Music Is Boring, that’s the title of New Zealand rock four piece Ashei’s new EP. Out now and available via the band’s Bandcamp, Ashei recorded the new record with Matt Bartlem of Loose Stones Studios in QLD after successfully achieving a $10,000 indiegogo crowd funding campaign in mid-2013.
To celebrate the release of Music Is Boring, the hard working outfit have given us a track by track run down of the EP which you can check out below.
Ready For The Morning
We kick off our EP with a punch in the face with the heavy beginnings of ‘Ready For The Morning’ which over all is a slow rock jam. This is one is an older song of ours that we always wanted to record and we’re so glad we did.
It has a killer groove in its quieter parts, and builds some awesome tension which is eventually released as a scorching guitar solo by Liam (Muir). This song is about getting drunk to deal with your problems.. you know, the good ol’ healthy stuff!
You’ll like this song if you like “I’ll Let You Live” by Taking Back Sunday (For that slow attitude jam that gives no f*cks)
Bright Eyes
This was our first single off the EP if it isn’t entirely obvious by how annoyingly catchy it is. We wrote this quite late in the preparations for making this EP and it was written in two halves. Liam had written the verses and general theme of the song but we struggled to come up with a chorus for weeks until Emma (Cameron) had it come to her spontaneously at the place where all the best thoughts are thought… the toilet.
It contains our stylistic trademark of trying to combine pop songs with heavier drum tracks. It’s a really fun song to play on the guitar, too!
You’ll like this song if you like ‘Let The Flames Begin’ by Paramore (For that catchy up tempo powerful pop)
The Crash
This song has been floating around our practice space for years and have had several bass players come through and add their own flavours and ideas to it. It’s a bit of a Frankenstein’s Monster and it’s been fun seeing it change and get recorded in it’s final form and it’s one of our favourites.
It starts really simple but ends up with stupid amounts of guitars and vocal tracks (in a good way). It has a bit of everything really; soft, heavy, epic, grunty.. it’ll make sense when you hear it.
You’ll like this song if you like ‘Mountains’ by Biffy Clyro (For that dynamic tempo feel with an overall epic vibe)
It’s a Drag
Liam and Emma spent a couple freezing winter nights in our garage piecing this song together from some miscellaneous lyrics Liam had written previously that struck a chord with Emma and fit the opening guitar lines she had lying around and other lyrics she had of a similar theme. This song is about suffering from self-loathing. We think this song contains some of the best moments on the whole EP!
You’ll like this song if you like ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’ by My Chemical Romance (For that old school emo vibe)
Cracked and Torn
This one is our new single! It’s quite the epic climax to our 5-track EP but we wanted a big note to end on so here it is. It’s a band favourite solely for the string section alone.
We’ve always wanted to add real strings to our recordings and it was a match made in heaven with Chris Carmichael writing, arranging and recording them with this song. The moment we listened to the song with strings for the first time was probably the best feeling during the whole process. We are just really proud of this track.
You’ll like this song if you like “Paperthin Hymn” by Anberlin (For that emotional roller coaster)
