By Tony Bonyata
Spawned from the loins of Chicago punk / metal monsters The Jesus Lizard comes Relative Ash, a band that not only hails from the Windy City but that is also carrying on the torch for the now deceased Lizard.Formed on the South Side of Chicago in '96, Relative Ash soon became local darlings - playing sold-out gigs at Chicago's venerable hot-spot, the Metro, which lead to stints on the Warped, X Game and Sevendust / Slipknot tours.
On their debut album, Our Time With You..., bandmembers Marcus Harrington (vocals), Chuck Ford (bass), John Salazar (drums) along with Carlos Salazar and Junior Antunez (guitars) forge a strong, if not familiar, metal in their sonic foundry.
Harrington's impassioned, guttural growls are without question influenced by Jesus Lizard's frontman and audience antagonist, David Yow. The heavy rhythms and buzzing guitars wear the spit of punk rock while still pumping a studded leather fist in the air.And while their relentless music rarely lets up, the subject matter on their numbers often do. Touching on issues such as the AIDS crisis, the desire to be a father and the responsibility of being a good person, these are kids with a conscience, who, unlike rap / metal mongers Limp Bizkit, seem to be doing it for more than just 'the nookie.' Even their own bandname honors the lives of loved ones who've passed away.
With grunge-rock six-feet under and techno and industrial music gasping onto their last breaths it seems that, once again, metal seems to be the music for the anti-top ten crowd. With many different forms - from funk, punk, rap and reggae metal, this hard-edged music always has a way of resurfacing into the mainstream. And for the first time since Yow belly-groveled his last show with the Jesus Lizard, there seems no better blood to enter the veins of punk / metal hierarchy than Relative Ash.