ASHEN – DREAM TOUR

In this Dream Tour segment, the progressive metal band, ASHEN, reveals who they would want on their ultimate tour lineup. You can check out their picks, after the break.

Hey, this is Antoine, Niels and Clem from ASHEN!

We’re from Paris, France and as a band, here is our absolutely unrealistic dream line-up:

Gojira
Linkin Park
Northlane
Slipknot
Periphery
Bring Me The Horizon
ASHEN

These bands are our main common influences. That list has been tough to write but here’s how we would explain our choice.

We’d first select Gojira for their impeccable performance on stage and for the lesson that each of their shows represents, as much from the point of view of a musician as from a human being’s one.

Linkin Park for all that they’ve brought to our generation and for shaping the standards of the XXI century rock music.

Northlane for their creativity and their avant-garde identity, for being able to reinvent a genre that was beginning to run around in circles.

Slipknot for their identity and their image’s control, they managed to do more-than-heavy music while having been able to transcend the border between metal and popular music.

Periphery for the variety of their discography and for being so unique and so familiar with perfection.

Bring Me The Horizon because they have been successful in every turn they have taken. They are truly visionary and always one step ahead of their time in terms of visual/sound identity.

And here are our individual choices to complete the lineup if there was still room in the backstage for extra bands:

Antoine (Guitars): Story Of The Year, Underoath, Skid Row

Story Of The Year: On a dream tour I’ll definitely pick one of the major influences I’ve grown up with. The whole “Page Avenue” record is like the everyday default background music in my head, and I’m comfortable with that. Plus, their shows are literally mind blowing, I guess that “Live in the Lou” could easily be the first result when you’re typing “destroying a stage tutorial” on Google.

Underoath brings so much nostalgia and hits me right in the feels every time. I’ve only seen them once in Paris and it was by far the best show I’ve ever been to. They were so clean and so sincere in their performance. Everyone in the crowd was screaming their hearts out, all this atmosphere gave me chills and left me with an everlasting memory. A gig like this one is the deepest kind of moment music can bring, according to me.

Skid Row is in my opinion what the 80s did the best in terms of heavy music. One of the best, most accomplished and most influential bands in their genre. Their quality of writing, stage presence…They have been a huge inspiration and they’ve left such a big legacy to the next generation of bands. It would have been a dream to share the stage with them back then.

Niels (Guitars): Yungblud, The 1975, Alpha Wolf

If I had to summarize rock music in 2021 I would definitely be saying: Yungblud. I can’t even imagine how inspiring it would be to spend some time in a tour bus with him and his overflowing energy and creativity. Then, I’d have to add The 1975. Even if we don’t write the same style of music, the guys have, with Yungblud, been a very big influence to me over the last few years. I’ll never stop being amazed by how easily and freely they manage to always reinvent themselves. To finish it off, I’ll end the night by making Alpha Wolf play, because being able to watch their shows night after night sounds like a whole lot of fun.

Clem (Vocals): Aerosmith, Sleep Token, Linkin Park

Aerosmith: To me, Steven Tyler is THE definition of a rockstar. His charisma and voice have defined my vision of a rock singer, and he’s the only reason why I’m thinking it might be cool to turn 72 years old one day.

Sleep Token: The band released their debut album only 2 years ago and the first song has become one of my favorite songs ever. The gospel inspirations of their vocalist has had a lot of influence on my singing. It would be so nice to see the band doing their thing live every night.

Linkin Park: This list wouldn’t be complete without adding Linkin Park, as they’re one of my biggest inspirations. Chester Bennington was the one who made me fall in love with metal and metal vocals. I tried so hard to sing their songs and understand how they were writing their vocal melodies.

In a live context, Chester is my favorite singer, he had everything. It would have been an honor to be on tour with him and see how incredible he was in person.

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