Lights Over Ashfield
ELUCIDATION
Written by Gina Tutko-Usalis / March 2009
On a cold and snowy day in February about three years ago, Damian Gessel joined a band known as Searching For Gladys. He remembers lovin’ every thing about the band but the name. It’s not a terrible thing as it happens many times that a band will decide the name is just not applicable as the band continues to grow in numerous ways.
LIGHTS OVER ASHFIELD (L.O.A.) - a band based in Schuylkill County PA (commonly referred to as SKOOK) just kind of happened as many band names do more or less. Damien knew that he wanted the band name to be Lights Over ??SOMETHING?? but wasn’t sure what. The idea of illumination – of casting a SPOTLIGHT onto something appealed to him. “Ashfield” just sort of sprung into one of their heads one day and it just seemed to fit! In retrospect, LIGHTS OVER ASHFIELD fits them perfectly because they were trying to cast a spotlight over otherwise dark situations or places. They envisioned “Ashfield” as this sort of mythical Coal Region town – full of cynicism and regret – L.O.A.’s part in the whole thing was to maybe illuminate the emotions and reasons that bring people to that place. Most times when things are brought to light, they suddenly don’t seem so horrendous. Suddenly, you can deal with things. So that is the sort of backwards way the band discovered the meaning of its name.
The band members Damian Gessel (vocals), Jamie Rodgers (guitarist), Troy Moser (bassist) and Ed Burke (drummer) all believe that the band has gone beyond just being a hobby although they all have day jobs… Jamie has a desk job with a medical supply company, Troy works at a distribution center, Ed builds modular homes and Damian writes for a newspaper. The number one goal of the band is to write meaningful music with an importance. Any serious musician will tell you this. Goal number two would be the ability to do this full-time. They all have been immersed in playing music for a long time. Every member of Lights Over Ashfield has been in multiple bands, all with varying degrees of success. A couple of them have come fairly close to being signed in other projects. Damian states, “I have been playing music for the shortest amount of time compared to the others in the band and I’ve been doing it for EIGHT years.” The band would probably consider themselves a genre mix of Rock/Alternative.
Lights Over Ashfield draws from a variety of musical influences. Jamie, Troy and Ed pull a bit more into the 80’s. Jamie Rodgers is a huge Bon Jovi fan, Troy Moser is a die-hard Red Hot Chili Peppers devotee. Damian jokes, “I think Troy would drink Flea’s sweat if he could.” Ed Burke has various influences as well but one of his big drumming idols would be John Blackwell who has played for Prince among others. Damian Gessel’s biggest influence without question is Jeff Buckley, followed closely by the Beatles. If they could open for any big name artist it would be Kings of Leon because they are incredible.
The band also has family members involved in music. Damian went on to say, “My father sang, played guitar, and piano; my mother is tone deaf. Go figure!” Ed Burke’s son and Jamie Rodger’s daughter are also musically inclined – so guess it seems a bit genetic.
When it comes to the writing of original music they all write their own parts, typically. Jamie writes the guitar lines, Troy the bass parts, Ed the drums and Damian writes the melodies and lyrics. That’s what it is all about for L.O.A. –they write the music, really because they have to. It’s not about sounding cool, making money or being bored. It’s because they feel something, something is speaking to them and it needs to come out. Speaking for himself, Damian tells me, “Music is my one and only direct pathway to my emotions. I think everyone in this band would tell you without music, we’d all be straight-jacket crazy or in a morgue somewhere.”
When I asked Lights Over Ashfield which one of their songs is the most FUN to perform, as expected, it is a tough question to answer. The most fun song is always their newest song. There’s just an awesome feeling of completion when they write a song and finally get to play it outside of practice/rehearsal sessions. After all a song isn’t really finished until it is taken out to an audience. They just wrote a song called “Anywhere But North” so that is the favorite right now. Of their older tunes, they love to play “Another Suitcase, Another Subway,” because it’s the one people tend to know most and the band enjoys hearing the beautiful voices of their fans singing it back to them!
L.O.A. likes to think that the image of their music coincides with the name of the band. Lights Over Ashfield is not afraid to look at the dark side of life, but they always try to find a way to inspire and rise up from the sad situations that life sometimes brings. Hopefully their supporters/listeners get something out of all of that. If someone can listen to any one of their songs and feel *something* then they have done their job. So much music never penetrates that surface. You hear a song and you’re like, “oh that was catchy” or “I know that one,” but only certain music can put you in a place. For instance, when you are watching a movie and something really bad happens – somebody dies or someone got their heart broken in the quest for love – all of a sudden the perfect songs starts to play. Sometimes that music makes you FEEL what the characters are going through or a song will lift your spirits – that is what L.O.A. is trying to do. They want you to feel what they were feeling when they were writing the songs.
As for live recordings and new CD – they have done a radio interview with Bob Murray from the Phoenix and played some acoustic on-air stuff that is posted on the bands MySpace. The debut CD is full length which was officially released on Febuary 21 st. The title is “The Miles, The March & The Road.” When asked which song the band think will be the favorite – although unpredictable – Damian feels like their audience will dig “Annabelle” which is one of the newer originals about a young girl who tragically dies the day before her wedding. The CD is a mix of full band songs with a few acoustic songs thrown in. The recordings are a kind of “mutt mix” but the overall sound is all L.O.A. – it all makes sense. For them writing originals is their natural state. For some bands learning cover songs is second nature – fun and easy. It’s different for everybody! Lights Over Ashfield are like fish in water. If Ed Burke didn’t bonk the other members over the head a few times during practice, they would write a new song every time they got in the band room. Learning covers feels a little more like work for this band so they try to pick songs that they are passionate about so they can inject some of the same creative passion to the covers just as they do with their originals. Their music is honest. Especially the new stuff they’re doing. It’s not just some random thing someone thought up to sound interesting. It’s actually LIGHTS OVER ASHFIELD – their emotions/ feelings. They expose themselves emotionally through their music and they like to think it imbues their sound with feeling.
Damian continues -, “When playing out – the good far outweighs the bad. Being on stage, talking to the crowd, the vibe you get is amazing. The worst thing is loading equipment at the end of the night and smoky bars suck. No musician has a shortage of peeves related to the music industry. There is so much incredible music out there these days – after all this is the day and age of the independent artist. The stuff that gets the most attention almost unequivocally ISN’T the incredible music. Unfortunately, it is the American Idol garbage or Nickelback’s latest throw away song. But luckily, the radio has an “off” switch.”
All of L.O.A.’s music is copyright protected and the band’s name is trademarked. They fully support downloading of music. The band’s advice to fellow band members or newcomers would be – “Keep writing and doing what you believe in. That’s what it’s all about … Stay TRUE TO YOURSELF!
For bookings (if they were the A-Team Ed Burke would definitely be Hannibal) or more information LIGHTS OVER ASHFIELD suggests you visit:
http://www.myspace.com/lightsoverashfield
(just because he is a cool cat)
So folks, that’s all I have this time around. I want to take a moment to say ‘thank you’ to all of the musicians I have had the pleasure of getting to know long the early stages here. I have built up quite a network of friends via MySpace as some of you have already made the connection that I am also the creator of SKOOK HAPPENS www.myspace.com/weareskookhappens – So I guess that makes LIGHTS OVER ASHFIELD my homies! GO SKOOKS – GO SKOOKS (doing the cabbage patch dance here)!! Giggling. I have a list of bands that have made contact and are interested in our endeavor here at the PAMusicScene.com – we thank all of you.
Keep an eye out for future “ In The BUZZ “… artists!
Until next time…
Tell me your name ~
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