Exclusive Interview: Row Of Ashes talk writing and recording “Bleaching Heat”!

There is nothing quite like the experience of turning up to a show that you’re really looking forward to early, catching one of the opening acts that you’ve never heard of and being completely blown away, watching as they convert a slowly growing audience to their wicked ways and getting the Metal equivalent of a standing ovation at the end of their set. That’s what happened when we went to witness the 20th Anniversary of “Carpe Diem” at Camden Underworld as US Noise Metal Kings Will Haven hand picked Row Of Ashes to open for them. Since the day we were exposed to the essence of their album “Bleaching Heat“, a fusion of Sludge and Post-Hardcore with abrasive edges, we haven’t looked back and so without further ado, here’s an exclusive interview about what went into making it…

How did your previous experiences writing and recording help to smooth the path for “Bleaching Heat“?

Will : “We’ve been together for quite a while now so know each other’s tendencies and where ideas might go when writing. Our first European tour with HYOM was definitely a learning process for how heavy and intense we could make our sound, especially watching them every night. We demoed loads for this album, phone recordings, four track cassette and with a DAW in the rehearsal room. We were very ready by the time we were finally out of lockdown and able to hit the studio”

Chris: “The last record was written over six months of us  jamming for the first time then recording  so we learnt what not to do!  BH was written much more coherently and vocals written as the tracks went along  (they were added a long time after the music with unbeliever). We also noticed that we played the tracks better live after we recorded the last one so we demoed everything and could really hear what did and didn’t work . After demos the tracks improve , a bit like when you see a band play an album track much better live , it’s the same principle. We were very well rehearsed by the time we went in, to the point of no mistakes, it may have been about six months of fine tuning before we went in so we knew exactly what we were doing”

How does the writing process of a new track start? Melody, riff or rhythm first? How does it evolve from there before you consider it the finished article?

Will: “All our best songs come from improvising together in a room. It starts with a riff or a rhythm from one of us and we see where it goes, then it’s a rush to quickly record it before we lose the momentum. It takes a lot longer to write and revise that way, but when we’ve tried bringing fully formed ideas/songs in it just doesn’t work or sound as good”

Chris : “Someone has a riff, we jam on it, it usually turns into something else , or one of us will suggest a different direction or play something that takes it elsewhere. It’s very organic and improvised, everyone has their say. We are also very critical and cut a lot of ideas. We will usually have some kind of rough structure (play each riff 8 times) then I’ll start to bring in vocals and then it’ll change a bit more from there. We have discarded entire songs before so it’s a constant process for us to get it right”

“Bleaching Heat” was recorded and engineered at Joe’s Garage in Bristol with Joe Garcia (Idles, Wilderness Hymnal, Ogives Big Band); how was the recording experience and what made you choose to work with Garcia in the first place?

Will: “I’ve known Joe for getting on twenty years and worked with him many many times. Every time we’ve done something together, he’s always excelled as an engineer. He’s also an excellent bassist, everyone should check out his band ANTA for some intense progness. Joe’s Garage is a really well-equipped studio with an incredible microphone collection and a great sounding drum room where you can all stand and track live. We love it there!”

Chris: “Our guitarist will has a long history of recording there so it seemed to make sense. It worked out really well , we recorded live with us in the same room but the amps isolated elsewhere – we kind of rely on each other live so it was important that it was recorded like that as certain sections may be slightly different each time. Mixing and mastering was done by rob Hobson (party cannon, afternoon gentlemen, forest of stars) he got inside our sound and made it exactly as it should with very little guidance – insanely talented  man – please check him out at https://www.robhobsonproducer.co.uk”

Dan: “We were trying to get a really live feel in the room to get the right energy in the performance. We wanted to create a record that would stand up well when we played the stuff at shows”

As a record, it was one written in frustration at the World after two years of hell. Do you think you could have written a record as intense or as cathartic if the Great Plague hadn’t happened?

Will: “It was immensely frustrating not being able to play together, but we ended up demoing the songs more so we could remember and work on them in the big lockdown gaps. This let them really sink in and give us an idea of how they would come across on record. Jerk was probably the one we worked on the most, it changed so many times, almost every rehearsal, it must have gone through at least 30 revisions. The idea for the title came from these asbestos cloths the romans invented – They would throw them onto a fire to burn them clean. For me at least that was a rough working concept for the music we were making, something so caustic it could burn away the detritus of life, such as the pandemic and its fall out”

Chris: “Next away, contraband, Worcester man and jerk were written pre death plague . Bleaching heat did exist as a totally different song but  was re written over and over  until it became what it is now . Post plague was wreck and the mill and in summation. All benefitted from the break the pandemic caused – it was frustrating but it wouldn’t have come out as it did – the extra time and demoing , definitely helped us understand what worked and what didn’t. Regarding the cathartic / angry vibe , it’s just the way it came out between the three of us, there was no real plan aside from we have to like it – but for whatever reason we were drawn to this sound”

For us gear nerds out there, can you tell us what you’re using gear wise (pedals, strings, drums etc) to get your sound?

Will: “My string set starts at 80 and ends at 14 so I’ve got quite a massive range available on my fretboard. The strings are custom made by Newtone strings to order. It took a while to get them right with different core sizes and tensions, but they’ve been great to work with. I play a customised baritone Stratocaster with bits chopped off for balance and weight loss. The pickups are a Seymour Duncan hot rails in the bridge, neck and mid are stock and I redid the wiring for some out of phase selector effects. Pedals are a dimed Bass big muff pi and Marshall Echohead set to reverse. In the studio I use a Sansamp PSA1 for DI’d signal and a smorgasbord of homemade processors, I lean heavily on my DIY full range combo with 8 chamber patchable reverb. Amp is a 500W solid state power amp with tube pre”

Chris: “Ernie ball musicman five string – I used d’addario xlb nickel wound strings. In studio I used an aguilar 8×10 bass cab and an ampeg svt2 classic head. My live rig  is an ampeg svt3 pro and an ampeg hlf 8×10 cab. A key part of my tone is my sans amp tech 21 GT2 , as soon as I got that I knew i found my sound – I think its actually a guitar pedal but it works for me. The rest was all rob in the studio”

Dan: “I play an Odery kit, with a Craviotto snare and mostly Sabian AAX cymbals. For the album I borrowed Joe’s Premier Kit”

What difference would it make to you as a band if you could land an endorsement from a gear manufacturer?

Will: “It would make a huge difference. Dan hits his drums so hard that the cymbals don’t last long, and they’re expensive! Although to be honest any kind of endorsement that means regularly fresher gear would be amazing, given the sweat and transport abuse our stuff takes… We could also really do with a couple of decent 4x12s. I’ve been loving the Orange ones I’ve been borrowing but they’re out of our price (and transport) range at the moment”

Chris: “I’m pretty happy with my gear but if ampeg, musicman,  fender and sansamp want to get in touch and offer me an upgrade I’ll be more than happy”

“Bleaching Heat” by Row Of Ashes is out now and available over at bandcamp.