The first time I learned about Waking Ashland was in February of 2004
when Jonathan handed me their demo outside of an MxPx concert at the Hollywood
Palladium. Consequently, I ran into them about 20 minutes later inside
of the Denny's that was across the street. They were a group of nice guys,
so on the way home I listened to the demo and was truly surprised at the
uniqueness of their music. Their blend of soothing piano rock and guitar
driven songs with distinct lyrics was phenomenal (two months later I arranged
for them to play a show at the college I was attending).
Rarely when you listen to a band do you know immediately that they are
something big, but the first thought that came to my mind when I listened
to the surging piano rhythms in "I Am For You" and "The
Politics of Life" was, "Why aren't these guys signed yet?"
I later learned they had major label interest (well yeah, who would be
stupid enough to pass this band up?) and were taking their time in deciding
who was right for them.
After releasing the I Am For You EP independently (over
10,000 copies sold) and signing with Tooth & Nail Records their debut
album Composure is now available for all to hear. Composure brings back the favorite "I Am For You" and "Long Shot"
both from the I Am For You EP. The rest of the 11 tracks are nothing,
but pure Waking Ashland with mellow and upbeat songs that will keep you
going through the day.
Waking Ashland consists of Jonathan Jones (lead vocals/piano/keyboards),
Ryan Lallier (guitar/vocals), Andrew Grosse (bass/vocals), and Thomas
Lee (drums/percussion). They've done the Warped Tour twice and have toured
with acts such as Spitafield and Jack's Mannequin (the side project of
Andrew McMahon from Something Corporate).
The San Diego based band, has already shot a video for their first single
"I Am For You" and will be on tour with Action Action, Spitafield
and Gatsby's American Dream from July 13, 2005 through August 1, 2005
The former Do-It-Yourself band is not only talented and hardworking, but
they are also quite the philosophers (if you couldn't already tell by
listening to their lyrics). "The constant touring stems from our
philosophy that real bands are created on the road, not in the studio,"
Jones says. With that said, Waking Ashland is undoubtedly a real band.
For more information, visit the band's official website at [http://www.wakingashland.com]
or to download free mp3's go to [http://www.purevolume.com/wakingashland]