Kicking off the new Gallup Skate Park
Albuquerque natives Ashes of Jupiter helped kick off the grand opening of the new skate park July 28 by putting on a free concert at the Gallup Cultural Center. Local bands Fatal Corruption and VLPXX opened-up, getting the crowd stirred up and ready for Ashes of Jupiter as the skate park jam was in full swing.
Pushing their new album, Celestial Warfare, which was released June 22, the band sat down with the Gallup Sun to talk about it, and other news regarding the band.
Sitting under a cool shade, the guys were waiting for their set to start as this Sun reporter made his way up to them.
The Ashes of Jupiter lineup: Adam Liston/vocals, Tim Scarberry/guitar, Robson Guy/bass, and Jared Houston/drums.
Sun: (Taking the band inside the Cultural Center to escape the intense heat.) Whew that’s better now, as I was saying thanks for doing this and glad to meet you guys. I’m excited because I get to meet you guys for the very first time and find out all about Ashes of Jupiter.
Liston: Yeah, glad to meet you as well and thank you for coming out to hear us.
Sun: No worries man, alright let’s do this boys … how would you describe your music?
Houston: I would describe our music as a classic rock influence with a modern metal kind of feel to it. We’ve had some classic rock influences like Led Zeppelin, Danzig, and different types like Green Day. We’re very eclectic with what we grew listening to … what our parents listen to on the radio. Our influences since high school and afterwards just keeps growing even to this day, keeps adding to the collection.
Sun: How long has the band been playing?
Guy: Just about a year now; we’ve known each other for about 12 to 15 years. We were kind of doing our own things, different projects.
Sun: Who came up with the name Ashes of Jupiter and why?
Houston: That would be me. I just thought it sounded cool (laughing), from there it was kind of a scientific thing. There’s a mythology part to it if you really dig the science fiction part of it. It was kind of an inspiration of that and Adam can tell you more about that. Liston: It’s about these two civilizations and their power struggle, think of Firefly Meeting Star Wars; it’s kind of nerdy if you’re into reading Stephen King novels. So, Ashes of Jupiter has songs that tell a storyline of each of these two civilizations.
Sun: Wow, very interesting it all falls together now with the title of the album Celestial Warfare. What songs right now are the fans digging?
Scarberry: Right now, it’s Rotten and Utopia, the kids really seem to dig both, all the songs are great.
Sun: This is your first time performing in Gallup?
Scarberry: Yes, it is, we’ve driven through many times, but this is our first time playing here.
Sun: You guys mainly play in Albuquerque?
Guy: For the most part we get called up a lot to support national acts like, Trapt, Pop Evil, New Year’s Day, Trivium, Arch Enemy to just to name a few. We’ve been really blessed to have a lot of opportunities to jump on.
Sun: Wow, that’s really cool, some huge bands there. What’s in the future for Ashes of Jupiter?
Houston: We just had our EP out and we’re focusing on that, just pushing that out and we’re looking at making new music. We’re trying to expand a little bit where we can go, kind of enrich our connections, and do whatever we can to support the music not only in Albuquerque, but of course throughout New Mexico. We want to start slowly branching out towards Colorado, maybe Utah, seeing what we can do with the internet and see who is listening and plan a path from that.
Sun: That’s awesome to hear. Well, guys this has been way cool and thank you again for doing this.
Liston: This has been way cool coming out here, and thank you to everyone for having us out here. We just want to add that hopefully you can hear our music on Pandora. We’re just waiting for them to add us and that’s exciting.
For more information on Ashes of Jupiter call (505) 967-8653 or visit: www.ashesofjupiter.com
By Dee Velasco
For the Sun