Ashley Naylor’s Acoustic Mayhem
Ashley Naylor, guitarist for The Church, Paul Kelly, Rockwiz & Even steps out front and solo for a rare night of ‘Acoustic Mayhem; Tunes and Tales from the lndie Underground’
A night in two halves with songs from The Swarm, Even, The Grapes and beyond, bringing the audience in to the current day with his solo material, a healthy dose of AM radio classics and other acoustic oddities.
Ash has a new single out, A Blue Sky from the forthcoming LP Alexandria Sunset.
Hi Ash.
Late last year you had just been recording with Paul Kelly, doing an extensive tour with the Rockwiz, touring with The Church, a show in Adelaide with your “other” band SPACESHIP This year already performing with Steve Kilby and then Steve Pinkerton. Do you ever wake up and wonder what band you are in “today”?
Good question but no, I’m more organised than you might think. Spaceship is my main creative vehicle; all the other bands provide fuel for that and I’m eternally grateful.
How was The Church tour received in America?
Incredibly well. Steve is a cult hero in America.
Your recent releases, Soundtracks Vol. 1 and then Soundtracks Vol. 2 are instrumental albums. Did you just run out of words? Haha. Serious though, why the fascination with instrumentals?
Lyrics are always a challenge but I never have trouble writing music. The lock downs in 2020 were conducive to music making and I have so many riffs and chord progressions in a stockpile from that period. I’m at my most content just playing guitar. Occasionally a song just happens like, A Blue Sky.
I have seen you in most of your guises. Even, Church, Ronson Hangup, solo, Stems and numerous variations of doing cover songs.
Just how many songs do you think you could just pick up the guitar and play and sing?
Another great question. It would be quite a few. It’s remembering lyrics that is most challenging.
Maybe you could do a “requests” tour. I believe Ed Kueper did one a few years back where he just took requests on the night.
That’s a good idea but the show would have to be advertised with a disclaimer…..the artist may not recall the whole song.
Can you remember the first song you played live in front of a live audience? What was the band?
Probably some weird secondary school talent contest. Led Zeppelin, I think. The assholes in my class were strangely friendly to me after that.
Beatles or Stones? Tim Rogers apparently said Even’s, Come Again was his favourite Beatles album.
Bless him. I just saw the You Am I boys do Purple Sneakers on a clip from The Project. It was truly great. High praise in a cheeky way.
You are playing solo in Adelaide on Saturday March 1 at The Gov. What can we expect from the show?
Songs, a few anecdotes, a few Dad jokes… the usual!
Recording wise, what can we expect in 2025 from Ash?
A new LP of my songs titled Alexandria Sunset. A couple of tunes were started in the aforementioned lock downs and just got finished in the last few weeks. Other tunes were recorded from scratch in my little music room. I play all the instruments on this next record. The following album will feature friends of mine playing on the album.
Interview By Geoff Jenke
Catch Ash Naylor’s Acoustic Mayhem; Tunes and Tales from the Indie Underground at The Gov Saturday March 1. Tickets from OzTix…
