Allison scores big as Soccer Mommy
MUSIC
For a minute, it sounds as if Sophie Allison — the 20-year-old songwriter who performs as Soccer Mommy — has pulled a perfect act of rock ’n’ roll revenge.
Her song “Your Dog” features a driving rhythm section, a snotty sounding vocal and a chorus of “I don’t want to be your (bleeping) dog!” The perfect sensitive-gal comeback to the Stooges’ swaggering punk anthem “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” right?
Wrong, because Allison swears she’s never heard the Stooges song.
“I just got the melody out of thin air and started singing along with it, and that’s what came out. I didn’t know the other song at all. I don’t think my lyrics were necessarily the most original thing in the world, though, so it wasn’t too shocking.”
Besides, heart-on-sleeve pop is more Allison’s style than punk. Raised in Nashville, Tenn., she adopted her stage name three years ago when she started recording songs in her bedroom and posting them on Bandcamp. Though the songs were steeped in teenage heartbreak, they also showed a fine-tuned sense of melody and an affecting voice, at times recalling Liz Phair’s early demos.
“I didn’t realize it was making such an impression until people started offering me record deals,” she said.
The buzz grew online, and she was signed by the Fat Possum label, which released her album, “Clean,” last month. Now she’s been invited to open a tour for Paramore after her current round of club dates. Touring with a full band, Soccer Mommy plays a sold-out show Tuesday at Great Scott.
“(The recordings) were just something I was doing in my room for fun, that I wasn’t even showing my friends,” she said. “It didn’t necessarily come from heartbreak all the time, probably more from a fear of intimacy. It’s the feeling you get when you’re going into new relationships and being affected by old issues with yourself. Writing songs was the best way I could express all that, because I don’t really like to do it in real life.”
The pop music she grew up with — Taylor Swift, Avril Lavigne — remains her strongest influences.
“I love a big pop chorus,
and I always try to make the melodies catchy. You want something that can get under people’s skin.”
Before getting signed, she spent a year as a music business major at New York University.
“I dropped out. I learned a little about contracts and royalties, but the best part was really that I could work on my music without feeling guilty schoolwise.”
The tour with Paramore will hit the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Gilford, N.H., this June.
“It’s the first time we’ve played anything close to that large. I’m excited, but I know it’s not about thousands of people coming to see me and paying attention to our set. Hayley (singer Hayley Williams) has posted our stuff on Instagram though, so I guess I can say she’s a fan.”
‘I didn’t realize it was making such an impression until people started offering me record deals.’
— SOPHIE ALLISON On reaction to her songs