Photo by Renee Amado
Alaska Grey
Alaska Grey of Sunshine and Stereo
Alaska Grey is an artist in the truest sense of the word. A musician, model, and photographer, she embodies what it means to be a performer between her recording with her band, Sunshine and Stereo, and her various photo shoots.
Recently, she spoke with Shepherd Express about the various art forms she engages in, her artistic origins, and her inspirations. When asked what artistic mediums she pursues, Grey said, “I consider myself a creative and what that entails is making music, modeling, photography, painting, drawing, collaging, and I’ve also made music videos. So, it’s just kind of all over the board, but I just enjoy the creating process.”
Did any particular factor inspire her to pursue artistic endeavors? “I can’t think of a specific moment,” she replied.” I have been writing lyrics and poems as long as I could write. When I was a kid, I had a little butterfly notepad I’d write songs in. They were child-like songs, but I’ve been writing lyrics as long as I can remember. I don’t think I started drawing until maybe middle school, but I just enjoy creating and putting emotions into creating. My music is a lot of expression and even my drawings tend to be what I’m dealing with on the day of.
Pain of Grief
Grief is one of the themes most present in her work. “I lost two of my siblings at various points in my life and have a lot of experiences with death and that can be hard to process and deal with and I think that’s probably the thing that I struggle with the most to process and deal with and so that’s what comes out a lot in my art is the pain of grief,” she said.
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Grey gravitates toward music “because I’m so successful in getting out and excavating through that channel so to speak, it’s what I would say I gravitate the most to. I write lyrics a lot and I’m in a band and we do that kind of excavation.”
On the topic of how she would describe her sound musically, Grey said, “That is a challenge. My first song was a metal song. But none of the rest of my songs have been metal. They tend to be more indie or alt pop. I think the best label is probably genre-fluid, but the lyrics, depending on what emotion I’m trying to convey, might change how the sound comes across.”
On her inspirations, Grey described Janis Joplin and Paramore as particular inspirations but stated that she takes a liking to all genres. Her own role in Sunshine and Stereo? “We are all switching,” she said. “So, I play keyboard, I play guitar, I play bass, I do a lot of the lyrics, but we all also talk through it and the other members are able to switch what instrument they’re playing based on what we need. We’re all going to be singing a bit.”
Sunshine and Stereo is currently recording a debut EP to be released soon. Grey’s body of work can be found on her Instagram, alaskagrey_official.
