By: Savannah Reger

A deeper look into the band of Kate and Austin Sulek

Leesburg, Va – Students do many things outside of school, whether it is athletics or participating in the local theatre programs. However, for seniors Kate and Austin Sulek, they took their muscial interests to the next level and participated in a local band named Alaska and Aurora.

“We all met at a music school where we had been all taking private lessons, Bach to Rock, and we have stuck together for the past 5 years,” said Kate Sulek. “We all are from different high schools, so if it wasn’t for the music school, we would never have met or had the opportunity to create our music together. We have grown and blossomed alongside each other and are continuing to make our music come to life in order to share it with the world.”

From then on, Sulek’s band has only been growing. They try and take as many local performances as possible and make sure to participate in the Battle of the Bands.  The more that Alaska and Aurora play, the more opportunities come their way.

“Last year, we went to the Final Battle for Loudoun Youth and received the award for “Best Original Song” for ‘Wanderlust,’ Kate Sulek added. “With this award, we won a 2 hour songwriting session with a Todd Wright from HalfKing Studios. We decided to continue working with him and he recently produced our debut singles. We are so incredibly grateful that we have been able to meet Todd because he has opened so many doors for us and has has helped us bring our art to life.”

Alaska and Aurora originally started off by doing covers of others songs, but after a while, realized that they had an original sound. So, they decided to try their hand at songwriting, and their outcome was amazing.

“When we write, we like to portray a story through our lyrics and hope that our listeners to feel the same passion that we had when writing in the studio and that our music stir new feelings that provokes new ideas,” said Kate Sulek. “The first song I wrote is called ‘Wanderlust’ which was in tribute to my grandfather and inspired by his favorite book, The Little Prince. Our latest single ‘Pollyanna’ is the theme of ignorance personified through the character of a girl named Pollyanna.”

Alaska and Aurora like to portray messages in their songs, and their band has become more popular over the past couple of months. They have listeners in over 60 countries worldwide, and their numbers are growing.  

“I think that local bands are the cornerstone of the music industry and Loudoun County, especially, has so many talented musicians,” said Kate Sulek.  “As a band, we strongly believe that bands should support other bands. We try to promote the sound and art of the local scenes on social media or by attending community concerts.”

Even with the success of their music, the seniors are not done yet.  Most of the band are juniors, and Kate and Austin Sulek are the only seniors.

“All of the other band members except for my brother and myself are juniors,” Kate Sulek said. “As of right now, we still plan to release an album and continue write new music for next year.”