Ashes of Soma

Prior to the millennium, three Windsor area high school classmates focused on their dreams of living the rock and roll lifestyle. Mike Preney, and a lineup that included bass player Randy Gray, sought a drummer that would set the tone behind their heavy hitting Rage Against The Machine-esque compositions. They found him in the firecracker, Paul Doman. The foursome soon became known as “Knematic”. After winning several local competitions, performing with the likes of Finger Eleven, Edwin and Serial Joe, they released a successful indie c.d. As it often does, tension between bandmates unfolded and Knematic was no longer.
Shortly thereafter, the guys reformulated with a new bass player. Joel Bishop was the newest piece of the pie that hit the scene as “Under The Lambskin”. When tension surfaced for the second time with the troublesome frontman the band again was left with a void. Gray, who had been gigging acoustically around Windsor since leaving Knematic was more than willing to rejoin his good friends, only this time in the vocal capacity.
After spending the last couple of years developing their craft in living room rehearsals, Ashes of Soma is poised to start a minor revolution. The magnetic riffs say it all – originality, earthy sex appeal and eclectic powerhouse. These rockers, with acoustic and hard rock influences, easily decimate mediocrity with their formidable musical stealth. Since its gestation, the inspiration behind this fiery offspring has performed in support of “Finger Eleven” and “Thornley.” Currently the band is touring with “Social Code.”
With their uninhibited social commentary and pulsating timbre, Ashes of Soma’s debut album, “Exit 674” is an impressionable tease: a viscerally flammable musical experience. Outrageously intense, quirky - yet disruptively mischievous as its roguish crew; Randy Gray (vocals/acoustic), Mike Preney (guitarist), Joel Bishop (bass) and Paul Doman (drums/percussion) have taken vintage toughness to a whole new level with their throbbing resonance on “Somebody Else”, “You Make Me” and their first single, “Emancipate.”
Gray’s clairvoyance in “writing songs looking through other people’s eyes” lends poignant lyricism to that contradictory relationship present in all art. As Mike Preney suggests, the frustration in writing music is that it’s both “the easiest and hardest thing to do all at the same time.” With wired enthusiasm barely containable off each explosive track, one listen is all it takes to realize that Ashes of Soma is gearing up to become Canada’s best kept secret and hottest new discovery.
Having cut and shaped their stylistic cusped on two challenging demos, Ashes of Soma delivers the sort of vital and thrilling intensity associated with a new band, but combined with the professional integrity, attitude and where forth of a veteran class act; making Ashes of Soma not just another contender in the panorama of pop culture, but a taut and raw dynamo that should leave you awestruck.