DJ Ashba

DJ Ashba
DJ Ashba live with Guns N' Roses in Helsinki on June 5th 2010
Background information
Birth name	Daren Jay Ashba
Also known as	DJ
Born	November 10, 1972 (1972-11-10) (age 39) Monticello, Indiana, U.S.
Genres	heavy metal, glam metal, hard rock, pop rock
Occupations	Musician, guitarist, songwriter, producer, graphic designer
Instruments	Guitar, drums, percussion, piano, keyboards, violin
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Eleven Seven Music, Warner Bros.
Associated acts	Beautiful Creatures, BulletBoys, Guns N' Roses, Sixx:A.M.
Website	www.djashba.com

Daren Jay "DJ" Ashba (born November 10, 1972) is an American musician, producer, songwriter and CEO of Ashba Media. He is the lead guitarist in Guns N' Roses and Sixx:A.M. He is also known for his work with hard rock bands BulletBoys and Beautiful Creatures. Ashba has worked with various artists including Mötley Crüe, Drowning Pool, Marion Raven, Aimee Allen and Neil Diamond.

Biography

Early life

Ashba was born in Monticello, Indiana and was raised in rural Fairbury, Illinois by his religious single-mother, a classically trained pianist, who began teaching him about music as a toddler. Dj performed in his first piano recital at the age of five, where he played Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.” Ashba’s next ambition was to learn the drums. He built kits out of garbage cans and pots and pans, until he finally acquired a real set at the age of six. When he was eight, Dj took a job detasseling corn in the fields in order to earn enough money to buy his first guitar out of the Sears catalog. He would ride to his job in the corn fields on the bus with a guitar player from a local band, who would teach him a new chord each day on a “fret” that they had carved into the back of a bus seat with a pocketknife. His friend would take the knife and make three holes in the fret and say, “That’s an A chord, go home and practice.” Dj sometimes spent 17 hours a day practicing guitar in his bedroom as a teenager. For his 16th birthday, Ashba’s father took him to his first concert, the Motley Crue Girls, Girls, Girls tour and his life was forever changed. “The crowd, the music, the lights! It was the night I realized that no matter what it takes, I was gonna be on that stage one day.” At the age of 19, Dj packed up his possessions and set out for Hollywood to make it as a rockstar.

Solo, BulletBoys (1991-2002)

Eventually, he joined the group Barracuda and toured with the band for two years. In 1996, he released his debut instrumental album titled, Addiction to the Friction.^[1] In 1998, Ashba joined BulletBoys as part of the band's new lineup.^[2][3] It was during his time with the band that he met Joe Lesté of Bang Tango.^[4] In 1999, he departed the group to start a new band with Lesté.

Beautiful Creatures (1999-2002)

Main article: Beautiful Creatures (band)

In 1999, Ashba began piecing together the band that would become Beautiful Creatures with Bang Tango frontman Joe Lesté. They added former Shake The Faith and No. 9 bassist Kenny Kweens and session drummer Anthony Focx, who performed in the 1992 film Wayne's World appearing as the drummer in Tia Carrere's club band.^[5] Focx became the group's second guitarist and Glen Sobel, another session drummer, was brought in to take over drums. This was the first lineup under the moniker Beautiful Creatures. Prior to naming, the band opened one show in Houston, Texas for Kiss during their reunion tour after Ted Nugent pulled out.^[6] The band then signed with Warner Bros. and released their self-titled debut Beautiful Creatures, produced by Marilyn Manson cohort Sean Beavan, on August 14, 2001.^[7] Album track 1 A.M. was featured in the soundtrack for the 2001 horror film Valentine and tv series Smallville. Ride was featured on the soundtrack to the 2002 remake of Rollerball.^[8] Despite appearing at Ozzfest, the Rolling Rock Tour the band was dropped from their label due to poor album sales. On February 13, 2002, the band announced that Ashba had left the group and the band found a replacement and continued on.^[9]

Solo (2002-2007)

He formed another solo band, simply titled ASHBA after his departure from Beautiful Creatures where he added former Tuff guitarist Michael Thomas, who was Ashba's replacement in BC but left the group in 2003, bassist John Younger and drummer Bones Elias rounded out the groups lineup.^[10] Also in 2003, Ashba was invited to participate in the group Brides of Destruction with Nikki Sixx and Tracii Guns but turned it down to focus on his solo project.^[11] In 2005, a small controversy was caused when it was suggested that neither Tommy nor Mick played on the new tracks for Mötley Crüe's compilation album Red, White & Crüe (duties were supposedly handled by Vandals drummer Josh Freese and Ashba as well as Mick being replaced by Ashba on their reunion tour. Ashba hit back at the rumours:

“

'Just want to set the record straight. As much as I would love to play on tour with Mötley, it's simply not true...it's a rumor. I'll be in the studio and playing shows with ASHBA. I have all the respect in the world for Mötley Crüe and I can't wait to see Mick kick ass, as always.'[12]

”

A VH1 documentary of the band reuniting would later show that Lee did indeed play on some of the tracks.

In 2006 Ashba set up Funny Farms Studios with Nikki Sixx.^[13] They began writing and producing, and performing music together^[14] which included collaborations with singer Marion Raven, whom Sixx had worked with before, on her Heads Will Roll EP^[15] and album Set Me Free. James Michael also is credited on the albums.^[16] In March 2007, Sixx penned Reason I'm Alive for Drowning Pool's new album Full Circle with both Sixx and Ashba co-producing the track.^[17]

Sixx:A.M. (2007-present)

Main article: Sixx:A.M.

Ashba released the critically acclaimed album The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack after collaborating with Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx and producer James Michael under the name Sixx:A.M. in August, 2007 serving as a soundtrack to Sixx's autobiography The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star.^[18] The single Life is Beautiful reached #2 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks. Originally the group stated they had no intention of touring.^[19] After constant support for the band and interest in a tour, they held a nationwide vote for tour dates. The tour was scheduled to start in spring 2008, but had been postponed to the summer due to unforeseeable circumstances.^[20] On April 15, 2008, Sixx:A.M. announced they would be touring as part of Mötley Crüe's Crüe Fest, along with Buckcherry, Papa Roach and Trapt. The tour began on July 1, 2008, in West Palm Beach, Florida.^[21] During Crüe Fest, Papa Roach drummer Tony Palermo served as a touring drummer for the band. A deluxe tour edition of The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack was released on November 25, 2008, which included a bonus live EP entitled Live Is Beautiful which features recorded performances from the band's summer tour. In April 2009, both James Michael and Nikki Sixx confirmed that the band is currently in the studio, recording new material. Sixx added that the new material is "inspiring. it feels like we may have topped ourselves on this album coming up, and can't wait for you to hear what it sounds like."^[22]

Guns N' Roses (2009-present)

Main article: Guns N' Roses

On March 23, 2009 Ashba was announced the new lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses replacing Robin Finck, who had left the band to rejoin Nine Inch Nails.^[23][24] He first toured with the band as part of the Chinese Democracy Tour where on December 19, 2009 Guns N' Roses played its longest concert ever at Tokyo Dome - 3 hours, 37 minutes.^[25] He is currently on tour with the band as part of its 2011 North American and Latin American Tour.

Other work

In 2003 Ashba founded Ashba Media, Inc. The creative Agency. Ashba Media was announced the Agency of Record for Virgin Entertainment. AMI designs the look and feel of every Virgin Megastore. They also have other clients, such as Ovation guitars, Royal Underground and many more. Daren owns two corporations, Ashba Media, Inc. which handles the art side of things and Ashbaland, Inc. which handles the music side of things.^[26] Ashba contributed to Mötley Crüe's latest album Saints of Los Angeles penning all tracks with the exception of This Ain't a Love Song.^[27] The title track Saints of Los Angeles was nominated for a Grammy the same year.

Discography

Solo

• Addiction to the Friction (1996)

with Beautiful Creatures

• Beautiful Creatures (2001)
• Deuce (2005) Note: He only appears on 3 demos that were recorded pre-debut album that were added as bonus tracks

with Sixx:A.M.

• The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack (2007)
• This Is Gonna Hurt (2011)

Production, songwriting and guest credits

Year	Album Title	Band	Record Label	Credits
2002	I'd Start a Revolution If I Could Get Up in the Morning	Aimee Allen	Elektra Unreleased	Guitars on "Revolution"
2005	Heads Will Roll EP	Marion Raven	Eleven Seven	Co-writer "Spit You Out"
2007	Set Me Free	Marion Raven	Eleven Seven/Warner Bros.	Co-writer "Set Me Free" and "Thank You For Loving Me"
2007	Full Circle	Drowning Pool	Eleven Seven	Co-producer on "Reason I'm Alive"
2007	The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack	Sixx:A.M.	Eleven Seven	Co-writer and producer
2007	Saints of Los Angeles	Mötley Crüe	Eleven Seven/Universal Music Group	Co-writer on all tracks except "This Ain't a Love Song"
2009	A Cherry Cherry Christmas	Neil Diamond	American, Columbia	Writer on "Meditations on a Winter (instrumental)"[28]
2009	Whatever Gets You Off	The Last Vegas	Eleven Seven	Co-producer
2011	This Is Gonna Hurt	Sixx:A.M.	Eleven Seven	Co-writer and producer

References

1. ^ Ashba - Addiction to the Friction music CD discography
2. ^ Steven Adler Goes From Guns To Bullets While Ex-Guns Remain Active
3. ^ MusicMight :: Artists :: BULLETBOYS
4. ^ Metal Sludge - 20 Questions with DJ Ashba, 10/15/02
5. ^ imdb Wayne's World (1992) - Full cast and crew
6. ^ Rock Circus interview with Kenny, Anthony, DJ and Joe from Beautiful Creatures
7. ^ allmusic ((( Beautiful Creatures > Overview )))
8. ^ imdb Beautiful Creatures Filmography
9. ^ BEAUTIFUL CREATURES Part With Guitarist, Vow To Carry On - Feb. 13, 2002
10. ^ Former BEAUTIFUL CREATURES Duo Join Forces In ASHBA - May 17, 2003
11. ^ Interview with D.J. Ashba ~ Brian Rademacher: When you first met Nikki Sixx what was your impression? Date: October 2007
12. ^ Guitarist DJ ASHBA Rejects MÖTLEY CRÜE Rumors - Jan. 9, 2005
13. ^ NIKKI SIXX, DJ ASHBA Team Up To Launch FUNNY FARM Studios - July 14, 2006
14. ^ MÖTLEY CRÜE's SIXX Completes 'Eight New Tracks With No Destination In Mind' - Sep. 22, 2006
15. ^ Anne Carlini (2006). "The Call of The Raven is Upon Us!". Exclusive Magazine. http://www.annecarlini.com/ex_interviews.php?id=692. Retrieved 2007-03-27. 
16. ^ MÖTLEY CRÜE Bassist, Ex-BEAUTIFUL CREATURES Guitarist Guest On New MARION RAVEN Single - Dec. 19, 2006
17. ^ MÖTLEY CRÜE Bassist, Ex-BEAUTIFUL CREATURES Guitarist Write, Produce Songs For DROWNING POOL - Mar. 2, 2007
18. ^ NIKKI SIXX's 'The Heroin Diaries': Book, Album Release Dates Announced - May 8, 2007
19. ^ Metal News - Nikki Sixx Denies Sixx:A.M. Tour
20. ^ Sixx:A.M. 2-28
21. ^ Concert Announcement: Cruefest with Motley Crue, STLtoday.com
22. ^ Nikki Sixx Says New Sixx: AM Songs Are 'All So Inspiring', date: april 28, 2009
23. ^ GUNS N' ROSES NAMES DJ ASHBA AS BAND'S NEWEST AXEMAN March 21, 2009
24. ^ GUNS N' ROSES Joined By SIXX: A.M. Guitarist D.J. ASHBA - Mar. 21, 2009
25. ^ GUNS N' ROSES Plays Longest Concert Ever In Tokyo - Dec. 19, 2009
26. ^ DJ Ashba: The Bring Back Glam! Interview Posted on Monday, December 8, 2008
27. ^ Mötley Crüe: Saints of Los Angeles < Reviews | PopMatters
28. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Review: A Cherry Cherry Christmas". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1658243. Retrieved 11 October 2009. 

External links

• Official website
• DJ Ashba on Myspace
• Sixx:A.M. official website
• DJ Ashba @ Facebook.com
• Talk live to Daren @ Stickam.com
• Guns N' Roses.com

Preceded by Robin Finck

Guns N' Roses Lead Guitarist 2009–present

Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Ashba, Daren Jay
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	November 10, 1972
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death