Daily Discovery: Stevie B Wolf, “Alone + Alive”

ARTIST: Stevie B Wolf

SONG: “Alone + Alive”

HOMETOWN: Boulder, Colorado

CURRENT LOCATION: Brooklyn, New York

AMBITIONS: To write a song with Paul McCartney before he dies. To play a giant show and still have it feel like an intimate living room show. To make an album that I feel is as good as Born to Run. To teach people to better love themselves. To one day cure my allergies and get a bunch of dogs. And to spend every goddamn moment possible of my life making and performing music.

TURN-OFFS: Slouching, clowns, stinky shoes, bad EDM, The Black Eyed Peas, when a radio DJ starts playing a cool track and then cuts in and starts yelling shoutouts and then he keeps doing it over and over, Fritos, and bad breath.

TURN-ONS: Springsteen, Hayley Williams from Paramore, leather jackets, dogs skateboarding, toasted baguettes, puppies, lilies (the flower), Christmas lights, girls with freckles, popcorn, B.B. King, blanched almonds, wide smiles, Denver Broncos, Kimbra, Billy Idol, going to a concert where you can tell the artist is having the fucking time of his/her/their life.

DREAM GIG: Headlining a show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. I went to my first concert there at age 10. It’s literally the most beautiful venue in America. Hewn into the flatirons of the Rocky Mountains, the band plays on a stage facing the Rockies, so they get to watch the sunset over the red granite (maybe?) peaks. Meanwhile, the audience gets to a look out over the foothills and front range of Colorado as it turns into a twilight landscape twinkling with the city lights of Denver.

FAVORITE LYRIC: “Everything dies, baby that’s a fact, but maybe everything that dies someday comes back. Put your makeup on, fix your hair all pretty, and meet me tonight in Atlantic City…” Bruce Springsteen, Atlantic City.

CRAZIEST PERSON I KNOW: I really don’t like calling people crazy. If you’re referring to someone with a mental illness, well that’s fucked up and offensive. And if you’re referring to someone whose life is kind of a shits how, well that’s mean. Everyone has troubles and things they’re trying to work on.

SONG I WISH I WROTE: “Neon” – John Mayer

5 PEOPLE I’D MOST LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH: I’m assuming this is a dinner party, rather than one-on-one, because that would change my answers. I want David Lee Roth, Winston Churchill, Amy Schumer, Jimi Hendrix, and Ringo Starr in the same room.

MY FAVORITE CONCERT EXPERIENCE: I saw Blink-182 at Jones Beach a few years ago, back when they were still together. It started pouring rain, and everyone started getting soaked instantly. It’s one of those stages where most of the stage is covered by a band shell, but some of it was exposed and getting clobbered with rain. So Mark and Tom were like, “if you’re getting wet, we’re getting wet. Hope we don’t get electrocuted.” And they moved forward and played the rest of the concert in pouring rain.

I WROTE THIS SONG: I was hurt and angry at a girl I was in love with, and no matter what I wrote or sang, nothing captured how I felt. I wrote all these heartbreak songs, but none of them did it for me. So one day, I was driving home (this was back in LA) after being stuck in traffic for an hour, almost got into a bad accident, and got back to my apartment building only to realize I locked myself out. It was one of those shitty horrible days that’s really not that bad, but seems so much worse because you’re going through something much bigger than that. I couldn’t take it. So I broke into my apartment (and not stealthily – I broke the lock off), picked up my guitar and wrote Alone + Alive. I obviously had to pay to fix the door, but I think it might have been worth it.