During the Covid 19 Lockdown, Guitarist Steve Shaver was looking for something to do to keep himself busy and from going crazy with everything shut down. Steve reached out to vocalist English Dave Reilly, and asked if he would be interested in writing a song. Dave agreed, and they asked Jay Catropa if he would want to play drums on the song. Rounding out to the initial instance of Ashes Of Us All was Johnny Fila. Steve and Dave wrote their first song, “Lights Go Out”, and over the course of the next year, wrote 9 more songs. Each member of the group recorded their parts at their home studios on their own, no direction from any of the other members. Chris Cierciski was also added to play bass on half the songs. In August of 2022, after writing and recording finished, “Complicated Silence” was released. With Dave living in Pennsylvania, and the rest of the band in NY, rehearsals and shows would be difficult. Ashes played a few one or two song appearances at their other bands shows, but there was never a full band show…Until August 10th of 2024. Early in 2024 the guys in the band decided that they would indeed like to play the songs from Complicated Silence live, and also, agreed to record an EP of a few other songs they had. Fila and Cierciski were replaced on bass by Mike Bayer, and the recording of “Razorwire Sunshine” commenced. July of 2024 Razorwire Sunshine was released, and in August the band played their first full show at the popular Katies of Smithtown venue. The band now hopes to continue playing shows throughout 2024, record another EP in the Winter, and continue to play shows through 2025.
-Interview- (8/14/23)
1. How did you get started with music and how did you develop your sound? How did the name "Ashes Of Us All" come about and is there any meaning to it?
During the pandemic lockdown, Dave Reilly (vocals) and myself (Steve Shaver-guitars) were looking for something to do. We were friends, but never played in a band together. So we decided to try writing a song together. We wrote "Lights Go Out" from our debut cd "Complicated Silence". We asked Jay Catropa to play drum on it, and Johnny Fila played bass on it. We recorded everything remotely, and I mixed it in my home studio. We enjoyed the process, and ended up writing a full length album (Complicated Silence), with 10 songs. Dave, Jay and I played on all the songs, and we had Johnny Fila and Chris Ciersicki play bass flip flopping on each track. Originally we were called "The Basement Collective" as a nod to us all recording in our basement studios. But we decided to change the name to the far better "Ashes Of Us All" after we released a few songs.
2. What do you want people to take away from your music?
Our music is heavy rock, sometimes super moody, sometimes super heavy, sometimes super melodic. We like to think we wrote songs that people who like any type of music can listen to. We have commercial songs, proggy kinds of songs, ballads. Hopefully something for everyone.
3. How would you describe your sound to the average listener?
We are a heavy rock band that gets dark and moody at times, proggy at other times, and super melodic at other times. Kind of like if Creed, Alice In Chains, Slayer, Dream Theater, and the pop star of the day formed a band.
4. Who are three bands you’d like to tour with?
Iron Maiden, Alter Bridge, and Ghost. Not sure if any of them are possible, but any would be amazing to tour with.
5. What's your thoughts on AI generated music?
I want AI to do my laundry and wash my dishes. I dont want AI to write my music. The fun of being in a band is creating music. I am not opposed to using AI to enhance your music. But to write it for you, that is nonsense.
6. What’s your take on the current state of Hard Rock/Metal?
I think worldwide Metal and Hard Rock are doing well. Locally, because NY is a haven for tribute bands and hip hop, it isnt great. We have a small dedicated group of people that follow the rock/metal bands here. But getting people to check out original music is very difficult.
7. What’s the current music scene like there in New York/Pennsylvania?
In NY the music scene is dwindling. People here prefer to listen to a band play Journey's Dont Stop Believing for the 9 billionth time, rather than checking out new music. We are lucky as we have a dedicated following of fans who come see us. But the scene is certainly not a large one.
8. What’s your take on the royalties that streaming services pay out to artists?
Oh you mean the peanuts? I fail to understand how someone can become a billionaire off of music, and yet none of bands feel like they are getting paid. Apple, Spotify, You Tube, etc they are all ripping off the artists who create, record, and play the music. We get nothing while they get rich. I always thought the music business was shady, but it is worse than ever. That said, what is good about it is you do control your own music. You dont need a label anymore. But getting folks to listen to your music, and not just have bots streaming your music for snazzy numbers, again is difficult.
9. What’s next for Ashes Of Us All?
We just played our first show this past weekend. We welcomed Mike Bayer to the band as our official bass player now. So moving forward we are going to start playing more shows. We just released our new EP "Razorwired Sunshine" and are promoting that. We will probably do another EP over the winter. We are working on merch, and just getting rolling. We hope to get higher and higher profile gigs and start to play with some national acts in 2025. Most of all we hope to continue to have fun!!!
10. Any shoutouts?
Should out to our fans that supported us for the last few years without us playing any live dates. They streamed, bought, and watched our music and videos. We dont have huge numbers, but we have a dedicated following that means the world to us. We are only at the beginning!!!
