One musician's wedding to nobody in particular, and her music that accompanied the big day.
This past March, in the year of our Lord 2025, I attended the greatest wedding of all time. First off, it was at Main Drag in Williamsburg—a space I already knew and loved. The bride made her grand entrance by walking down a set of metal stairs from the shop floor into the basement venue, where the stage was set. So far, so cool.
But then—she fronted the wedding band. Like, actually sang lead vocals and played guitar. A full set of raw, indie rock songs about her deepest thoughts—the kind of stuff most people don’t air out in public, let alone on their Big Day™. And here’s the real kicker: she didn’t even get married.
Alice Danger (yes, the same Alice from The Roulettes and Chatterbox) staged her EP release show as a wedding. She did all the typical wedding things: wore a wedding dress, had music and dancing, recruited adult flower girls, kicked off a circle pit, summoned horn players to descend from above, and had the whole thing hosted by an MC with the last name, “Power” (first name, “Max”). It was everything I had planned for my own wedding, but she beat me to the punch.
Here’s the thing—it wasn’t just about the wedding. Alice Danger’s songs are genuinely good. Her new EP, Nothing Is Ready, is raw and self-critical, but also catchy and unexpectedly uplifting. She delivers each track with an open-book honesty, wrapped in the theatrical confidence of someone who’s been trained to perform.
Now that I’ve spent more time with her music, the release show makes even more sense—it mirrored that same duality: intimate vulnerability and big, dramatic energy.
And to top it all off, she was handing out her EP as a zine/booklet with a QR code to stream it. I asked her, “How much do you want for this?” and she just said, “Nothing—just listen.”
So I did. And then I made Jon get this long-form article format ready on bandNada so I could interview her about the new EP, getting not-married, living life without a plan, and of course, ska. Read on if you dare.
Photo by Shaina House.
Basically, your EP release [show] blew my mind. That upped the ante for all of my bands.
Smiles and sips a Corona Light
The EP is titled Nothing Is Ready. Where did that come from?
So I was, you know, doing the normal anxiety thing before you run a show where it's like, “what if nobody comes? And now I have to pay this room fee, X, Y, Z.” Plus, I had promoted it so much, and it was maybe two weeks before that show and like, the mixing wasn't even done. Like we didn't have an EP yet.
I basically decided [to record] in a manic episode early January. I hit up Jeff [Berner, Studio G] and was like, okay, let's go. I didn't have any money, I didn't have any plan. I had my band and I knew that we could just go in and record. I was selling Christmas trees to get the money together for it. But I don’t know - sometimes those deadlines are really good. And then, the double meaning was like, nothing is ready - like a bride zilla sort of (laughs).
What was the impetus of the release? Was there an event that was like, oh, “I should write this and put it out,” or were these songs just laying around and you were like “I’m going to combine them?”
I mean, I have a whole bunch of songs. [Previously] I was writing solo stuff for me, which is the first EP I have, but these songs I wrote with the band in mind - you know, with the arrangements.
Like you wrote it knowing what they can play, essentially.
Yeah. Exactly. I could be like, “hey, Donnie [Bullen - bass], add a cool bass solo. Fill in the blanks.” So I wanted to get that out. But I randomly have this weird sense of urgency to do stuff. I don't really plan. It's kind of like [ripping off] a band aid. Once I get a feeling to do it, I have to do it. And then, like, my whole life revolves around doing it.
How do the people in your bands feel about that? Are they planners?
Neil [McNulty - drums] is definitely a planner. I think Donnie's kind of both. I mean, I definitely hide a lot of the chaos from them. I don't even think they really knew the full scope of the [release] show with all of the moving parts until it actually happened. It’s kind of like being a CEO, and you kind of coordinate, but no one knows the whole picture. And then you're just like, “oh, shit, that's what we're doing.”
Pictured left: Nothing Is Ready streaming service album artwork. Pictured right: Zine release album artwork.
As for artwork, you have two album covers for Nothing Is Ready - the one on streaming services, and the cover of the zine you were giving out at shows. The streaming album artwork is very funny.
I do modeling for art classes. The original idea was to use the painting [on the canvas seen on the streaming album cover], but, you know, nothing was ready wiggles eyebrows. So one of the people taking the class - her name is Zelda - took a picture while the modeling was happening. So instead of having the painting, we just [used a picture from] the [art] class instead.
For the zine release, the cover is basically a DIY, print-and-fold-your-own-zine-style lyric book, and it's all hand-drawn - Oscar Gonzalo Sepulveda drew the art?
I've known Oscar for many years, and he's a brilliant (if not starving) artist. He's been a really big supporter of me for a long time. And I met him through my late friend, Kris who passed away in 2020.
That’s who the EP is dedicated to as well?
Yeah. Pretty much anything I do musically is dedicated to him. Not to go too much into that, but it was a crazy time. It sucks losing somebody in general, but it was also an insane time to lose anybody. It was like, you know, he went into a hospice care facility on March 12th when the city shut down. So there were all these different rules and a complete lack of empathy, you know, because the whole world was going through a crazy time. And it was basically [Oscar] and some of our other friends that like - we kind of got through it together and were able to sort of like, see [Kris] into, you know, whatever the next part is. So [Oscar] came to my show and drew the cover during a show one time. I was like, oh, we should meet up and draw more stuff. And we kind of came up with the idea, like, why don't we just make a lyric book? And then the dedication page for my friend I had from a very long time ago. So I just added it at the end and released it on his five year anniversary [of passing], which, in hindsight, left me with very weird feelings - I was like sad and happy at the same time.
What inspired him to draw you in the battle outfit?
I don’t know. He’s been a really big supporter of me. And like, I'm the type of person that, you know, [when] my friends need help, you can just ask me to do whatever. So he lived with me for a while and we're kind of a little family supporting each other. I don't want to speak for him, but I know that he sees me as a bit of a warrior because he knows that I'd be going through it, but still like, you know, fighting the good fight.
Where did that idea of throwing yourself a wedding come from?
I kind of had a hard winter. I had a really big falling out with my family, who I've been estranged from anyway, but it came to a head this winter. My mom always had this thing where I need to find a man to take care of me. So [the wedding] is like, “I'm good, I can take care of myself.” Actually, I was joking about it with Ben [Haberland, Onesie], like, “oh, this is like my wedding,” when we were setting up the show. And he was like,” that's really funny. We should promote it like that.” I was like, “I'm actually going to go all in so hard on that.” (laughs)
Did you actually go out and buy your own wedding dress?
[The wedding] was one of those “it takes a village” things. [The dress] was my friend, LaBertaa. She's coming out with an EP later this year. She is like a fashionista consultant. Obviously I'm not - I'm wearing sweatpants right now. But we ended up going thrifting, and we went to Beacon's Closet in Williamsburg, and they had one wedding dress and it was that one, and it fit me perfectly. It was $30. (laughs)
That rocks.
The veil and all the hair stuff I just Facebook Marketplaced that morning.
The morning of the show?
Yeah!
That’s awesome. That show was one of the best I've ever been to.
Thank you.
Photo by Shaina House.
You had mentioned to Ben that you are an unrepentant ska kid. Partway through the show, even, your band stopped and I heard horns start playing, and all of a sudden, two horn players walked down from upstairs and played with you guys - standing in the pit, just playing at the audience - and it was the most insane thing I've ever seen. So considering your statement to Ben and use of horns - what does it mean to be an unrepentant ska kid?
I just feel like ska music gets so much shit, and it's like people aren't really listening. Like, if you listen to Streetlight Manifesto, their lyrics are actually really good. Like, do you understand them at first?** No. Do you have to open the book and read them? Yeah. (laughs) But I just feel like ska has such a specific form and structure to it that kind of gets lost a little bit in the upstroke if you're not listening for it. And it's just fun. I was a sad, angry kid, but never wanted to be that. **So it's like a defiance of that - like, I'm going to be happy anyway.
But growing up, I was also a bassist. [Streetlight Manifesto's] bass player was crazy.** **And I was in a reggae band when I was in high school with a couple of my friends, a bunch of older guys. I used to go down to the Bronx and play with these people. I met them at Sam Ash, and they were a bit older than me. So, that's really where I got into bass.
I was wondering if you could go through each song on the EP and talk about it - like, let this serve as a track-by-track. So “Give Them Hell” ends with “if they could only see you now” - who is ‘they?’
It's just a turn of phrase. But again, my whole thing is, like, I have a plan, and I work my jobs and everything around this plan to make enough money to enact the plan. I had put together my first EP and then raised a bunch of money, bought a van, and then I was going to tour that EP. I was working at the hospital in the OR for like two years and saved up enough money for that. And then I quit that job, and the day after my insurance lapsed - I was supposed to go [on tour] maybe three days after - I got hit by a car on my bike. I was eating through a straw for like four months after that. I compound** **fractured my wrist. It was a really bad accident. So I wrote [“Give Them Hell”] because of that.
That's a great song to write in response to that.
Yeah. And it’s also directed to my friend who was having a hard time. There's always a duality where I'll write songs for people, but they're also self-affirming, you know?
Sure, sure.
Like it started out being like, my friend called me - the whole stuck to your bed thing - she couldn't get up, she was so depressed. And I was like, “just go in the shower” and literally on the phone, like coaxing her every step. Just to get water on her - you know, we’ve all been there. But it started out like that, and then became, you know, also writing about me.
The second song is “Sink, Swim, or Fall.” Good job on using the term “delulu” in a song.
Thank you. I was pretty proud of that one. This is for my Gen Z friends (laughs).
What's that song about?
I'm a little emotionally all over the place, obviously. Sometimes I don't even feel like I live on this plain because I don't have the same objectives and goals that everyone else does. Which is good, it works out. But then it’s like, I don't know… It's more of like an apology to my friends because sometimes I have very rocky emotions and I'm kind of all over the place. So yeah. That one's not really about anything specific, but more how I act in situations and realizing I'm probably wrong. You know, everyone's had a band blow out or like an adult tantrum moment.
Are you someone who writes songs from the perspective of a feeling, or are you someone who has a clear vision in mind that you write about?
Oh no, it's all feeling based. I almost feel like sometimes I don't even control what the song is about because it's just melody driven. And then I'll just start kind of like spitting stuff over it and then certain things will stick and it's like, oh, I guess that's what this is about. Then, I write around that topic, and it usually is something that's bothering me or that I’m thinking about.
Also, the [guitar] solo in that song rocks.
It’s Jeff!
I don't usually notice guitar solos for being exceptional, and this one I noticed.
Well it was actually really funny too, because that whole part of the song is meant to get like surfy and shit. And when I was talking to Jeff, I was like, “make it ‘dad.'” Like a dad solo. (laughs)
Track three is “Satellite.” What's the sound clip in the bridge from?
It's Neil deGrasse Tyson.** **He's just talking about our place in the universe. I mean, it's not like a direct quote. I kind of chopped it up a bit. But essentially, the song is about longing for somebody and wanting them to pay attention to you - to really know where you stand with them.
For what it’s worth, the chorus to that song [literally] happened. I was at my friend's house and she's like, “oh yeah, you can go out in the lake whenever you want because there's canoes there.” I couldn't sleep and I went out in the middle of the night. And the thing about launching out on a canoe into a lake at night is that you can't see where you launched off from. So I was basically stuck in that canoe for several hours (laughs).
“I’ve been stuck in this canoeIn the middle of the lake *In the middle of the nightAnd I’ve been looking at the Milky WayHoping that you can be my satellite”*
Alice and her "stalker." Photo by Shaina House.
The last song is “Undefeated.” It feels like a letter to yourself.
I know, everyone [says that]. In a way, it is. It's very self-affirming because I was in a situation... It's basically about a friend of mine. I [was] talking to her because she was leaving her abusive relationship with her guy and stuff like that - a narcissist. So it's really a letter to her. But as I was writing it, all the things I was saying were kind of like, talking to myself, you know. Because I also am always in relationships with, you know, people that don't really give me any sort of time of day instead of just loving the people that treat [me] really well. So it's more or less about how you should be expecting to be treated in a relationship. It is such a specific type of like, dealing with somebody, because you think that the situation is going to change. And really what needs to change is your own self-esteem and how you view yourself and what you deserve. And then it'll be easy to leave them.
You’re dropping some wisdom! On this song, I also noticed some Tegan and Sara-like vocals.
Oh, yeah. I think that might have been the mic Jeff used too, because he switched it up for that one. I'm like, oh my God, this sounds so good. I’m good at the songwriting part, but I don't really know if I'm good at all the little nuanced, tasteful things. When it comes to all that colorful stuff, I refer to Donnie and Neil, who can nerd out forever on it. And then when they got together with Jeff, it was just like, “I want this to sound like shimmery something.” (laughs)
Yeah, I’m not a gearhead. I leave that to the other people in my bands.
I know, it's good to have those people, but yeah. I also have no idea.
I love the line, “in love, there's no excuse for treating anyone cruelly.” That's such a good statement to have in any kind of art.
Yeah, well, that's usually the biggest argument. “You did this to me,” and “You did that to me.” If you start treating people like that and then it becomes some weird game or war - just get out of it.
Anything else you wanted to throw out there to bandNada Land?
You should tell everyone to come to the Wedding™ - Part Two!
**Alice Danger’s Wedding Part Two will be on June 27th at Our Wicked Lady. RSVP *[here](https://bandnada.com/p/66196-alice-danger-wedding-party-part-2).*
