Pittsburgh local band spotlight: Aliquid Novi

For Adam Levine, his new project, Aliquid Novi, allows him to channel vulnerability into stories told through songs, reinforcing positive feelings and providing an outlet for negative ones.

His new album “HEAT” comes out on March 20, with a release party that night at the Funhouse at Mr. Smalls in Millvale.

“I know this is a weird thing to emphasize in 2025, given how the vast majority of people consume music these days, but while I do believe each song stands on its own and has a place in one or more of your playlists, the intent behind ‘HEAT’ was to create a musical experience that was more than the sum of its parts when listened to front-to-back,” he said. “As such, I’ll be posting a number of visualizer and lyric videos that have the full runtime built in, and am also excited to announce that, later this year, ‘HEAT’ will be available on vinyl courtesy of the fine folks at Hellbender Vinyl right here in our city. It’s meant to take you on a journey and I hope you’ll take a chance on settling into the sounds and textures and let them carry you away for 40-ish minutes sometime.”

Levine filled in TribLive on what else we should know about Aliquid Novi:

Band: Aliquid Novi

Band members: This is in a state of flux at the moment (I played everything on the album and have been working on putting together a more permanent band). For the release show, however, I am super excited to be joined by members of The Warm Auction (a band comprised of songwriters who share frontman duties that I typically play bass in) as well as a guest vocalist. Bruce Virtue (drums); Rob Eldridge (bass, backing vocals); Nicholas Brozack (keys, backing vocals); Craig Larsson (lead guitar); Deb Cook (backing vocals); Adam Levine (guitars, lead vocals)

Founding story: I started trying to get serious about writing and performing music back in maybe 2011 or 2012 and played in a few bands up until 2016 when, for a variety of reasons, I made the unfortunate decision to cut music out of my life almost entirely. I wouldn’t even voluntarily listen to music. My daily commute soundtrack went from being WYEP or various playlists I had created for myself to audio books. I didn’t listen at home, didn’t write or perform. Surprise, surprise — it wasn’t healthy for me.

So as I started to realize that there was this empty space in my life where creation and self-expression used to live, and I had a lot of free time on my hands while we were all stuck inside during the pandemic, I figured it was past time to try to get back into it. I wanted to do things differently this time around. I spent a lot of time in my first stint worrying about appearances and genres and trying to write for other peoples’ interests, which led to a lot of mixed-up feelings and disappointment. I had started playing bass with The Warm Auction sometime in either 2021 or 2022, and that space and those people were so supportive and open to experimentation and goofing up in the name of searching for new ideas (without holding those goofs against you) that I knew I needed to embrace my own interests and start making music that excited me, and then hopefully through sharing that excitement with others it would be contagious.

As I started to reintroduce myself to the local scene, I found that the desired balance had been struck there. I think people have pretty good “authenticity radar” — meaning they can tell when someone is genuinely into what they’re doing/saying/singing/playing or not — and by doing things that excited me, I started to find an audience who got excited by the same things. It’s hardly a new idea, Rick Rubin’s written about it, Justin Vernon talks about it a lot when asked about Bon Iver’s big break after years of frustration, St. Vincent basically reinvents herself for every new album/tour … not that I’m putting myself on the level of those creatives, but just citing some examples of what I see as a kind of shared experience or feeling there with artists people might be familiar with.

I released an EP, “nothing,” in 2022 that was the result of trying to embrace that, trying to express some feelings that had been welling up within me, and also trying to remember the basics of writing, recording and production which I had not engaged with in five to six years at that point. It’s got a ton of rough edges when compared with other more commercially polished projects, but it was a huge weight off of my shoulders to realize that I could still make music and that I could have fun while I was doing it if I just got out of my own way. That paved the way for “HEAT” and is the result of a more complete embrace of the philosophy to write what I know and what excites me.

Origin of band’s name: My name is Adam Levine which, as you are probably aware, is the name of the lead singer of Maroon 5 and one of the judges on “The Voice.” Back in my first musical life, I played a show at Club Cafe that got picked up by a few publications for promotion and some sneaky scalper(s) saw “Adam Levine” on the bill and started buying tickets and trying to sell them on StubHub for like $400 a pop — for like a Tuesday or Wednesday night at a 120-cap venue with probably a $15 face value. So ever since then I’ve avoided using my own name in my projects.

Since I was trying to start fresh and with a clean creative slate, so to speak, the idea of shaping the project around the concept of “something new” was important to me — and Aliquid Novi is just a very badly formed phrase in pseudo-Latin that is intended to mean just that: “something new.” I have a friend who actually understands Latin and all the complexities who has let me know that it’s not exactly grammatically correct, but I had already purchased a domain name and created social media accounts and stuff, so that ship had sailed. As I understand it, it’s close enough to get the idea across anyway.

For fans of: St. Vincent, Radiohead, The Flaming Lips, Men I Trust, Mac DeMarco, Local Natives, Glass Animals, Tame Impala

Influences: Death Cab For Cutie, Radiohead, Steely Dan, Pink Floyd, Coldplay, Feist, Gorillaz, The Verve, Weezer, Jose Gonzalez, Fastball, The Killers, Ben Folds (Five), Peach Pit, Billie Eilish, Cage the Elephant, Khruangbin

Releases: “nothing” EP in 2022; “Drone Suit” single in 2024; “HEAT” LP on March 20, 2025

Next shows: March 10, Funhouse at Mr. Smalls, AcoustiCafe open mic host; March 17, Scarpaci’s, open mic featured artist; March 20, album release party at Funhouse at Mr. Smalls with Travis Dodge, Thick Magician

How to find them: Aliquid Novi can be found on it website, Bandcamp, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.

Three other Pittsburgh area bands to check out: This is a really tough one to answer because there are probably about 300 people/bands I would list given enough time and space — so I’ll simplify the process by trying to think of a few “vibe categories” that I’ve been seeking out lately:

For ethereally mesmerizing adventures and a community of really interesting songwriters: Mirabelle Skipworth

For an authentic singer-songwriter experience focusing on self-examination and self-care: David Dickinson

For powerful vocals and wholesome collaboration: Addi Twigg — if you see her on a bill somewhere, that show is worth checking out

Favorite pizza shop: Mineo’s Pizza House. Grew up eating at the Lebo location and have loved it ever since. Don’t get fooled by the similarly named places that are just average — I’m talking about Mineo’s Pizza House in Mt. Lebanon, Squirrel Hill, or Allison Park 🙂