Waking Ashland

Waking Ashland
Waking Ashland in 2005. From left to right: Lallier, Jones, Grosse, Lee
Background information
Origin	San Diego, California, US
Genres	Alternative rock, indie rock, piano rock
Years active	2003–2007
Labels	Immortal, Tooth and Nail
Associated acts	We Shot the Moon
Members	Jonathan Jones Ryan Lallier Nate Harold Tim Very

Waking Ashland was an American rock band from San Diego, California. Formed in 2003, they were signed to Tooth & Nail Records and Immortal Records. 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.

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 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, The Pixies and Hüsker Dü, 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 Jones' former bandmate in their Christian accented high school band Formula316. Without record label distribution and solely through word of mouth 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. As the result of their constant touring and — due to lucky circumstances — their participating in 2004's Warped Tour, word spread fast and garnered the attention of several record labels, including Tooth & Nail Records, home to such bands as Further Seems Forever, Mae and Underoath. Tooth & Nail signed Waking Ashland and released their first full-length album Composure — produced by Lou Giordano — in May 2005. The album scanned 2,400 units within its first week of sales, debuting at No. 19 on Nielsen SoundScan'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 Top Christian Albums chart.