ASHES OF ERIN

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RYAN CLYDE
WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/ashesoferin
COUNTRY: United States STYLE: Rock / Metal

DID ALL OF YOU PLAY IN OTHER BANDS BEFORE FORMING ASHES OF ERIN, AND WAS IT HARD TO FIND THAT BALANCE OF HEAVY AND MELODIC ELEMENTS IN YOUR MUSIC AT THE BEGINNING?

We did all come from other bands. Jenna came from a band called poetic anxiety, drew came from several bands but most notably murder all traitors (which he still plays in) Andy came from Vehemence. And Josh and I came from Detox. Josh and I pretty much Started Ashes Of Erin after a few years with Detox. We felt that we wanted to expand on our music and wanted to do this with a completely new sound in mind.

Everything pretty much came naturally with us in starting this band. I think we we're all just really on the same page with how everything was going to sound. And the addition of Jenna was just the final piece of the puzzle. She liked the direction we were going with our writing and we loved the melodic aspect she brought to the bands sound.

YOUR BAND BIO READS, “IN A WORLD WHERE IMAGE SEEMS TO EXCEED ABILITY, MOST OF WHAT IS CONSIDERED TO BE KNOWN AS THE MTV GENERATION. SOMETHING DIFFERENT WAS INEVITABLE...” ISN’T IT UNFORTUNATELY THE CASE THAT AS LONG AS THERE ARE POWERFUL PEOPLE WITH MONEY IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS THAT WANTS TO MAKE EVEN MORE MONEY THERE WILL ALWAYS BE BRAINLESS POP STARS?

Unfortunately it sells. You put a Miley Cyrus on TV and pump it in to people’s heads and it will sell. Especially to the younger demographic. It's really been this way for a long time but it just seems like its getting worse.

It Just sucks to see so many bands or artists that have so much talent, being completely overlooked because a record company would rather bank on this young teenage girl with a pretty face sing songs that she doesn't even write herself, then has to lip synch all of her parts live (because her songs are all pro tooled to death) just so they can sell her look and appeal to the young audience. There are just as many kids out there that like metal or rock, but they seem to just keep it going with a Britney spears type.

IS WORK ON YOUR DEBUT ALBUM “THIS SOMBER EVE” COMPLETE YET OR IS THE BAND STILL HAVING A FEW FINAL THINGS DONE TO MAKE IT AS GOOD AS POSSIBLE AND DO YOU HAVE A RELEASE DATE IN MIND?

We have spent a lot of time in the studio, and our producer, Byron Filson of villain has been working very closely with us to make sure we release the best product we possibly can. We still have some mixing left to finish, but we're looking at releasing it this October. We don't have a solid date yet, but we will be posting one soon on our MySpace.

“THIS SOMBER EVE” WAS COMPLETELY TRACKED BUT THEN THE BAND DECIDED TO RE RECORD THE ENTIRE ALBUM WITH NEW DRUMMER ANDY SCHROEDER. HE MUST HAVE REALLY MADE A GOOD IMPRESSION ON THE REST OF THE BAND?

Andy joining the band last year has improved our sound 100%. He added so much power and stability to the songs that we had prior to him joining that It only seemed right to retrack the entire album when he joined.

The guy is just fucking good. And a pretty sweet dude at that.

YOUR MUSIC HAS A LOT AND I MEAN A LOT OF ENERGY. MANY BANDS WITH WELL PRODUCED ALBUMS HAVE VERY GOOD PRODUCTION BUT NO “ENERGY”; HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO KEEP THAT ENERGY WITH YOUR RECORDINGS?

Byron had a lot to with making sure the music translated correctly. We wanted to make the album sound the way we sound live because we do take a lot of pride in our live performances. Byron would come out to our shows and see what we were going for, then we would work at finding the correct tones in the studio to come close to replicating the live sound.

BY RE RECORDING THE ALBUM DID YOU ADD ANY EXTRA TRACKS, OR DID YOU KEEP THE AMOUNT OF TRACKS THE SAME AND JUST MADE SOME “IMPROVEMENTS” TO THEM?

We did keep a lot of the songs but with Andy’s drumming, it already improved everything so much. There were a couple of songs that we weren't completely satisfied with in the original recording, so it did give us the opportunity to change all those things we weren't completely happy with. We did also write a couple more tracks that we wanted to include on the album.

WOULD YOU SAY THAT IT WAS A FINANCIALLY SMART DECISION TO RE RECORD THE ALBUM OR WAS IT JUST REALLY IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO MAKE THE BEST ALBUM POSSIBLE?

It was really important to us to put out the best product we possibly can. We kinda now look at the original recording as a pre production record. Something to nit pick and rework what we didn't like.

YOU DID A REALLY COOL PERFORMANCE VIDEO FOR THE SONG “I” WHICH WAS DIRECTED BY SHAN DAN. IT LOOKS LIKE THE BAND IS PERFORMING ON A ROOF OF A BUILDING; WHERE DID YOU SHOOT THE VIDEO AND HOW MUCH FUN WAS IT TO MAKE THE VIDEO AND DO YOU PLAN TO DO MORE?

Oh where do I start with the evening of that video ha ha.

We did the video at a friend’s old warehouse in downtown Phoenix. It's right next to the police station and is said to be very haunted. In fact, we had a large fan on the bottom floor that would keep turning on by itself every time we went down stairs.

I had done a lot of work with the owner of the warehouse so he always told me we can use it anytime we wanted to. It's a three story building with a basement and the elevator doesn't go all the way to the roof (obviously) so it was a long night of carrying gear and generators up narrow stairs. It was a lot of fun though and Shan Dan was a blast to work with.

We do have plans to do more videos, and we have a couple songs in mind but you'll just have to wait to find out which one(s) we end up doing.

IN APRIL YOU HELD A CAR WASH, WITH THE MONEY RAISED GOING TOWARDS YOUR DEBUT ALBUM RELEASE. LOOKING BACK, DO YOU SEE THAT AS ONE OF THE STRUGGLES OF BEING AN INDEPENDENT BAND OR AS GOOD MEMORIES THAT YOU WILL ALWAYS BE ABLE TO KEEP IN YOUR HEARTS?

It's always fun doing anything as a group. I mean, we are all friends and have a blast with everything we do together but obviously financial backing would be a plus. But there really are a lot of generous people out there and we will work our asses off to make sure we don't ever take any free handouts.

We have a lot of support, and to see our family, friends, and fans come out to see us when we have any kind of benefit for the band really makes us feel loved, and we really appreciate everyone’s support and love so much!

I SEE YOU ARE PLAYING TWO SHOWS IN AUGUST, I GUESS THE AMOUNT OF SHOWS YOU PLAY WILL INCREASE A LOT TOWARDS THE END OF THE YEAR?

Absolutely. Once the album is released we plan on booking a lot more shows. In town and out of town. We are just trying to keep focused on the goal at hand... put out the best album we can.

I SEE THERE IS A VIDEO OF A LIVE PERFORMANCE OF THE SONG “DEAD FISH” POSTED ON YOU TUBE. DO YOU THINK THE INTERNET HAS PUT BANDS UNDER MORE “PRESSURE” TO PERFORM BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHO IS THERE RECORDING YOUR LIVE SHOW WITH A VIDEO CAMERA OR CELL PHONE?

I personally hope so... No one wants to pay to see a band they like just to see them half ass their performance. Whether we're having a good or a bad night, we still give it all we got. As long as our fans are there to see us, we'll give them what they want to see.

LOOKING AT YOUR MYSPACE ONE CAN SEE THAT YOU HAVE PUT A LOT OF EFFORT INTO ASHES OF ERIN WITH THE BAND’S “IMAGE” AND MUSIC. IN WHAT WAYS HAS YOUR HARD WORK PAID OF SO FAR AND WHAT HAVE BEEN THE BIGGEST HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE BAND IN YOUR OPINION?

Honestly, it's all about the fans. When I was a kid, I wanted to see pictures of my favorite bands, I wanted videos, new music, shirts, stickers, whatever I could get my hands on. So we work really hard to give our fans everything we always wanted. The fans are the biggest pay off. There's nothing like talking to someone after a show that really enjoyed what we were just doing. There's no better feeling than that.

ANY COMMENTS; THINGS FANS SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR OR PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO THANK?

We'll leave most of the thank you’s for the album. It would just be too long here. But we would like to thank the fans because you are all the reason why we do this, and why we can continue to do this. Also, we'd like to thank websites like www.projectrfsezine.blogspot.com. It's so nice to have such awesome people who are willing to support bands, and help get their name out there.

But everyone keep on checking our MySpace, we'll be posting more video blogs, music and info very soon. Especially the album release date.Thank you and please send us messages and comments on our MySpace. We are on there everyday looking forward to talking to each an every one of you.