Interview: Lara Pacillo // Main photo: Street Visioner
Alexander Flood shows no signs of slowing. The 28-year-old drummer has spent the past two months riding the wave of ARTIFACTUAL RHYTHM, where his refreshing, genre-bending approach to dance music — dubbed “nu-jazz” — has been celebrated worldwide.
Taking influence from house, UK garage, drum ’n’ bass and broken beat, the music is inherently electronic but comes alive through the rawness of a live band, underpinned by jazz and improvisation.
Leading the band from the drum chair, Alexander’s album features some of Australia’s finest including Erica Tucceri on flute, Finn Rees on keys, Dylan Paul on bass, as well as guest vocals from Cazeaux O.S.L.O, Kara Manansala and Vivian Sessoms.
Alexander is taking the world with him on his journey to create a sound he wants to hear. His music has carried him across international stages including Wellington Jazz Festival, Jazz Montez Frankfurt, Melbourne International Jazz Festival, SXSW Sydney, WOMADelaide, and clubs throughout Europe and Australia.
Just before he heads off on his next European tour, we had the chance to chat with Alexander to reflect on his journey so far, and what’s coming next.
Can you tell me a bit about your music journey? How did you get into drumming?
I started learning the drums when I was eight, mostly because some of my good friends were also learning drums and other instruments. When I started, I very quickly fell in love with it. I became really involved with bands and extracurricular music programs in and outside of school. I started gigging and then went to the Con at the University of Adelaide, where I did the jazz degree. Straight out of the course, I’ve been doing music and music teaching, basically full time. That’s what I do when I wake up and it’s the last thing on my mind when I go to bed.
Did you ever delve into other instruments?
It was drumming from the start, and then I branched out. I developed a strong interest in world music, especially from West Africa, Northeast India, and the Middle East as well. So I started learning percussion instruments from these places. More recently, in the last four or five years, I’ve been playing a lot more piano and that has formed really the foundation of how I compose music. I’m no piano player, but I spend a lot more of my time writing from the piano now.
Has that shift toward piano influenced your songwriting process?
Everything generally nowadays starts from the piano. I’ll find often I’ll just sit and play and try to find chords that evoke some direction, whether that’s rhythmic, tempo, sound, texture, these things will often influence what comes next. Then I’ll find a bassline that fits well with the chords. Then drums generally are already happening in my head at that point, the drums are the easy part.
Then the top line, whether that’s writing an instrumental melody for a flute or a synthesiser or collaborating with the vocalist in whatever capacity, that comes after the music is mostly in place. That’s been my process for the last few albums, certainly for Oscillate and ARTIFACTUAL RHYTHM.
How would you describe your music, ARTIFACTUAL RHYTHM in particular, to those who haven’t listened to it before?
I would describe my music as being jazz-meets-dance music. It is music for the dance floor, but it’s leaning into a live and improvised jazz sound. There’s a lot of spontaneity, it’s very electronic as well.
What drew you to the idea of fusing electronic dance music with live jazz instrumentation?
I’ve always been into up-tempo, high-energy music. I used to be really into funk music, that kind of bouncy electronic funk sound, and that led me to electronic dance floor music. But then my main background is jazz drumming, so it was finding a middle point between both my jazz interests and my electronic music interests.
Being able to still be very spontaneous and expressive and improvised and challenge yourself through the playing side of things, but being able to create an accessible atmosphere that people can dance to and create a really high energy, high intensity show.
The album draws from ’90s, 2000s club sounds. Were there any artists or genres that influenced your album or your music journey?
For sure. When I was writing the album, I was listening to a lot of New York house music from Louie Vega, as well as UK deep house from Grant Nelson and also some stuff from Kerri Chandler. These are artists that have really influenced the house sound and especially the ’90s kind of aesthetic sound of some of the music.
Then more broadly, more up-tempo drum ’n’ bass stuff. A lot of broken beat, a lot of Kaidi Tatham-type rhythms, but reinterpreted from a live drummer’s perspective. And then Lonnie Liston Smith, for more of the jazz side of things, spiritual jazz from decades ago.
Do you have a favourite track on the album?
Ooh, good question. Probably ‘LIFE IS A RHYTHM’. That was the first single and it’s the opening track of the album. It really captures the whole vibe in a seven-and-a-half-minute track.
Was there a song that was particularly difficult to make?
I wouldn’t say one particular song, but I would say the ones that were more challenging to really nail in terms of finding the right balance of instrumentation and style and production would be the ones that are more inherently classic electronic sounds. Finding the sweet spot between making it feel like real or authentic electronic music but also still incorporating the live aspect of the track without it feeling just like a live band just jamming. Those were tough ones to piece together.
So ‘CAN’T GET ENOUGH’, ‘DON’T WAIT 4 ME’. Maybe ‘ARTIFACT’ is sitting on the fence there.
Where did the album name ARTIFACTUAL RHYTHM come from and what does it mean to you?
It’s an interesting name. The word ‘artifactual’ can mean ‘made by human hands’ in a nutshell. It’s almost contradictory in that the music is electronic music, but it’s live music. ARTIFACTUAL RHYTHM is clarifying this is electronic music played by people, made by people, for the dance floor. I wanted to keep it a bit abstract as well and not just be black and white. It’s a bit of a quirky name.
How do you envision people engaging with your album?
As a musician who really aligns with jazz music or improvised music, I’m always wanting to make music that is stimulating to enjoy and appreciate as a listener, but at the same time, wanting to make music that is for the dance floor.
The challenge was making it dance floor ready, but being interesting, dynamic, stimulating enough, complex enough you could say, to be listened to with a nice set of headphones, have a cup of coffee and just really sink your teeth in that way as well. Or put the vinyl on through a nice system and sit back and listen, because that’s how I really like to listen to music, and I want people to be able to do the same, yet it also translates in the club.
I feel like every time I listen to the album, I pick up on a different layer that I didn’t notice last time. It’s very interesting.
Yeah, and there’s a lot going on. It’s very dense music.
What do you think has been the biggest personal or creative shift for you since the last album?
I think Oscillate, the previous album, was a little bit more live, a little bit more experimental, I suppose, in style and sound. Then I just took my favourite parts of that and went deeper.
A lot of artists will say they’re writing music that they want to hear, and that’s sort of what we’re doing, right? I’m writing music that excites me, music that evokes something and makes me feel good. The shift really is that my music is getting closer and closer to a sound that I’m looking for, but at the same time, that sound is always changing and evolving. It’s a never-ending chase, chasing something that you can’t quite reach. You can learn a lot along the way.
What’s been a career highlight so far?
Career highlight would absolutely be the Europe tour last year. I flew the whole band over and we did a month of shows in the UK, Germany, and Italy. That was such a fun time and with such a great group of people to share the new music with. We’d only just started releasing the singles from the new album, so everything was all very fresh and exciting. We’re about to head off in less than a month now to do it all again.
What’s it like playing overseas?
It’s a real buzz. It’s a very different experience because overseas, you can see music everywhere, seven nights a week. There’s a real big culture around live music. I mean, again, we’re talking about bigger, more densely populated cities. Many more musicians and different perspectives. We’ve got such great feedback and people really get around the music, hopefully people are keen to see more of it.
As a musician, what’s it like being based in Adelaide and how has that shaped your career?
It’s kind of a blessing and a curse, really, because on one hand, Adelaide is small, well very small, relative to other big music hubs. Maybe a little less connected or a little isolated, and I guess the scene being smaller puts a bit of a ceiling on what is possible as an independent artist here. But at the same time, I think there’s a bit of a calmer pace and a bit more breathing space. I just feel really calm here and it’s the calmness I don’t get elsewhere, but that also may be just because I’m from here. I’m really attached to that feeling of home that I feel here.
For a while, I did really want to move overseas, and then the more time I spent overseas, the more I realised that we are so lucky to be in Australia, but also to be in Adelaide. It’s an incredible place to live and to work and to do things.
So you’ve just dropped the album, you’ve been touring around Australia, and now you’re about to go on a big international tour. How are you feeling at the moment?
If you asked me the question about a month ago, I would have said quite, not burnt out, but just very slammed. But I’m feeling good now. We’re on the tail end of the release and I’m really stoked with how it all has been going and the feedback we’ve been getting.
The music has really reached the people and the first vinyl pressing is all sold out. It’s being repressed as we speak, which is really exciting. I’ve not had a repressing before. Really, I’m just in the headspace now of preparing for what’s next. We just recorded another new album, literally the day after we released this album…
Oh wow, really? Can I ask when this next album might be coming out?
Probably a year from now. Maybe mid-2026 would be a realistic point.
Is there anything else coming up that you’d like to mention?
Yeah, we’re in the process of finalising the remix album, the follow-up release to ARTIFACTUAL RHYTHM. There will be a whole album of remixes later in the year. And finishing off this new album. Then we’ll see what happens after that.
Very busy. Can I ask if you’ll be doing another Adelaide show this year? I was devastated that I couldn’t go to the album launch at The Lab.
We are, actually. I’ve just booked Ancient World on August 15. That will be the return home from tour. I’ve got the Melbourne band over for that as well. I’d like to do a bit of east coast stuff when we get back as well.
Great, glad to hear! One more question: what advice do you have for young musicians?
I’d say something that has been huge for me and something that I would always encourage people is try and surround yourself with like-minded, motivated, inspiring people, friends, those who you look up to, but also who are moving through your career with you. I think it’s really people that we rely on most, and building good relationships, and trust and communication.
And getting out of your comfort zone. Every time I’ve uncomfortably pushed myself, at the time, it’s like, ‘why am I doing this to myself?’ But I’ve always felt that the most learning and gain can come from those opportunities.
Also trying to connect with as many people on the industry side of things — venues and local labels, or send your music to labels overseas. Don’t be afraid to try and really sell yourself to people. You never know who’s going to see or share it, and a lot can happen just from sending your music out to people.
Alexander Flood’s new album ARTIFACTUAL RHYTHM is available on all streaming platforms.
