every box when it comes to accurately expressing the sound and message of the band. We had the opportunity to sit down with Alex Fabio to discuss “Criminalize,” musical influences, and what we can expect from the band in the future.
Richie Oliver: What are your thoughts and feelings on today’s release?
Alex Fabio: It feels really good. I feel like we’ve thrown a curveball out into the world since our last release in March. It’s been three months, and I’m excited that we’ve been able to put out another song.
RO: Who are your biggest influences?
AF: Growing up, my first music that I considered “my” music was All Time Low. I went to Bamboozled, a music festival here in Jersey, a bunch.
I got into the hardcore scene after that, so that kept me up on my heels. I didn’t get into classic rock until I was eighteen.
You see, I’m a first generation American. My mother’s from Greece and my father’s Columbian, and they met in the U.S., so I had no American music in my house at all.
Most of the music I was into was what my friends were into. Now my influences are hip-hop, jazz, American roots music, even some country.
RO: When it comes to writing music, are you lyrics first, or melody?
AF: It all kinda depends. Sometimes I’ll be driving in my car, and this line/melody will come into my head.
It’ll just hit like a melodic motif or lyric right away. I’ll bring it to Fred, who’s this endless archive of what we can do to that motif.
Other times, since I’m practicing guitar everyday, I’ll strike a chord and say to myself, “that sounds cool,” and that could be something to work with. I personally think of myself as a vessel.
Songwriting to me, is the ability to hone in on whatever channel your frequency is connected to and to bring that out in the most honest way?
RO: In one word, define music.
AF: Love.
RO: America Part Two?
AF: Fight.
RO: “Criminalize.”
AF: Run.
RO: Rebel.
AF: Throw.
RO: Love.
AF: Music.
RO: When you die, what do you want your epitaph to say?
AF: That’s a good question. I think when I die, I would like to be either cremated or disintegrated, where I can return to the earth without a body.
I would love a tree to be planted where I am. If there was a sign there, I would love for it to say, “This tree is the tree of rock.”
RO: What can we expect from America Part Two in the future?
AF: Definitely a lot of music. We started the recording of “Price of a Nation” about 2 years ago, and from that, we have a bunch of material to work with, so expect a lot of new music.
We hope to tour sometime later this year, if that were to work out. We’ve been looking into doing a lot of videos, we love the amateur style of what we do, so maybe expect a movie in the future.
RO: Where can we find you?
AF: You can find us at americaparttwo.com. That’s our website. For merch you can go to mischiefnite.com, and we’re @americaparttwo on everything [social media].
RO: Thank you for taking the time out of your day to talk to me.
AF: Thank you so much for talking to me.
We want to give a huge thank you to Alex Fabio of America Part Two for taking the time to talk to us about "Criminalize" and the band as a whole! Be sure to to keep up with America Part Two by following them on Twitter @americaparttwo!
While you're there tweet us @lgndsoftmrw to let us know who you want to see us interview next!