by David Hochheiser, Portland Freelance Reviews, 02.01.01

When Mitch Alden, the lead singer, guitar player, and sole songwriter of the now-based-in-Portland band “Now is Now,” named his newest band, he let out a sigh of relief. Alden is a veteran of many different music scenes across America, including Boston; New York City; Albany, NY and Colorado. Each of these stops has found him committing himself to other musicians and their eccentricities. Although he has loved and learned from all of the people with whom he has played, he finally realized that his greatest joy throughout his career is “getting the opportunity to play with different musicians and feel what each of them will bring to the music that we’re playing.” Ever since he arrived in Portland last winter, he has been living in the “here and now” and looking forward to each of the different inceptions of “Now is Now” that he has been able to put together. He says that he has been psyched to play with certain musicians (most notably Dan Paul and Steve Hodgkin from local favorites “The Reedlings”) on multiple occasions but hasn’t even thought about settling in with a full-time band. For Alden, not having a band has not only helped his music and his fan base to grow, but also it has been a great way to meet people in a new town. “Portland’s just awesome. I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else right now. It’s not exactly huge, nationally, but Portland’s musicians, club owners, and press make it a great scene to be a part of.”

Becoming a part of Portland’s scene is just what Alden’s done. The simple knowledge that “the best way to get your name out there is to get your name out there” has already landed him a regular gig at the Free Street Taverna – which he does acoustically – as well as shows at The Ale House. Some of you may have been smart enough to check out The State Theatre’s first local night where Alden and company floored the 200+ crowd with his high-energy, good-time rock and roll. In addition, he’s also been featured in Face Magazine (he’ll play their stage during the Old Port festival), The Portland Press Herald and on OurMaine.com.

Of course, it’s not just a passion for playing that has earned Mitch this much press in under a year. It’s the music that counts most. While listening to Now is Now’s debut album, I couldn’t help but be stunned by the music’s obvious foundation in catchy, accessible rock ala Dave Matthews, Matchbox Twenty and Vertical Horizon. It has a pleasurable capacity for being up-beat and aggressive without being loud and dissonant. Alden’s other talent rests in lyric writing. As a muse, he mostly uses his own life experiences and some of his favorite books. Most recently, he’s written songs that borrow themes from Stephen King’s Dark Tower series and Tom Robbins’ Jitterbug Perfume. “I love reading. Plus, the fan clubs and chat rooms for these authors’ stuff have also been great resources for me as far as marketing goes. I put out the word on their fans’ chat rooms that I wrote a song about the books, and all of a sudden the tunes are getting hundreds of downloads from Napster and MP3 sights. Some of the people have ended up ordering CD’s or coming to shows after they hear the music.”

Although Now is Now’s music is currently limited to one CD, Alden is prepping to go back into the studio and fix that for us. Thankfully, as his song “Other Worlds” tells us, “This is not the last you’ll see of me.” Mitch, we eagerly await what’s next.