Alice Lee was born in Boston, MA, and trained early on in classical music by her
pianist mother. Periods of sporadic nomadism landed her in Los Angeles and
Orange County, CA for the bulk of her childhood and to San Francisco, New
York, and Melbourne, Australia for her nascent adulthood. After quitting
music to pursue a dance career, she eventually returned to music - this
time, on her own terms. She soon picked up the guitar and took the initiative
in learning.
The voice was the last element to fall in place. Plagued by shyness, she started
to sing in cemeteries to bolster her confidence. "Two words why: no hecklers.
I figured if I wanted to find out whether I could sing to wake the dead,
might as well start in a logical place." Finally landing in Washington,
DC, she began playing open mics in the area and gathering mutual inspiration
from other musicians.
She found herself busking in Paris and Amsterdam and performing in Edinburgh
and Ghent. A demo EP followed. Through the help of a couple of friends,
the tracks were finished in Virginia and Europe in a couple of days of
recording.
After moving to Brooklyn and playing solo gigs in New York, San Francisco,
Boston, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC, she found like-minds in bassist
Tony Maimone (Pere Ubu, They Might Be Giants) and studio whiz Joel Hamilton
(Shiner, Sparklehorse). The Quicksand EP featuring Matt Brubeck (Sheryl
Crow, Tom Waits) and percussionist David Flores skirts along the boundaries
of what could loosely be called rock, encompassing bossa nova, bhangra
funk, and electronic drum and bass.
She continues to sporadically tour and play with her band and was featured
as a vocalist in the Brooklynites