Artist Interview: Ascension Day / The Silkies
- Inhailer Radio Team
- Mar 6
- 4 min read
The Cincinnati bands Ascension Day and The Silkies are having a joint cassette release show at the Northside Tavern on March 7th. We caught up with Jake Merritt from The Silkies and Issac Karns from Ascension Day to talk about their origin stories, the new EPs, and a few other topics.
If there is a one sentence origin story for each band what would it be?
Jake Merritt (The Silkies) After a decade focusing on recording others' music, I couldn't resist the pull to write songs together with other folks.
Isaac Karns (Ascension Day) In early 2023 the members of Ascension Day stepped on a radioactive fuzz pedal and a vision of an illuminated manuscript emblazoned with the words "Love or Annihilation" appeared, with schematics for all their songs contained therein.
What were some inspirations (both musical and none musical) for these new releases?
JM - Exploring a new city with your friends. John Carpenter movies. The Clash, The Horrors, The Kinks, The Cure. Lots of 'the' bands... Ha!
IK - We're all avid readers and have creative practices outside of music so all those get incorporated into the stew. One particular influence for this EP was Wim Wenders' film "Wings of Desire", specifically on the song "Compañero". Some other influences would be Frank Herbert, Bridget Riley, Stereolab, Liturgy, Principia Discordia, Nick Cave, Jim Henson, Howard Finster, Alejandro Jodorowski, Suicide, JPEGMafia, School of Seven Bells, David Lynch, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Reverorum ib Malachi
How did the idea to release new music on cassette come to be? Was there any communication between bands?
JM - It's a nice entry point to having something physical for music fans to actually own. Cassettes have their own unique sound, and it’s just a fun little artifact of the bands journey.
IK - So I've been collecting and listening to cassettes for over 20 years, and they're an interesting object you can make that's one of the most economical music formats, so we went with it. I actually didn't know The Silkies were planning a cassette till Jake reached out to me about a tape release show and we had just booked a date at The Tavern to release a tape too. We thought it would be fun to do the tandem cassette release, especially since Jake and I played in a band together years ago called Pomegranates.
How did the idea of having remixes and who you wanted to do them come to be?
IK - I miss the split EPs and 7"s that bands would commonly release, even if it was primarily an economic decision. Things like that form and build bridges amongst music scenes and create tactile connections between what artists are doing in a city. Several of us are also very into dub music, as well as electronic and hip-hop where remix releases are a little more common, so it probably seeped in subconsciously. I'm honored and pleased that all these friends of ours re-envisioned our songs so beautifully.
What are you all listening to right now?
JM - The Clash, Tommy Newport, Paul McCartney, The Cure, New Candys, Peach Pit, The Cars
IK - Cory Feldman live YouTube videos.
What did you learn about yourselves during this recording process that you might not have know before?
JM - I learned I don't love writing, recording, and mixing the music. I'd much rather have someone else do the mixing after putting so much energy to every other piece of the process! It feels like a lot of pressure to do everything.
IK - Sometimes it's nice to sit with your work for an extended period and trust the pace of the process. The hare cannot conceive the mind of the tortoise.
What do you hope people listening to will take away from these releases?
JM - Hopefully the songs have some sort of lyric or element that feels relatable to their own experience. One of the best parts of music is how it can make us all feel like we aren't alone in our feelings and life experience.
IK - My hope would be that listeners ascend to another dimension and start their own band when they get there.
What are the bands’ plans for 2026?
JM - The Silkies will be releasing a full length later this year, and continue to tour around the midwest and east coast. Playing shows is a really gratifying part of the band experience for us. Actually connecting with people in real life, who are often music enthusiasts who discover us through places like Inhailer!
IK - To finish LP no. 1 and to create and perform an original live-score for Jodorowski's "The Holy Mountain".
The Silkies' EP, Milkman, and Ascension Day’s EP, AD001EP, will be released on cassette on March 7 at Northside Tavern. Additionally, other bands performing that evening will include Sistern, Mall Witch, Fritz Pape, and Grandace.Calumet has been a staple in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky music scene for the last decade and have decided to called it a day. Jacob Tippey (Vocals, Guitar), Stephen Kuffner (Guitar, Vocals, Acoustic) Alex Cook (Bass, Vocals) and John Bertke (Drums) chatted with us about their latest and final album, Selling Fiction.
Comments