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Rose Alaimo’s vocals have been heavily praised over the years, having been most commonly described as ‘honest’

October 31, 2019
Despite the many varied interests she has pursued so far, Rose Alaimo has always been a songwriter. As a very young child she recalls writing songs on the family's old piano. When she was 6 years old, her family had to move out of state and sell the piano, a day she recalls quite clearly. "I remember them hauling it out of the house, and even I was shocked by my response. I felt an overwhelming sense of loss and panic, and ran into the bathroom sobbing uncontrollably." 

The loss of her first instrument was a huge set back and put music on hold for a few years, but when she turned 13 and her dad taught her a Tom Petty song on his bass, she was immediately hooked. Ripping through CDs by U2, R.E.M., Dream Theater, Led Zeppelin, Silverchair, The Beatles, Rush, and literally anything she could get her hands on, she mastered the bass very quickly. Something, however, was always missing with this instrument. "As long as I've been alive, I've had this persistent, nagging songwriting bug- music pops into my head and pounds until I give it a voice- and I couldn't write the songs with a bass. 

There was a guitar in the house... so I decided to learn the guitar." This was, however, a slow and arduous process. "I tried, and quit, three times over the next 2 years. Barre chords kept tripping me up. It was very frustrating." However, at the age of 16, she committed to learning it, and taught herself the basics using a Soundgarden song book. It was then that the music started to pour out and she found a guitar teacher to help her learn the basics of music theory and lead guitar, further helping her to express the music. Vocals came next. Always shy and self-conscious about her voice, Rose practiced on her own but it wasn't until her early 20s that she was able to sing around other people. "I was paying my way through college playing guitar and bass in bands. As we played more shows, we got more and more demands for 'the chick to sing' (laughs). 
The other guys in the band finally forced me. I was to learn a cover by Alanis Morrissette. When the next practice came, I was so scared to sing in front of my bandmates that I could barely breathe. I remember starting to do the song with them, and out of sheer terror, I did the whole thing with my eyes closed. But when it ended, and I opened them, the crazy positive response I got from each of them was enough to get me over my shyness, at least enough to allow me to sing a song or two at shows." As much as she has developed her voice over 15 years of performing music, and despite the rave reviews she has received regarding her voice and her solid vocal harmonies, that shyness has never completely abated. "To this day, I still use probably more effects on my vocals than most people find tasteful. I still usually sing with my eyes closed, even if I'm alone in my studio.

 And lots of that is from shyness, but a lot of it is being able to find in myself the strong feelings you need to bring to the song while you're performing it. If you're not feeling it, other people probably won't feel it either, and art is meant to be felt. It has to be emotive." Rose's vocals have been heavily praised over the years, having been most commonly described as 'honest,' and her voice has been repeatedly compared to that of the late Dolores O'Riordan, the singer for The Cranberries. Rose is a very firm believer that "people are so multifaceted and should fairly explore the different parts of themselves. We should push ourselves in all directions that are available to us. Life is too short and too full of awesome things to only do ONE of those things." It was with this mindset that she struggled in her early 20s. She studied philosophy and biology at King's College, PA, while studying, recording, and performing music on the side, but struggled greatly in deciding what career path to take. She felt a great pull toward pursuing music as a career, but worried about it providing a stable life for her down the road. "The debate in my soul between pursuing a career in music vs a 'real job' was absolutely brutal." In the end she decided to attend veterinary school at Cornell University, knowing she would have to put music on hold for a few years to focus on her studies, and hoping to be able to pick it up again someday. 

And this is exactly what happened. "During vet school I played in a band with some of the other students, but the songwriting muse completely dried up." The grinding intensity of veterinary school took every bit of mental and physical energy she had left, depleting her of most of her creative drive and even of the desire to play music at all. It was years after graduation when things started coming together again. "I was 32 when I started having songs pop into my head randomly again, and I was SO happy to hear them!" She began to write many of these songs out and, over the course of five years, self-recorded and produced her first internationally published album, "The Importance of Centers." "It is loosely a concept album, based on the ethical idea that we live in a society without a common, shared moral center, and the issues that this can present, specifically regarding relationships between people." The music is full of life- a vibrant and emotive blend of acoustic-based rock loaded with stunning vocals and layered with solid vocal harmonies. 
In addition to the vocals, Rose played every instrument on the album herself- bass, acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin, and a few percussion instruments. "Everything but the drum kit," she jokes. "I had to program the drums, because me playing a kit sounds like I'm falling over it." Rose feels incredibly lucky to have been able to go back to music again and again after losing it once as a child, and again as an adult in graduate school. Rather, "I feel blessed that the music comes back to ME. I'm truly hoping that I can keep on writing music for the rest of my life with no more interruptions." She has been enjoying promoting the album at coffee shops, wineries, and smaller venues with her percussionist, Colwyn Gulliford. She is also already at work writing songs for her next album. When not working on music or practicing veterinary medicine, Rose enjoys gardening and growing her own food, travel, hiking, and reading, especially Russian literature.

Though she was featured in recently released Lifoti's October/November 2019 issue 10, you can check it from below link's for your country:

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