Interview: Living Forever In This Feeling With Alex Aiono
Interview & Photos by Yising Kao
Read/Order our April 2025 issue featuring Alex Aiono HERE!
Alex Aiono has released his second album, Old Ways, following his debut 2020 album, The Gospel at 23! Aiono’s songs feature earnest lyrics that flawlessly match his rhythmic and empowering melodies. As an accomplished artist, Aiono has toured with artists/bands such as Sabrina Carpenter, R5, and New Hope Club. Additionally, Aiono has acted in films and series such as Doogie Kamealoha, M.D., See You On Venus, and he’s currently starring in Rescue: HI-Surf. After taking a break from music to focus on his acting, Aiono is back with a groundbreaking album and we couldn’t be more excited! We chatted with Alex Aiono about Old Ways before he performed his first show in five years, at The Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles!
Congrats on releasing your new EP, Old Ways! It’s incredible and I love it. The Gospel at 23 and Old Ways obviously have different styles, but you still have that soulful sound and really meaningful lyrics. How do you think you’ve grown in your journey as an artist over the years since releasing The Gospel at 23 in 2020 to releasing your new EP?
You know, I think the biggest thing when it comes to growth, is a lot of living. The Gospel at 23, after I finished writing it, I couldn’t write songs for a while because I felt like I said everything I needed to say. I credit my collaborators a lot, you know, Devin Kennedy on Old Ways, Chris and Jesse, they’re going to be on stage with me for the set; They helped me create The Gospel at 23. And with a lot of other people as well, but those guys being sort of the core of that group. It’s a lot of that, being vulnerable and living, and telling the truth, right? So, I think all three of things kind of make for a recipe of making something that at the very least, is true to who you are.
You’re playing your first show in five years tonight in Los Angeles! How does it feel to play a sold-out show and be back on stage?
Oh man, it’s so interesting to me because it’s been five years since before COVID that I’ve been on an actual stage. And you know, a lot of this crowd that’s coming tonight has probably seen me on stage before and a lot of this crowd has probably never seen me on stage ever. A lot of my friends who are coming to tonight’s show, when we first met they didn’t know me as a singer, they knew me as an actor. Because over the last five years I've been very lucky to have fun in front of the camera. So, it feels incredible, it feels nerve-wracking, it feels exciting. It feels like it’s been too long and it feels like just yesterday I was doing this. Some of these rituals that I’m getting back into doing, make me feel like it’s just another night that I'm getting on stage. And then a lot of these things, I'm also reminding myself how much this matters to me and reminding myself that regardless of what my life looks like, this is something I really want to incorporate into it.
Hopefully you’ll go on a tour soon!
Definitely.
You released “The More I Think About It” featuring Dana Williams as a single. How did that collaboration come about?
This lady that’s not on camera actually is the one who introduced us, Liz. And Dana’s an artist that was brought up to me and I went and listened to her stuff, and I thought, “Man, she wants to work with me? A hundred percent!” And so, it’s a song I had already written and needed the second verse for a while and Dana came in and did ten times better than I could have imagined that verse to become.
It sounds amazing!
Thank you very much.
When you were recording your EP, did you know what type of vibe you wanted it to sound like or were you more spontaneous in the studio until you found something that clicked?
We really loved a lot of songs that we had done previously. “Right Here” was one of the big ones. Everything was one of the first songs that I wrote for the EP. and those really guided the way. Again, just telling the truth, saying what I want to say. That EP is a reflection of the previous relationship that I was in and so I spent a lot of time just kind of saying whatever was going on at the time. Most of the time, I let the way that it sounds fall into what the truth sounds like, you know? For “Best of Me,” we tried drums and this and that. And at the end of the day, we were like, “No, just use the piano.” And same with “Right Here,” it was originally played on tour in 2019; It was just guitar and snaps. And I said, “No, it feels like there’s drums that need to be in there.” So, you just gotta let the song talk. You gotta let the truth come out and be like, “The truth needs some drums, the truth needs to be stripped.”
“Right Here” kind of reminds me of Jon Bellion’s production. I love it!
Jon Bellion is a huge influence for me so that’s very nice to hear.
Rescue: Hi-Surf is based on real life lifeguard rescues that have happened in Hawaii. Do you have one memorable moment and anything crazy that’s happened on set?
I mean, it was crazy on set almost every day that we were filming. We were doing different rescues and we’ve been training for weeks before the show even started filming. So, we had learned how to approach these rescues. So a lot of the time they would just be like “That guy, go save him.” And thanks to Kekoa who’s here, Zoe who’s here, my castmates, we kind of all decided, you know, let’s commit to being in this moment and lock into what it feels like to be these people and represent these lifeguards who protect lives every single day, and most of the time, don’t get that recognition. So, I think it took a lot of us committing to really represent that.
It's a super unique show so I love it.
Thank you, I had so much fun filming it.
I've watched Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. and love the show. What was your experience like filming it in Hawaii and you knew how to surf before filming, right?
Yes, but not the most. By the way, the same water unit team that we worked on with Doogie is the same water unit team I worked on with Hi-Surf - Uncle Brian Keaulana, Uncle Terry Ahue, and Uncle Mel Pu’u. These are the guys that day in and day out, make sure that we are safe, make sure that it looks sick, make sure that the camera’s where it needs to be and during the whole thing, it looks like it’s the most dangerous thing while being a very safe thing.
When it comes to my surfing skills, I only became able to look like I can surf, thanks to them. Lifeguarding skills, swimming skills, all of that, is thanks to them. Filming in Hawaii, it’s a blessing and it’s a responsibility. Because you’re representing a group of people who historically have been misrepresented. Hawaii’s always been this you know, you got to a luau, have some pig, and it’s like, no, there’s deep rich culture, both local culture and Hawaiian culture, Polynesian culture in general, you know, most of the cast is Polynesian of some sort, if not Hawaiian. Representing all that, it’s a beautiful blessing and it’s a big responsibility that I take very seriously.
See You on Venus was released last year on Netflix. I’m a huge Rom-Com girly and I love it. What was your favorite part of filming it? Have you been to Spain before filming it?
I mean, we filmed that whole movie in Spain pretty much. I’ve been to Spain before, actually on tour. But being there for a longer period of time and experiencing the Spanish culture; Again, I think just as much as I admire the Hawaiian culture as I’m a part of it and I'm a part of representing it, getting to immerse myself in Spanish culture and the people and the food and the beautiful sights and the history. This country, there are certain buildings that are older than the entire United States as we know it. And so, I loved filming it, I had so much fun, Virginia Gardner is one of the most talented actors I’ve worked with. And it was an amazing time.
