It will be up to
fans to figure out if Ash Gray was truly, as he sings on the jangling title
track of his latest CD (out in the UK on 19 November), Born In The Summer
of Love, but there’s no doubt that the New York based singer/songwriter is
drawing from the sweet and glorious rock and folk sounds of the late 60s as he
continues to take the possibilities of pop harmonies and vocal arrangements to
exciting new realms.
Truly living up
to the title of his 2010 debut EP This
Could Be A Wild Night .
Gray’s group Ash Gray And The Girls has survived several intense line-up
changes and now features the powerhouse harmony vocalists Nina Murphy and Sarah
Wise. The group’s eclectic 11-song full-length debut Born In The Summer boasts tracks that feature these two
singers balanced by others recorded when the former line-up was in place. Their
recent four-date stint at South By Southwest, and Texas Rock Fest during the
2012 event, brought Gray full circle. Not only did he live in Austin for years
before moving to NYC, but also the first incarnation of Ash Gray and the Girls
showcased at South by Southwest 2009.
Despite the
personnel shifts, the essence of Gray’s concept has been consistent—and
continues to be a crowd pleaser at his many acoustic shows around New York
(including the weekly open mic he hosts at The Local 269 in the Lower East Side
of Manhattan) and his monthly full band gigs at hotspots like Pete’s Candy
Store and Bowery Electric. With their vibrant stage presence and emphasis on
vocals and harmony, Ash Gray and The Girls bring back the days of the big
backing vocals with a modern twist. Somewhere between The Mamas and The Papas,
The Stones and White Stripes, the group features punchy, high spirited two and
three minute songs driven by a simple mix of percussion, acoustic guitar and
vocals.
Born in the US to British parents, Gray
first began to make inroads into the UK music scene when he visited from
Austin, Texas and assembled the Anglo-American ‘punk-grass’ band, the
High-Class Family Butchers. Achieving notoriety (and some airplay) with their
back-porch covers of pop classics and guerrilla-gigging, the Butchers have
continued over the years with a flexible line-up including members of Menlo Park,
The Ralfe Band and folk poster-boy Seth Lakeman’s band. For a time they even
included Harper ‘Son of Paul’ Simon, oddly enough.
Relocating to
New York, a few years ago with short-lived 90s hard rock throwback band Cycle
Sluts From Hell, Gray began shifting gears after realizing that his female
guitarist KG was a great harmony singer who blended perfectly with his backing
vocalist Helen. He launched Ash Gray and the Girls in late 2008 as an acoustic
trio, with him on vocals and acoustic guitar and these two singers. To make the
sound bigger and increase his ability to experiment with more elaborate harmony
and grooves, Gray added Mary and Abbi, who along with Helen were “The Girls”
for several years.
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