Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Ash Sharbaugh
Hi Michael Ash, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I wrote My first ‘tune’ in 1985 at age 15, walking rhythmically down a freshly rained-upon alleyway in a seaside town up north in New Jersey. I had fallen in love for the first time, and was thinking about Her as I was splashing through the puddles.
I recorded the simple tune on a boombox cassette deck, the cassette tape of which I own to this day (see attached photograph). From then on, I would use a series of boomboxes and tape recorders — synced in tandem — to build My first ‘multitrack’ musical compositions. From there, over the next few years, I just bought all of the musical equipment that would come My way — synthesizers, drum machines, et cetera, until I procured a decent microphone and four-track recorder.
I would spend afternoons in the late ’80s and early ’90s just recording away in My tiny bedroom studio in My Father’s house. Many of My early recordings are on streaming sites — Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, and Tidal — today.
I became interested in altered states of mind by ’94. and experimented with marijuana, lysergic acid, and alcohol, and actually stopped doing music due to ‘going overboard’ in 1993. (There is a [blatant] lacuna in My self-recorded library for that year.); thus, I put Myself in rehab, henceforth imagining music and its creative force as My ‘higher power.’ I wrote a song entitled ‘Stay with Me’ that year, just days after exiting rehab. From then ’til now, I have been in-control, and composing music on a steady basis, choosing to release the finest of My compositions on the world’s streaming sites (now, about 300 songs and instrumentals).
In the 2000s, I attended college and attained another dream of mine in 2012 — a Master’s degree. I got out of school after a seven-year musical hiatus, and, knowing that I wished to eschew the responsibilities of a teacher’s career, instantly began composing again.
Here I am now — thirteen years later — doing the same thing … and even more intensely!
I wear many hats projecting My brand — Michael Ash Sharbaugh — into the world: composer, musician, poet, recordist and engineer, and promoter and publisher, independently. It’s exhausting, but I know no other way to maintain control of My intellectual properties — My babies: My songs.
It’s My life, My choice, and I do not apologize, nor regret: I am proud and steadfast, believing it critical to realize My finest works of art in maturing years.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Illicit drugs, hedonism, and furthuring My formal education were potentially deleterious prospects for My art and its future. They all lured and challenged Me to follow alternative lifestyles (as husband, father, electrician, drunk, English professor, et cetera); however, My dream of becoming prolific in the field of sound has ruled … and come into fruition.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
From the early 1980s, I had specialized in pop and spacerock; now, living in Atlanta, and celebrating ‘alternate cultures’ through some of the finest friends I’ve ever known, I compose triphop and vaportrap musics, as well as ambient and experimental works.
Currently, I am most proud of My 2023 album EP release, “The Changeling” (so named due to this aforementioned shift in My tastes and musicality).
I am known for infusing the musics I make with experimentalism — chance, simply — during My music-making processes, in order to distance Myself from purely intentional musical composition, which, I believe, leads to complacency, and conventionality. I choose to become a fan — a somewhat removed observer — of my art, rather than sole creator.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
Music shall continue to be streamed, consumed eagerly and capriciously through electronic means that are simplest at hand; however, the fidelities and qualities of these sound-packets’ shall increase in quality. Full-length albums over 20-minutes long, I believe, will be things of the past, and EP releases and singles — ‘one-offs’ — shall be the pathways to listeners’ brains. Should they decide to master future technologies and wield ever-changing hats and take on multifid ‘self-responsibilities,’ music-creators will be able to realize ever more independence and power, due to the capabilities when adding AI and other knowledge bases to their arsenals. (Hallelujah!)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://soundcloud.com/michael-ash-sharbaugh
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikashsharbaugh/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaelashsharbaugh/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjvt4k-qiEKpBRwrnV7A8gw
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/michael-ash-sharbaugh
- Other: https://about.me/michaelashsharbaugh
Image Credits
Michael Ash Sharbaugh
