River Phoenix - Message Archive

Hi P

The band was working on the studio album 'Never Odd Or Even' at the time of River's death. Funny trivia: Try to read the title backwards

Today the band refers to it as 'Zero.' The way NOOE was used was too different from the plans the band intentionally had for the CD. Therefore they're using another name.

Due to legal problems the album was never released. On Aleka's Attic's official myspace (http://www.myspace.com/alekasatticzero) it says that most of the songs have been blocked from release by two of the musicians refusing to sign artist releases. Why they refuse to sign the artist releases is not mentioned, and who they are isn't mentioned either. Rain and Joshua Greenbaum have both spoken out about their wanting to get this album released, so it can't be any of those two. I wouldn't think Josh McKay would have a problem, either. He seems very interested in keeping the spirit of the band alive.

(For example he was fine with the t-shirt project we had going on in here a couple of years back. He was the one to draw the band's logo, so we felt we had to ask him for permission, before printing the shirts with his logo on them. He was totally fine with it, and thought it was a cool idea.)

Aleka's Attic originally consisted of five members:
River Phoenix (vocals and guitar) - Josh McKay (bass) - Joshua Greenbaum (drums) - Tim Hankins (violin) - Rain Phoenix (vocals and percussion)
As far as I know, two of the members - Josh McKay and Tim Hankins - decided to leave the band due to some indifferences. It could have had something to do with River's troubles. Anyway, when they left, Hasid RA/Sasa Raphael came into the picture. Together with River, he re-recorded some of the tracks on some of the songs.

Later Hasid RA uploaded the whole album ILLEGALLY to the internet, and Rain pulled him to court right away, resulting in him having to take down the songs. However, even though he was ordered to take down the songs, which he did, he still continued sending the album to people in other ways. It has been a huge problem for the band.

There are a lot of 'fake' Aleka's Attic songs out there, meaning songs that have been uploaded as Aleka's Attic tracks, but really aren't.

The following are some of the fakes out there:
"Opinion" - Has absolutely nothing to do with Aleka's Attic. Supposedly it's a Nirvana song.
"Wrong Turns" and "Ben" - Both of these songs are by the band Fenix TX.
"I Save Cigarette Butts" - Not Aleka's Attic either. Some claim it's a song by Johnny Depp and River, but that's not the case, either. It's a Gibby Haynes song.

I'm sure I forgot a bunch. There are so many fakes out there. So if anyone remembers the titles of some of the other songs, feel free to add them to this list.

The following songs ARE Aleka's Attic songs:
Across the Way
In the Corner Dunce
Where I'd Gone
Too Many Colors
Goldmine
Popular Thinks (live)
Alone we Elope
Solo 2X4
Below Beloved
You're So Ostentatious
Bliss Is...
Note to a Friend
Senile Felines
Get Anything
DogGod
Safety Pins and Army Boots
Scales & Fishnails
Blue Period

(I apologize if I've forgotten any)

One last thing, River once said this:
"Aleka is a poet philosopher - and the attic is a meeting place where he lives and has a secret society. People come and visit him and read his works, then he dies and they meet regularly and continue the reading of his works, and from that - learn their own, and become filled with this new passion for life, and they express it through music and form a band. We've put it in a fairytale setting"

I hope this was useful in some sense.