Asher

Welcome to our website

2020-03-24T12:48:00.000-06:00

Dear sir or madam,

Welcome to our website. We endorse file sharing so feel free to spread our music far and wide. We only ask that you tell others about this website so that they can tell others and…well, you get the point.

We like lossless audio so we have provided our albums in FLAC format. If you are unfamiliar with lossless audio, then please research the topic and educate yourself. If you insist on remaining in the shadows of ignorance, we also offer our music in the mp3 format at 256 kbps. If you use the Mozilla Firefox browser, and we hope you do, we recommend this nifty plug-in to download these files.

In addition to our music, for each album we have a document that contains lyrics, credits, and in-depth notes about the writing and recording of each song. We also have artwork that was designed by Doug, one of the guitarists. Isn’t he a great photographer? We think so. If you should decide to print the artwork, make sure you do the following; otherwise, it may come out too small for the CD case.

First, make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Second, open the file.
Third, under “File,” select the “Print” menu.
Fourth, on the left hand side you will see a drop down menu that says “Page Scaling.” Do you see it? Good. Make sure "None" is selected (it might say “Reduce to Printer Margins").
Now, print off the artwork and make CDs for your family, friends, neighbors, or random strangers on the bus.

The Sides Project began over three years ago. A-Sides represents what we believe to be the most cohesive songs from the group. However, many of the songs on B-Sides are just as strong. C-Sides is composed mainly of outtakes, demos, and rarities from the past decade of playing music together.

Finally, we have included three more albums: To the Face of the Sun, our first album; A Very Asher Christmas, a collection of holiday favorites; and, Bolster’s Calamity, some demos we made just after high school.

Please leave comments and let us know what you think. Also, let us know if you find any problems - broken links and such. Once we work out the kinks, updates will be infrequent. But tell your friends – and that random person on the bus – about our music. Enjoy!

Asher

The Sides Project

2008-03-30T14:24:00.002-06:00

Here are some additional photos Doug took for the Sides albums.

Performances

2008-03-30T09:21:00.017-06:00

Asher has never been much of a performing band but at least there are a few pictures that prove that we have played the occasional gig.

2002-07-31 - Art Front Gallery 1
Seth Wilks (bass) joined Asher in July of 2002. Secily suggested we play a few low-key open mic shows to get our sea legs. Aimee came along to help us out.

2002-08-07 - Art Front Gallery 2
The following week Ben decided to join us. The crowd response was positive and we were excited for Matt Wolfertz (drums) to come back to school so we could have a real band!

2002-08-24 - Murray Borders

This was our first gig after Seth and Matt joined the band. With 1,000 freshly pressed copies of To the Face of the Sun, Asher was ready to take on the world - one Borders at a time.

2002-08-29 - UVSC Quad

Seth and James purchased a PA system so we could set up our own gigs. We started an open mic club at UVSC to help promote local bands - as well as ourselves - and to generate income to pay off the PA. We tried to start a similar club at BYU, which would've done really well, but red tape and bureaucracy held up the process. Sadly, this was to be one of Ben's last gigs with us.

2002-09-?? - UVSC "The Bubble"

This was our first performance after Ben left the group. We were invited to perform at a new dating television show that UVSC was producing. Although they filmed us and made a soundboard recording, we never saw hide nor hair of it. Our good friend Jacob Jenkins, who was acting as our manager at the time, filmed part of the show on his camcorder. Perhaps he will get off his duff and find that tape for us.

2007-10-20 - Living Room Show at Krause Haus

By Fall 2007, we decided that A-Sides was done enough to be released. At that point, we were still finishing up a few things on B-Sides and C-Sides. (It has only took us five more months to put together a website.) James was in Utah with his family for a few days in October. We decided to take advantage of the chance to put on a living room show for our families. I suppose you could call this the official release party of A-Sides. Here are some pictures from that evening. Tom Krause took some great photos - pretty much everything after the first four shots.

To the Face of the Sun

2008-03-30T09:20:00.011-06:00

During the recording sessions of To the Face of the Sun, Ben and James spoke on the phone one day. Ben had an idea for the cover, but that it would be better if he showed him in person; otherwise, he wasn't going to like it. James was intrigued and pestered Ben to tell him. Ben finally acquiesced and told him about some candle lamps that a girl in his complex had. James' immediate reaction was, "No, no, no, absolutely not." (Ben was right. He should have waited to show him in person.) Long story short, Ben and Doug convinced James that the lamp idea was really cool. He learned that he should listen to his friends. In the end, the photo shoots were a lot of fun and they yielded some striking images. See if you can figure out which photos were used in the lyric booklet?

To the Face of the Sun Shiny Sun

To the Face of the Moon

Geneva Steel (Photography by Tom Krause)

Recording Sessions

2008-03-30T08:24:00.019-06:00

Sides Demo Sessions (November 26-27, 2004 & January 29, 2005)
James and Doug got together several times to begin making demos for the new album. Ben and James had music night every Thursday for months, but strangely, they never took any pictures.

The Bear Lake Sessions (June 20-25, 2005)
Kevin and James arrived to Bear Lake on the evening of Monday, June 20, 2005. They spent that night and the next morning setting up gear. The next day, Ben, Doug, and Doug's brother, Scott, arrived. Over the course of the next four days they recorded what would become the Sides project. Here is the photographic documentation of this event.

Drum Sessions in Orem, UT (July 24, 2005)

The original idea of Bear Lake was to record nice acoustic versions of our songs, but we soon realized that many of our songs deserved the treatment of a full band. We enlisted Richard Robbins, Doug's cousin, to come up from St. George and spend a day tracking drums. This is completely bassackards since you usually record drums and bass first and then guitars and vocals. Oh well. We'll get it right next time. Doug and I thought that maybe he would be able to record on a dozen or so tracks, but Richard "The Man of Steel" Robbins blazed through twenty-four songs. One must keep in mind that he recorded at least three or four takes per song and that he barely knew the music. We were simply amazed by his ability and the project owes much of its strength and mood to Richard's drumming.

A-Sides

2008-03-22T15:45:00.046-06:00

Goodbye Song
1X1
Chandelier
Believe
Isaiah
Psalm 65
Voices in a Crowd
Something New
Alone
REMeMbER
Taking its Toll
Home

FLAC
mp3
Artwork
Lyrics, Credits, Notes

B-Sides

2008-03-22T15:40:00.022-06:00

New Day
Road Trip
What She Wants
Smash
Puerto la Rosa
Lost Boys
Christon Alton
Help Me Girl
Shades
Can't Get Away
You Can Be
Now and Forever
Sometime, Somewhere

FLAC
mp3
Artwork
Lyrics, Credits, Notes

C-Sides

2008-03-22T15:35:00.015-06:00

Walls
Hey
And I Love Her
Forever
Bright Lights (It's Christmas Time)
1X1
The Ocean Inside
Whenever
Goodbye Song
Own Thing
Nothing Else
Let You Go
Love, Child, Mine
All I Ask
Start Again
What She Wants
Barb

FLAC
mp3
Artwork
Lyrics, Credits, Notes

To the Face of the Sun

2008-03-21T09:55:00.018-06:00

Float Around
Falling Down
Birthday Queen
Just Say
Coming Home
Gone
Leif Ericsson
Good to You
A Series of Monday Morning Mishaps or The Dawning Syndrome Chronicles
Lost (I Dream)
Interlude
Certain
To the Face of the Sun

FLAC
mp3
Artwork

Note: We have included all the artwork for the original lyric booklet although it may be necessary to alter the format a bit for printing.

A Very Asher Christmas

2008-03-21T09:55:00.017-06:00

It's About Love
Christmas
Little Drummer Boy
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Mr. Grinch
What Child is This
Bright Lights (It's Christmas Time)
Oh, Holy Night

mp3s and artwork

Bolster's Calamity

2008-03-21T09:53:00.011-06:00

Ben and James first started playing music with each other during senior year at Kearns High. Doug joined in on the fun during a Concert Choir trip to California that spring. After graduation, we would get together and play for friends at parties. Isn’t this how most high school bands begin? We called ourselves The Vermicious Knid. Several times during 1995-1996, James borrowed a 4-track recorder from his dad’s friend. There are two predominant sessions in which we documented our repertoire of mainly U2 covers.

Todd and Kaylene Hunt asked James to house sit during Christmas of 1995. They gave us permission to use their living room as an ad hoc studio. Armed with the borrowed 4-track and a handful of crappy mics, the Kind had a blast. Our good friend Jacob Jenkins played percussion on several tracks and we played an original composition of his, “Ooh Rexburg.” Shortly after the New Year, we reconvened at Jacob’s house with several friends: Jaron Stanley, Kristie Beck, and Angela Sheppard. Again, we recorded several U2 covers and just had fun playing music with our friends.

These demos are not very good but we include them because they are our first recordings. Hopefully you will appreciate how much effort it has taken to go from atrocious to mediocre.

The Knid is Awake – Some quirky message James left on Ben's answering machine.

Everybody Hurts (R.E.M.) – Recorded during Senior Year 1995 in Ben’s room.

Falling Down – Hunt Session

Zoo Station Blues (U2) – Hunt Session

Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (U2) – Jenkins Session with Kristie and Angie on harmony vocals.

A Sort of Homecoming (U2) – Jenkins Session

Where the Streets Have No Name (U2) – Jenkins Session

Muzak – This is the first recorded collaboration of Ben and James. Ben had some keyboard song he was working on and James plugged his guitar straight into the computer soundcard. Recorded sometime during Senior Year.

Twist and Shout (The Beatles) – Jenkins Session. Kristie and Angie on harmony vocals

Bad (U2) – Jenkins Session.

To the Face of the Sun – Recorded by James in January 1996.

Ooh, Rexburg – Hunt Session. This is a Jacob Jenkins original that he wrote about his inability to find dates at Rexburg because he was not a returned missionary. If you listen closely, you can hear finches in the background.

Exit (U2) – Recorded in a stairwell of Deseret Towers at BYU. This same weekend, Ben, Jacob, Doug and James saw Rattle & Hum at the Varsity Theater. They took their guitars and sang U2 songs while waiting in line. A crowd of at least 100 people sang along.

Everybody Hurts (R.E.M.) – Jenkins Session

40 - Jenkins Session