Interview: Ashen Reach (Written)
High-flying Brit metal crew Ashen Reach triumphantly return with their mesmerising new single and video, Lost, out now. The band’s eagerly awaited new EP, The Fear, also arrives everywhere on Friday 22nd March.
1. Hello! Thank you for taking the time to chat to us. First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started.
In the form you see us, we pretty much got started in the wake of a few member past members leaving. We had just got back from 2 gigs in Russia and lost 2 members not long after returning. We spent a few weeks figuring out whether or not we wanted to continue and eventually decided that we’d give it one last go, try to find some new members, and take it as far as we could!
2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?
Modern Metal for sure. Our music is guitar driven, and resembles metal music, but we try to incorporate external influences as much as possible, be it orchestral, electronic, or anything we really like but isn’t necessarily a staple of ‘metal’ music. Everyone has a different idea of what genres and sub-genres are, but we’re heavy and also accessible.
3. What’s currently going on in your camp? New releases? Tours? Etc.
We are currently sorting a UK tour to coincide with our upcoming EP The Fear, available 22nd March. We want to cover as much ground as possible but not necessarily do tons of dates as we’re not a huge band… YET! We’re super excited for both the EP release and subsequent tour, and can’t wait to see what people think. The 3 tracks people have heard up to now (Ghosts, Neophobia and Lost), have all been extremely well received and there’s still some surprises left to come!
4. What has been the most positive experience of making music to date for you?
I’d say probably a toss up between playing Steelhouse Festival, or being invited to return to Planet Rockstock to play the main stage, a year after headlining the Graham Harding Stage. We seem to thrive in those big scale environments when we have plenty of space to put on a show, and get everyone there as immersed and involved as possible. Those are some definite highlights, but also the times when people come up at a gig and tell us how much our music has done for them, or helped them in difficult times in their life, or they’ve found something in it that they really relate to. That’s an awesome feeling and knowing that just a few guys putting stuff together that they’re proud of, can have a big impact on someone, that’s something positive and is always wonderful to see.
5. Likewise, what has been some of the more challenging aspects and how have you overcome them?
I think just doing the day-in-day out stuff of running a band is extremely tough. All the stuff you’re doing to keep the wheels turning, that nobody really sees. Things like sorting gigs/tours, merch orders either buying in or selling, managing social media accounts across multiple platforms, trying to be as active as possible online without burning your own head out. There is so much that goes on in the background and if none of it got done, you wouldn’t be reading this that’s for sure. About 5% of what we do is playing/writing music. Most of it is admin work that nobody wants to do, but has to be done. Outside of that, our van breaking down on the way to gigs or right before gigs. It never breaks down when there’s time to get funds together and get it sorted. One garage had it for a whole month and it came out arguably worse. It’s probably cost us about the same as 4 brand new vans to keep it road-worthy, and relatively speaking, we’ve not really had it for that long haha!
6. How do you handle the modern expectations of being in a band? Always online, having to put out content constantly, your success measured in likes and follows?
I try not to look at it all the time. It’s pointless. Numbers jump up and down all the time so basing your success or mood for the day on it is never a good thing. Check it a year apart and if it’s not gone up much, you should be worried. You don’t plant a seed and dig it up every five minutes to see if it’s a tree yet. You have to just water it, feed it, look after it the best you can and hope that overall, the chart creeps up, as steeply as you can get it to. As far as expectations go, I’m not sure. It’s not enough anymore to just do what you want to do and hope for success. You have to pretty much be a full-time content creator alongside whatever you’re doing. That’s why you can’t get hung up on numbers. You might do a tour diary, edit hours upon hours of footage, clip, crop, add stuff in, spend days or weeks making it as engaging and entertaining as you can, and it gets 200 views on YouTube. That might seem like a lot, and it’s nothing to scoff at, but when your recommended on the side is full of videos that have thousand or millions, it can be disheartening. You have to enjoy it because if you don’t, you’re really not going to last very long. You will burn out extremely quickly and even if you do make it, there’s not a great deal of money in it anymore.
7. What’s something that really ‘grinds your gears’ about the industry/business these days and what would you propose is done to combat it?
Probably what I eluded to in the previous question. No money in the industry anymore. I see/hear of so many bands who you think are doing really well. Touring, selling places out, loads of Spotify streams, tons of online engagement, and they all still have day jobs. It’s grim how massive you actually have to be, to even have a hope of not having to work outside of being in a band. I guess it’s largely down to streaming. Dedicated, passionate fans will buy your music because they know that is how to support the bands you love, but streaming is so convenient. You have everything you could ever want to listen to for like £8 a month or whatever. Why would you ever buy music again. Daniel Ek is a billionaire and has probably never written a song in his life. It’s a shame when people are trying to do what they love and everyone else is making more money off it than them. Unfortunately, I don’t really see a way to combat it. For consumers, it’s a godsend in terms of accessibility and convenience. For musicians and creators, it’s a nightmare unless you’re Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran. The over-saturation, lack of visibility, playlisting/favouritism, algorithms. It’s the easiest it’s ever been to get your music out, to all over the world, but the hardest it’s ever been to get anyone to find it.
8. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask they do to help support your music?
The best way to support any band directly is buy their merch. We always try to design our merch with day-to-day wearability in mind. You might not always want to have a giant logo plastered all over your top. We’d like people to be able to wear it out and about, not just at a gig. We also try to make them look unique/cool, not just LOGO-GENERIC IMAGE. Stuff that people actually like the look of and would be happy/proud to wear, not just to show support of a band they enjoy the music of. Definitely buying tees, hoodies and CD’s/Vinyls directly from the band is the best way to support.
9. Outside of the music, what’s do you do to relax?
I play a lot of video games. I have done since I was a kid. It was always a great escape for me, getting lost for hours in other worlds, be it something competitive or something chill. I also like cooking, I find it peaceful, therapeutic, and gratifying when people eat what you’ve made and thoroughly enjoy it. Jess plays a lot of games too, as well as painting/ digital artwork, YouTube and watching films/TV shows. Kyle likes gaming too to be honest! He does also like to skate and do climbing on those giant indoor walls. Jess and I actually went with him once and although it was fun, we couldn’t walk or lift food/drink to our face for days, haha! Joe… pretty much with Joe, if he’s not playing guitar, he’s thinking about guitars or playing guitar. That won’t surprise many people, especially when you hear him play.
10. Where can people find you?
@ashenreach everywhere. All social medias, Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), Threads, TikTok etc. And our website which we update regularly, ashenreach.co.uk! We’ll be touring across the UK very soon so look out for dates and venues, you’ll be able to find us there too, most likely!
