Ashley Naylor
Ashley Naylor guitarist for Paul Kelly, The Church, the RocKwiz Orchestra and a host of others, and guitarist, songwriter and singer of beloved Melbourne band Even, is breaking out on his own in late 2023 as he enters a new phase focused on instrumental guitar music.
Taking inspiration from the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Dicky Betts, Peter Frampton, Eddie Hazel, David Axelrod and more recent artists like AIR and Spiritualized, Naylor's new music, which is performed live by his new 4-piece band Spaceship, is featured on his forthcoming instrumental solo album Soundtracks Volume 2, out October 20 on El Reno Music.
The album will be launched at the Brunswick Ballroom on Friday 17 November.
Soundtracks Volume 2, which has been preceded by the 8-minute single "Spaceship", will be Naylor's second volume of instrumental guitar music and will be his first solo release since Even's acclaimed 2021 ARIA Top 20 Double album Reverse Light Years. It won't be the first new release of 2023 to feature Naylor's remarkable playing though; most notably he appears throughout The Church's latest album The Hypnogogue, which was his first album with the iconic group he joined in 2020. Naylor also played on Paul Kelly's recently released cover of the Sunnyboys' classic "Alone with You", and also appears on the new ARIA Top 10 album Hey Dawn by up & coming Australian alt-country superstar Fanny Lumsden. In 2021 he featured on Vika & Linda's #2 ARIA charting album The Wait, and Paul Kelly's #1 ARIA charting Christmas Train, and toured with both PK and the sisters nationally. He has also helped ready for release a new album - also coming this November - by The Ronson Hangup, another long-term project which he fronts alongside former Anyones singer and songwriter Steve Pinkerton.
Naylor has had a frantically busy year, involving a lot of touring with both Paul Kelly and The Church, including a 21 city, six week Church US tour - and he set to take off a second US tour with The Church in late September - but as the release of Soundtracks Volume 2 approaches, he has his sights set on space - inner and outer, wherever his playing will take him - and is getting his instrumental guitar head on.
Praise for Ashley Naylor & Even's 2021 ARIA Top 20 Double album Reverse Light Years
Whatever Ash Naylor is involved with is superb. One of the best guitarists playing today. This exceeded my expectations. We are lucky to have him! Great venue to see a band too!