Ashes Remain What I Ve Become Album Download 18

Ashes Remain is from Baltimore, Maryland,[1] where Josh Smith of Florida[1] and Ryan Nalepa met at River Valley Ranch, a summer youth camp during worship services.[2] They prayed about forming a band, which they did when the opportunity arose for Smith to become worship leader at a church.[2] This church was just minutes from Nalepa's home, so this facilitated the band's creation.[2] The other members of the band, which comprised Rob Tahan, Jonathan Hively and Ben Kirk, were not added until some years later.[2] In the summer of 2003, Ashes Remain released their first independent record, Lose the Alibis. According to the band, the album moved around 2,000 copies in one year.[3]

On November 14, the band announced their release of their Christmas EP on Facebook, which was released on November 20. They announced that the song off of the album "Gift Of Love" will be the band's new single and was available for free download on December 12.[5]

Somewhere on a Virginia highway, the old school bus finally gave out. The 1987 Ford, painted gray like a prison bus--this is Josh Smith's unsparing description--had served Ashes Remain well for years. Its top speed was 47 mph. It had no shocks. Yet it was also the band's touring home. And in so many ways, it fit them. They'd traveled from coast to coast, feeling every bump in the road. But the bus had faithfully taken them to venues where they delivered their brand of raw, honest rock. It was a sad day several years ago when they stripped the bus down and sold it to a scrap yard. "I think it built us," says Smith, the band's co-founder and frontman, literally and figuratively meaning the bus and its rough ride. "That's why we are the band we are. It's never been easy--but I don't know, we just love it."Smith knows, too, that the journey--all those years touring as independent artists, building a core of committed fans while commercial success sometimes seemed tantalizingly just out of reach--isan authentic testimony, much like the message through the years in their music. Even as Christ-followers, the road isn't always smooth. It's a fight to break addictions, to overcome doubts, to forge past failure, tofind and maintain faith. But it's well worth it.More than 15 years since their founding, the journey continues for Ashes Remain with the release of Let The Light In(BEC Recordings). The band, which has carved out a place in Christian rock, sees its first full album in six years as both a "thank you" to its fans and a continuing effort at, as Smith puts it, "a simple conversation." Smith and his bandmates--co-founder Ryan Nalepa (rhythm guitar), Rob Tahan (lead guitar), Ben Kirk (drums) and Jon Hively (bass)--have always been committed to the idea that they're not role models but "broken people who need Jesus," and to the truth that many of their fans are going through the same struggles.Let The Light Inis a musically diverse collection. Its 10 tracks encompass everything from hard-driving rock to melodic pop ballads. "I feel like it's everything we've ever done," Smith says, "and it's things we've never done." The title flowed from the cut "All I Need," which Smith wrote about his marriage and how he and his wife have come through hard times through commitment. He also sees parallels with his relationship with God. "I know every generation feels that the world is getting darker, turning more and more evil," he says. "But I really believe that if we cling to God and cling to each other, that's how we let the light in. That's how we change the world. We've just got to love each other. It's important for me to remind myself every day that no matter where Ashes Remain is, the best thing we can do is love the people in the room, the people right in front of us."For lead single "All Of Me," the band worked with GRAMMY® Award-winning producer Seth Mosley and Mike "X" O'Connor. Smith calls the experience and the vibe "incredible, probably the easiest we've ever recorded." But Smith likes the song equally as much for its lyrics. He calls it "the most honest song I've ever written," beginning with these opening lines: I'm a mess of contradictions, I'm a doubter who believes."For me personally, and I have to believe for so many others, we feel like we're not allowed to say, 'Hey, I've got my doubts here,'" Smith says. "When you become a Christian, it can feel like you need to have mos