Getting to know Alaskalaska
Up-and-coming eclectic band Alaskalaska have recently released their debut album, The Dots, and performed an exclusive vinyl session at Jäger Soho as part of the station’s summer-long series of pop-ups. We asked the band to tell us about themselves:
We are… Alaskalaska. Some might say we are a band, some might call us a collective – we’re happy to be, one or the other or neither. Either way, what we are doesn’t really matter. What matters is what we do and how we do it. That way, the possibilities are endless. It was always our intention to create something without boundaries and do it because it’s fun and we enjoy it. “Genre-Bending” has often been used to describe our sound. For me it’s more about feeling and what kind of imagery or theme it evokes, like painting a picture. I understand why people like to categorise music into boxes, it’s human nature to organise and categorise life but i think it’s also human nature to want to give it a narrative and I like to think we do that with each song we make singularly. With each new song, comes a new story thats all encompassing not just lyrically but in the musical landscape too.
The Dots is… an exploration of the ‘self’. I say the ‘self’ but what I mean is it’s about my ‘self’. It’s like an insight into my routine thoughts and feelings about my ‘self’ at this present time in my life. Everything is connected, every moment of growth or reflection is a cause and effect to the previous or future feeling. Essentially every song is a dot in the dot to dot of my life. Saying that, once you release something like this into the ether it’s a free for all. It’s no longer just about me. Everyone is free to connect and interpret to it however they like and make it their own. The dot to dot is forever expanding…are we ‘the dots’ in a universe of more dots….?!?!?! woah guys it’s getting deep.
Our Vinyl Session at Jäger Soho was… really hot. Summer in the city vibes.
Home is… probably South East London, for all of us. We’ve all be living here for a while now and I think it’s safe to say we’d all be proud to call it our home. It’s really special to all of us and it’s brought us all together so….
We spend too much time… having a laugh and we’re ok with that. The majority of our practices and writing sessions are spent catching up with each other and making hot beverages. Practicing is good but we don’t want to over do it you know?
It might surprise people to learn that… there is no extra A in Alaskalaska. I know it’s a mouthful, and it’s not a real word but I never thought it would cause so much confusion!
We’ve never… been to Alaska. Nor have we been to anywhere outside of the EU but who knows, that may be soon to change in the near future…
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Launched in 2017, Jäger Soho is a collaboration between Jägermeister and Soho Radio which aims to provide a platform for musicians, brands, projects and makers. Their projects include; the Vinyl Sessions, residencies at their pop-up space in Soho, #JagerMusic radio shows and live broadcasts from some of the summer’s biggest festivals. Following the success of previous years, ‘The Label Lodge’ will run until the end of August, and will feature daily and weekly pop-up residencies from some of the UK’s most exciting independent labels. For more information, visit the Soho Radio website, the AIM website, or keep an eye on #JagerSoho on social media channels.
The remaining Label Lodge dates:
29th July – 4th August: Brownswood Recordings
5th – 11th August: Marathon Artists
12th – 18th August: Distiller Music
19th – 25th August: Anjuna
Keep up to date with Alaskalaska on Facebook
Interview by Bobby Townsend.
