Ashes, an up and coming noise/shoegaze band out of RVA is the latest group to sign onto local indie label Crystal Pistol Records, and on New Years Eve, they will drop their debut album, MyBadYerGood. They also have a new video they are allowing RVA Mag to premiere!
Ashes, an up and coming noise/shoegaze band out of RVA is the latest group to sign onto local indie label Crystal Pistol Records, and on New Years Eve, they will drop their debut album, MyBadYerGood. They also have a new video they are allowing RVA Mag to premiere!
The trio, made up of Andrew Harrison (vox, guitars), Wyatt Nichols (vox, synth) and Joe Small have been playing their blend of shoegaze and raw experimental rock together since last year, but the project started out with just Harrison.
“I really started the project on my own as a solo project three and a half years ago,” he said.
Small, a Virginia Beach native who grew up with Harrison, joined in late 2014 after a random basement jam session and the band began to take shape from there.
“Joe and I live together and I’ve known him since middle school and I think I was about to play a show in our basement and I was practicing, and Joe was upstairs so I called him to play with me because he plays drums,” he said. “it kind of was a random decision and worked out really well so we just kept going with it.”
Leesburg native Nichols came aboard last year rounding out the rest of the lineup which is when they began to flesh out the album.
“We’ve been working on some of the songs for two years, our member Wyatt joined us last New Years Eve so we’ve kind of had a few songs we knew we wanted to use, and then he joined so we kind of revamped them a bit and did some new stuff as well,” said Harrison.
Ashes began recording for the eight-track album MyBadYerGood in June with a few guys from Dcotor Collins, a fellow Crystal Pistolband, then worked with the label’s co-founder, Saw Black, who has recorded a number of albums for Crystal Pistol bands in his basement, to finish up the album in the summer.
“When it was getting closer to being done, I contacted Justin {Black} and Pete {Curry} and they came and helped us mix it a bit,” said Harrison.
Harrison said he met the Crystal Pistol boys by chance awhile back.
“I used to live near Justin, I would go skate in Abner Clay Park and Justin and Pete would walk Justin’s dog a lot up there and we kind of met through that, I had no idea they were musicians,” he said. “We didn’t really know each other for a while until I started to see them at shows I realized that was Pete Curry and connected the dots.”
Ashes signed to Crystal Pistol Records, whose ever-growing roster includes Doll Baby, Death Birds Surf Club and Curry, just a few months ago and will release this upcoming album under the label. You can pre-order the cassette on the label’s website.
Although Harrison has a had a few prior releases, including an EP in early 2015, this will be the debut album for the band as a trio. Harrison said listeners can expect some heavy shoegaze, low synth, dreamy guitar riffs, and more on the new album.
“It’s sorts of like, self-reflective and socially charged lyrics and vocals,” he added.
The band has also so kindly allowed RVA Mag to premiere “Wood Grain,” their new music video for the single off the forthcoming album.
Shot by Curry in just a few hours around Belle Isle, Harrison said “Wood Grain” deals with the phenomenon of pareidolia, in which the mind perceives a familiar pattern of something where none actually exists. Harrison said it’s an older song he recorded on his own.
“Where you’re looking at cracks in the sidewalk and see a face or something, it could work for clouds too, I’ve sort of had that experience a lot throughout my life, random things in my life or the house I grew up in…,” he explained. “Thinking about that and being alone and afraid and things like that.”
The video is a day at Belle Isle for sure-if you were on acid. Its hazy, shoegazy. bordering on psychedelic sound eases you into the tune with Harrison coming in on vocals shortly after. Definitely trippy, and a little eerie in a good way. It makes you start to wonder what’s actually lurking out there and who’s behind the “voices in the white noise.”
You can feel the intensity of Harrison’s emotions behind the vocals as the song unfolds and if this is any indication for the rest of the album, I’m excited for what’s to come for this up and coming band.
Ashes will embark on a mini 11-date tour starting in the New Year where you catch them at The Camel Jan. 5. Check below for the rest of the tour dates, but don’t miss their album release party for MyBadYerGood New Years Eve at a local DIY spot alongside Rock Dracula, Pete Curry, HeadlessMantis, and a few acts from Satellite Syndicate. Contact the band for details on location.
1/5- Richmond, VA, The Camel
First Thursday’s Take Over w/ The Dharma Bombs! feat. Ashes, Recluse Raccoon, Isaac Friend & Father Figure
1/6- NYC, The Footlight
NO SHOES / Ashes / The Royal They / Grim Streaker / The Rizzos
1/7- Philidelphia, PA, Spruce Caboose
GUARANTEED FACE MELTER
1/8- Hadley, MA, Tubecats
1/9- New Brunswick, NJ
Kadian Quartet // Ashes // Pheller // ClownBaby
1/10- Montclair, NJ, The Meatlocker
1/11- Harrisonburg, VA, Lon Lon Ranch
Ashes// Venus Milo// Jaundice for Stephanie
1/12- NC, TBA
1/13- Charleston, SC, Swan Dive
Ashes // Orange Doors // Lance Bangs // Vanity Plates
1/14- GA, TBA
