In the the nearly two weeks since Chicago musician Alejandro Morales died at age 46 on Sunday, January 3, remembrances and testimonials have flooded social media. He was not only a pillar of the city’s underground rock scene (most famously, he drummed for noise punks Running and experimental duo Piss Piss Piss Moan Moan Moan) but also the kind of boundlessly generous sweetheart that absolutely no one has a bad word to say about. A theme I’ve noticed in these tributes is that people trying to honor Alejandro’s memory find it impossible to do justice to his many facets or to convey the enormity of their love for him.
Alejandro José Morales-Aponte was born October 3, 1974, in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, followed by brother Willo and sister Dianid. I intend to let other people who were close to Alex have the floor for much of this memorial, and it seems right to start with family. Willo says Alex taught himself to play guitar first, then percussion: “He told me one time that I’m the reason why he played the drums, because he remembered when I was taking drumming classes, and he always wanted to become a drummer since.” At some point, Willo says, Alejandro also learned violin.
“I met him because he answered an ad for a drummer I placed in the Reader, and I’m so glad he did,” says Keith Helt, lead guitarist and singer of the Rories. They gigged at Permanent Records, Phyllis’ Musical Inn, Cal’s, AV-aerie, and even at the deceased Wrigleyville vintage shop Hollywood Mirror (I never saw a single band there in 25 years of visits, so that might be a unique distinction). The Rories had 13 releases through the Pan y Rosas netlabel, nine of them proper albums, including their excellent ’09 swan song, Defeat the Hydra, which has a skittery, postfunky Gang of Four vibe.
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Grego especially treasures his memories of an Ono concert with Morales in New York City. “The show we did in NYC 2015 was a crazy 24 hours. It was set up as a last-minute showcase for Moniker Records, and so we put together a special Ono lineup and drove out to NYC. We were blessed to have a place to stay courtesy of Steve [Smith of End Result] and Tammie Smith—they owned a building in Brooklyn. And if you can imagine a large living-room space with Ono members, including Alex and Jimmy Whispers, who was also traveling with us in the van—it was a great time. Will never forget it.”
“Alex was my best friend and the reason I started playing music again 12 years ago,” says Running bassist and screamer Matthew Hord. “Running started because Alex and I met through Brett Naucke and Ben Billington in 2009. We became fast friends, probably because we were both nihilistic as hell and brutally dealt out sarcasm. At the time, I was just a graffiti-scene messenger shithead and wasn’t concerned with music beyond going to Mister City, People Projects, et cetera for shows. I had done some lackluster teenage hardcore punk bands and never really accomplished much with them beyond opening some bigger shows at Fireside in 2002 and 2003. I casually told Alex this while we were watching a noise show at the Mopery, and he suggested we start a punk band to play the noise shows. People would actually like our band, since we’d write songs! Insane and hilarious concept.”
