ALASKA hail from Leeds and create high energy, B-movie-influenced psychedelic garage rock with a surf-pop twist.
Nick John Henry sings songs about the darker side of the human condition and likes reverb. Brendan Campbell has been known to drum entire sets one-handed. Dave Fisher plays bass and invented a headset at university that makes you fall asleep. Guitarist Matt Humphreys was born in the Year of the Snake…
Telling tall tales of egg-stealing reptiles, werewolf women, drowned cowboys and prodigiously gifted skateboarders, ALASKA’s current roster of songs was written when thinking about the vast, sparsely populated wilderness of their namesake.
“Our name represents a surreal blank canvas onto which the songs are projected,” says Nick. “It doesn’t dictate the setting of the songs - it's meant to conjure up a feeling of isolated beauty that maybe hangs in the listener’s subconscious as they hear them.”
ALASKA released their self-titled debut E.P. in January 2012.
Keen to collaborate with friends and local creative talent, a limited edition CD release features exclusive artwork by Leeds graphic designer Simon Walker, lovingly screen-printed by Dots Printhaus. It comes with a free Jordan Ramoth comic strip inspired by the song ‘Werewolf Women In Tow’, while a video for ‘Girl’ was directed by Stuart Ramsay, of Shady Lane Films.
As equally in awe of The Kinks and The Smiths as they are of Talking Heads, Nirvana or Dylan, musically ALASKA is very much a transatlantic affair in the vein of Teenage Fanclub, Thin Lizzy or the Velvet Underground.
Nonetheless, the band’s dream job is to be the skeleton staff of a small town police department in the icy wilds of North America where nothing much ever happens. But when it does, it makes for one hell of a strange story…
The ALASKA E.P. is available to download now from Bandcamp.
NORTH, TO THE FUTURE!
“Their songs are wonderfully unpredictable, varying between sprawling and compact, surf-influenced and desolate. Some wouldn't be out of place on a Coen Brothers film soundtrack. Indeed, ALASKA are the kind of band that wouldn't seem out of place in many settings far grander than this.”
Leeds Music Scene.net
