Waking Ashland was an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band from

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

, California. Formed in 2003, they were signed to

Tooth & Nail Records Tooth & Nail Records is a Christian rock record label founded by Brandon Ebel in California in November 1993. The label later moved to Seattle, Washington where it is situated today. It is home to many well-known musical acts, including Underoat ...

and

Immortal Records Immortal Records was an American independent record label/imprint label based in Los Angeles, California. The company helped launch the careers of such influential acts as Korn, Thirty Seconds To Mars, and Incubus over the years. The label had ...

. In all the group released two EPs and two full-length albums before their disestablishment in 2007. Their final lineup consisted of singer/keyboardist Jonathan Jones, guitarist Ryan Lallier, bassist Nate Harold and drummer Tim Very.

History

Waking Ashland was formed in November 2003 by singer/keyboardist Jonathan Jones, guitarist Ryan Lallier, Clayton Boek, and drummer Thomas Lee. Robert Teegarden — a friend of the band — temporarily helped out to fill the vacant position on the

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

. The band name stems from the aspect of connecting people through music, paired with a reference to the town of Ashland, Oregon. Influenced by as diverse acts as Joe Jackson,

Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University Col ...

The Pixies Pixies is an American alternative rock band formed in 1986, in Boston, Massachusetts. Until 2013, the band consisted of Black Francis (vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim Deal (bass, vocals) and David Lovering ...

and

Hüsker Dü Hüsker Dü () was an American punk rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1979. The band's continual members were guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, bassist/vocalist Greg Norton, and drummer/vocalist Grant Hart. They first gained notabili ...

, Waking Ashland combined emotional piano melodies with sonic distortion guitars, creating a unique sound among their genre. In early 2004, they self-recorded and released their debut EP ''I Am for You''. Simultaneously, the line-up was completed by guitarist Nick Rucker and bassist Derek Vaughn, replacing Teegarden. However, the two soon left the band, and a permanent bassist was found in Andrew Grosse,

frontman The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

Jones' former bandmate in their Christian accented high school band Formula316. Without

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

distribution and solely through

word of mouth Word of mouth, or ''viva voce'', is the passing of information from person to person using oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one pe ...

promotion, the CD's first pressing of 1,000 copies (being only available through the band's website and at their concerts) sold out within a month. To date, the six-song CD managed to sell over 10,000 copies. Its success landed the band a booking agent and allowed them to drop out of college, to pursue a career in the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

. As the result of their constant touring and — due to lucky circumstances — their participating in 2004's

Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...

, word spread fast and garnered the attention of several record labels, including

, home to such bands as

Further Seems Forever Further Seems Forever is an American rock band formed in 1998 in Pompano Beach, Florida. Over its initial eight-year run the band experienced several lineup changes, resulting in a different lead vocalist performing on each of their first three s ...

, Mae and

Underoath Underoath (stylized as Underøath or UnderOath) is an American rock band from Tampa, Florida. It was founded by lead vocalist Dallas Taylor and guitarist Luke Morton on November 30, 1997, in Ocala, Florida; subsequently, its additional member ...

. In February 2005, the band supported the Snake the Cross the Crown on their headlining US tour. Tooth & Nail signed Waking Ashland and released their first full-length album ''Composure'' — produced by

Lou Giordano Lou Giordano (born c. 1957) is a record producer and recording engineer who co-founded Radiobeat Studios. He worked at Fort Apache Studios when it was located in Boston, and was a partner in the production company Prodco, which had close ties with ...

— in May 2005. The album scanned 2,400 units within its first week of sales, debuting at No. 19 on

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

's Alternative New Artist chart and at No. 53 on their Top New Artist Album chart. The album also hit No. 29 on the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Top Christian Albums chart. In July and August 2005, the band supported

Action Action Action Action is an American indie rock band, formerly signed to Victory Records. History Action Action formed in 2004 from the ashes of The Reunion Show, Count The Stars and Diffuser. The band signed with Victory Records and released their fir ...

on their headlining tour. On September 5, 2005, a statement on the band's website announced that Grosse and Lee had left the band due to in-band conflicts. Temporary touring members included drummers Joe Greenetz from

Sherwood Sherwood may refer to: Places Australia *Sherwood, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Sherwood, South Australia, a locality *Shire of Sherwood, a former local government area of Queensland *Electoral district of Sherwood, an electoral district from ...

and Rob Lynch from

Harris Harris may refer to: Places Canada * Harris, Ontario * Northland Pyrite Mine (also known as Harris Mine) * Harris, Saskatchewan * Rural Municipality of Harris No. 316, Saskatchewan Scotland * Harris, Outer Hebrides (sometimes called the Isle o ...

, as well as bassists Jon Sullivan from

Jack's Mannequin Jack's Mannequin was an American rock band formed in 2004, hailing from Orange County, California. The band originally began as a solo project for Andrew McMahon, the frontman of Something Corporate. The band was signed to Maverick Records and re ...

and Trevor Sellers from

Number One Gun Number One Gun was a Christian rock band from Chico, California, that was most recently signed to Tooth & Nail Records. They self-released their debut EP ''Forever'' in 2002, before releasing their follow-up albums '' Celebrate Mistakes'' (20 ...

. In October and November 2005, they supported

the Honorary Title The Honorary Title was an American alternative rock, alternative indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, United States. The band released their first self-titled Extended play, EP "The Honorary Title" in 2003 and then their fi ...

on their headlining tour. On February 8, 2006, Waking Ashland released a nine-song EP, titled ''Telescopes'', only in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. In March 2006, they went on a brief East Coast tour with

This Day and Age This Day and Age was a band from Tonawanda, a suburb of Buffalo, New York, signed to One Eleven Records. History This Day and Age formed in 2001, and released their debut full-length, ''Start Over on Monday'', in 2002.

, and New Atlantic. They then toured the Southern states with

Quietdrive Quietdrive is an alternative rock band based in Hopkins, Minnesota, USA, that was formed in 2002. Quietdrive released their first album, ''When All That's Left Is You'', on May 30, 2006, on Epic Records. In April 2008, Quietdrive left Epic Records ...

and

Daphne Loves Derby Daphne Loves Derby is an American Indie rock band that formed in Kent, Washington, in 2001. They have released three studio albums, the third in 2007 titled '' Good Night, Witness Light'', peaking at number 30 on the ''Billboard'' Top Heatseekers ...

throughout April 2006. On May 22, 2006, the band signed to

. The label released ''Telescopes'' in the United States on June 13, 2006. The Japanese release had two bonus tracks, which were acoustic versions of "October Skies" and "I Am For You" from ''Composure''. While the release featured

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

s to back up

Jones Jones may refer to: People *Jones (surname), a common Welsh and English surname *List of people with surname Jones * Jones (singer), a British singer-songwriter Arts and entertainment * Jones (''Animal Farm''), a human character in George Orwell ...

and Lallier, a permanent rhythm section was finally announced in a blog on the band's MySpace profile as Nate Harold and Tim Very. They played a few shows with

My American Heart My American Heart is an American rock band from San Diego, California, formed in 2001. Originally named No Way Out, the band released two studio albums through Warcon Enterprises and toured the world before disbanding in late 2009. They reunite ...

and

Gatsbys American Dream Gatsbys American Dream is an American indie rock band from Seattle, Washington. Since their founding in 2001, they have released four full-length albums and one EP. The band's self-titled fourth album, their second on Fearless Records, peaked a ...

. Part of the band's success can be attributed to their pages on MySpace and

PureVolume PureVolume (formerly Unborn Media) was a website for uploading and streaming of music files, the first independently run of its type. PureVolume was created by Unborn Media, Inc; Mitchell Pavao; Brett Woitunski; and Nate Hudson, all from the Univer ...

. , Waking Ashland's songs have been played over 1.3 million times on MySpace and over 1.2 million times on PureVolume. Their song "I Am for You" appeared on the first

MySpace Records MySpace Records was a record label founded in 2005 to sign artists who appeared on the social networking site Myspace. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Myspace, operating as a joint-venture between MySpace and Interscope Records. Distributio ...

compilation and the

Drive Thru Records Drive-Thru Records was a California-based independent record label owned by siblings Richard and Stefanie Reines. The label was partially responsible for popularizing the pop-punk/emo merger sound of the early to mid-2000s. After facing financi ...

compilation, "Bands You Love, Have Heard of, and Should Know". Waking Ashland's second album, ''The Well'', was released by Immortal Records on April 17, 2007. On July 9, 2007,

announced on their MySpace page that the band had broken up, citing irreconcilable differences. Jones is currently working with his newly formed band We Shot the Moon, consisting of him and Trevor Faris (Drums), Nathan Miller (Guitar), Jason DeLaTorre(Guitar), and Adam Lovell (Bass).

and Lallier are also currently working on solo projects. In August 2010, the band got back together to play three reunion concerts.

Members

;Final line-up * Jonathan Jones –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

*Ryan Lallier –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

*Nate Harold –

*Tim Very –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

;Former members *Andrew Grosse – bass guitar *Thomas Lee – drums *Nick Rucker – guitar *Derek Vaughn – bass guitar *Robert Teegarden – bass guitar *Clayton Boek – guitar *Brandon Beebe – guitar

Discography

;Albums *''Composure'' (2005) *''The Well'' (2007) ;EPs *''I Am for You'' (2004) *''Telescopes'' (2006) ;Singles *"I Am for You" *"Hands on Deck" *"Julian" *"Your Intentions" ;Compilations *'' Nano-Mugen Compilation 2006''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waking Ashland Musical groups established in 2003 Musical groups disestablished in 2007 Indie rock musical groups from California Tooth & Nail Records artists Musical groups from San Diego Musical quartets