Silver Ash
From Rock in China Wiki
Silver Ash (银色灰尘乐队, Yínsè huīchén yuèduì), Beijing, Rock, Gothic, Visual, C-Rock, Metal
Contents |
Lineup
Ling (凌) (vocals)
Yue (玥) (guitar)
Yu (玉) (bass)
Zhen (桢) (drums)
Bai Niao (白鸟) (keyboard)
Former Members
Hong (虹) (bass)
Lucy (guitar)
Nancy (guitar)
Biography
Silver Ash was formed in 1997, and is China's very first visual kei band. The band consists of Ling on Vocal, Yue on Guitar, and Zhen on Drums. Currently, Silver Ash has acquired a new bassist to replace former bassist, Hong. In Silver Ash's earlier days, Lucy was a part of their lineup, but left due to musical influences.
Silver Ash was produced by the Gorgeous Devil Studio and Scream Records from 2000-2005. Guitarist Nancy left the band before they signed onto Scream Records. In 2005, they chose to leave Scream Records and were without a record label (and still are). Due to personal reasons, some of the Silver Ash members were forced to leave the band. Guitarist Lucy was replaced by Yue. After much deliberation, Hong had to leave the band and was replaced by new bassist Yu. The latest addition to the band is Bai Niao (whose name translates into White Bird in English), on keyboard. Previously, Bai Niao was the vocalist and keyboardist of another Chinese Visual Kei band called Frozen Blood (冻结的血液).
Silver Ash has been facing a lot of difficulties. The other band members had left Silver Ash temporarily to pursue their careers, leaving only Ling for a short period of time. They were also scheduled to tour the US in 2003-2004, but it was canceled due to the SARS scare. It was last heard that they were still without a record label, as well, but were given various offers from Japanese record labels, such as Avex Trax. They were previously signed to Toshiba-EMI, but were released from the contract again due to government problems.
In the most recent news, Silver Ash held a live on August 30th with Japanese band, La'cryma Christi, particularly to be viewed by the record label SWEET-CHILD.
Their most recent release is the PV for a track named 海的女儿 (pinyin: Hai de nu'er). The title of the track roughly translates into Daughter of the Sea.
Timeline
2000
as published by the Platinum Dust Silver Ash Overseas Support
Midyear 2000: The first Visual Rock band in the Chinese mainland, "Silver Ash", was formed. At the time, the band consisted of four members -- Vocal: Ling, Guitar: Wang Sai, Guitar: Nancy, Bass: Wang Yi.
August 30th: Silver Ash first appeared on stage at the Get Lucky Bar. On the same day, Silver Ash met their future bass player Hong and drummer Zhen.
November 21st: After going thorugh many bass players, Silver Ash again appeared on stage at "Get Lucky Club". This was also the first time drummer Zhen came on stage as a member of Silver Ash.
November: Through Zhen's recommendation, guitarist Lucy joined the band and became the second guitarist of Silver Ash. At the same time, bass guitarist Hong ended his previous job and joined the band. Therefore, the band’s new line-up consisted of five members -- Vocal: Ling, Guitar: Lucy, Guitar & Keyboard: Nancy, Bass: Hong, Drum: Zhen.
December 19th: In Beijing’s "New Trend Disco", Silver Ash appeared in public with their new line-up, being the first to play out of many bands. Silver Ash's gorgeous appearance and music pleased the majority of the audience. Some of the audience, staisfied with Silver Ash alone, began to leave after Silver Ash's performance
2001
2001, February 23rd: Silver Ash's fist One Man Live, entitled "Crescent Night", was held at the Beijing Volcano Club. Surprisingly, Silver Ash had more than 200 fans show up even though they had never released an album. They even attracted the attention of famous media groups such as "Phoenix TV" and "Channel V". Metal style songs such as "Liar" and "Twins" were added on top of the previous lyrical songs.
March: Guitarist Nancy left the band and went to Canada to further his education.
April 16th: Silver Ash signed a recording contract with top Indies rock recording company Scream Records.
May: Silver Ash recorded their first demo single in studio.
August 30th: Silver Ash's first Demo Single "Organum" was released on the one year anniversary of Silver Ash's first stage performance in "Get Lucky Club". Furthermore, this Demo Single had more than 5000 preorders, a record for Indies bands under Scream Records label. Later, because of the 9/11 incident, Silver Ash canceled their plan to record their first album in the USA. Instead, they recorded their first album with Chinese top producer Wang Di.
October 28th: Silver Ash was invited to Shanghai’s "ARK" Live House for their first out of Beijing performance. More than 400 people showed up: the new record for a domestic band’s one-man live in "ARK".
November 24th: Silver Ash was invited to ChengDu’s "Return Club" for their second out of Beijing performance. More than 200 people showed up, establishing Chengdu as one of th elargest fanbases of Silver Ash, third to only Beijing and Shanghai.
2002
2002, January 1st: Silver Ash’s Official Fan Club, "Pluma", was established.
January 25th: Silver Ash's first album was released, "Silver Ash"
May 1st: Guitarist Lucy announced he was leaving the band, a farewell concert was held on May 1st.
End of May: Silver Ash search for a guitarist continues. 19-year-old Yue auditioned and showed outstanding talent, becoming the third lead guitarist of Silver Ash.
June: Silver Ash released a video, "Pluma Pray Part", which included two MVs, some clips and the special features from the last two years. After that, the band started the recording of a new single album.
Starting from November 10th :Silver Ash began their first One Man Live national tour around China. The tour was named "Gorgeous Devil's Sacred Feast- Never End", which indicated that, after the big change in the lineup, Silver Ash still has the determination to be going onward and upward.
This tour covered more than half of China's soil, including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Changsha, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Kunming, Chongqing, and Chengdu, a total of ten cities. After the tour, Silver Ash had learned so many live performance skills and truly gained the ability to control the atmosphere. At the same time, the band's publicity increased and Silver Ash became more well known all over China.
2003
2003, January, Silver Ash's second Demo Single Never End was released. Four songs were included on the single, including "Never End". To celebrate the release of the single, Silver Ash held a concert at Beijing "CD Cafe" Live House -- this live was also the "Gorgeous Devil's Sacred Feast- Never End" Tour Final.
March 15th: Silver Ash launched their 2003 tour called "Coming Down From Heaven" at Beijing Get Lucky Club.
Since April: Because of the SARS virus, Silver Ash was forced to cancel all projects for the first half of the year. SARS also caused the cancellation of the USA tour.
Midyear 2003: Silver Ash started working on their second album.
July 26th: Silver Ash held a concert, "Reborn", at Beijing Get Lucky Bar. This marked the beginning of their activities for the second half of the year
October 11th: Silver Ash was invited to play at the "Chinese Japanese Youth Music Festival", at Beijing Exhibit Hall's concert hall The only Chinese band that also played there was Black Panther - an old rock band with well-established talent and fame. Well-known Japanese pop idol Miu Sakamoto also attended the event
October 12th: Silver Ash was invited to play at the "Chinese Japanese Youth Music Festival" in Shanghai. They were highly welcomed in both Beijing and Shanghai. After the performance, Silver Ash, along with well-known producer ZhangYaDong and Japanese pop idol Miu Sakamoto, attended a press conference. During the interview, Silver Ash was applauded by both ZhangYaDong and Sakamoto-san, they both expressed interest in working with Silver Ash again in the future.
November 15th: After the One Man Live at the Beijing Get Lucky Club, bass player Hong left the band.
December 15th: New bass player Yu joined Silver Ash! The band lineup was now fresher and full of new energy!
December 24th: Silver Ash was invited to the SiChuan province by the ChengDu performing company, also playing alongside Silver Ash were fellow apprentice bands (meaning bands under Scream Records) Thin Man and CMCB. The show recieved great reactions -- new bass player Yu's performance was exceptional, and won support from everyone.
2004
2004, January 10th: Silver Ash played their first One Man Live at the Get Lucky Club's old site after Yu, the new bass player, joined. This was the last time Silver Ash played at Get Lucky Club's old site, after this, all concerts were held at the New Get Lucky Club. Get Lucky Club's old site was where Silver Ash played their first show, so this live was an emotional event.
February: Silver Ash started recording their newest EP "Metamorphosis~Out Of Control", this EP was aimed mainly at American fans. Silver Ash was invited to play at a huge event on the west coast of USA (PMX) in July, and event on the same scale as playing in a palaestra(in China, huge concerts are usually held at a palaestra). It was estimated that thousands of people would attend. Also attending the event would have been the well-known Japanese bands T.M.Revolution and Psycho le Cemu However, this event was canceled.
May: Silver Ash released the EP "Metamorphosis~Out Of Control".
May 7th: After four years, Silver Ash announced they will discontinue all activities starting at the end of 2004.
June: Silver Ash announced that, before they stop all activities, they will tour China for one last time. They named the tour "Finale Of Metamorphosis", and began working hard preparing for it. For this tour, Silver Ash rehearsed about 20 new and old songs, preaparing for concert preformances of about three hours. Also for the first time, Silver Ash prepared two cover songs, both by Marilyn Manson. With the performance of these two songs, Silver Ash showed their strength in singing in English.
From August 1st to August 22nd: Silver Ash began their second national tour "Finale of Metamorphosis", playing in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hefei, Chengdu, Kunming, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. They also did three very successful autograph signing sessions in Kunming and Guangzhou.
October 2nd: Silver Ash had their farewell concert at Beijing New Get Lucky Club, officially going on hiatus.
Mid December: Silver Ash officially ended their contract with Scream Records after having worked together for almost four years. The band was reluctant to leave and appreciated all that Scream Records had done for them. They said a formal goodbye to all of the people who had helped them and those they had worked with, including the boss Lu Bo.
End of December: In exchange for ending the agreement early, Silver Ash began to record the last album that will be released by Scream Records. This product was named "未尽集 ~WeiJinJi (Unfinished Volume)"by band leader Ling, meaning they are still unsatisfied and willing to go on. This CD spanned all of Silver Ash’s work, from early unreleased track to new material. All of the mixing was done at Ling's home. Even though some songs were old recordings, the band wanted to retain the original feeling of these songs, so they did not re-record them.
2005
2005, February 21st: Silver Ash announced they would officially resume band activities. Silver Ash Official Website reopens.
March 3rd: Silver Ash Official Fan Club (backup committee) PLUMA was officially back, and began to take member applications.
April 17th: Silver Ash had their comeback concert, "Revive Ceremony", at Beijing New Get Lucky Club to celebrate their new beginning.
May 4th: Silver Ash held a concert entitled "Just 4 U" at Beijing New Get Lucky Club. Even though this was their second One Man Live in a very short period of time, even more people showed up than for "Revive Ceremony", there were also a lot of new supporters.
May 29th: Silver Ash attended a band performance at the Beijing Institute of Technology. They were the only band that wasn't made up of students from the school. Performing in front of audiences who had never heard their music before, Silver Ash's magnificent performance once again won unanimous applause.
Discography
Major Releases
 Wei Jin Jin (未尽集) - 2005, June |
 Out of Control (~蝶变~) - 2004, May |
 Never End - 2003, January |
 Pray Part (羽翼之祈愿篇 HOME VIDEO) - 2002, October |
 Silver Ash - 2002, January |
 Organum (风琴) - 2001, August |
Compilations
 Who is Cui Jian!? (VA) - 2005, July |
Appearances in Podcasts
 Rock in China Radio Show 4 - 2006, September |
Further Information
Official pages
Articles & Interviews
Other pages
Photos & Videos
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