Alex "LEFTI" Suarez is an American musician, producer, songwriter, DJ, Remixer and Mixing Engineer. He was best known for his work as the bass player and additional keyboardist, co-producer, mixer and backup vocalist for Cobra Starship until his departure in 2014. He is also the co-founder of This is Ivy League, a band created with fellow Cobra Starship member and high school best friendRyland Blackinton and now pursues a producer/DJ project as LEFTI.
Early life
Alex Suarez was born in Stamford, Connecticut but moved to Boca Raton, Florida when he was young. He was heavily influenced by his older brothers who were into 80's hair metal and grew up listening to bands from Metallica to Iron Maiden, which inspired him to start playing guitar. During his final years of high school, Suarez founded and provided vocals, drums, bass and guitar for popular Florida band Kite Flying Society. He attended Olympic Heights Community High School where he met friend Ryland Blackinton in 1997, bonding over the fact they were both avid guitar players and both played in local bands with varying degrees of accolade. Suarez got Ryland a job waiting tables at "Mr. Deli's Jewish Delicatessan," in Boca Raton. A few years later, Suarez went off to pursue a degree in the culinary arts while Ryland procured his BFA in Acting. The two lost touch for several years. Suarez chose to bank on a future as a chef. His interest in the kitchen took root his freshman year of High School when he had the limited choice between registering for either Food Production or Sewing. He chose the former and became instantly hooked, sticking with it all four years of high school and capitalized on the school's work program, which allowed students to work in their chosen field in exchange for class credit. He was the only student to complete all 4 years of Food Production courses. Since he had already decided to attend the Florida Culinary Institute in West Palm Beach. Post-culinary school, he continued his path and landed a couple Sous Chef positions at local restaurants in Winter Park, FL before starting a catering business with a few friends in Orlando - Thyme to Dine - specializing in wine and food pairings.
Musical career
Kite Flying Society
This was the first touring project Suarez was part of. Starting in a garage in 1999, the band starting playing local shows. A constant rotation of band members, Kite Flying Society continued with root members Alex Suarez and Rick Barnocky until the end in 2004. They released 2 EP's and 1 Discography. Their first EP was released on Goodbye Blue Skies Records, 2nd EP on Twenty Seven Records and the final discography CD on indie labelInit Records They did a few East Coast tours and one that brought them thru the midwest. The band ended after Suarez took a break from the constant rotation of changing members to pursue a restaurant career opportunity in South FL, which fell apart and later brought him to NY to continue pursuing music.
Suarez decided to move to Brooklyn after Thyme to Dine ran its course and took a job as a delivery person at Whole Foods Market to save up enough money for his relocation. Two months after living in NY, he reconnected with former high school friend Ryland Blackinton, who was living only ten minutes away. After catching up over lunch and learning that each was writing some music, the duo formed This is Ivy League, an indie pop/folk band that often draws comparisons to Simon & Garfunkel and Belle & Sebastian. Just as This is Ivy League started to take flight, Suarez and Blackinton were presented with a contrasting opportunity from Suarez's neighbor at the time, Midtown drummer Rob Hitt to join Cobra Starship.
Cobra Starship
Suarez was approached to join Gabe Saporta's newly formed band Cobra Starship before the release of the hit song, "Snakes on a Plane ". Alex and Ryland initially turned down the offer, preferring to stay as Ivy League. The song was featured on the soundtrack for the film Snakes on a Plane and the band was offered a record deal from Pete Wentz's Fueled By Ramen Records imprint, Decaydance. Suarez and Ryland eventually accepted and has contributed to four full-length albums and completed several international tours with Cobra Starship since. On October 21, 2014, both Suarez and Ryland left the band to pursue their own separate careers as record producers/songwriters. They had been replaced for a short period before Cobra Starship was officially ended by frontman Gabe Saporta.
LEFTI
LEFTI is a project by producer Alex Suarez, which threads between Disco, House and Funk. He released his first single "Castle" on Laid-back Luke's record label Mix Mash), followed by his debut EP "Somebody", which attributed to the commercial viability of his brand. LEFTI then released eight individual songs spread out across 2017 including singles "City Heart" and "Eyes Tied Together". In 2019, “Every Time" feat. Spencer Ludwig’ kicked off LEFTI’s D I S C O T E C A EP, described by Dancing Astronaut as an “electro-funk heater”, which garnered the attention of major music blogs and Spotify playlists. D I S C O T E C A released soon after on the new Brooklyn disco imprint Toucan Sounds, gaining support from worldwide DJs including Matisse & Sadko, Jonas Blue, Hardwell, Disclosure, Anna Lunoe, Don Diablo, and Claptone. During this three year span LEFTI also remixed acts ranging from: Galantis, Lorde, Weezer, Gallant, CID, Big Data, ASTR, to name a few. His recent television/movie placements include - Vox Lux, The Miracle Season, Disobedience, Set It Up and Midnight Sun, Girlfriends Guide To Divorce, ESPN, Showtimes "Dice", Bloodline, General Hospital, East Siders, Vanderpump Rules and MacGyver. Along with these placements, LEFTI landed a few commercial spots including Soundcloud, W Hotels and Hulu.
