Alek Vila : Biography
Alek Vila began writing music with a $100 Casio synthesizer at the age of 13. Inspired to write from his heart by his first musical influences; Howard Jones, Depeche Mode, The Cure, INXS, Duran Duran, U2, and Peter Gabriel; Alek started writing and recording songs right away.
With an MBA and a Bachelor's degree in Media Arts from the University of Arizona behind him, Alek began a career track in Hollywood, starting in sound recording and editing, dabbling in film scoring and ultimately working as a graphic designer. Alek's film career came to an abrupt halt in 1999 when he decided to switch tracks and return to his true passion of making music. He was the Art Department graphic designer for the hit TV series, The X-Files when he made the decision to leave the film business.
In the Summer of 1999, Alek began to devote himself intentionally to recording pop-rock music. Alek created Love in Color: a 12-song collection of pop-rock songs that he had written over the previous ten years. He produced the album almost entirely by himself in a home studio (with contributions by Octophone® player Richard "Doc" Bochenek on "Safe in My Keep" and vocalist "Lisa LaMont" on tracks 3, 10, and 11), performing as singer and multi-instrumentalist (keyboards, guitar, and bass). Love in Color was never shopped to major labels, but it did receive some praise by the few that heard it. For example, the track "Belief" was selected by Pat Dinizio of the band The Smithereens for the launch playlist of XM Satellite Radio's Unsigned Artists Channel #52.
In January of 2003, Alek enrolled at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia to study jazz piano improvisation and escape Los Angeles. He planned to stay in Australia for a year; however, financial hardship caused Alek to cut his music study short and return to the USA after an amazing semester abroad. Alek relocated to Seattle, WA, where he is now the Lead Graphic Designer for eMedia Music Corporation and is busily writing new material for a second album. It should be noted that Alek has switched to guitar as his primary instrument.