On the Road with Alaska (part 1)

Oct 6, 2014 Posted by Joel Kirschenbaum In On the Road Tagged Alaska Comments 0

On the Road is a feature on Punks in Vegas where Vegas musicians give us an inside look into touring life. Today’s entry comes from Vegas emo band Alaska, who is currently in the midst of a fall tour. Here’s Alaska frontman Joel Kirschenbaum:

9/20
Day -4: The show at Tipsy Coffee was the most beautiful display of Las Vegas love that I’ve ever experienced. Thank you Acid Rain, Oranges, and Keepsake.

9/24
Day 2: I woke up at 8:30 and went to Nick Strader’s, no one was there. Yippee. Eventually, at like 2 p.m. we were headed out. On our way we stopped to get gas and almost lost our most precious cargo, the beautiful baby boy Zach. Uh oh! In retrospect it would’ve been rad! Oh my! Drank a beer at the gas station and then we were off. Show was gently attended but the people there were great boys. This very rad band called Tiny Robot let us stay at their place and also let us cook up some soy chicken quesadillas – fyeah! I guess they don’t have streetlights or something in Yuma because there were hella stars! We walked into the desert down the street and smoked pot! True beauty, oh man. Saw two shooting stars! Bedtime.

9/25
Day 3: Cooked black beans and remaining soy chick for breakfast. Drove through the border checks. Could’ve brought pot. But probably couldn’t have. Hid citrus in our socks. Made it to UCSD. Pulled into a dead end street. Downloaded Tinder. Walked campus. Che Cafe. Free oatmeal. Jo, PJ, Blake and Dan were nice. Played. Headed north to In N Out. Man the weather was fucking nice.

9/26
Day 4: Stayed in Alta Vista. Woke up and played guitar on the patio for a little. Ate ramen with yellow curry powder, hell yeah. Life is beautiful. Headed to The Dial. Sat under the tree of life and played guitar in perfect weather. Nick ollied a 3 stack pallet and bruised his dumb foot. Had some van beers and Zach ate an orange. Saw our friends Zach Navis and the boys and girl in My Iron Lung. Watched Recluse play, they were fckn good. Went to a closed Albertsons, missin’ all that 24 hours garbage in garbage town Las Vegas. Learned that ramen has pulverized chicken in there wtf ain’t eating tonight. Peace.

9/27
Day 5: Stayed at Apathean Ashtin’s beautiful crib. He also drove in the van with us being the first outsider in the Cozy Cove. We went to Pizza Hut and got a lg cheese crust pineapple mushroom pizza. Birdbathed in starbux. Drove to Anaheim. Shotgunned 6 beers with Caravels and Molotov Solution. Drove to Lancaster. I passed out in the van for a little. I woke up to them playing Magic in Starbucks. Went to the bar. There were drunk chicks making out and a bunch of boys yelling at em. Then I was like okayyyyy and went inside. There have been a good amount of folks at all the shows so really grateful for that. Hung out with Nicolai and some weird drunk rush loving short guy. Went to the local vegan hot spot, del taco. Headed to some birthday party to party, but we all just went to sleep instead.

9/28
Day 6: We awoke and headed to musical highway. Tyler Kawada was asleep. “Wrecking ball” by Miley Cyrus was playing and we all smiled. Drove to old town Monrovia. Mad nice. Ate burgers at the Mexican place. Drank a lot. Record store was sick. Zach tried on Nazi memorabilia. Drank on the roof. Played at 5. Jurassic Shark and Dave were nice. Picked up Marissa and headed to Santa Monica. We were all glowing beautiful souls on the pier that night. I never had known what it felt like to die, but sometimes you do. Went to visit Macario Gutierrez’s (Twin Cities) Aunt. Slept in the van. Had a dream about Dragonball Z.

9/29
Day 7: Had another dream about DBZ and then went to Wal-Mart. Stole fries and mac and cheese. Played magic in the Highwind. Shotgunned beers at some El Super. Ended up sitting out back of Bridgetown playing guitar and singing. Had intelligent discourse on the topics of gender stereotypes. Real beautiful day. Struckout played and was sick. Felt the most energy playing tonight (probably from smoking a cigarette, that’s gross). Shows at D.I.Y. spots are the most refreshing thing. Every time we leave town I am so burnt out on booking shows in Las Vegas, but seeing the community that we are a part of in the U.S. is the greatest thing in the world. I feel just as at-home in every city in America as I do at The House of Wonk, or Tipsy’s Coffee or The Artistic Armory or anywhere that DIY exists in Vegas. Missing home, but not really. The Highwind is my home. The Cozy Cove is my Den. I am the Den Mother. I am the Moonlight King.

– Joel Kirschenbaum