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Meet Aliice

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Aliice.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Aliice. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I guess I could blame Disney for getting me going as a kid. I needed my daily fix of sing-alongs but I would say it was The Little Mermaid that pushed me over the edge and made me realize I needed to dedicate my life to music, singing just made me feel more alive than anything else! I was hooked, and the feeling still remains.

Born in Hollywood and raised beside my father; voice actor Lennie Weinrib, playing and bending my voice always felt natural, we would always sing and do cartoon voices around the house. What came next felt unnatural, at a young age we moved to Chile as a family, where my mother was from, and since the dictatorship had ended and the country was returning to a more peaceful state (place it’s sadly far from these days once again) and the LA riots were taking over town, we moved hoping for a calm life. Chile is a beautiful yet conservative country and I constantly felt censured, forced to use a uniform to school, where I was told girls wear skirts and boys wear pants and I wasn’t allowed to do both, my pink tips were chopped off, my earrings taken off and all forms of personal expression were discouraged. It was also advised to follow a formal traditional career and not dedicate your life to the arts and starve to death. But when you can’t breathe without music in your life, you don’t really have much of a choice now do you?

So I sang every chance I got! Later on tried out being on TV, on a local talent show and then The Voice, I started my first Rock band called The Flick Leslies, band I was a part of for six years and then I created my alter ego Aliice, which is basically my history in a nutshell; voice acting + Rock&Roll, combining my favorites, Alice in chains and Alice in wonderland, keeping an I from each world and suddenly i was born! I’m not only a big fan of Ru Paul’s Drag race, I am also a big LGBTQ supporter and I have performed as the closing act at Pride twice already and plan to make it a yearly event. There is no greater feeling than singing for a cause of love and equality. Drag is far from only being about the aesthetics and theatrics, it is a form of self-love and self-defense. Turning yourself into whoever you wish to and reinventing yourself, not letting bullies get away with murder because even if they criticize one look, you have a bag full of tricks and a million others!

I didn’t speak Spanish when I arrived to Chile and I had different opinions and dressed differently, don’t even get me started on how overweight I was as a teen fighting off that stress, for all of which and more I was reminded daily of how different I actually was. Which I later on learned was a great thing! Who wants to be the same as everybody else?! This quote saved my life: “You laugh at me because I am different, but I laugh because you are all the same”. So I guess I rebelled against all those norms and starting acting out like a teen would; piercings, tattoos, pink hair, the works! Haha and since I was into Rock and admired singers like Pink and Gwen Steffani, it was all welcome! Not by my poor mother though.

My goal as a songwriter is to express humanity, not the need to fit in, everything is accepted, every emotion and rant! I can be angry and happy, depressed and sexy! Furious and silly! Why not? I don’t feel the need to be put into a little box and live there. It took me years to move back to L.A. to give my career as a singer-songwriter and voice actor an actual fighting chance, and this year in April I finally took the leap and moved back! It’s been a little bumpy, but oh well, more things to write about, right? haha So I am here now, recently married my partner in crime, fellow musician, skilled Guitarist and composer Benjamin Lechuga, who pushes me daily to create non stop. We even decided to join worlds and started a band called Mr. Lunas, I describe its sound as: when Lady Gaga meets Stranger Things. 80’s inspired, cinematic and intensely verbal and vocal.

I would love to have my life’s work heard by many so I can spread my message of bravery, honesty and just being true to who you are. Classic story of the girl with the rough childhood, but I take the survivor’s route, never the victim’s.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being an extremely overweight, not only teen, but singer, in the era and boom of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera was not easy. It made you feel like to be heard as a singer you had to be stick thin and show a lot of skin. Over the years, things not only in music but in self-image culture have been changing, and I am all for it! Bring on the healthy curves and when it comes to singing; make it all about the music! and as Billy Eilish says; if they don’t actually know what I look like, they can’t criticize me”, because who are we kidding, most people are never satisfied.

My home wasn’t the easiest place to grow up in. Sorry mom if you’re reading this, but it’s true. Never felt good enough and was always expected be more like them. They never got my forms of self-expression, dreams or intensity, but my family seems to be more pleased with me these days because they’ve seen me consistently working hard and fighting for myself and my dreams for years now, but I don’t seem to need their approval to move forward these days.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
These days I am extremely excited about my new project and band Mr. Lunas, our second single comes out this January and will be available on all streaming platforms. I sing about a subject very near and dear to my heart and daily thoughts; all variations of child abuse. And how it stays with you for life but doesn’t have to be crippling, it can be empowering to know you have already survived and have been through the worst. We have to stand united and tall, facing these issues and speaking up.

I would say my work is all about my reinvention, from the chubby teen no one believed in, to the strong colorful woman who lives in LA and can at least say she puts up a good fight. I write from the heart, sing my guts out and give every song I write my everything every damn time. Everything I do is energy-packed and heartfelt.

My message is always that of bravery, self-love and acceptance. Kissing the person in the mirror.

I have loved watching the little girl in me turn into the woman I am today. I think she would be proud and so would my father and mentor, may he rest in peace.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Wow! Where to start? No one actually does it alone. I can’t play a single instrument, I write melodies in my odd little head and I couldn’t mix my tracks to save my own life haha, so I have made sure to work with and surround myself with the coolest most talented musicians, producers, makeup artists, photographers, directors and more! I feel truly blessed so many talented people have chosen to bet on me and believe in my message.

I have to start with my musical partner, producer and husband, Benjamin Lechuga, also because I don’t want to sleep on the couch tonight haha.

Matias Daudet, band member and co-writer in The Flick Leslies and life-long friend

Pablo Stipicic who produced my first EP in Chile “Facing the monster” and also pushed me to moved back to LA

Susan Rosen, who has been an angel of constant support throughout my life.

Carolina Dagach, my cousin who through tough love reminded me of the monster size woman living inside me who was capable of anything! (this feels like an Oscar speech haha)

My amazingly talented friends: makeup artist and photographer couple in Barcelona, Lucia Chico and Hector Torras. Who have been a crucial part of my strong visual concept for years now.

My best friend Nicolás Willson who has been there for me through thick and thin.

The singers who through inspiration made me realize I could be strong, weird, powerful and funny: Pink, Sia, Gwen and soo many others

My mom is my N 1 fan these days, she isn’t crazy skilled on social media, but she posts and shares even my hiccups haha and believes in my life purpose, because I am no longer a stubborn teen, I am a woman actually trying to make her mark in this world.

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Image Credit:
Makeup by Lucia Chico; Photo by Hector Torras

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