The first record I ever bought was "Americana" by The Offspring, on cassette. The grimy, cartoon artwork really affected how I pictured the songs and band in my head long before I ever saw what they looked like. Bit disappointed at the giant shorts when I did.

When Stu (Alice Kona Band-guitar/vocals) got a guitar for his birthday when we were about 14 or 15, he was better at it than me after about a day, so I put down my Pacifica and borrowed a bass. Our band 'Freaknotes' played one gig above a restaurant in Hollywood. We covered ourselves in fake blood and stole a few plates for souvenirs.

The last gig we watched together was Lafaro when we played with them on Arthur's Day. They were awesome as always, and it was great to see Captain Handsome (Herb) playing bass again!

If I were to pick one Northern Irish band to share the stage with every night, it'd probably be Third Man Theme. We are all crushing on them pretty hard at the moment. Easily the best local band around right now.

If we could have anyone join our band, I'm pretty sure the consensus would be some mad genius type like Arthur Lee, and I'm sure Ryan (Vocals/Guitar) would get Kanye West in in a heartbeat.

The first cover we did in this band was 'Buried Alive' by The Black Lips. I recall a competition on who was able to sing the chorus the best. There were no winners that day.

We don't normally do covers anymore, because we can never agree on what to do, but we butchered 'Folsom Prison Blues' at an acoustic gig recently. I think Johnny Cash would've appreciated the spirit, but maybe not the execution...

My favorite gig that we've played was probably the Panama King's final gig at Radar a while back. It was a great send-off to a great band, and our current drummer Nathan's first gig with us too. Bit of baptism of fire for him in way, but he handled it with typical sleepy aplomb.

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'Film' is downloadable for free at https://alicekonaband.bandcamp.com/track/film