Young and free in Southern California.

That’s the ethos here, except instead of cliche, it’s based on real events. There’s a certain breeziness and cool to the coastal towns of deep SoCal – Encinitas, Del Mar, La Jolla. Perhaps that’s why the area is a hotbed for left-of-center pop talents, like Ryn Weaver or Switchfoot to name a few. Alice Gray is yet another name we can add to the mix. Blending elements of R&B, pop, and alternative, she’s developed a brand as dreamy as the places she pulls inspiration from. Her most recent, “Double Decker”, is a warm glimpse back into her teenage years, when her and her friends would take the double decker bus from Solana Beach to Del Mar and get wasted before entering the famed fairgrounds. Produced by LA indie pop fixture Pink Skies, it’s a recollection of a time in life that is familiar to all of us, but in a place that only Alice can accurately portray.

Words by Andy Gorel
Photos by Sean Behr

“We used to take the double decker bus from the Solana Beach train station to the Del Mar fair in the summer. With not-so-discreet water bottles filled with vodka, we’d claim our spot on the second story and get hammered before they checked our bags at the fairground’s gate. We were slurring, screaming teenagers who thought we were on top of the world, with the wind in our hair, and no regard for the families innocently making their way to the fair. It’s a time that’s both so vivid and so blurry in my memory.”

“I recently wrote a song called ‘Del Mar,’ a sad song about home and the people I used to be close to there. After a traumatizing falling out with all my best friends, I could no longer go to all our old stomping grounds without feeling a pang of deep sadness and rejection. I wrote ‘Double Decker’ as a prequel of sorts. One of our old summertime traditions.

We used to take the double decker bus from the Solana Beach train station to the Del Mar fair in the summer. With not-so-discreet water bottles filled with vodka, we’d claim our spot on the second story and get hammered before they checked our bags at the fairground’s gate. We were slurring, screaming teenagers who thought we were on top of the world, with the wind in our hair, and no regard for the families innocently making their way to the fair. It’s a time that’s both so vivid and so blurry in my memory and the production Pink Skies crafted reminded me of how it felt back then to be young, dumb and high on life.”

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