“That was a lot worse than I thought it would be.”

“Am I drowning?”

Those were a couple phrases used by members of Andalusia band Ask Alice on Monday night when they got through completing the ALS ice bucket challenge at the city’s fire station.

Don Elmore, who plays bass for the band, said the whole idea came after the group was hired to play at Halloween on the Square this year.

“We got called out a few days ago by a friend of ours,” Elmore, who wasn’t too thrilled to take part in the task, said. “He (Jamie Holloway) called the whole band out.”

For the past two weeks, the ALS ice bucket challenge has been popular among Facebook users, who “call out” others to get ice and water dumped over their heads. Before each participant takes to the chill water, a challenge is made to other people, who have 24 hours to complete the task. Those who are challenged can participate and donate $10 or donate $100 and not take the chilling challenge.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body.

Elmore said the band — which includes Kristi Matlock on lead vocals and guitar; Jeremy Warren on drums; W.C. Odom on rhythm guitar and vocals; and Josh Norris on lead guitar, rhythm guitar and back-up vocals — decided to complete the challenge in a different way.

“We thought we’d try to make it instead of just doing the normal video, we’re going to donate a portion of the show in October to the ALS, plus we’re going to set up a donation bucket for anyone who wants to donate at Halloween on the Square,” he said. “Since the city was so gracious to hire us, we decided to call out the mayor (Earl Johnson), Rep. Mike Jones, Mike O’Neal, Brian Earnest, Dana DuBose and Eddie Knight.”

Elmore said the band has already recorded short videos for the individual challenges.

To complete the challenge that was given to the band, Elmore said he enlisted the help of the Andalusia Fire Department, who was “gracious” to lend a hand in dumping a 50-gallon cooler and three 5-gallon buckets of ice water on the group.

“We’re hoping to post this (today),” Elmore said about the video. “We’re hoping that this draws more attention to Andalusia and to people about ALS as well.”

Elmore said he encourages people to not only donate to ALS, but to whatever charity they prefer, no matter how small a donation.