“I believe the blues (the pentatonic scale, the I-IV-V structure) is the cornerstone of Western music. When songwriting, I let the music write itself and give it space to manifest. I like to serve the song; it will tell you where it wants to go, and you just go along with it.”

Alex Kilroy: Break My Chains

Break My Chains (2026), the debut album from singer-guitarist Alex Kilroy, is both a culmination of the past two decades spent grinding away across Europe and the US honing his craft, and a beginning of the next chapter of his musical odyssey. Across a dozen songs, Kilroy's fiery guitar is front and center, using the blues as a foundation for excursions across the music spectrum. Growing up in a musical household in Romania, his parents let him walk away from classical piano after becoming obsessed with electric guitar around age 12. He spent most of his teens gigging around Romania and then, eventually, western Europe, absorbing everything he was exposed to from Joe Bonamassa to Led Zeppelin. By the time he was 20 he nailed a walk-on audition at Berklee School of Music (in Boston), but the road kept calling. Time in Philadelphia and Nashville followed, all along constantly moving things forward musically until he'd developed a fully formed style not only on guitar but as a songwriter. Eventually he made Florida his home base and took a gig in a gospel band.

Break My Chains plays out like the musical equivalent of a multi-course chef's tasting; each track different from the last, yet all held together by a linear thread called the blues. It's powerful, yet not overpowering, as the lessons Kilroy's learned have sharpened his self-editing skills to create songs where not a word, note, riff or melody is wasted. It's a hell of a first chapter in what promises to be an epic novel. Alex Kilroy just released a new EP called New Shade of Blue on October 23rd.

Interview by Michael Limnios                 Special Thanks: Larry Kay (Night Train PR)

You started playing classical piano before becoming obsessed with the electric guitar at the age of 12. What was it about the electric guitar that made you feel, “This is my instrument”?

I was just 12 years old when my father shipped a car from Michigan to Romania. Coincidentally, that car came with a DVD featuring Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Live at Montreux 1985. Witnessing Stevie’s passion and joy as he played ignited a desire within me to pursue a similar path.

You spent years moving between Romania, Chicago, Philadelphia, Nashville, and Florida, absorbing very different musical cultures. Looking back, which place had the biggest impact on the musician you eventually became?

The main influences came from Texas and Mississippi. The blues is the foundation of my style, onto which I add the influences I grew up with in Romania, the classical music I studied as a young student, and all the styles I was introduced to throughout my journey around the world.

Walking into Buddy Guy’s Legends in Chicago and talking your way into a gig with the Cook County Kings sounds like the beginning of a movie. What do you remember most vividly about that experience, and what did it teach you?

It felt exactly like stepping into a movie—my own movie, haha! One of the most surreal experiences was walking into Buddy Guy’s Legends and meeting Mark, the talent buyer. He invited me upstairs to their offices and handed me Buddy Guy’s Grammy for Born to Play Guitar.

The entire week was incredibly inspiring, but the highlight happened a couple of days later. I was sitting at the bar when someone sat next to me and pointed to a specific drink. They were wearing a ring with the initials “BG.” When I turned around, I realized I was sitting next to the man himself. I had a brief moment to share a bit of my story and take a picture with him.

The blues is the foundation of Break My Chains, but the album travels through rock, gospel, and other musical territories. How do you decide when to follow the blues tradition and when to let the music take you somewhere completely different?

I believe the blues (the pentatonic scale, the I-IV-V structure) is the cornerstone of Western music. When songwriting, I let the music write itself and give it space to manifest. I like to serve the song; it will tell you where it wants to go, and you just go along with it.

You’ve said that joining a gospel band was a turning point because you finally heard your songs the way you had imagined them in your head. What did gospel teach you about songwriting, singing, and playing guitar that you hadn’t learned from the blues?

Gospel and blues are very closely related. When I met the guys in my band, who all have a background in gospel, they brought something really special to my original songs. They brought pure soul and what we call in the music business “gospel chops.”

I play every Sunday at church, and the musicianship level there is amazing—it’s like going to music school every week. One profound thing it taught me is to treat my talent, my music, and my playing in general as an offering to God.

After two decades of playing and developing your craft, why did this particular moment feel like the right time to finally make your debut album?

My daughter’s birth definitely gave me a massive boost of inspiration to release the album. Around that time, I was also reading Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act, which talks about how the moment is always “Now.” It teaches you not to stand in your own way, to find the courage to go out there, and to say, “This is who I am.” It taught me not to seek perfection, but rather authenticity—to realize that a record isn’t a grandiose, flawless work of art, but rather a snapshot of a specific time.

You recorded Break My Chains in roughly ten days with Tres Sasser. Did that tight timeframe create pressure, or did it actually help you capture something more spontaneous and honest?

Working with Tres is always a great experience. The more we work together, the faster and easier the process becomes. I actually love the pressure of a deadline because it forces you into the present. You need to get it done right then and there, and the only way to make that happen is to be completely honest and vulnerable.

“The main influences came from Texas and Mississippi. The blues is the foundation of my style, onto which I add the influences I grew up with in Romania, the classical music I studied as a young student, and all the styles I was introduced to throughout my journey around the world.” (Photo: Alex Kilroy)

The album feels like both the culmination of everything you've experienced and the beginning of something new. Now that you’ve finally established your own musical identity, what are you most eager to explore next?

I actually just released a new EP called New Shade of Blue on October 23rd. This time around, I wanted to explore the deeper roots of the genre. I got myself a resonator guitar and a slide, started listening to a lot of Delta blues, and began experimenting with that raw sound. I don't know exactly what comes next, but I know the music will guide me.