Jez Ashurst

Well, where do I start? I have the best job in the world, I’m the singer and co-writer in a band called Farrah and I also spend any spare time writing songs for other artists. It’s all I ever wanted to do (except be a professional cyclist but that dream ended when my lungs kept collapsing). At the moment I divide my time between gigging and recording with the band and co-writing with amazing writers and artists from all over the world. I produce, engineer, play guitar, bass, piano and Jaffa cakes.It’s taken me a long time to get to have this brilliant job and I’ve also had some unusual/bizarre and tedious jobs along the way; sausage roll stretcher, singing penguin (although I was sacked for sounding ‘too duck-like’), orange picker, bacon sandwich runner for Ant and Dec, dishwasher, busker, Karaoke programmer and removal man-to name but a few.This year has been a great so far with a Farrah Japanese tour in May and cuts on quite a few records (Richard Fleeshman, Bryan McFadden, Ryan Cabrera, One Flew South, Kaela Kimura, Sarah Whatmore, Nervo, and 7th Tarz Armstrong). Farrah are heading into the studio in the summer to record the follow up to our critically acclaimed (and rather splendid though I say so myself) album Cut Out And Keep. I was really chuffed to be asked to play guitar on Kim Richey’s U.K tour in May 2008 (I also twanged a few chords on her Giles Martin produced last record Chinese Boxes). When I’m not writing, I enjoy cooking and travelling (not at the same time). I’ve also been lucky enough to be involved in teaching the Worlds first M.A in songwriting at Bath Spa University. This year I’m hoping to learn better Japanese and stop finding excuses not to go running, oh and I’m vegetarian but I’m not a preachy one. The songs I’ve posted above are songs I’ve written or co-written. Below this you'll find the 'official' biography which does it's best to make me sound successfulJez has had several cuts on major labels in the last year, including the first Click 5 US single “Jenny” ( Atlantic ) and two other cuts on their new album “Modern Minds and Pastimes”, as well as 2 cuts ( written and produced ) on the 500,000 selling Kaela Kimura album in Japan. He also has 2 songs on Bryan McFadden’s latest record ‘Set In Stone (Universal), two songs on Richard Fleeshman’s Neon (Universal) and a song on Decca Nashville act One Flew South’s debut album He has also had a cut on the multi-platinum Yuki album “Joy” on Sony Japan and is one of the few UK writers carving out a reputation in that market. Jez also co-wrote the first solo single by Duncan James, “Sooner Or Later”, ( Innocent ) which was Top 5 in Italy.He has previously written with major names such as Carole King, Timothy B. Schmidt of The Eagles, Craig Wiseman and Hanson.As a guitarist, Jez has recorded for producers Don Gilmore (Avril Lavigne, Linkin Park), Philip Tennant (The Waterboys, The Levellers) and Rafe Mckenna (The Corrs, Ash). Jez has 15 years studio experience, working his way up from teaboy to engineer and programmer, and finally as a producer. He has his own Protools studio facility in London.Despite his relative youth, Jez has 17 years live experience, and has toured the World extensively to Arena level as guitarist and Musical Director for a variety of artists, appearing at festivals such as Glastonbury and the Isle Of Wight along the way. In the last 3 years alone he has played Shanghai with Balearic duo A Man Called Adam, and James Blunt and Jamie Cullum tours in the UK with young singer-songwriter Kate Aumonier.As lead vocalist /guitarist/writer in his own band Farrah, Jez has toured Europe and Japan recently, promoting their current album “Cut Out & Keep” and appearing with Ash, Hanson, Phantom Planet and The Feeling along the way.Jez has also composed the theme music to the ‘Classic Albums’ TV series as well as writing the music for numerous other TV programmes.
Farrah - Can't Kick The Habit from Lojinx on Vimeo .