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Freshman punk: Pole Smortum steps into the Anchorage music scene

It's March and punk band Pole Smortum has been practicing in 14-year-old guitarist Zach Meltzer's basement for about six months. A YouTube video of their performance at a Pasta Avanti Punk Monday showcase has people in Anchorage taking notice. But the band has only played this one show. It's not too late to change their name.

"We're going to decide right now," bassist Macy Whitaker, 15, says.

Whitaker isn't fond of their current name. She meant to suggest the band be called Post Mortem but a misinterpretation led to Pole Smortum and it stuck.

The four ninth-graders, Meltzer, Whitaker, drummer Jack Black and guitarist Noah Judge, talk over each other as ideas come to mind. Black is of no relation to the famous Jack Black and said he'd also consider changing his name. Maybe Eugene or something.

How about The Farmers or Pole Smortum? Or what about Zach's dad? What's his name? It's Andy. OK, we'll be the Andy Band. No, The Bandy And!

It won't stick, but it's a temporary tribute to a cool dad who opens his South Anchorage home on Sunday afternoons to this group of raucous freshmen influenced by Black Flag, Minor Threat and Germs. He's also the dad who posted their video on YouTube.

"Sundays are easy because my parents haul me off to church and church is up on the hillside," Judge, 15, said. "So they can drive me over here after."

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Judge lives across town and goes to West Anchorage High School. The rest of the band attends Service. He met them this past summer at shows.

"We saw Noah and he had, like, a mom haircut," Whitaker said. "We were immediately pretty drawn to that, and he danced really funny."

Whitaker went to her first punk event last spring, almost exactly a year ago. She sees loud, fast shows as a place where anything goes.

"You could probably show up with no pants or something and no one would say anything to you," Whitaker said. "If you smell weird, it's cool. If you have a nacho taped to your forehead, it's cool. It's fashionable."

The four decided they should be the ones playing music. Judge had five songs he'd been working on and they recognized that Meltzer writes amazing riffs. Whitaker didn't know how to play bass, but she agreed to join the band. The guys says she's pretty incredible for only starting a few months ago.

Meltzer said if you want to start a band, talk to your friends. For Pole Smortum, it doesn't really matter what instrument you can or cannot play. They are complimentary and full of love for each other and what they're doing.

"Jack is probably one of the most creative people, musically, I've ever met," Judge said.

They collectively say Meltzer is the coolest member of the band and once they play bigger shows, he'll get all the babes.

"He's really quiet and mysterious and he has really tall hair," Whitaker said.

Judge said he'd been thinking about what he would say if he was ever interviewed about music.

"I think punk is just a really beautiful form of self expression," he said.

They can write about grandmas or pigs if they want.

"We are influenced by rebellious music," Black said. "We can relate to it because we're whiny, I guess."

"That's exactly it," Judge agreed.

The first song the band practiced is called "Tucked In Shirt." It's about potential student loan debt and not wanting to go to college just to go to college.

The song "Dress Code" is about how the band really hates that punk is a look. Punk should be an attitude and music first and the look should come second.

Booking their first show was easy. They went to the Facebook group "Music Punks" and asked someone if they could play at Punk Monday. The first show had, of course, a few hiccups. No one brought extension cords and there was a snare drum issue.

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"We got 32 bucks. We did not deserve that, but it was really cool," Whitaker said. "Speaking of that? Where did the money go?"

Judge has it at his house. They talk about buying a band pet or saving up to buy Black's whole trailer park and then, eventually, taking over the city.

Six months in, this band is a family. They sit side by side on the basement couch as they plan out the rest of their afternoon. Whitaker says the punk scene is a place where she can be with her kind of people.

"To finally be in a place where everyone is kind of messed up in some kind of way that they're at punk shows," she said. "For a lot of kids, at least some of my friends, it's a good outlet for them. They can go and like punch each other and nobody thinks anything of it."

"Please do not actively punch people unless they enjoy it," added Judge, who wears three yellow "You Are Not Alone" bracelets on his right wrist.

He recalled something Whitaker said the other day.

"She said, 'Punk is a good place for undesirables to meet other undesirables and be undesirable together.'"

Rosey Robards is the director of Alaska Teen Media Institute. She has a journalism degree from University of Alaska Anchorage. She is currently the president of the Alaska Press Club and an Arctic Entries storyboard member.

This article appeared in the April 2016 issue of 61°North, a publication of ADN's special content department. Contact 61°North editor Jamie Gonzales at jgonzales@alaskadispatch.com.

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