Today, we’d like to introduce you to Alex Buhlig.
Hi Alex, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Sight of Theia’s instrumental progressive metal story started around 2017 and was originally an instrumental trio. This iteration of the band helped me get started in the Atlanta music scene and created viable relationships for myself and the band. After about a year or so gigging in bars and venues around town that lined up, Sight of Theia disbanded on good terms. I carried the name forward as the main songwriter and band leader.
Over the next year or so, I took some time off from music, focused on my career in film, and slowly began working on new material and finding new members. I found Ricky Shenkmen to play drums and Charles Von Kanel to be an additional guitarist. With Ricky and Charles on board, we could write and record the “Lighthouse” EP. We did all this during the COVID-19 pandemic and landed a gig opening up for the nationally touring act “Strawberry Girls.” After all the stress and anxiety of the pandemic, this was a great way to return to gigging and playing shows.
After this gig, we secured Bill Pritchard as our permanent bassist and continued playing shows around the metro Atlanta area, opening for more national and international touring acts. We’ve also been fortunate to play with great bands at several local venues around town. An absolute highlight was a headlining show at Star Bar on the 5th of August, 2023. Warfather, Room 213, and Terrazzo opened up for us that night.
In 2024, we are finishing recording our debut album, “The Great Dreamer,” hopefully out in the summer. We’ve also collaborated with Jack Wachtel on a few tracks as a vocalist.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
If you had asked me this early in 2023, I would have said something about managing musicians and the politics of the music scene being the biggest challenge of being a band leader, but I work as a camera assistant in the film industry as my “day job.” As a camera assistant the writers/actors strike of 2023 was one of the most challenging things I have experienced in my professional life, and it bled over into Sight of Theia due to my role as the band leader.
I feel fortunate that I didn’t have kids to support or anything during the strike, but when the bottom falls out of your finances, it becomes increasingly difficult to function as an effective band leader. I am eternally grateful to Bill, Ricky, and Charles for standing by me and the project during the worst year of my adult life.
I am also extremely grateful to my IATSE co-workers and anyone else who came out and saw us play during such a stressful time. Their support allowed us to continue to move forward as a band.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I would describe our particular brand of heavy music as progressive metal. We take a lot of influence from bands like Meshuggah, Tool, and Mastodon.
While our music is heavy and expansive, compositionally, I try to focus on melody and arrangement so it’s not too overwhelming of a listen. Ricky also is always finding new poly-rhythms to throw into our songs. I’d like to believe we can create complex but accessible and melodic songs, but that’s entirely up to the listener.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I enjoyed the Children of Time series of books so much that I reference it in a song title. I enjoy Rick Beato and Adam Neely’s YouTube channels.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sightoftheia.bandcamp.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sightoftheiamusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sightoftheia
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sightoftheia4811
- Other: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sight-of-theia/1442947989
Image Credits
Jason Lancour, Kyle Ford, Art by Sara Slick Photos, & Sight of Theia and Jack Wachtel
