Riley and the Roxies: Tele

Ildefonso, Inc. / September 9, 2022

Tele by Riley and the Roxies is streaming everywhere now, featuring previously unreleased tracks: “Wasco” and “Let It Ride.”

Meet Indie-Rock’s Riley and the Roxies

With an affinity for classic garage rock bands and solo acts like Prince, Riley and the Roxies became a staple on the L.A. indie rock scene via several timely syncs on TV/Film. Inspired by the sonics of the 1970’s - Led Zeppelin’s III, Springsteen’s The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, and Elvis Costello’s My Aim is True - Spencer Riley Alfonso developed a vocally focused rock project with modern nods to bands like Phoenix, The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys and other post 2000 indie-rock staples.

While in film school, Alfonso directed and produced several music videos for his second EP: OceanGold. The videos caught the attention of Nic Carfa of Musicbed who quickly signed Riley and the Roxies, as well as introduced Alfonso to LA’s premier sync agency: Secret Road (The Civil Wars, Leagues, Ingrid Michaelson). 

In 2019 Riley and the Roxies released his debut album: Raw Honey. From his loft in Boyle Heights, Alfonso incorporated newly written tracks as well as previously unreleased material from 2014-2019. The track “Snakes” picked up momentum on Spotify when Chris Bumstead featured the song via his platform. With the momentum of his first LP, Alfonso settled into writing the follow up, Lasso.  

Artwork by Monako Davis

Tele: Liner Notes

A Deep Dive into B-Sides

by Spencer Riley Alfonso

When I released Lasso, I felt a huge sense of relief. Whenever I start a record I usually feel creatively empty. Sure, I might be excited at the endless possibilities of a blank page, but the reality is writing happens in the margins. By margins I mean: the times that I actually remember to record a voice memo, scribble a lyric, write down a concept. Without these scraps and rough sketches, I have nothing. As the album starts to form and build, I usually flip into a producer/engineer mindset. I’m taking demos and trying to elevate them. In Lasso’s case, I sent several demos to Dan Bailey (drummer/engineer) in hopes he could help narrow down some of the demos into something worth recording. As the tracklist became more clear, I was able to see the full picture. 

Photographer: Monako Davis

Cut to mastering, as I’m sequencing the album, I’m thinking about what Lasso is at its core. For the first time in a long time, it felt like the core has more to offer than I’m ready to give at this very moment. And, ever since sending this record off to mastering, I felt like there were a few tracks that needed some time to breathe. Before mastering, I’m usually super lost when it comes to “is this cool?” I'll have a general sense of what fits and what doesn’t, but it's always that last 10% that makes or breaks a record. I’m not even talking about the commercial success of a record, that’s a whole different beast. I’m referring to the feeling an artist gets when they know in their core, “This record is done.” For me that moment happened and Lasso went out. Reuben Cohen (mastering engineer) sent it back, and it felt right. 

Spencer Riley Alfonso (left) and Zach Esposito (right) in the studio.

Photographer: Monako Davis

Back to those songs that didn’t make it: “Let It Ride” and “Wasco”. These songs needed to be believed in and treated with new life. While producing Mary Ive’s record, I’m Sorry, which also releases today, I asked Zach Esposito to play bass on a track called “Wasco”. Zach has been collaborating and performing with me since 2016. I trust whatever he does. Lately, he and I treat the songs we do together as one whole performance. He’ll usually learn the chords and just go for it. We’ll do that 3-4 times and call it a day. What this does is allows songs like Wasco to be more than 1’s and 0’s in a box; it’s a recording of a moment. Another key collaborator on Wasco was Garrett Hazen. Similar to Zach Esposito, Garrett delivered a performance. His electric guitar part made the song breathe and move with dynamics. Zach and Garrett’s performances inspired me to track live drums. Now, I felt like we had a trio of musicians reacting to each other, and reacting to the song. 

Garrett Hazen tracking electric guitar on Wasco. Photographer: Monako Davis

With “Let It Ride” I learned my lesson, save multiple versions of your sessions. You never know when you “have that magic”. In this case I reverted to some earlier drafts and everything clicked. I love to move around as a producer. Often, I’ll rearrange my room, change rooms, mix it up. This inevitably allows me to “hear” more objectively than the previous room I was in. In this case, my drums sat on a session for a while. Eventually, I heard them in a new light and mixed them to react how I now expected them to sound. It’s almost like producing yourself. Give it some time, some fresh ears, a fresh room, and all of a sudden: it feels objective. 

Alfonso’s drum set up in the recording studio.

Why Tele? ”Tele” is my favorite song off the record. Mary Ives added synth and keys, Zach Esposito played bass, and I got to sit behind the kit and figure out my sound as a drummer. Dan Bailey playing on this record (“Always, Lasso”, “Holly Roller”) really inspired me to dust off the drums and  try to deliver something equally as human (“Mexican Coke”, “Wasco”, “Let It Ride”). In this case, Zach’s bass part really elevated what the drums were doing by creating a warm low end. The room just happened to resonate with the kit at the right frequency for me to say: “damn…that actually kind of works.” The right foundation of bass and drums is key for any record. This glued together the foundation for the lyrics, guitars, and keys.

Mary Ives recording synth in the studio. Photographer: Spencer Riley Alfonso (2021)

Zach Esposito recording bass for “Tele” in the studio. Photographer: Spencer Riley Alfonso

So after the  release of the full album: Lasso, I thought why not release “Tele” as a single and back it up with some unreleased b-sides that I love. Please, give it a listen. I’m super grateful for Zach, Garrett, and Mary for their contributions musically, Reuben’s incredible work in the mastering studio on the track “Tele” and the Lasso - LP (Fingers crossed for a b-sides remaster down the road), and Mo’s care and attention to the art, visuals and release. 

Listen to Wasco to Wichita: a deep cuts playlist curated by Riley and the Roxies on Spotify.

Garrett Hazen records electric guitar for “Wasco”.

Liner notes for Tele by Riley and the Roxies.