Alaska Thunderfuck’s first extensive tour brings sci-fi drag to Dallas

RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer
rich@dallasvoice.com

Alaska Thunderduck 5000. (Photo courtesy of Magnus Hastings 2022)

History is being made as drag performer/singer Alaska Thunderfuck 5000 is on her first-ever North American tour this season. Her new live show is a music extravaganza in support of her 2022 release Red 4 Filth. The RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars winner brings her show to Dallas on Sunday at Trees in Deep Ellum.

After a series of single drops throughout the year, Alaska (nee Justin Andrew Honard) released her fourth album this September. “We sort of slowly released a lot of music, you know, like an Adderall,” she said by phone. “So it may seem the album has been out for a while.”

In Red 4 Filth, Alaska, 37, seems to be pushing a legit pop album rather than any reliance on her fame or name. Drag performers haven’t had the best luck with music releases, but Alaska has found the lane she fits in and works upward.

“I guess it comes from wherever art comes from — the lord or the universe or the ether,” she said about songwriting. “I keep a file of all the things that strike me and try to create something cool.”

That leads into her lyrics which often have a tinge of her signature clever camp. Her diary of her life is her inspiration for music. But now she has a whole new aspect to consider.

This new tour is her most exhaustive yet, taking her throughout the country. How does an All-Stars champion turn her concerts into something more than a drag brunch performance?

“A tour like this gives me the opportunity to dig in a little more,” Alaska said. “With a drag performance, we live in that moment, and then it’s over. We have created a show that tells a story, and then we do it a bunch of times. And it gets better as it goes. I start to find new beats and moments, and the show gets tighter, and I love all that.”

(Photo courtesy of Albert Sanchez)

Alaska did have a specific intention with this tour. She understood that we are in a sucky economy where everything costs more. She said she wanted to do her little part to combat that while also getting people to the show.

“I think it’s important to mention that I wanted to first play smaller venues so we could have reasonably priced tickets,” she said. “A lot of people are fuckin’ going through it right now with inflation and gas, and no one’s making enough.”
Tickets to her show, she said, have averaged “like $30.”

For her, that’s the whole idea of drag — the ability to bring people together without being a burden. “Real-life people in a room with real-life music. That part of drag really inspires me,” she said. “That’s what I wanted to do with this tour, and we’re proud of that.”

As Justin, Alaska grew up in rural Pennsylvania. He searched for a space to feel free and celebrated, and that’s what drag provided for him. But it’s also a reminder that there are queer people everywhere in places like where he grew up. And those queer people need nourishment.

But drag also meant something else: “Drag is the complete opposite of these major problems that stem from patriarchy,” Alaska said. “Drag is definitely and actively against all of that shit. That’s so essential in fighting back. Drag is — I am — aggressively anti-patriarchy and a celebration of feminine power. We can be a force for change.”

At the same time, Alaska can provide an escape from all the bullshit through her tour which she says will be like going to the movies. “It takes place in space but tells the story of Alaska, and the music is like the soundtrack,” she said. “I mean it’s basically like a sci-fi movie.”

For tickets, visit TreesDallas.com.