Abel Ashes

Music:

Member Since: 1/21/2006
Band Website: otherelements.blogspot.com
Band Members: The musicians that performed on EAT PLASTIC were..............................................ABEL ASHES - guitar - vox - bass - piano - percussion.................................................. .....................................................MARCOS FERNANDES - drums - percussion........... http://MarcosFernandes.com.................................. ............................................................ ...FAYD OGOLON - piano - organ - synth - sequencer - marimba - vox - percussion.................................................. ..........................................................ER IC HENSEL - guitar............. http://users.abac.com/ehensel/stompbox/..................... ............................................. HIRSCH THE MACHINE HIRSCH - guitar........................... http://MeyerHirsch.com...................................... ..............................................GENIUS MAX GENIUS VAZIN GENIUS - bass........................................................ ...........................................................C LARE VAZIN - piano - vox......................................................... .....
Influences: FRANK ZAPPA captain beefheart and his magic band MIKE KENEALLY sonny sharrock JAMES BLOOD ULMER living colour MIDNIGHT OIL jeff beck ORNETTE COLEMAN eric dolphy EUGENE MCDANIELS johnny "guitar" watson CONLON NANCARROW edgard varese JULUKA fela kuti YOKO ONO howlin' wolf EL-P public enemy COMPANY FLOW paris PRIMUS explosions in the sky WATTS PROPHETS roger waters LITTLE STEVEN two siberians BORIS GREBENSHIKOV john trudell HENRY KAISER nels cline GARY LUCAS john fahey NEGATIVLAND gang of four CLOCKED OUT DUO marcelo radulovich TOM WAITS dodecaphonic P.I.S.S.O.N.M.E. hirsch with invalid entry FUNKADELIC ojo MORAL SANCTITY howie-o UPSILON ACRUX this way out GOD'S PENIS igor stravinsky
Sounds Like: “’Instead of being a musician before being a composer, I was writing shit in my head before I knew how to play,' explains Abel Ashes.

And yes, he’s figured out how to bring it off, appearing regularly around San Diego for the better part of the 90s in clubs and coffeehouses, accompanying himself on acoustic or electric guitar (with or without minimal speaker power) with or without anybody else. Among the various events have been the Accretion label’s ongoing Trummerflora series at key S.D. club The Casbah; Ashes has served a dual role as host-M.C./between acts second-stage performer on a number of the experimental music nights. (Another memorable gig was at the protest stage across from the downtown Convention Center when San Diego endured the official Republican national confab back in ’96.)

Backed by friends and family assembled as the Runs, the singer-guitarist also contributed his ominous “The C.E.O.” (Crucial line: “I am The C.E.O. and I will kick your ass”) to Accretions’ second Trummerflora comp (likewise appearing on Hirsch the machine Hirsch’s track on same CD). Other tracks in Ashes’ repertoire bear such curious titles as “Picture Perfect Pod People” and Man-Made Humans and Hybrid Potatoes,” putting in play acknowledged influences like Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart.”

- Xavier Vasquez, Accretions.com

"The album cover consists of an illustration of a man holding up two children (or two very small men) by the neck. This is the slightly-demented, slightly-sane world of Abel Ashes & The Runs, and Eat Plastic is an album that you'll either get or not. Fortunately, it's good (and original) enough to merit a number of listens.

When I listened to it for the first time, I was not sure what I was getting myself into. There are hints of Frank Zappa in there, in the guitar playing and the deep low voice that Abel Ashes uses in some of the songs, along with the humor. You can take the humor with a grain of salt, for the music on this CD (recorded between 1993 and 2006) is what will keep fans there and wanting to hear more. Or in a track like "The CEO", the guy is almost a dead ringer for Calvin Johnson (of Beat Happening fame), and that alone is funny too, for here is Abel Ashes singing lyrics that make you want to laugh and yet does it in a deadpan voice.

What also makes these songs interesting is that he's a good storyteller, even if those stories seem to go anywhere and everywhere, not unlike Primus. It's a cartoon-like musical world, with the music just as animated, moving from weird guitar feedback and distortion to jazzy lounge. The album closes with two serious tracks which look into some of the 9/11 conspiracy theories that have been discussed, done with various sound bites from different sources. They are separated from the rest of the album but could have easily flowed well with the other material.

The songs can be open to interpretation, yet there's nothing left to the imagination with lyrics such as 'Here's some commercial advertisements/here's some commercials you stupid ass.' It's oddball when it wants to be (which is most of the time) and yet carries a bit of a smirk which leads me to believe they know exactly what they're doing. Impressive work."

- Da Bookman (John Bookman) The Run-Off Groove, MusicForAmerica.org

“Beefheart and Zappa blues are spectres behind ‘The C.E.O.’ where a plucked electric guitar melody from Abel Ashes is transformed into a Mothers’-like song about a CEO with the help of The Runs on drums, bass and piano. One vocal is described as ‘creepy ass’ but to me that covers the lot - the music is good but I could bypass the lyrics and singing (which was always an issue with Zappa): anyway, it is mercifully short.”

- Ampersand Etcetera - Volume 3 Number 1

"The music, the concepts, it is all so good. The line about broccoli in 'Amtrak' caught me off guard and I almost guffawed coffee on my keyboard! Total satisfaction is achieved by listening to you. Beautiful, even if the underlying truths are very scary."

- Mike Gaito (musician)

"Hilarious and brilliant stuff...and I gotta give accolades for your activism...kinda thought I was the only one out there mixing that level of awareness with music. Your songs remind me a lot of what I used to do when I was really Avant (before my testicles shriveled up and I started doing more "commercially viable" material). I hear a lot of Zappa, a bit of Zoogz Rift, and a dash of John Trubee and the Ugly Janitors of America (if you remember them...few do)."

- John Ludi (musician)

"None of the songs on EAT PLASTIC sound alike. On UGLY BUILDINGS I like the industrial sounds of GIANT METAL COCKROACHES; a prehistoric, yet futuristic instrumental piece that will, i'm sure, be the soundtrack of post-nuclear holocaust earth. THE CEO will have you singing along to his bluesy ballad of self-righteous corporate greed. highly recommended."

- Kelly Marie

"Eat Plastic" sounds like disparate samples edited together with dramatic, quick changes in the soundscape, but is actually a collection of all original compositions of an experimental jazz-rock-funk-blues-noise hybrid variety."

- CDBaby.com

Record Label: Other Elements
Type of Label: Indie