Timothy Showalter doesn't have to look far to find inspiration. His personal motto is tattooed on his arm.
"I'm not a very subtle person," he said. "My entire right forearm, 'SURVIVE' is tattooed. I love that word. It's not living in denial. You can just live your life and think that nothing bad happened or deny that things are tough. Perseverance is acknowledging that things are tough but taking on challenges."
After withstanding a house fire that left him homeless and, more recently, a near-fatal car accident, Showalter has had to invoke that mantra routinely.
Showalter's tumultuous life, and his resolution to climb out of its sunken valleys, has defined his divergent musical project, Strand of Oaks.
Strand of Oaks, which Showalter has developed into a four-piece band, will perform at Tap Root Public House on Friday and Saturday, March 20-21. Anchorage's Super Saturated Sugar Strings will open Friday and Fairbanks trio Young Fangs will open Saturday's show.
The car wreck, a head-on collision with a semi on Christmas Day 2013, left Showalter and his wife, Sue, injured and shaken. But it gave Showalter a bold new urgency in the way he completed his most recent album, "HEAL," in 2014. Showalter envisioned the album echoing the anthemic stadium rock of the 1970s and '80s, complete with honest, unambiguous lyrics. In past attempts, he might have settled for a watered-down version. This time he didn't.
"I was just in the process of finishing 'HEAL,' " said Showalter, who lives in Philadelphia. "I thought it was going to sound a certain way. My head was such a raw place. I just about died. You only get one shot. I might as well complete my vision even though it's not as well received. I set out to make a rock record. I didn't compromise. It's not 'Sgt. Pepper,' but it's the record. I love it. It represents me giving up all of the fear that I had for so long. It is what it is. It's finished and I'm proud."
The album was a critical success, landing on "Best of 2014" lists from a number of sources, including Seattle's KEXP and Paste Magazine.
The reception gave Strand of Oaks a wider audience, much to the delight of Showalter, who admits to a past of engaging in the punk tradition of taking pride in anonymity.
"I was really famous at making records nobody listened to," Showalter said. "I was really talented at being underground. I was so good at being a cult musician."
Showalter, 32, was born in Indiana. He was always interested in music and in high school played in some admittedly "really terrible" bands.
"A lot of my friends wanted to learn Metallica riffs," he said. "They weren't concerned with creating songs. I picked up the guitar as a means to write songs. I think I wanted to make records before I knew I wanted to make records."
He enjoyed the music, but not enough to go full time and instead went to college in Pennsylvania to become a teacher. After teaching second grade for five years, he dove back into music headfirst in 2009.
"My dad always said if you have a Plan B, you aren't caring enough about your Plan A," Showalter said.
He released the confessional "Leave Ruin" in 2009, inspired in part by a breakup with his first wife and the subsequent house fire that left him without much more than an acoustic guitar.
"Crap has happened but for some reason, I have the ability to not let it destroy me," Showalter said. "If you let the negativity win, it's going to win all of the time. I'm not even an optimistic person. I just have such goals in my head that I don't allow that."
The next year he released "Pope Killdragon," which was more fantastically narrative and less introspective. "Dark Shores," released in 2012, continued a shift from acoustic music to the more frontal rock sound Strand of Oaks currently favors.
"It's so fun to play shows now," Showalter said. "I want people to listen, but I also want them to have a great time. Rock 'n' roll feels like one of the last places the Internet can't destroy. You can't watch this on an iPad. It's an hour and a half and people can just forget about it."
After producing much of the music himself during Strand of Oaks' lifetime, Showalter has formed a bigger band to take on the road.
"As a small-town kid, I'm excited to go to a place that's new to us and we're new to the people coming to the show," he said. "Every time I play music with these guys, I feel like I'm 15. I have so much fun. I was always a little scared and didn't think I was giving people the show they deserved. I feel I can show up for a concert and express the songs the way I want to."
Strand of Oaks
Opener: Super Saturated Sugar Strings on Friday; Young Fangs on Saturday
When: 9:30 Friday and Saturday, March 20-21
Where: Tap Root Public House, 3300 Spenard Road
Tickets: $20 at taprootalaska.com or at the door