In our latest On Rotation interview, we hear from Alex Sorgente, who likes to listen to it all. He’ll queue up hip hop, metal, classic rock, and anything else he thinks is sick. Learn about some of Alex’s music influences that stem from cruising around Italy in the summer with his family, what songs get him pumped up to rip apart bowls, and even who you can catch him with at karaoke.
First question, who would you say is your current favorite artist?
Right now, I’m listening to so much stuff, but I’d say the new Playboi Carti album is sick. It gets the blood flowing and gets me pumped up, but I’ll also throw on some of the classics like Agent Orange, Panthera, Black Sabbath. There are so many good bands out there.
What are your go-to pump-up jams before a skate or surf session?
There’s so much sick music out there. That’s a tough question, but I’d go with Slayer. That’s always a good one to get hyped.
If you’re driving around with the homies, looking for spots, or on the way to a park, who’s playing DJ?
I’ll hop on the aux for a bit but usually, whoever has the best playlist at the moment. I skate with a bunch of random people, so it’s whoever has the tunes.
Do you ever skate with headphones?
Yeah, I do, actually. Every time I have a new song that I like and that gets me super pumped to skate, I have headphones. I usually don’t carry headphones, but when there’s a new sick song that just came out that gets me stoked, I’ll listen to it while I skate and keep it on repeat.
Do you have a song right now that’s been on repeat?
Sky by Playboi Carti.
How about when you compete? Do you have headphones plugged in?
I used to back in the day. I would be hyped on metalcore music, which is funny, but that was when I was young, around 12 or 14. I would listen to bands called Parkway Drive and Bringing Me the Horizon. That’s like the only time I can remember that I wore headphones during a competition.
So you dabble into other genres besides just hip hop, rap, and classic rock.
Yeah, full-on. I listen to anything that’s sick. Even if I’m on a road trip, I’m down for country music. I like to listen to everything.
Who would you say influenced your music tastes? Does it come from an older sibling, parents, or friends you had growing up?
My dad is from Italy, so we used to go on family vacations once or twice over the summer. We would drive through Italy, and my dad would always throw on a ton of classic rock. My mom would listen to a bunch of oldies like Van Halen, AC/DC, Mötley Crüe like that kind of vibe. So I listen to that a lot growing up, and I’d say my dad influenced me. That and Mike Rogers from Grind for Life would always play AC/DC at all the Grind for Life events, so I always listened to classic rock.
Okay, heavy rock background. How did you branch out into other genres like hip hop?
I was just getting older and getting into the scene more, starting to hanging out with chicks and the boys. When I was a kid, I’d never listened to rap or hip hop. It kind of just influenced me later.
But I honestly listen to everything from Mobb Deep, Nas, and even current rappers like Drake, Playboi [Carti], Gunna.
That’s tight. You span into the 90s hip hop to current-day rap. Were there any skate videos you watched growing up that you were hyped on because of the song?
Yeah, the Santa Cruz video Wheels of Fire [1987]. I remember there’s a song called Brave Captin [by Firehose], and it’s Natas’ [Kaupas] part. I remember that part would get me fired up.
What type of music would you pick if you had all rights reserved to any song and a video part ready to go?
I kind of like flowy-type music. Kind of like jazz, or I guess l would want to have a part with a song that’s fun and get people pumped up to go out and skate.
I’m going to put you on the spot. Could you name a song right now that you would use?
Metallica’s Creeping Death. Actually, there’s another song too that’s by a band called Gadnium. I don’t even think they exist anymore, but Gadnium’s song Rapture. Bro, that song is sick. If I had a part, I would want to use that, and I think I’d probably be able to use that. I don’t think the band is too big or anything.
I’m not familiar with that band. How would you describe Gadnium’s music?
They’re kind of like tweaked Iron Maiden. They’re sick AF.
Final questions. Are you a fan of karaoke?
Before COVID I used to go to the karaoke bar with Nathen Fletcher and a couple of other homies in San Clemente. We’d fire up karaoke a couple of times. It was fun. We’d do it, like, every Thursday night.
What would be your go-to karaoke song?
Oh, dude, I was all over the spectrum. I think I did like a Frank Sinatra song once, and everyone was hyped. Then I would always have someone call out a song, and I’d go sing it. If I knew the lyrics, then I would go for it.
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