Ellis Ashbrook: Carving Destiny

Take one listen to Ellis Ashbrook and immediately you will feel like  you’ve been transported back to the 1960s. The psychedelic pop and rock music that reigned over the era has been updated and reintroduced.

Bassist Jonathan Granoff uses words like “psychedelic,”  “heavy” and “funky” to appropriately describe the band’s sound. “It’s trying to be experimental while also being, you know, accessible,” vocalist and guitarist John Barber said in an Examiner.com interview. The name Ellis Ashbrook is drummer Alex Major’s pornstar name. (WAIT. Before you start Googling “Alex Major pornstar,” it’s a combination of your first pet’s name and the street where you lived). The guinea pig Ellis and street name Ashbrook formed the experimental rock band’s name.

“But the actual meaning of the name is something we feel is largely dictated by how the music effects someone in the moment. It’s probably different for each person and it will most likely morph over time,” Major tells VA Mag.

The sense of camaraderie and brotherhood that bands often exude is no different with Ellis Ashbrook. From Boston, where some of the members studied music at Berklee School of Music, they moved to New York starting a new life for themselves, always together. They’ve even put on a few shows at home for their fans.They’re together all the time, 24/7. At this point, the band should just call themselves a family.

“We’ve been working and living together for almost 5 years and we have become pretty good at curating shows in our apartment [for] our fans. We share a kitchen, a bathroom, 3 meals a day, and often play shows together 2 or more times a week. We’ve had our ups and downs, but always seem to rise above,” Vocalist and Keyboardist Natalie Lowe explains to VA Mag. Their love for music drives the band. Granoff’s father was a musician, so his spark was ignited early. Barber and Major grew up together trading tapes of their favorite bands. What brought them all together to create Ellis Ashbrook?

“Star alignment we suppose; music students in Boston is the more likely answer. That, and some of us grew up together covering Nirvana songs and listening to 70’s prog-rock, 90’s alt-rock, and funk,” said Major.

“We all individually fell in love with performing music in our own ways and happened to be lucky enough to find each other,” Lowe said in a lifestyle blog GRAE New York interview.

It’s hard to find inspiration regardless of your form of art. Some look to nature, while others believe that music alone is good enough for other artists. However, true inspiration for Ellis Ashbrook is found in what Granoff believes is “some intangible inner desire that stems from way back in the caveman days.”

“As we grow and change, we are becoming more and more familiar with our world, so we hope that our relationship with it will always be a symbiotic one of sorts. We like to think we are offering our listeners something that will inspire them to discover the art in their daily endeavors, or better yet, their inner artist, no matter what their profession is or where their interests lie,” said Lowe.

However, as much fun as creating a rock band can be, it’s so much work. Major said that day jobs help make ends meet, but hold them back at the same time. There’s so much uncertainty in music that the best option is to dive in and match the cons with as many pros as possible.

“Pro: Our fans are amazing and so supportive and love us and that is eternally rewarding in so many ways. Con: Meals are scarce. Pro: We are carving our own destiny. Con: Are we?”

-Geneva Toddy