PETER ASHBY

Eclectic Prog • United Kingdom

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Peter Ashby biography
Peter ASHBY is a British artist, musician and composer, born 1963 in Lleyton. Having already good years of music-playing behind him, he started working more on solo projects (at first pieces and samples, finally albums and full flavors) only recently, in 2005-2006. Similarly erupt his progressive rock qualities , becoming very pleasant in his richest moments of poetical lyricism, easy or mix rock and experimental demonstration or even unusual, intriguing during moments that sound musical, unique, attractive, (un)cut - anyway, becoming of a full potential right down his solo works, instead of his band sets or label collaborations.

Peter ASHBY indeed started to play in the late '70s, first in an incredibly culted band called Frenzid Mellon, afterwards briefly in Blank Screens. Later, he bassed and composed in the band Spasmodic Caress, during the first years of the 80s, to finally form a band called Insane Picnic, together with Barry Lamb and Owen Turley - and to, allegedly, pioneer (a bit) the cult of cassette music, one having much to do with music that's experimented, melodies that are turned into sounds and reflections that become the core of a compositional idea. More recently (or currently), ASHBY plays as a member of Ermin Grud, has collaborated on a Jasun Martz album (Grammy-acclaimed) or on works made by Fabio Pigato (Art Dissapears Completely) or Hilda Garman; plus, he created some solo projects (using, maybe, too many pseudonyms). It seems he also rejoined with Barry Lamb for some new musical projects or ideas. All this practically made ASHBY an artist of many faces, having had an incredible strength to play in so many places, so differently; unfortunately, even by proving his multi-instrumental/producer skills, all this also made him an artist of funk, punk, new-wave, rock-pop, cassette music, abstract, experimental work, free-music. Progressiveness shined a little less brightly.

ASHBY also has a strong history of label-contracts, first recording for the 4AD label with Spasmodic Caress, then with Falling A together with B. Lamb. Most notably though he is a collaborator for Six Armed Man, composing bits of music which were included in two various albums - the nature of these albums would make ASHBY an experimental electronic musician, much because of the un-referential core that reunites the various artists into a direction of experimental sounds and playing with music, minimally or statically. The two albums that are definitely ASH...read more