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Growing up in the Louisville, Kentucky area, Tony Ash was quickly immersed in the city's storied underground rock scene at a relatively young age, having caught legendary D.C. band Fugazi as a teenager and being immediately hooked. Picking up the guitar and playing in numerous local bands, including being one of the founding members of Louisville's own Coliseum, he eventually also picked up the bass and has since played in many notable acts, including Trophy Wives, Conan Neutron and the Secret Friends, and even Flipper for a one-off show. Currently he is playing bass in the Indianapolis-based band Service, which features Jilly Weiss-Simins (of We Are Hex) and Russell Simins (of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) along with Brandon Beaver (also of We Are Hex) and Erica Strout (of Motherfucker and Gorgeous Beast), who are currently playing shows and working on their second album. He is also the guitarist and chief songwriter of the Louisville-based band Live Knives, which has just begun playing out and is heading into the studio soon.
I started out playing guitar, as so many do, when I was about 12 or so, so early 90s. Gradually, towards the end of high school, I started playing in various punk/hardcore bands in and around Louisville, Kentucky, on guitar. Sometime in the very early 2000s, some friends and I were trying to form our next band, but we couldn't seem to find a bassist who was available. So my bandmates kindly suggested that I, someone who had pretty much never touched a bass in my life, should switch to bass. I'm paraphrasing here, but when I argued that I didn't know how to play bass, the other guitarist explained 'It's easy. Whatever chord or note I'm playing, you play the same note but play a scale around it.' That was my one and only "lesson" ever, haha. He hung his bass, one of those insanely heavy Kramers from the 70s with the aluminum neck, on me. And I've been playing bass ever since.
That's hard to answer, because I truly feel like all roads I've taken, both good and bad, have led me to exactly where I am today, and, from a musical standpoint, I'm pretty thrilled with where I'm at currently. If anything, I might tell my younger self not to invest so much time in projects where all of the members involved don't necessarily have the same goals in mind.
Is there anything more exciting than getting loud onstage with your friends and having people actually get into it? If so, I haven't discovered it yet. As a fairly reserved and socially awkward person, playing music onstage is one of the only times in my life when I actually feel at home and all of my reservations and hangups just melt away. It's really intoxicating. As long as that feeling doesn't fade, I won't ever stop.
I feel like I have to give both the bass and the guitar version. Although, to be honest, I'm not a huge pedal guy, so this will be pretty easy. If we're talking bass: a Tech 21 Sansamp Bass Driver, a Proco Rat or clone of some sort, and any sort of Russian Big Muff variant that's not an actual EH/Sovtek model, because in my experience, they tend to break. That basically describes my current bass pedalboard exactly. For guitar: I'm currently way into this Klon clone by Piedmont Custom Electronics called the Aluminum Falcon. It has kicked so many wonderful-sounding overdrives off my board. So that's for sure. And...I occasionally like a little bit of tape-style delay, so I'd go with my favorite, the Catalinbread Belle Epoch. And maybe a Mosrite Fuzzrite, just for fun because I love that nasty '60s-style fuzz. I do own the Catalinbread version and it's really great.
Sometimes you just have to know when to take a step back and do something else until the inspiration returns, because nothing good ever came from forcing anything. Honestly, if I'm not feeling particularly inspired, I'll just watch a movie, go swimming, anything to avoid dwelling on the musical dry spell. However, sometimes just going to the practice spot and playing fun riffs by other bands I like will get me inspired and will eventually lead to something totally new and unique. Inspiration can strike at the most unexpected times.
My favorite band right now is probably the Hellacopters. I'm always getting into all kinds of stuff (my most recent obsession is the album Pure Mania by the Vibrators), but I consistently listen to and enjoy the Hellacopters. Every component of that band, in my opinion, just works together perfectly, and the songs are SO good. Ten years ago, I was listening to the Stooges religiously. I mean, I still do, frankly! The self-titled debut, Funhouse, and Raw Power (my personal favorite) are ground zero for just about everything cool that followed.
If I'm picking up a bass in any store, the chances that I'm going to start playing either "Snow Job" by Rye Coalition, "Then Comes Dudley" by the Jesus Lizard, or a way sloppy rendition of "Nice and Sleazy" by the Stranglers are astronomically high, haha. If I'm grabbing a guitar off the wall, I'm probably playing AC/DC. "Live Wire" and "Riff Raff" are my usual go-tos.
My most cherished item is my 1983 Marshall JCM 800 2204 head. I've never heard a better-sounding amp. Many years ago when I was playing in Coliseum I owned a 1981 2203, and I very stupidly sold it after I left the band. I just figured I'd never own another since the prices have skyrocketed so much over the last few years. But I found this one a couple of years back on a road trip to Wisconsin, and I'm never letting it go.
Truthfully, there is nothing that I am lusting for at the moment. I've somehow managed to acquire all of my dream gear for both bass and guitar. If I were going to try for anything down the line, it might be a '70s Fender Precision Bass, one of the stupidly heavy ones where the necks are closer to Jazz Bass specs.
For bass, I'm using an early 70's Ampeg SVT head into a 1979 Ampeg 8x10 cabinet. I love and play Fender basses pretty much exclusively, so I always go on the road with a sunburst Fender American Professional II Jazz Bass (my main) and a sunburst Fender American Professional II Precision Bass (my backup). For pedals, I plug into the tried and true Boss TU-3 tuner, into an Earthquaker Devices Cloven Hoof fuzz (the best bass fuzz I've ever used, can't believe they discontinued it), into a Proco FatRat, and finally into a Tech 21 Sansamp Bass Driver DI. The Rat and BDDI stay on all the time and sound awesome together.
For guitar: I'm using a 1983 Marshall JCM 800 2204 head into a Mojotone "British" slant 4x12 loaded with two Celestion Vintage 30's and two Celestion G12M-65 Creambacks in an X pattern. My two main guitars are both Burny RLC-70 Les Paul Custom replicas made in Japan, the main one is black and the backup is white. For pedals, I plug into a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe wah, into another Boss tuner, into a Piedmont Custom Electronics Aluminum Falcon (Klon clone) into a Catalinbread Belle Epoch delay.
Instrument, speaker and patch cables...all Rattlesnake. I love them and use them for everything because they're more durable than anything else I've tried and they look awesome. Especially the snake weave speaker cables!
Do you have to be a famous musician to be featured? No. Do you have to be a professional musician to be featured? No. Do you have passion about playing and gear -- oh and a verified Rattlesnake Cable Company cable user. Yes!
All you need to do is contact us and we'll direct you to our submission form. If your submission is approved, it will be in the queue to be showcased!
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