ASHEN REACH Talk New EP, Musical Instruments And More

 UK rock/metal four-piece ASHEN REACH have released their new EP ‘The Fear’ which is out now. Bandmate Paddy Cummins kindly chatted to us about their new music and more:

Who is in Ashen Reach and what do they play?

Ashen Reach consists of Kyle Stanley, our lead vocalist. I (Paddy Cummins) do guitars and backing vocals, Joe O’Sullivan who plays guitar, and Jess Stanley, who is our drummer and all-round engine of the band!

When and how did you all meet?

We all met in the wake of an old line-up disbanding! We were basically looking for new members and out ads on social media, and of the people who auditioned, Joe and Kyle stood out amongst the rest and were quickly brought on board!

Your new EP ‘The Fear’ is out now. How did you want to approach the making of the EP and who produced it?

We knew we wanted to do an EP as the next venture, and upon writing the first song about ghosts and the haunting of someone, we thought it could be cool to theme the rest of the tracks around other fears and phobias. It definitely wasn’t something we set out to do off the bat, but something that sort of happened as a happy accident. It was produced by the wonderful and multi-talented Phil Dyer, who helped us massively in refining our sound, fat trimming and some arrangement choices here and there. He knew what we were going for, and provided guidance on how to get there without being overbearing, intrusive, or trying to write the songs for us. We’ll definitely be working with him again in the future. The mixing and mastering was done by Mark Roberts on Ghosts, Neophobia and Lost, and Tony Draper on D1V1DE and The Dark. All the songs turned out amazingly with the help of everyone involved.

Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals, microphones etc?

Kyle has been using his Line 6 wireless stuff for years now and it’s always been reliable, never let him down yet (touch wood)! Jess is currently endorsed by a couple of different folks and swears by them all! Firstly, The London Drumstick Company, who have provided awesome sticks for a couple of years now. Duallist Drums and Pedals have been brilliant too. At the moment she uses a Duallist copper snare, and their D2 double bass pedal, however there may be more cool stuff coming in the future so keep your eyes peeled! She also uses ACS Custom in-ear monitors which are specifically molded to her and sport a lovely purple finish. Again, amazing product that has been wonderful to use. Joe and I both use the Neural DSP Quad Cortex. Probably the best floor unit in the world and it covers all tonal duties. Amps, pedals, cabs, you name it. Joe also uses a Solar SB1.6 with an Evertune bridge. The Evertune is THE single greatest guitar-related invention of all time and why every hardtail guitar doesn’t come with one as standard, is beyond me. I use a Chapman Ghost fret most of the time, with a retrofitted Evertune because, as mentioned, it’s the best thing since sliced bread.

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?

We’re from the Merseyside area, so the closest big city would be Liverpool. In 5 words, probably ‘Do you know the Beatles?’. Haha! No but it’s actually a wonderful place, and has some of the warmest, welcoming people in the world!

Do you have any interesting, funny or memorable stories from the EP recording sessions?

We do have one, but we can’t really discuss it… because of the implications. Haha! Most of it was all business to be fair. We knew what we wanted, and even though we had to sort of piece it together as we went along due to certain circumstances, we’re thrilled with the end product and hope everyone loves it as much as we do.

You have also released the track ‘Lost’. What was the story/inspiration behind the song?

we were talking about different fears to write songs about, it got me thinking about a time when I was a kid and nearly drowned near Moreton on the Wirral. I couldn’t swim at the time and I was trying to get our football that ended up in the sea and was floating out. There was a big, unexpected channel and the ground went from under me and I fell straight under. That was the inspiration for the song or at least the starting point. I thought we could elaborate on the theme, as many people are afraid of vast open water or being stranded at sea, so we went with that in the end!

Do you have any plans for live shows in Europe/UK in 2024?

We are announcing a UK tour very soon and we’ll be going all the way up and down the country! We’d love to do something in Europe or Ireland at the very least, later in the year, but for now we have tour dates and festivals in the UK for this year! More details to follow!

How do you look after your voices?

Kyle doesn’t drink or smoke at all, and I only really have a social drink once in a while. We try to eat healthily, especially so when we’re on the road and gigging, and to be honest, you feel a lot better in general when you do. You don’t get fatigued as quickly and it’s very much a marathon. You’ve got to pace yourself and make sure you don’t blow everything you have immediately, because it isn’t sustainable over long periods of time, whether it be over the course of a tour, or just shortening your lifespan as an artist in general.

Which tracks hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?

happiest song is probably Hole in the Sky from our debut album, Homecoming. It’s a very uplifting track about sticking together and being able to make it through anything as long as you have each other. Our angriest song is probably Broken Column. It’s definitely a call-out of a track, with an unmistakable message for the person in the firing line. But I think the rawness of the message in the song makes it interesting and adds to the intensity, especially live! Our most reflective song is hard to nail down, but it’s probably between Here I Go and Alive Again. Both of these songs are very personal to myself and Kyle respectively, as they tell a story of some of the most difficult times in our lives and how we felt in the midst of it. I think people can definitely hear that in those songs and again, especially live, they definitely have an impact on people when they absorb the lyrics.

Who are some of your musical influences? Do you have any recommendations?

The current modern metal scene has definitely inspired us all greatly of late. The likes of Architects, Spiritbox, I Prevail, Bad Omens, Bring Me The Horizon and many others. We try not to draw TOO much from them, because we don’t want to sound exactly like anyone, but the vibe of those bands, the type of music they produce, is definitely the vibe we’re going for. We just try to do it in our own way!

What two things do you hope to have achieved once you have left the stage? 

Firstly, we want people to walk away feeling something. It’s one thing to watch some talented people perform and play some cool songs and what not, but for people to leave your set reeling and having felt something deeper than ‘wow, that was awesome’. We obviously want to put on an amazing show for people and entertain, but we also want to invoke an emotional response. Hopefully with the themes and subjects we write about, we can get people to do that and perhaps relate to the songs. Secondly, we want people to be letting everyone know that if you missed our set, you should be absolutely gutted. If people are talking about your performance to those who haven’t seen it, in a positive way, hopefully it will encourage them to check us out and go out of their way to not miss us if the opportunity comes up again!

What makes Ashen Reach happy and what makes you unhappy?

What makes us happy is seeing/meeting people after the shows. Seeing people walking around in our merch. People commenting on our posts online and giving us feedback about what we’re doing. At the end of the day, we’re just 4 great friends trying to achieve a dream of ours, and if we can affect people positively, in whatever way that may be, that’s wonderful. Not a lot really makes us unhappy to be honest. Besides the everyday struggles that most people face, like organising, stressing, money, and whatever else, we generally try to stay positive as much as we can and try to enjoy what we do as much as possible. A hell of a lot more work goes into being in a band than people realise, and if you don’t love it, you’ll soon know because you’ll hate it very quickly. 

Feature Image Photo Credit: Supplied By San PR

ASHEN REACH’s new EP ‘The Fear’ is out now. 

ASHEN REACH will be touring the UK throughout 2024 with both headline shows and festival apperances including Maid of Stone Festival on Saturday 20th July 2024 on Firestarter Stage. Tickets are onsale now here: https://maidofstonefestival.com/ 

To purchase the EP, live dates and more information visit: https://linktr.ee/AshenReach