Beach Slang's James Alex Reveals His Favourite Cover Songs

From The Clash to Johnny Cash, Beach Slang mastermind James Alex reveals to us his five go-to cover songs. 

Johnny Cash - ‘Hurt’ (originally by NIN)

"Probably my favourite cover of all time. That’s certainly the one that jumps into my head. I knew the Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails version, and then I heard the Johnny Cash version, and I know Trent Reznor has said, “Well, it’s not my song anymore.” I remember the last tour we were on we were in Nashville and we went to the Johnny Cash museum. I shouldn’t ruin this in case you do it – but at the end the last thing you get to is, in the video (for ‘Hurt’), you know the video he’s sitting in – you get there and the chair is there and they’re playing the video and the lights are even a little dimmer there, and you really just sort of drown in something there. I’m not sure if it’s sadness or hope or you start rethinking your own life and what it means, but you really do have a real moment there."

Nico - ‘These Days’ (originally by Jackson Browne)

"Wes Anderson this in The Royal Tenenbaums – I think that’s the first place I heard it. It’s just so delicate and beautiful and perfect. I remember – maybe this is too personal – but I remember when my stepfather passed away, although I did was play this song for three or five days, I kind of lost track of time, in a row. Just crying and exercising it all and then came through the end of that and was like, “Okay, the sun’s still sort of coming out and life is still moving…” and all of that stuff. But that song carried me through and for very obvious reasons it sticks around."

The Replacements - ‘Another Girl, Another Planet’ (The Only Ones)

"The Replacements covered this one famously or infamously, and when I first got into rock and roll, the first band I was in, we were ripping The Only Ones off because it was sort of clean punk. Sort of dirty guitars, not super overdriven. It was super melodic and you could play it, even when you weren’t very good. When I heard The Mats play it and sort of breathe a new life into it, it sort of punched me in the gut."

Graham Parsons - ‘Love Hurts’ (The Everly Brothers)

"I’m a sucker for this one. I know the Everly Brothers were the first to record it, they didn’t write it but they recorded it. But the Graham Parsons version is absolutely stunning, and Emmylou Harris sings on it with him. When you need to just let it in, let the hurt take over for a little bit – that song always feels like a good friend when the chips are down."

The Clash - ‘I Fought The Law’ (Bobby Fuller Four)

"I’ve got to bring it back up because all of these are depressing as hell. I remember when I was a kid, my mum had a full-length Bobby Fuller Four album and I loved it! Loved the original as a kid. Then I heard The Clash do it and obviously, they’re one of the coolest, greatest, everything bands ever. There was a period in my life where I wanted to dress like Joe Strummer, I wanted to be in that band. So when I heard them cover this song, this song that I related to this song that my mum had, it just kicked the doors off the place."

Beach Slang’s new “Quiet Slang” EP, 'We Were Babies & We Were Dirtbags' is out now! Get your copy here and stream it below: