about alex nahas
I often think about what I'd be doing if it wasn't for music. What if my dear childhood drummer friend Eddie Avakian never asked me over to his garage to check out his band? What if they did have a bass player? What if my amazingly supportive father didn't buy me that Fender Precision bass when I pleaded with him and Eddie's guitarist refused to patiently show me where to put my fingers on the fret board for each Rolling Stones or Van Halen song they covered? What if Eddie and I didn't share an obsession with old Genesis, Yes, and Pink Floyd? Ok enough. I don't know the answer but I know that Eddie and I went on to form Clockwork, the San Fernando Valley's premiere prog rock band featuring Rod Montanio on vocals and second drum set (watch out Genesis), Jamie Muhoberak on keyboards (future music director for Seal), Ken Saks on guitar, and Rob Cavallo (future Warner Bros. record exec and Green Day producer) who replaced Ken on guitar. I wrote my first lyrics for a song I called Hand to Throat and then my first complete song ever, Brief Encounter, noodling around on a beat up acoustic guitar we had at home. Both made it into Clockwork's set. My life had transformed completely.
The next thirty some odd years have been a blur of musical discovery and obsession (rock, jazz, funk, r&b, classical, world, folk, etc...). I bought myself a cassette four track recorder, taught myself to play guitar, sing, record, discovered the Chapman Stick. After moving to San Francisco I played in various bands including my own, Guy Smiley and Laughingstock. I helped build and run Division Hi Fi Recording Studio, with Scott Solter (Mountain Goats, John Vanderslice), Desmond Shea, and Josh Heller, while also running my own mobile studio, Noisy Neighbor. I also started recording and touring with Laughingstock and John Vanderslice.
Bright Brown is my current musical indulgence in Brooklyn, NY, with drummer Nick Smeraski. The color brown contains much hidden radiance; red, blue, gold etc... It remains soulful and dark but is more hopeful than black. I believe this best describes my musical journey, and is the common thread linking the sounds I strive to achieve.
Within this website's pages are a somewhat historic but mostly current representation of my blessed musical life lovingly collated by Harry Green. There's so much more to include but I'm pushing grand self indulgence as it is. There is also so much more to come...
I'm so grateful for all the brilliant collaborations I've been so lucky to experience: Eddie, Roddy, Jamie, Ken, Rob, Brian, Marlin, John M., Dan, Seth, Lee F., Paul, Eric G., John B., Mick, Scott, Desmond, Josh, Tom, Specer, Zoe, Tony, Mark, Eric Glick, Lee T., J. V., J. T., Nick, David, Theresa, so many more...
Also some of the photos on this site were taken by Barry Stelboum, David Blatty, and Gary Powell. The Dust Angel video was shot and edited by Sam Burbank.
And of course there are my personal collaborators to thank: Mom, Dad, Ava, Rico, Sarah, Aurel.
