Kansas City Star Women Who Rock KC

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 05:04:20 -0600

Opportunity doesn’t always knock; sometimes you have to wake it.
You could say that’s exactly what Alicia Solombrino has done lately. Two years ago she made over the Beautiful Bodies, the band she started almost seven years ago.
“We are 180 degrees away from our old sound,” said Solombrino, the band’s lead singer and co-songwriter. “The old stuff had lots of energy and punk attitude but no real songs or melodies. The new sound is rock, alternative and pop. It’s aggressive, almost metal, but it’s pop. You can dance to it.”
That new sound has generated some appeal outside the music word. In September, a remix of the Bodies tune “She’s a Blast” was played during New York Fashion Week.
“My friend Brad Walsh does all the runway music for (fashion designer) Christian Siriano,” Solombrino said. “Christian liked another song of ours, ‘You’re a Risk,’ so he asked me to send more music to Brad to see if one might fit in the show.”
She was in New York when the remixed “Blast” was featured during Siriano’s showcase.
“It was the finale song,” she said. “It was amazing. I was freaking out.”
Two very big things appear to be in store. It’s too early to let one of those cats out of the bag, but the other is already loose. The Bodies have launched a Kickstarter campaign to help finance the recording of their next record. It will be produced by John Feldmann of the band Goldfinger, who has produced records by Panic at the Disco, Good Charlotte and Used.
“It’s going to be expensive,” Solombrino said, “but it’s an amazing opportunity.”
Her brushes with opportunity don’t surprise her closest friends, who know how devoted she is to her band, its music and its live performances.
“She is true to herself and her music, no matter where she is” said Kim Baldwin, former lead singer of the band Flee the Seen and Solombrino’s co-worker at the Uptown Theater. “Whether she’s in front of thousands of people or just hanging out in our office together at work, she’ll do the same Michael Jackson dance moves and love every minute of it. I’ve witnessed it countless times.”
“I want energy at shows,” Solombrino said. “I want the band and the crowd to be exhausted. I’ve left our shows with cuts, bruises, even chipped teeth. Those were some of the good shows.”

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