Ashestoangels put Bristol on the map with new album With Tape And Needles

Bristol, UK: a city best known in the pop-culture lexicon for Banksy, Roni Size and Portishead, and therefore perhaps not the most obvious breeding ground for the musical offspring of Davey Havok’s impassioned catharsis. But, with their kinetic new album ‘With Tape And Needles’, Ashestoangels look set to put Brizzo on the musical map of the macabre, its gloom-soaked tones spiked and studded minianthems for the disenfranchised. 

“I started Ashestoangels a very long time ago; most people learn their craft in a number of different bands, but I've just stuck with one,” says Ashestoangels’ singer/synth botherer Crilly of his band’s humble origins. “I've written literally hundreds of songs since the band started, some of them are pretty terrible! But I think you can trace a fairly clear evolution from our first song to where we are now. I've always had a sound in my head, its just taken this long to get it out.... Like Johnny Cash we sound like this because we don't know how to play any other way.”

Even after these years of development and slaving over a hot amp, Ashestoangels - completed by drummer Jim, bassist Nico and guitarist Adam - were willing to accept outside creative input on their craft, teaming up with Aiden vocalist and upcoming producer WILLIAM CONTROL for the album’s most essential stage: “William could see what we were going for on this album and really pushed us to try and achieve it,” recalls Crilly. “He really knows his stuff when it comes to electronics and punk rock, the two things that make up a lot of our sound. It would have been a very different album if we had worked with anyone else. He told us that we were a great local band, but it was time to step our game up. With him driving us we rewrote and recorded the whole album in about 14 days. “When we came into the studio we brought an albums worth of songs that we thought were finished - William thought they were demos,” he continues; “So, we basically quit sleeping and just got on with rewriting it. It was very intense and my ego took a death punch to the face but we came out a much better band.”

See Ashestoangels live:

Saturday 6th JULY- Guildford Commie

Sunday 7th JULY - Brighton Youth Centre

Monday 8th JULY - Leicester The Shed

Tuesday 9th JULY - Hull Springback Commie

Wednesday 10th JULY - Glasgow Ivory Blacks

Friday 12th JULY - Newcastle Think Tank

Saturday 13th JULY - Norwich B2

Sunday 14th JULY - Basingstoke LIVE

Monday 15th JULY - London Upstairs Garage

Tuesday 16th JULY - Plymouth White Rabbit

Wednesday 17th JULY - Bristol Fleece (With Fearless Vampire Killers)

Thursday 18th JULY - Tunbridge Wells Forum (With Fearless Vampire Killers)