In Their Own Language: Chicago’s The Back Alley on Finding Their Sound, Chasing White Whale Venues and a New Single
Interview by Shawna O’Hara, Editor – Photos by: James Scully
On a muggy September evening at Gallagher Way at Wrigley Field, Chicago’s The Back Alley prepared to check another dream venue off their list, this time opening for Hippo Campus. It wasn’t the first time they’d played a venue they once promised themselves they’d reach, but Wrigley carried particular weight for the Chicago natives. Editor Shawna O’Hara sat down with Ralph Porter (lead vocals), Jaden Cone (guitar), Ben Kremer (drums), Sal Defilippis (guitar) and Hunter Olshefke (bass) ahead of their opening set.
CMG: You guys have told the story of how The Back Alley started a few times, so I actually want to skip ahead. When you look at the band in September 2026 versus even a year ago, what feels fundamentally different?
Jaden: We’re all pretty blown away by the growth. Our goals were so much smaller (when the band formed). We hoped we could go play a 200-person room, or even just get a gig in Chicago! So for us to be doing an interview three to four years later, before we open for our heroes at Wrigley Field, it’s really cool.
Ralph: Early on, all I wanted to do was play Schubas, maybe play Chicago once a month. Now, traveling and playing music is the biggest blessing ever, and here we are at Wrigley.
CMG: Yeah, it’s a really big leap. And I heard that one of you kind of called your shot – Babe Ruth-style – and said you’d play Lincoln Hall. Then you did just that.
Jaden: Something we always look back on to judge (growth), we could just pinch ourselves. When Ben first joined the band, he came a little later in the process of The Back Alley. We were all sitting around after our first rehearsal with him, and it went really well. We were eating dinner together, and I said, “We’re going to play Lincoln Hall,” and everyone went, “What? No way.” And then we played Lincoln Hall (laughs). That was a big goal of ours, as a collective. It seemed like a stretch. To this day, it’s still awesome to play Lincoln Hall.
Sal: Every show you get to the next level is always the same mindset of, “Oh my gosh, this is the biggest show we’ve ever played, guys. We cannot mess this up!” Then the show goes well, and the next one is the same: “We cannot mess this up; this is our biggest one yet!” It always goes like that.
CMG: You have a new single coming out. Without giving anything away, what does it tell us about The Back Alley and where you’re headed?
Jaden: The new single feels like a really cool transition into a new era of the band, while not jumping right in. It’s called “What Does It Take?” It does a good job of not spooking the listener into “Whoa. This is a hard switch.” Not that we’re changing drastically. We’re all really excited about how different it is. We’re proud of (our sound).
CMG: Is this next era going to be very different? Are we about to get a total 180?
Sal: I’d say it’s a change.
Jaden: Once you listen to it in context with the album, I think it’ll make a lot of sense as far as different elements in a certain section of the song. I feel like we’ve written entire songs that feel like the bridge of “What Does It Take?” It’s a little bit different than anything we’ve done before, like you’re saying. But as a single, I think it’s fun, and it keeps The Back Alley’s upbeat vibes; in the context of the album, I think it makes a lot of sense.
CMG: So, we’re apparently in the presence of monsters. I read that you guys have described yourselves as “giggle monsters”. What is that about?
Jaden: Well, honestly, it’s Sal right there.
(Laughter)
Ralph: When Sal gets us going, he’s dominant over everyone.
CMG: How do you define ‘giggle monster’?
Sal: If we have an hour and we find that we’ve done everything we need to do, it’s time to find dust in the corners, you know, figure out new, fun things to screw around.
CMG: Pranks?
Sal: It’s nonsense, making our own language-
Jaden: Making our own language!
Sal: Just talking to each other like…
Jaden: (Babble)
Sal: We’d be saying phrases that only one another would know, “Oh, Jaden’s talking about this again, Ralph’s talking about this again…”
Jaden: I think it also happens a lot when we’re on the road. Because right when we wake up, especially, and everyone’s brain is half turned on, no one’s making any sense, and that happens.
Ralph: One thing that I’m trying to do on this tour is we put our phones down in the van. No matter what, an hour-
Sal: We’re trying.
CMG: And how does that work?
Hunter: It doesn’t. It doesn’t work.
(Laughter)
CMG: Well, what are the consequences for the first person to pick up the phone?
Sal: Shame.
Jaden: They have to walk to the next show.
(Laughter)
CMG: Okay, so what can you say about this language you’ve developed?
Hunter: Garvin.
Sal: Gar or Garvin.
Hunter: Anything can be Gar.
Jaden: Everything.
CMG: What are you most excited for people to hear with the new sound? Anything you’re nervous for them to hear?
Ralph: It is so Midwest.
CMG: Explain that.
Jaden: We have a song Ralph wrote on his own in the studio, the first Back Alley song he played on guitar. I’m pretty hyped for that one. We’re using the word ‘different’ a lot in questions about the single, and that’s a very simple way to put it. It just feels like a growth moment. Like we finally found a little bit more of a sound.
Hunter: It’s more folk music-
Ralph: That’s what I meant by ‘Midwest’.
Jaden: I think we borrowed more from our influences. We would listen to awesome acts with a lot of acoustic guitar and stuff, then we would get into the room and start writing music, and it sounds nothing like the music we listen to.
CMG: What are you guys currently obsessed with? And is any of that bleeding into your work for new stuff?
Ralph: I love Hippo Campus!
Jaden: There’s a band called The Bends. I really like what they’re doing right now. Their song, “Makeup”: I can’t stop listening to that over and over.
Hunter: I think it goes back to Waxahatchee, actually. They’ve not left my Spotify playlist in a long time.
CMG: In the past, you guys have talked about the early material being kind of out of Ralph’s music. What was the process of figuring out The Back Alley as separate from that, and kind of evolving to what you guys are doing now?
Jaden: I think it just forced itself. It just happened. You bring a singer-songwriter sort of song to a band, and it’s gonna evolve into a mishmash of guitar sounds.
(Laughter)
It took a little bit, though. Ralph and I felt attached to his older music because it started this group. So when we transitioned out of playing that live, the most extreme version was taking it off Spotify, because we released our earliest music to his Spotify page essentially under a different name. We pulled his music off of the platform, and that felt bittersweet.
For the band’s growth, we probably all agree it needed to happen, because it wasn’t our sound anymore and would probably just confuse listeners. We still play one of the songs that he wrote called “Flower Girl”; it’s one of our favorites to play. We won’t be doing it tonight, but on the headline shows we always play it, and it’s a blast. We love that one.
Sal: I remember Ralph coming into my room in college going, “Sal, I wanna start a band. I got four drummers. I got three bassists.” I’m like, “Holy crap, dude, let me help out.”
Ralph: Savior! I was about to do a show by myself with backing tracks, and Sal texted me, and he says, “What’s wrong?” (I said) “It’s the death of me right now. I’m gonna die up here.” And he said, “Well, so you have a drummer. You have Jaden. You got me and all these other musicians.”
Sal: He’s like, “I know. I have this idea. I’ll give you a call.”
Ralph: And that’s how it all started.
Jaden: Our first gig as a band, we were second on a six-band bill with rappers and DJs. And we were in the deep western suburbs of the city, in a 750-cap venue.
(Laughter)
With only our parents in there. I don’t even think, at this point, Hunter had told his parents about the project yet.
Hunter: I don’t know. It was just a one-off.
Jaden: We played probably more covers than originals. It was nuts. To look back at that and be able to say that was our first gig, and now we’re here. We’ve come a long way. I’m proud of this group.
CMG: What can you do musically now that you wouldn’t have done three years ago?
Ralph: The songs kinda take you on a journey.
Jaden: We put a lot of thought and heart into these songs, as opposed to past songs, which we love playing and listening to, but they feel a little more like, “Let’s create a fun song that’s gonna be fun to play, and it’s gonna be catchy.”
There’s more of us in (these songs). We’re excited (to be) doing horns on the album, and that’s something we’ve never experienced as a band or experimented with. There’s banjo on the album. There’ll be a song that shows that part of the album, and then one that’s a polar opposite and really showcases what we were doing to prep the audience for the big project.
CMG: Okay, so you keep reaching your white whale venues, playing here at Wrigley, being one. Is there any space that you’re obsessed with playing that you’re actively working on?
Jaden: In Chicago?
CMG: Anywhere.
Ralph: Red Rocks.
Jaden: Yeah, Red Rocks.
CMG: What is the next thing you’re looking forward to?
Jaden: So excited for the album to be out, honestly. It feels like anytime you make music, it feels like forever until the world hears it. When you do as many songs as we’ve just done and recorded, I think the mix and mastering process- everybody just really wants that, at the end of the day, to be heard. There’s so much anticipation leading up to it, for sure.
CMG: How long did this album take?
Ralph: I mean, we wrote the songs in January.
Jaden: We’re nearing the end of the album process. We have to get the songs mastered now. We’re really excited to get the word out. We’re obviously talking about it with you now, and we’ve mentioned at shows to fans that an album is coming, so it’s not a big secret, but we’re excited for the rollout. We’ll be at the beginning of the new chapter.
The Back Alley will release their new single, “What Does It Take?” on September 25. Catch them on Spotify and on tour this fall.
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