Interviewed by ROTTEN

Ashbury,hailing from Las Vegas, Nevada seem to be the next installment in thepop / punk pantheon, and are already gaining a large amount of success. Taking elements of Fall Out Boy, these guys seem to have led a great career so far,including playing a tour with Bon Jovi, having their music licensed to various MTV top rated shows like Pimp My Ride and others, and working with top producers. The boys have their new e.p LETS MAKE A SCENE ready to be launched on us all in March 2009, so lets grab a few words with Asbury's drummer, Patrick.

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Punk Globe: So, Patrick, a new EP out now, tell us about it, and the beginnings of the band.

Patrick: Brian and Jeremy Lee [they are brothers] started the band in 2005 when they found Joey to be the perfect missing guitar player. I came down from Wisconsin about a year later when they were in need of a new drummer, and Lenny fell into place when the music started requiring a keyboardist/extra guitar player/more backup vocals in late 2008. We've already put out an EP and a full length album, and we've come a long ways with both of them came out. The "Let's Make A Scene" EP is definitely our best work yet [comingout March 31, 2009], and we're releasing it to make a statement for ourselves if you will. We all truly feel like we're coming out with a freshstart and our best foot forward this time! It's the first album we've come out with where I feel confident showing it to anyone, and letting the music speak for itself! We've always told ourselves if we try hard enough for long enough then it's going to happen someday.. and I think we're getting insanely close to that someday!

Punk Globe: Who are your influences in the music world?

Patrick: We all individually have quite the collection of our own influences, which is awesome because it results in different spices and flavorings being added to our thanksgiving dinner! But common groups that seem to bring us together as a band are Nirvana, Jimmy Eat World, The Beatles, Fall Out Boy, and Aerosmith. In our music, I think you can hear bits and pieces of each that guided us to our very own unique Ashbury sound that we've developed.

Punk Globe: Tell us about your songwriting process, where do the ideas come from?

Patrick: From my observations, songs don't really come out right when people sitdown and say "okay here we go, I'm going to write a song now." To me it happens more often when least expect it. I'll see our band mates stopin the middle of brushing their teeth and pick up a guitar because an idea justcame to them, or we'll be on the road and have to listen to one song overand over and over again because it inspired the next hook or vibe for a verse.Brian and Joey are the primary song writers in the band. Everyone has their role, and everyone writes, but I think their ideas for Ashbury literally come from everywhere! Brian's amazing at writing lyrics. When I ask him where he gets ideas from he usually puts it plain and simple, "observations I’ve made about myself, life or other people." I think everyone can relate to our songs for this very reason.

Punk Globe: You won the local heat of a competition judged by Bon Jovi, how did that come about, and how did it feel to take part?

Patrick: The Las Vegas part of the contest was controlled by Mix 94.1, the top 40 Las Vegas radio station.. So it was natural for anyone in music to catch wind of the contest. But it was Brian who got the "you shouldtry this" phone call and the following "I have a good feeling aboutthis" emotion follow him. I think that feeling took a heavy snowball affect for all of us, and it wasn't long before we all took it with a"we NEED to win this" mentality! To see our hard work pay off and earn us a spot to share the stage with rock legends was surreal and extremely self rewarding. One thing Bon Jovi told us was to "make sure to pass along the baton one day", and I think it gave us all an insight to where we could go if we keep putting that same effort into the band. We're still working, still holding that baton, always working forward to that one day when we are capable of passing it along to the next up and coming artist.

Punk Globe: What are the bands goals, and If you could play with any other musician, who would it be?

Patrick: We all want to be able to do what we love - play music. To spread our music toas many people in as many places reaching as far out as possible. In short,"Yes, we want to be the biggest band in theworld!" That's the peak of the mountain. Along the way, we're working to make music our bread and butter. When people hear our music, we want them to feel the same emotions we do when we play it. We want to travel aroundthe country and around the world literally rocking out every step of the way. Our dream show would be: Ashbury, Aerosmith, Nirvana w/ Kurt Cobain's ghost. BonJovi can come along again too!

Punk Globe: What are your current plans, What's in the pipeline?

Patrick: We plan on making our debut showcase at this year's SXSW in Austin, Texason March 20th, 2009. We're going to unveil our new music, a fine tuned tightknit live set, and push the heavy anticipation of our "Let's Make aScene" EP release on March 31, 2009 through the roof! Shortly after, we plan on getting ourselves on tour to promote our EP and build our fan-base tillit spreads like wildfire. In a perfect world we'll find ourselves a home in a record label, take the industry by surprise with the release of our newestfull length album, and keep ourselves on the road!

Punk Globe: Where can fans get info on you guys and where is the e.p availible from?

Patrick: Everything you need to know, and links to even more information can be found a tour global command center, www.myspace.com/ashbury . On Tuesday, March 31st, our EP will be available on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, and the Ashbury online merchstore located on our myspace home page. Thanks for talking to us, Patrick, We at PUNKGLOBE wish you all the success with the E.P.