Ancestors - Biography
This band's profile is 'invisible', meaning that it's much less prominent on the site - either because it's incomplete, or maybe doesn't entirely fit MS format.
Logos
2011-
2010
Biography
Los Angeles' Ancestors create mighty, modern music that dovetails slow, heavy riffs and atmospheric, melodic instrumental passages, exuding a deep sense of melancholy.
Ancestors formed in 2006 and instead of "choosing between prog rock or heavy rock," merged the styles to create music rife with atmosphere, tension and raw human emotion.
Ancestors create mighty, modern music that dovetails innovative arrangement, crushing primordial riff interplay and melodic instrumental passages with textural atmospherics. With both thunderous roar and expansive communiqué, Ancestors are proving to be a quickly-emerging force of musical power and creativity.
Justin Maranga, Nick Long and Brandon Pierce began a three-piece project in the summer of 2006, then shortly after added Englishman Chico Foley, who had met Brandon shortly after taking up what was at the time a temporary residence in Los Angeles. The band then finally found its final member: Jason Christopher Watkins.
They released their debut in Europe in April 2008 on North Atlantic Sound (a division of Tee Pee Records) and in August 2008 in the United States on Tee Pee Records. Artwork for the record was produced by Arik Roper: a psychedelic and fantasy artist who has worked with such bands as Sleep, High On Fire and Earth.
In October 2009 the band released their second album, Of Sound Mind on Tee Pee Records. The double LP was produced by the band and Pete Lyman and the artwork was done by Derek Albeck. It featured cameo performances by David Scott Stone (Melvins, Unwound, Slug), Sera Timms (Black Math Horseman) and cellist Ramiro Zapata.
In 2010 the band the band parted ways with Chico Foley and synth/guitar player Matt Barks joined the band in his place. They entered the studio in early 2011 to record the Invisible White EP, which sees a release on June 26, 2011 on Tee Pee Records. The EP was produced by Kenny Woods and marks a departure from the band's usual style of music.
Sources: Pelagic Records and Facebook.
Six years havepassed since the band's previous album, In Dreams and Time, which came at a transitional and difficult time in each of the band members' lives. In those six years, the band has slimmed down from a 5-piece to a 3-piece, also adding drummer (Daniel Pouliot of Horse The Band and ex-Silver Snakes) to their ranks. This lineup has consciously taken their time in writing their 5th album. It was surely worth the wait: Suspended in Reflections is a culmination of everything the band have accomplished thus far. It feels like Ancestors have finally arrived at their own, right place.
Ancestors' soundscapes are slow and vast, melancholic, dreamy and heavy, all at the same time: fertile soil for venturing outside of the typical realms of rock and metal instrumentation. The jazzy bass lines in "Release" and the proggy strings in "Into The Fall" prove that the 3-piece is not confined to any specific genre of music. The use of an Aeolian-Skinner church organ, however - an instrument with close to 1.941 pipes - woven throughout the album, is the proof that these excursions are not blind experiments, but landmarks of a sonic path that this band has carefully chosen.
In their 11 years as a band, Ancestors has toured multiple times and played festivals in Europe, the US and Canada. The band returned to Europe in the fall of 2018.
[i]Sources: Pelagic Records
Ancestors formed in 2006 and instead of "choosing between prog rock or heavy rock," merged the styles to create music rife with atmosphere, tension and raw human emotion.
Ancestors create mighty, modern music that dovetails innovative arrangement, crushing primordial riff interplay and melodic instrumental passages with textural atmospherics. With both thunderous roar and expansive communiqué, Ancestors are proving to be a quickly-emerging force of musical power and creativity.
Justin Maranga, Nick Long and Brandon Pierce began a three-piece project in the summer of 2006, then shortly after added Englishman Chico Foley, who had met Brandon shortly after taking up what was at the time a temporary residence in Los Angeles. The band then finally found its final member: Jason Christopher Watkins.
They released their debut in Europe in April 2008 on North Atlantic Sound (a division of Tee Pee Records) and in August 2008 in the United States on Tee Pee Records. Artwork for the record was produced by Arik Roper: a psychedelic and fantasy artist who has worked with such bands as Sleep, High On Fire and Earth.
In October 2009 the band released their second album, Of Sound Mind on Tee Pee Records. The double LP was produced by the band and Pete Lyman and the artwork was done by Derek Albeck. It featured cameo performances by David Scott Stone (Melvins, Unwound, Slug), Sera Timms (Black Math Horseman) and cellist Ramiro Zapata.
In 2010 the band the band parted ways with Chico Foley and synth/guitar player Matt Barks joined the band in his place. They entered the studio in early 2011 to record the Invisible White EP, which sees a release on June 26, 2011 on Tee Pee Records. The EP was produced by Kenny Woods and marks a departure from the band's usual style of music.
Sources: Pelagic Records and Facebook.
Six years havepassed since the band's previous album, In Dreams and Time, which came at a transitional and difficult time in each of the band members' lives. In those six years, the band has slimmed down from a 5-piece to a 3-piece, also adding drummer (Daniel Pouliot of Horse The Band and ex-Silver Snakes) to their ranks. This lineup has consciously taken their time in writing their 5th album. It was surely worth the wait: Suspended in Reflections is a culmination of everything the band have accomplished thus far. It feels like Ancestors have finally arrived at their own, right place.
Ancestors' soundscapes are slow and vast, melancholic, dreamy and heavy, all at the same time: fertile soil for venturing outside of the typical realms of rock and metal instrumentation. The jazzy bass lines in "Release" and the proggy strings in "Into The Fall" prove that the 3-piece is not confined to any specific genre of music. The use of an Aeolian-Skinner church organ, however - an instrument with close to 1.941 pipes - woven throughout the album, is the proof that these excursions are not blind experiments, but landmarks of a sonic path that this band has carefully chosen.
In their 11 years as a band, Ancestors has toured multiple times and played festivals in Europe, the US and Canada. The band returned to Europe in the fall of 2018.
[i]Sources: Pelagic Records