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Music video filmed in Salem will debut

Submitted photo From left, Glass Alice vocalist/guitarist Mike Hermensky, Salem area resident John Gilbert of Beatles Tribute band Abbey Road, actress Lexi Light and filmmaker/director George Ashton film a scene for the Glass Alice “Gravity” music video inside Salem Music Centre in downtown Salem. The Glass Alice band also filmed on the stage at Salem Community Theatre and inside LiB’s Market. The video makes its debut Wednesday on the Glass Alice Facebook page, YouTube channel and website at www.glassalicemusic.com.

SALEM — Salem area fans who check out the Wednesday premiere of the “Gravity” music video by the Youngstown area band Glass Alice may sense some familiarity with the setting.

That’s because the alternative heavy metal rockers filmed scenes on the stage at Salem Community Theatre, at LiB’s Market and inside Salem Music Centre, all in downtown Salem, featuring members of the band and even some locals who showed up for the filming.

Drummer Jon Ski said they originally had some other spots in mind, but the Salem Community Theatre “had a vintage stage and really set the atmosphere.”

He knows SCT manager Karen Losito professionally and the band saw this as an opportunity to branch out to the area and help out the theater at the same time. With COVID-19 canceling most of the SCT shows, the theater has resorted to fundraising in other ways and solicited donations from the community to keep going.

“We reached out to SCT and they were so excited,” he said.

Glass Alice, which came together in 2018 and now has an international following based on the strength of their independently-released singles, includes Mike Hermensky on vocals and rhythm guitar, Erich Albenze on lead guitar, Philip Albenze on bass guitar and Ski, who just joined the band in October. Glass Alice released their debut album Bitten on Sept. 14 through Super Delicious Records, produced by Los Angeles music producer Jim Wirt.

Ski said Wirt heard one of their songs and reached out to the band. He’s also producing their next album, which is slated to come out next year. The band will tour extensively in 2021 to support the Bitten album. Ski said they have a big following in the United Kingdom and all over, with the album attracting a lot of air play locally in Akron/Canton and Youngstown markets on the Summit and as far away as Denmark and Australia.

For the video filmed the week before Halloween, the band advertised for audience extras to attend and encouraged them to wear goth, vampire or creepy outfits or Halloween costumes with face makeup or just dress all in black. Salem area resident John Gilbert, a member of the Beatles tribute band Abbey Road, showed up in costume and may appear in the video, according to Ski, along with actress Lexi Light.

The video was directed by Dean Albenze and filmmaker George Ashton. Some outdoor shots were taken two weeks ago at the California Palms Hotel on state Route 46 in Austintown.

“The video went awesome,” Ski said, referring to the Salem filming.

“This is going to be a big, big video for the band,” he said.

The video will be available for viewing Wednesday on the Glass Alice website at www.glassalicemusic.com, on the Glass Alice channel on YouTube or on the Glass Alice Facebook page.

Glass Alice members all hail from the Youngstown area and grew up there, attending such schools as Wilson, Hubbard and Jackson Milton. Ski said they like to keep everything local as much as they can and get the younger generation involved.

“Everything is here locally. You just need to pursue it. Never give up,” he said.

The band is working on some new songs for the new album and plan to reach out to some choir directors locally and possibly have high school choirs do backing vocals. He said two of the schools to be contacted may include Salem and West Branch.

In January, the band has plans for some photo shoots in Salem. For helping the band, he said they promised SCT that they’ll probably come back for a concert to raise funds for the theater.

Glass Alice music is available on all major streaming services, such as Amazon Music, Pandora, iTunes, Apple Music and Spotify. Glass Alice has also partnered with Amazon.com to bring high quality merchandise, which already has a five-star rating.

mgreier@salemnews.net

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