- An Interview with Ashton Nyte Jammerzine Exclusive 53:15
Ashton Nyte has recently released his album and companion book titled ‘Waiting For A Voice’. This is a wonderful interview, to say the least. More of a conversation, actually. What we get is that voice we’ve all been waiting for. And that voice is the type of voice we need in this day and age. I’m not talking phonetically. I mean spiritually. Musically.
Both the album and book are from the mind of someone who observes and interprets. The songs are the music that sews the heart to the sleeve and the book is a brilliant and compassionate collage of lyrics, poetry, and autobiographical segments. And the result is a medium of solitary substance that, I hope, the listener inherits as much as they ingest.
And what we get today is that deep conversation with Ashton, where we talk about the album and book ‘Waiting For A Voice’ and get in-depth about both an introverted human being giving the world a voice we’ve been needing but also that inspiration that we can use to move forward.
Take a look at what ‘Waiting For A Voice’ is and get a copy HERE.
Check out our other features about Ashton Nyte HERE.
Ashton Nyte’s ‘Waiting For A Voice’
Waiting For A Voice, Nyte’s 7th solo album was largely written and recorded after his 36 date European tour with Wayne Hussey (The Mission) concluded in October last year and features his most personal songwriting to date.
Dubbed the “lovechild of Johnny Cash and Nick Cave” by NPR, the new work sees Nyte blending poetry with haunting acoustic minimalism, animated by his rich, diverse baritone voice.
The album contains 11 original songs, written, performed, and produced by Nyte, along with an intimate rendition of David Bowie’s “Heroes,” dedicated to Nyte’s father, who passed earlier this year. The accompanying 134pg book expands on themes explored on the album, and is available in hardcover and paperback, along with vinyl, CD and digital versions of the album.
“In quiet desperation, I pulled the words aside To cover up the violence That blurred my aching my mind. And gazing through the portholes Deafened by the noise I spoke into the ocean I’m waiting for a voice.”
– (Waiting For A Voice – Ashton Nyte)
Now based in the USA, Ashton Nyte is a South African born composer, singer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and writer. He has released 7 solo albums, in addition to 9 albums as The Awakening, one of South Africa’s most prominent alternative rock bands. He has also contributed lyrics and vocals to several projects – most recently Beauty In Chaos, which features members of The Cure and Cheap Trick among others.
Ashton has written and performed in theatrical productions and organized philanthropic events including his Rock Against Rape concert series, and presenting a lecture series at US universities focusing on tolerance and acceptance. He is a prolific songwriter, with a released catalog of over 250 songs, including an Afrikaans-language album, “Moederland” (2014) which was named one of the top 10 albums of the year by Netwerk24 in South Africa.
Ashton has toured extensively and headlined festivals in the US, Europe, and South Africa, including Ramfest and the Oppikoppi Festival to over 30 000 people.
Last year also saw Ashton working on the score of “Don’t Let Go,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2019. He is currently working on a number of album re-issue projects, along with on-line performances, and will tour the new book and album when it is safe to do so.
About Ashton Nyte
Now based in the USA, Ashton Nyte is a South African born composer, singer, multi-instrumentalist, writer, and producer. Nyte’s signature style focuses on his uniquely rich and widely diverse vocal abilities, while his instrumentation ranges from minimalist acoustic guitar ballads to epic arrangements.
The artist has released 7 solo albums as Ashton Nyte, and 1 as Ashton Nyte And The Accused, in addition to 9 albums as The Awakening, one of South Africa’s most prominent alternative rock bands.
Ashton is considered to be the “musical chameleon” of South Africa and has been described in the major press as “Johannesburg’s Bowie” for his widely varying music styles and theatrical performance style. With a released catalog of over 250 original songs, Ashton has had dozens of top ten singles and airplay on major independent radio stations around the world.
Nyte’s works have been featured on NPR/PRI in the USA, and he has performed live in-studio to 125 million listeners on the international radio show “Border Crossings” (Washington, DC). Nyte has toured extensively and headlined music festivals in the USA and South Africa to upwards of 30 000 people.
@ashtonnyte [rotatingtweets screen_name=’ashtonnyte’]Ashton has written and performed in theatrical productions and organized philanthropic events including his “Rock Against Rape” concert series, and presenting a lecture series at US universities focusing on tolerance and acceptance. His first Afrikaans-language album, Moederland (April 2014) was named one of the top 10 albums of the year by Netwerk24. From 2016 – 2018 Nyte completed a 17 date tour, spanning 12 European countries, as well as a national US tour and smaller European tour.
He contributed vocals and lyrics to new albums by MGT (guitarist for Peter Murphy, The Mission, Gary Numan) as well as Michael Ciravolo’s “Beauty In Chaos” project, which includes members of The Cure, Cheap Trick, Ice-T and many more. The Nyte / Ciravolo composition “Bloodless And Fragile” was featured in the television program “The Purge” on the USA network in 2018. Nyte released a new album, “Chasm” as The Awakening on 26 November 2018.
2019 saw Ashton working on the score of the movie “Don’t Let Go” with composer Ethan Gold. The movie stars David Oyelowo (Selma), Storm Reid (A Wrinkle In Time) and Mykelti Williamson (Forrest Gump) and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2019. Ashton also contributed to the second and third Beauty Chaos releases and completed a 36 date European Tour with British indie artist Wayne Hussey (The Mission) in September / October 2019. Nyte released “Waiting For A Voice”, his 7th solo album and the first book of poetry, short stories, and musings, on 20 July 2020.
Featured image by Christian Fraude.
LINKS:
https://ashtonnyte.com
https://facebook.com/ashtonnyte
https://youtube.com/ashtonnyte
https://instagram.com/ashtonnyte
https://twitter.com/ashtonnyte
https://theawakening.com
https://facebook.com/theawakeningofficial
https://youtube.com/theawakeningsa
