Rebirth is one of music’s bountiful qualities, able to be reborn in any number of ways bands are able to shape themselves into whatever they may want to be or have been. Formed from elements of bands in the surrounding area From Ashes To New have begun to forge their own path. Making their debut Download appearance at this year’s Download 2016 we were lucky enough to be able to speak to vocalist Chris Musser about not only the new album but how the band operate as a unit and how, as someone suffering from anxiety works in a public environment and just what message the band are trying to get across to their fans.
Listen to the full unedited soundbyte below or read the unedited transcript underneath that!
I’m here today with Chris from From Ashes To New!
We usually say with From Ashes To New, try to get rid of the From from haha!
So how are you?
I’m doing good a little soggy a little wet but having a good time!
Are you looking forward to performing later on.
Yes definitely! Interested to see what its going to be like you know? This is our first time playing over here at Download.
You guys had a small show back in The Garage this week?
We started out playing Rock AM Park and then Rock AM Ring got cancelled then we played two shows one of them was with New Years Day and the next one was with As Lions.
How did they go?
It was awesome, we had a good time!
What can you tell us about the new album, what was it like actually writing the material.
It was drawn out over a period of a year and a half, even now we are constantly writing trying to write as much as we can. That came out in February, the album was called Day One. We had one single off of it called “Through It All” and that got to number 6 back in the Billboard charts back home in the United States. Now our new single is called “Lost and Alone” I don’t think its released over here yet but we do have a video for it on YouTube.
I think I have seen it.
In all of our music we try and make it relatable but alwyas try and have a positive message in there somewhere. Something a little different from the music out there these days.
Ok was that something that you had in mind when you were writing it?
I’ve been in past bands where it was kind of more negative and rooted in negativity and I’m kind of over that and I just want to be as psotive as I can. I still put in the dark stuff but try to make it positive in the end the overall message.
I’ve also noticed that you kind of meld various different genres in the band. Was that something that you wanted to actively do from the beginning?
All of us in the band we all grew up playing in different local Metal bands, like striaght Metal. We just kind of spun our wheels doing that forever and didn’t really get anywhere with it. Some of us quit for a little while with music altogether and some of us just did different things but we just wanted to do something a little bit different but we didn’t know what. We all listen to so many different genres of music and this just kind of came out. We didn’t really try it but we were just trying to do something a little bit different than what we used to do.
How did From Ashes To New actually come about then?
We all had different bands back in Pennsylvania back in the states and we always played shows around PA and the surrounding states so we all knew each other beforehand. Matt actually started out the first EP, he wrote the first EP, he used to Rap before he did Metal music before he was a kid he wanted to go back to doing that he started that out and then we just kind of filled in the pieces?
Is it quite a democratic writing process?
Everybody puts in their two cents.
Now that the album is released what are your plans for the rest of the year?
We’re going to finish up over here today then we go back home in like three days and then we have a week off, then we do all of Warped Tour we’re going to spend the rest of the summer doing Warped Tour hopefully get a couple of weeks off. We’ve got a couple of plans for fall but nothing is set yet so its kind of open there.
Its fantastic that you have got a platform like Warped Tour to go on. What is it two months?
Two and a half? I’m not sure it might be two but I know its going to be rough.
But it’ll be good though! What about actual influences in the band and for yourself as well, who do you find is a big influence?
Well Matt was more the Rap guy, I grew up listening to DMX too, Busta Rhymes and stuff like that that wasn’t a big influence on me. Mine personally was Alexisonfire, Glassjaw which I think we’re going to miss today because I think we are playing at exactly the same time, which is disappointing. Korn, Sevendust, we were kind of all over the place.
You might be able to catch a bit of Korn later on!
What does the name From Ashes To New mean?
Well basically all of our local bands that we played in kind of burnt to the ground and then from those ashes we rose into this band.
Like the phoenix rising kind of thing. What about the lyrical content behind Day One?
Me and Matt kind of bounce lyrics back and forth, writing at the same time or sometimes I will bring a chorus to him for me personally I grew up suffering from depression and anxiety and I still go through that now but thats a lot, thats kind of where I draw my inspiration from. I write a lot about that and horrible relationships that I have gone through in the past and thats kind of where that comes from.
Without this being too personal, do you find it hard to be in a band where you are projected in the spotlight all the time if you have anxiety?
Oh yeah. Definitely, I struggle with it all the time. Some days are better I’m pretty good today for some reason, I never know what day is going to be what. Some days I just don’t deal well in large groups sometimes, when I’m on stage I’m fine but usually, some press or when I am meeting fans sometimes, I love meeting fans its great meeting people but sometimest you are wedged in like this and you can’t get away. It does something to my head, I dunno.
I can imagine, is it almost like you’ve got a comfort zone when you are on stage with the band?
I think I am just in a different world up there.
Me personally I know quite a lot of people with anxiety and I know that mental illness is a big thing, is that something that you would try and make people more aware of?
I have been slowly trying, I want to get into something to help with depression and anxiety but I’m not sure what to do yet. I’ just trying to put it out there now, the depression thing sometimes I can be so quiet but when I get on stage I’m like a different person. That’s like my outlet.
Its like Jekyll and Hyde! What about Day One how did that sort of come about?
It was a slow process, we did our first EP Matt he wrote most of that and I came in and helped out a little bit. Then we had second EP called Downfall, it had four songs on it so we had those four songs done and it was going to take so long to get the album released that we put this four song EP out. That kind of held the fans over, we wanted to give the fans something to hold them over but finally it got released.
What was the inspiration behind the video?
It kind of bounced back and forth between us and the label so much that its kind of all over the place. Its kind of hard to figure out how it came together. Its been a great trial and error sort of thing. We usually get our film together, like for our last one we went out to New York and we just kind of like went free for all. Went and did things everywhere, we can start here and then try over there. They took us to the editing room and they take care of it there.
Has there been an album that you have been listening to for the last six months to a year?
It had to be probably Sempiternal by Bring Me The Horizon. Even their new one Thats The Spirit, I love that one too.
Why is that?
I don’t know man just the catchy tunes and just love the lyrics and they have great electronics in their music too.
Is that something that is a very important part of the band? For you actually in the band, there are certain elements that are electronic.
I think for me what is best is probably the catchiness and hooks along with melodies thats what I always listen for.
From Ashes To New’s brand new album Day One is out now.
