#ashbury

[mamawasatesttube]

everyone needs to read triangle era superman and get on board with the good ship scornbury. disabled girl who's sick of her dad coddling her and being overprotective and her enormous alien boyfriend who respects her endlessly. everyone else sees him as a monster bc he looks scary and she's just like no that's my guy and he's literally niceys you guys are just being assholes. who is doing it like them

[mattgrayyes]

I’m being good and have listed some stuff I no longer use on eBay, including several ADHD impulse purchases from years gone by.

Their prices aren't set in stone, there's a make offer button too.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/mattgrayyes

[smallelectricspace]

San Francisco, California.

[nickdewolfarchive]

san francisco, california august 1970

haight & ashbury

photograph by nick dewolf https://www.flickr.com/photos/dboo/223393974

[convexly]

R1-21A by Kristen Lozano

[chordophoneoftheday]

Ashbury AM380 Mandolin

[vinylspinning]

Ashbury: Endless Skies (1983)

Ashbury is the real-life manifestation of Tenacious D’s musical parodies of Dungeons & Dragons ...

You know: a partly acoustic, partly electric collision of medieval minstrelsy and modern castle metal, used to soundtrack epic quests for brave knights, fair maidens, fearsome dragons and powerful wizards, for example: 

“You see the lightening flashing, but you know not what it's for; There looks to be a stallion with a rider on its back. He looks to be a wizard, or perhaps a magic man; With eyes of liquid fire, golden staff within his hand. And he rides above the mountains with the secret that he holds ... The time has come, the people must be told.”

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction ...

Formed in late ‘70s Oklahoma, first as Rigid Spur, then Ashbury South, the proudly mustachioed band built a local following by playing AC/DC and Van Halen covers, broke up, relocated to Arizona, reassembled and toured across the Southwest.

Fast-forward to January of 1983, and guitar shredder Randy Davis (also bass and synths) and his brother Rob (vocals, acoustic guitar) had composed enough original material to enter Tucson’s Westwood Studios with drummer Johnny Ray and lay down ten tracks for Endless Skies.

“Something is calling me, I hear it calling me; Leading me far away, a journey of many days; On a stormy sea, through eternity; To the magic land ...”

And before we go any further, let me repeat my disclaimer: abandon hope all ye who enter here expecting a fiery and bombastic fantasy metal shellacking à la Cirith Ungol or Manila Road!

Because spineless production made folksy fare full of friendly vocal harmonies like “Take Your Love Away” and “Madman” sound like The Little River Band, and -- sorry to say -- but lead singer Rob Davis frankly isn’t fit to shine Jack Black’s battle boots.

Yes, “The Warning” and “Hard Fight” stack Randy’s distorted riffs and fluid leads behind Rob’s overly prioritized acoustic, but the only full-blooded metal song in sight is the aptly named “Vengeance,” which would fit right in with third-tier New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands like, say, Pagan Altar or Widow.

“As the moonlight overtakes me, I walk on through the night; Vengeance still evades me, as the Dark Lord holds the Nine; Time now passing quickly, dark victory is near; A hero's badly needed, with courage free of fear”

Had Ashbury recorded a few more songs of this ilk and the similarly muscular second half of the otherwise piano-led prog-fest “Endless Skies,” this album may have earned respectful devil horns from Dungeon Master Ronnie James Dio.

As it was, despite a bespoke cover painting contributed by one Ernie Polo (Marco!), Ashbury’s privately pressed LP never made it out of the underground, and a brief flirtation with Polydor towards the end of ‘83 sadly came to naught when the label suggested the group go folk or go home.

Instead, Ashbury stuck to their schizophrenic guns and eventually returned with a second album in 2010 and a third in 2018 -- the latter after the inveterate heavy metal archaeologists at High Roller Records unearthed Endless Skies for the deluxe reissue you see here.

But you’ve been warned ... approach with caution.

“So shall it be written, so shall it be done. Came the warning from the prophet; And it came to pass before the rising sun.”

More Castle Metal: Rainbow’s Rising, Brocas Helm's Into Battle, Cirith Ungol’s King of the Dead, Griffin’s Flight of the Griffin, Isen Torr's Mighty & Superior EP, Khemmis’ Hunted, Legend's Fröm the Fjörds, Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Trilogy, Manilla Road’s Crystal Logic, Manowar’s Hail to England, Nasty Savage’s Nasty Savage, Omen’s Battle Cry, Queensrÿche’s Queensrÿche EP, Silver Mountain’s Shakin’ Brains, Stygian Shore’s Stygian Shore EP, Virgin Steele’s Guardians of the Flame, Witchkiller’s Day of the Saxons EP.

[hanevva]

Vampyr and Troubled Birds crossover.

I am definitely not genius enough to come up with this, this is not my idea WHATSOEVER. I randomly saw this from @ellie-drake and I needed MORE. So show them some love, give their original post a like. Original post: https://ellie-drake.tumblr.com/post/180455618872/vampyr-troubled-birds-pt-1-parts-2-3-4

ALSO WHERE THE HELL ARE ALL THE VAMPYR MEMES HIDING??