We had the good fortune of connecting with Alex Buhlig and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alex, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
When I was younger I was so deeply and positively affected by music I wanted to bring that same joy to others.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I started in music when I was very young, originally playing piano I eventually moved to bass guitar as a teenagers and then to electric guitar in my late teens. After spending sometime in bands as a bass player I wanted to grown and learn as a songwriter which prompted me to focus primarily on guitar.

In my mid twenties I started writing, recording, and releasing music by myself, these rough demo’s and recordings are what eventually spawned Sight of Theia. After searching for musicians to collaborate with for sometime I met Shiloh Bloodworth who was interested in drumming for me, together we found Renzo Ruiz who wanted to play bass for us. We recorded the Red Sun EP together and played a few gigs around town. This all occurred between 2017 and 2019. As life went on and we learned more about what we wanted to pursue musically a mutual, and amicable split occurred. With Shiloh and Renzo both moving on to pursue other musical and creative endeavors. While I stuck with the Sight of Theia brand to continue growing as a songwriter and band leader.

I did however take sometime off of music in this period to work on myself and readjust my own creative goals.

In December 2019 I briefly got in touch with Charles Von Kanel about continuing Sight of Theia, Charles had actually attended one of the original line ups shows but was unaware we were looking for another guitarist. After this meeting I told Charles I still needed a drummer for us to really get to work and I’d let him know when I found one. Enter Ricky Shenkman, me and Ricky met at a bar after I had sent him the demos of material I had been working on independently since the original line up split. After this initial meeting we decided we should get together and try and work on some of them. Between the original meeting and first session however, Ricky broke his wrist so the first time we got together to play he was playing one handed. And he absolutely crushed it. I thought to myself, ‘if this is what this dude can do with one hand, what could he do with both!?’ I called Charles up and told him we were in business and should start working on new material. And then 2020 happened.

We all remember COVID-19. Ricky, Charles and I spent the 2020 quarantine lockdowns working on what would become the Lighthouse EP. We would exchange our parts via email, get together sporadically to play them in a room with each other and generally tried our best to make the best of a bad situation. In the fall of 2020 we recorded four songs with a local engineer named Andy Reilly. I remember the sessions vividly because during them I was considering calling it quits after we finished, original music is a challenging pursuit to say the least and I had been balancing all of this with a career in the film industry which is another challenging pursuit in of itself. I thought to myself, “if this doesn’t change things with my music I am going to focus on my building my career as a union camera Assistant.”

Once the songs were mixed, and ready to release I privately started showing my close friends and connections in the music scene in town. The response was extremely positive. I also couldn’t believe how genuine it was as well. Maybe we had something, maybe.

We the songs came out we got more positive responses, it felt great to hear such kind and supportive things from friends and co-workers.

And then one afternoon in June of 2021, a local booking agent asked me if we wanted to open up for one of my favorite bands, an instrumental math rock act called ‘Strawberry Girls.’ I was floored by the opportunity to open up for a touring act that I loved, there was just one problem, we didn’t have a bass player, I had played bass on the Lighthouse EP because we hadn’t been able to find someone to do it. I told the booking agent I’d figure something out though. Luckily we had just had Keith Tuggle audition to be our bass player who ultimately passed on the gig, but knew how to play the songs. So I called Keith up and proposed, ‘why don’t we play this one gig and see how we feel after?’ He agreed.

On the day of the show 250 people showed up at doors, the Purgatory stage at the Masquerade was packed and I think everyone was so excited to have live music back the crowd was spectacular. I can still remember the crowds reaction after our last song. Up until this point, it was the biggest crowd I had played for and one of my best memories I’ve made as a musician. After our set we got compliments from the bands after us and I went out into the crowd and danced and moshed all night.

Keith decided against joining the band after this but shortly after the Strawberry Girls gig a local bassist named Bill Pritchard reached out to me interested in joining. In our first phone call I knew Bill was special, a professional musician who wanted be apart of my instrumental progressive metal art rock project what luck! Also he sounded incredibly kind over the phone. How wonderful I thought, I can’t wait to make heavy complicated music with this kind, intelligent, and thoughtful man.

Since Bill joined and solidified the current line up we’ve gigged consistently around Atlanta, opening up for more national and international touring acts, and even had one of my favorite guitarist show up at one of my gigs and compliment me on my playing. I’ve also had the distinct honor of a steady stream of my IATSE brothers and sisters showing up and overwhelmingly supporting us at our shows. And all of this is enriched and enhanced by just how close I came to walking away from original music all together.

Currently, we are trying to take advantage of the downtime in my film career to record a full length, the first singles of which should be coming out this fall.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I think showing my best friend the best time ever in Atlanta would involve grabbing a meal on Buford Highway at some point. The Sight of Theia guys are all partial to El Rey Del Taco. I’d take them to the High Museum of art during the day to take in some art. Maybe we could then go get wings and beers at The Local off ponce as an early evening snack, and then we’d be right across the street from The Claremont Lounge so we’d have to pop in and say hey. Depending on the time I’ve always wanted to catch a screening of ‘The Room’ at the plaza so if thats a viable late night option this particular week I’d have to take them to see some fine Cinema.

Depending on the time from there I’d love to take them to MJQ too. A couple other week day food options I enjoy Whoopsies, Bona Fide Deluxe, Momonoki, and Kimble House in Decatur. We’d also have to wash all this food down with a few Grizzs at Elmyr at some point. After that if its a Monday night I’d be keen to take them to see Star Bar’s comedy night, or another comedy show during the week, I’ve recently started exploring the comedy scene in Atlanta and have not been disappointed.

On the weekends I love spending my time in East Atlanta, maybe Zibas Wine Bar in Grant Park for dinner, and a bar crawl through EAV to see some of my favorite bar tenders and servers at The Earl, Flatiron and Trophy Room. Hopefully there would be a show, rave, weird art show, silent disco or some sort of live music at one of the many great venues in town to check out.

In the cooler months I love getting brunch at Flatiron and dinner at Gaja or if my companion wants to get out of the village, Folk art, Highland Bakery and Petit Chou are good spots for Sunday brunch as well.

All in all I love good food and strong drinks.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My name is Alex Buhlig and over the course of my life any other musician I played with or learned from deserves recognition of some sort, from the music teachers of my youth to past collaborators, and especially the ones involved in Sight of Theia. Speaking of, the other musicians in the band currently are; Charles Von Kanel, Bill Pritchard, and Ricky Shenkman.

I would also like to make mention of the two original members of Sight of Theia; Renzo Ruiz, and Shiloh Bloodworth.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sightoftheiamusic/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sightoftheia

Other: email – sightoftheiamusic@gmail.com

Image Credits
Jason Lancour took the band and individual photos. I couldn’t tell you who took the live shots.

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