Today we’d like to introduce you to Alaska Reid.
Alaska, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up in Montana but started to coming to Los Angeles when I was a teenager. I was playing shows up and down the Sunset Strip as a 15-year-old wearing Pasty Cline-esque dresses and putting my guitar into alternate tunings for each song. I started spending more time in Los Angeles by my late teens and started a band with lots of fuzz guitar. We’d play the Echo, the Smell, the Silver Lake Lounge, etc… Eventually this old band, Alyeska, recorded an album titled “Crush” at the historic Magic Shop in NYC. As it turned out, it was the last album recorded at the Magic Shop as well as the last album with Alyeska. I shifted gears and went solo again, freely embracing all my disparate musical influences. It’s been so exciting and it feels like all these things I’ve been working on for years are starting to click. This last December, I released a solo EP, “Big Bunny”. It was comprised of many moments, many hours sitting on my bed scanning books, listening to my musical idols, getting frustrated, finally writing lyrics that didn’t make me want to barf and then eventually making them good enough… This along with many sessions in LA, spending time in studios, late-night food… and being back home in Montana (where I spent the better part of this Covid year), walking down by the river every night, setting up a folding table in my bedroom for vocal takes all comprise the patchwork of this album.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think with most things, the longer you do it and the harder you work at it, the more battles you end up fighting. It’s also extremely fulfilling, especially the little victories. I’ve had a lot of crazy, weird and disappointing meetings and played a lot of really shitty shows to practically empty rooms, people heckling you, the sound guy thinking you’re an idiot because you’re a young woman who needs your vocals turned up because you don’t have a loud rock voice, etc… But yeah, I wouldn’t trade those experiences because they’ve made me better and made me want to do it more.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Songwriter/Musician
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I wanted to be an opera singer when I was little.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.alaskareid.com
- Instagram: @alaskareid
- Twitter: @alaskareid
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT6CuCSzjLBVl5K5QbTuFdw
- Other: https://alaskareid.bandcamp.com
Image Credits
Photo by Audrey Hall Photo Editing & Compositing by Julian Buchan
