Meet Hannah Ali Burx | Vocalist, Dancer, Business Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Hannah Ali Burx and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Hannah, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I think being an artist chooses you. How you Interpret that into practice determines the success! You have to be willing to try things and work more hours than a regular job would ever ask of you, but that’s why you have to work so hard because you’re working for yourself.
 

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.
At a very early age I was singing and dancing. Growing up, I spent 13 years in tap, ballet, jazz, and lyrical dance classes along with about 3 years of vocal lessons and many seasons of theatre. I always considered myself an artist and creative, pushing against anyone who wanted to make me follow a path made for me. My father is from Syria and my mother from Alabama, as you can imagine this made for a very interesting childhood and I had a hard time satisfying both sides. I have heavy influences of both culturals in my life today and think I am blessed to have had such eye opening experiences from the beginning. Eventually in my teens, I took my Arab American Heritage to the next level with my dance and became a bellydancer by studying with amazing instructors. This sustained a lot of my creative flow in my 20s, performing at weddings and with troupes and doing lots of shows. I love to perform and I transform into a new person on a stage! Flowy movements and striking isolations are what I am known for. Bellydance is a cultural connection for me and something that I feel I can’t live without. I have spent more time educating myself in this rich dance than anything else in my life and still I find myself excited to do it everyday. I perform often and teach bellydance classes and other movements in my private studio. I knew I wanted to do more than dance, but wasn’t always sure of what my path should be. I was scared to use my voice as a child even though I felt I should. When my husband and I got together almost 5 years ago, he liked to play acoustic guitar at home and wanted me to sing with him. At first, even though I desperately wanted to, I felt shy, a feeling most people can relate to. But eventually, he got me comfortable enough that we sang together all the time at home. Singing NOFX, Johnny Cash and June Carter, The Ronnettes. I found more inspiration in our own live music shows that we book and produce here in Birmingham – Punk Rock Art Shows Presented by Art By Burx. I took a deep dive into punk rock music by accident just learning from my husband and friends, meeting people in my local scene, and throughout the world of punk rock music. I found lots of female singers to look up to, including my favorite band from Georgia, Triangle Fire, lead vocalist Tandi! Eventually I felt so inspired by all this music that I got on stage with a local band Pedestrian Unrest and sang a Ramones cover at a two day festival! It was the first thing I ever did singing on stage with a full band, and it made me want to do it over and over again! I spent the next months forming my band with the help of music friends and our band is called Over Seasons. This is a homage to the Band Authority Zero from Arizona. I actually got to record a song with some of the original members last year called “Gumba Surprise” by Cero Viejo and Hannah Burx. My husband grew up in Arizona and we love to travel out there, so the band was a big inspiration for my love of dynamic music. My band is a bit of melodic, hard-core punk rock mixed with some ska elements and really anything that sounds fun! We love to experiment and find crazy things to do, and love playing some covers too! We cover Tsunami Bomb and Tilt in our set. Oh and we cover Aqua too, Barbie Girl is a crazy fun song when done heavy! My guitarist Rambling Ricky Tate, who has a bustling solo career and is an amazing musician screams and sings with me in Over Seasons. We often sing acoustic together and sometimes I sing tunes with his other band, The Steel City Jugslammers.

I hope to travel more with Over Seasons and share our music. I really wanna play some big festivals too! You can find one of our live recordings on streaming services. Search: Salt Over Seasons. Our performance is loud and full of sass and screams. Every time we get off stage I am wondering when I get to do it again. In our local scene here in Birmingham we have a lot of young fans who feel inspired to see someone like me on stage, just going for it and not holding back, this is what they tell me. I don’t know if I deserve that love but I am never turning it away. I am thankful to see kids and teens taking up space in live music. I never thought I’d actually get to be the person I wanted to be, and everyday I see more and more of myself that I want. Music has saved my heart and given me somewhere to feel everything we are meant to feel!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Friday Saturday and Sunday 12 – 6 my cool little store is open, Wantfull Things 1034 23rd Street South Birmingham Alabama 35205. Walk in tattoos and shopping! Plus every first sunday of the month we have a yard sale in our parking lot with vendors and food!
True Story Brewing Company is where we host many of our live music shows and events and they have a killer menu for the bar and the kitchen!
The Nick is a staple Dive Bar in Birmingham and we love to book shows there and go there to see touring bands and locals!
Black Market Bar and Grill in 5 Points and 280 are prime lunch and dinner spots!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Art By Burx – Brian Burx – My husband, business partner, and band manager. We are a hard working team always moving towards what we want to create and achieve. Everything I do is tied to what we do together. My husband has been a full time artist for a decade doing all sorts of mediums and doing album covers, book covers, festival promotional art, and making art for peoples homes and businesses. Eventually he got back to his first love of tattoo art and became a tattoo artist, and together we own Wantfull Things Tattoos and Cultural Artifacts in Birmingham Alabama. A tattoo shop and an alternative thrift store full of oddities and curiosities!

Website: www.artbyburx.com

Instagram: HannahAliBurx and BrianBurx and OverSeasonsPunkRock

Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWbsA8dW21g https://www.facebook.com/WantfullThingsBham/ https://www.facebook.com/thehannahali/ https://www.facebook.com/overseasonspunkrock/ https://www.facebook.com/Artbyburx/