Tag Archives: tattoo

Tiger and Dragon Leg Sleeve

Ashland High

Ashland High, the new band from former Metro Station guitarist/vocalist, Trace Cyrus, are an electro/pop effort, with the first album, Geronimo, up for a free download on the official website. When one sees Trace, and looks over his incredible array of tattoos and piercings, it would be safe to assume that he’d be most comfortable playing music that is a lot heavier that the dance-y synth beats he has found his home in.

As a member of Metro Station, Trace shared the limelight with his band members; as Ashland High, he is in command. Every creative decision is made by him, and he has managed to pull it off with gusto, creating the energetic dance music that fervently  courses through this album.

Sippin’ on Sunshine, the first single off of the album, is an incredibly catchy party anthem that slowly becomes more and more impossible to remove from the your head, while the first track Jealous Lovers, showcases an almost haunted vocal melody. that reaches its climax in the chorus, a rather epic sounding structure that conjures up mental images of a club jumping in unison, with Trace Cyrus as their ringleader. Overload is truly built to be played live in a club, with the frantic, high energy mix of vocals and electronica. Satellite is a ballad-esque electro song, one that took a lot of guts to try out, and thankfully one that paid off massively.

Trace is a man to be admired on so many different levels; he refuses to cash in on the success of his younger sister, Miley Cyrus (of Hannah Montana fame) or his country singing father, Billy Ray Cyrus. He has a clothing line, aptly name Southern Made, Hollywood Paid, or Smhp, which is based upon the albums artwork, a prominent leader of the Budonkhe Apache. He produced this album in his condo and gave it away for free, all the while funding his own music videos for every song on the record. Now that Geronimo has proven to be a success, one can only wonder what the next album will sound like.