This group is rock and rolling the dough!
A pizza-loving blues band is cooking up a Brooklyn-centric new album. The Brooklyn Pizzaiolos will soon launch the debut album “Right Outta Da Oven,” featuring cheesy songs that pay homage to the flavorful history of Kings County, said the band’s leader.
“There’s not a lot of ‘old’ New York City left. New York has changed tremendously. People have moved from other places, and it’s completely transformed the city,” said Jeff Alexander, a Sheepshead Bay native. “All that’s left is a few old school New Yorkers who were born here — and some old pizzerias.”
The new album features mouth-watering rhythms including “Grab a Slice” and “Brooklyn in my Bones” — tributes to the band’s favorite Italian dish, and to the borough that produces the best version of it.
“One song is called ‘Brooklyn Pizza Blues,’ which was an obvious song to write,” said Alexander. “I’ve been in different cities around the county, and sometimes you can’t get a real slice of pizza — and when you can’t get real pizza, you get the pizza blues.”
Alexander, the main songwriter for the six-member ensemble, focused on pizza because, he said, it is among the last true testaments to Brooklyn’s past. He lists Sal’s Pizzeria in Carroll Gardens, Luigi’s Pizza in Greenwood Heights, Johnny’s Pizzeria in Borough Park, and V & S Pizza in Sheepshead Bay as his favorites.
“They’re all very well kept, and they’re clean. But they look just like the day they opened. It’s old school. It’s like a time warp,” he said. “They make pizza just like their fathers taught them.”
The band’s frontman says that he is 90 percent done with the upcoming pizza project, and has just launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund its promotion, with special rewards for high-dollar donors.
“In the process of recording the project, I ran out of dough, and I was thinking about how I can put together a Kickstarter where New Yorkers and Brooklynites would be interested enough to fund the project,” he said. “It’s going to have rewards — if you give money, you can get the CD, or the download link, or buy a tee shirt. Hopefully, we can have some incentives for pizzerias to support it.”
Alexander hopes the rewards, along with his appeals to pizza lovers everywhere, will help raise enough funds for a full-scale album release.
“I hope that New Yorkers and Brooklynites really embrace it, but it should appeal to music lovers everywhere,” he said.
Hear “Right Outta Da Oven,” by the Brooklyn Pizzaiolos streaming on the band’s website: www.grabaslice.nyc/pages/music-the-brooklyn-pizzaiolos.
Support the Kickstarter at www.kickstarter.com/projects/brooklynpizzaiolos/the-brooklyn-pizzaiolos-i-believe-in-music-and-pizza
