It was a chilly February Friday night on Haight Street in San Francisco when a quaint Irish pub named O’Reilly’s hosted a concert. Four bands played, with tickets sitting at $10 in advance and $15 dollars at the door. Music-loving patrons slowly piled in. The friendly, tall man at the door took tickets and wrote down a tally of who came to see which band. It was nicely lit in the front of the bar near the counter, with a very kind and social bartender. The back of the bar’s much darker atmosphere, adorned with colorful string lights, almost felt like a different venue, transporting the audience to a new world.
As the members of alternative rock group Desoto Reds got ready to set up their instruments and perform, guests stepped out of the bright lights and into a joyfully psychedelic space, excited to check out the show.
O’Reilly’s was filled with warmth, not only in temperature, but also in its cheery, inviting atmosphere, providing safety from the San Francisco freeze.
The Desoto Reds commanded attention from all who attended with their captivating energy and passion for music. The vocalist performed, singing with a fierceness; his confidence spoke directly to each listener and the emotion displayed through his artistry was palpable.
That powerful voice resides on campus. The aforementioned indie rocker is also the quiet, polite Professor Alexander Sterling, who teaches English and Philosophy at LMC.
“I first wrote a song more than thirty years ago,” Sterling said. While he doesn’t remember the song itself, he remembers when he wrote it.
“I was in my second year of grad school, and I lived in Indiana. I borrowed my friend’s guitar and wrote a song,” Sterling shared. This may have been Sterling’s first experience in songwriting, but he was much younger when he fell in love with music.
“I learned to operate my parents’ record player, when I was about eight years old,” Sterling shared. “I got big enough that I could put a record on, so I started listening to my parents’ records really loud.”
Sterling recalls his parents’ music collection consisting of many Beatles records, so they went on to become his favorite group at the time. He mentioned that the Beatles are still his favorite to this day.
Sterling initially got his Master’s degree in Philosoph from Purdue, but found himself teaching ESL classes to middle schoolers after he initially finished grad school. He then went back to grad school to get his Master’s in English and began teaching at community college, both philosophy and English.
As an English professor, Sterling is no stranger to writing on the job, but he lets the music do the writing before he puts pen to paper.
“A song always starts with a musical idea. It’s a guitar riff, or some chords that sound good together,” Sterling said, “there’s always a musical idea that starts it, and then I figure out the words,” he added.
Sterling noted he takes major inspiration from his son, hip-hop artist Addie Steri, who started releasing music when he was just twelve years old.
“He was just always busy,” said Sterling of his son. “He was playing our piano, downstairs in his room recording raps and so I think that was an inspiration, too,” Sterling continued.
Sterling’s band got back together after nearly ten years in 2021. “During the pandemic, I was just playing guitar and singing a lot in my kitchen,” Sterling shared, adding that he and his friend Jeremiah brought forth its second-coming, with three releases already under Desoto Red’s belt since its return, being two EPs and one fully-fledged record, ‘put me to bed without my head,’ which was performed the night of the concert, February 7. Son Adlai Sterling mixed audio for his father’s record.
Being a father, professor and indie musician created some obstacles over the years. While it’s eased up as Sterling’s kids are now in college, the balancing of the two career paths can be difficult to maneuver.
“I mean, I don’t have time for some of the promotion activities, and it’s difficult for me to leave the house at night to go to other bands’ shows. So, some aspects are difficult, but we have band practice once a week, I write lyrics on Saturday, it works out,” Sterling shared of how he manages both jobs.
While he balances the two, Sterling also finds balance in the creativity in teaching and in making music.
“I think you have to be creative as a teacher, so there’s a lot of creativity, but a lot of what I do when I’m here in the office and teaching, is I have to be very organized and plan everything out,” Sterling said.
Sterling explores different types of creativity when teaching and making music. He mentioned that writing music is a whole different outlet for him creatively.
“When I’m playing guitar, and thinking of guitar riffs, it really feels like a whole different part of my brain. So it’s a way of having something in my life that’s totally separate from my job,” Sterling shared.
“I find writing lyrics really funny,” Sterling said. “I find it really funny to have a piece of music and put words in it. It’s kind of funny and playful, and maybe sometimes it’s about making serious statements, like the ‘autocracy blues’ song that [Desoto Reds performed at the concert]” he added.
Some songs off of ‘put me to bed without my head’ — like ‘autocracy blues’ and ‘mental maize’ — touch on relevant issues in politics, while others — like ‘duke of the island’ — take a more creative approach; all being incredibly emotionally evocative and eclectic, are like a comforting meal for the hungry indie rock fans’ ears.
