Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee
Join Cheryl Lee That Radio Chick on Still Rockin' It for news, reviews and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians.
What are they up to at the moment? Let's find out .......
Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee
What has Ashley Naylor been up to lately? OR The Man Who Never Naps (Except When He Does)
Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians
Ashley Naylor defies expectations. With a musical résumé spanning decades and featuring collaborations with Australian music royalty, he somehow manages to be both ubiquitous and humble in equal measure. In this intimate conversation, we discover how one of rock's busiest guitarists balances his creative life.
When scrolling through Ashley's social media, the sheer volume of his musical commitments is exhausting—Hendrix tributes at Cherry Bar, Bowie celebrations at the Odeon, performances with The Church, Paul Kelly tours, and the list goes on. "I have to keep playing, otherwise you'll lose your touch," he explains with characteristic understatement, revealing the disciplined professional beneath the laid-back demeanor. Recently serving as music director for the John Lennon tribute "Give Peace a Chance," Ashley brings the same meticulous attention to coordinating others that he applies to his own musical endeavors.
The most exciting revelation comes with discussion of "Alexandria Sunset," Ashley's first solo album in over a decade, where he plays and sings every note himself. "While I've got my faculties, I'll do a record where I can play everything on it," he says, explaining his approach to capturing songs when they're fresh rather than creating separate demos.
Drawing inspiration from 60s and 70s rock, especially evident in his Donovan-influenced dreamy tracks, Ashley continues crafting music that feels simultaneously nostalgic and relevant. And in true Ashley Naylor fashion, he's simultaneously working on three separate album projects.
Discover the music, methodology, and mindset of a guitarist whose relentless creativity and humble approach to collaboration have made him one of Australia's most respected musicians.
Follow Ashley on social media and pre-order his new album through Bandcamp now.
What has Ash Naylor been up to lately? Let's find out!
Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!
Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au
that radio chick, cheryl lee, here. Welcome to the still rockin' it podcast where we'll have music news, reviews and interviews with some of our favorite australian musicians and artists. We are spoiled for choice when it comes to the work put out by this man, ashley naylor. He is relentless producing work. Like a man possessed to such a talented man, performing in so many different shows with so many different bands. He is such a genuinely nice guy and hardly possessed at all. We hardly had time to talk about all of his adventures. Please enjoy as we get to know a little bit more about guitarist and singer-songwriter Ashley Naylor and his new work. To catch up on podcasts from other favourite artists, simply go to thatradiochick. com. au. Yo, it's Cheryl Lee, that Radio Chick and I'd like to welcome into the Zoom room today, I think, one of the busiest men in rock and roll, ashley Naylor. Welcome, ashley. Thanks for chatting to us this morning.
Ashley Naylor:Thank you so much for having me One of the busiest. I love that.
Cheryl Lee:I've been looking at your socials and what you've been up to and what you're yet to be up to and it's worn me out. I need a nana nap.
Ashley Naylor:Yeah, well, I try and factor a nap in every day.
Cheryl Lee:Oh good on you yes.
Ashley Naylor:I can Well.
Cheryl Lee:I saw a post last month that there's only 64 opportunities to see you perform.
Ashley Naylor:It's ridiculous. That was a little publicity stunt my brother pulled on me.
Cheryl Lee:Oh my goodness, Not only you've got a lot coming up, but last month I noticed you did Hendrix at the Cherry Bar and Bowie at the Odeon. You don't sit still much, do you?
Ashley Naylor:Well, I can't, because you know what it's like If you've got to keep playing, otherwise you'll lose your touch. And I have to keep playing for a multitude of reasons primarily to maintain some kind of capability, and then also because it's my chosen profession. I have to keep playing as well because you know, pay the bills. Well, the car rego doesn't pay itself right.
Cheryl Lee:Exactly. For those that may not know, you're everywhere man. Guitarist for the Church, Paul Kelly, the Stems, Rock wiz Orchestra, beloved Melbourne band, Even, Ashley Naylor Spaceship, the Grapes, Ronson Hang Up, Monterey Honey you played with Vika and Linda and Tim Finn and the Sports and Fanny Lumsden and the Countdown Spectacular. The list is mind boggling.
Ashley Naylor:I guess it is when you condense it down to that little soundbite. But, as you know, there's 12 months in the year and I can't do one of those things week in, week out. They all coincide with each other. And one thing that I have to sort of try and manage is my diary and make sure that if there's something I want to do that I can accept it or not. Yeah, I just feel very fortunate because I've got a lot of friends at my age, like mid-50s, who who are, I wouldn't say languishing, but highly skilled musicians and highly talented people who haven't had the opportunities that I've had. So I sort of feel like any opportunity that presents itself to me I'll do my best to accept it, within reason, of course. You know, like you can't say yes to everything like getting back to that first chat we had, I have to. I'm the kind of personality type that has to be busy clearly, you must have great time management skills.
Ashley Naylor:They're getting better, getting better as I get older. I think Certain things are getting better, certain things are getting worse.
Cheryl Lee:We've got some exciting things to talk about, but I also noticed and I didn't realise this that you were the music director for Give Peace a Chance the honour of words and music about John Lennon that has just been all over the place, including Our Wonderful Town.
Ashley Naylor:Yeah, getting back to this word opportunity, that was an opportunity that came before me because I'd had experience doing these kind of musical direction jobs with ABC and, under the great tutelage of Pete Luscombe and James Black at Rockwiz, kind of learnt over the years how one should conduct oneself if you get such a job. You're there to sort of delegate, and director is such a nebulous word. I don't consider myself a director as such, but more like a coordinator, I guess. So part of my job was to get a band together and hopefully instil enough confidence in each member to feel comfortable doing their own thing within the realms of what is required. Yeah, within the realms of what is required. Yeah, that was a great tour. I mean, I grew up on Beatles and London music, so it was right in my Right up your alley.
Ashley Naylor:Right up my strata, yeah.
Cheryl Lee:I was only disappointed that I wasn't able to get along to see it. Do you think it might come around again?
Ashley Naylor:I really hope so. There was talk of it. The producers were very happy with the way it went and we got to play the Festival Theatre in Adelaide, which was incredible. Like you know, I've been going to Adelaide for 40 years, but every time you get to play a venue like that, it's just a real privilege, and the fact that the decor on the inside is probably the same as it was when the building was constructed for me that's mind-blowing too.
Cheryl Lee:You're just excitedly announcing a new album called Alexandria Sunset. Is this the third release? Third single as Good as Gold.
Ashley Naylor:Yeah, I can't call them feature tracks. I don't really think of singles anymore. When I think of singles, I think of 70s and 80s and 90s. Radio I don't really think of I guess. Obviously, as you know, the Billboard Top 100 is full of singles, inverted commas. But I'm 55 years old, I'm not trying to compete in that market, so the landscape has changed, hasn't it? It has.
Cheryl Lee:It's all different releasing material now than it was.
Ashley Naylor:That's right. And when you upload your song onto the portal through my digital distribution company, there's no option. It's either album or single. You can't just have featured track or album track. Anyway, I digress, yes, so I'm sort of drip feeding the audience, however big or small that may be.
Cheryl Lee:You're teasing them, are you?
Ashley Naylor:Well, no, no just I don't know, just sort of like a dripping tap, you know, a tap that keeps on dripping and the album will come out in early September. And, yeah, I, just everything that I do is kind of leads to this point of me putting out my own records, you know.
Cheryl Lee:Yeah, and this is your first solo recording in over 10 years, and one of the most amazing things to me is that you play and sing every single note on that album. It's you, it's you, baby, that's it.
Ashley Naylor:It's pretty crazy. But you know, when you're doing a demo or something of a song, you tend to do everything yourself to get an idea up and running. This time around I don't really do demos anymore because I don't know. I just sort of figure if you've got a germ of an idea for a song, try and record it as best as you can when the song is fresh. So I kind of adopt that philosophy now. So basically what I've got is a bunch of songs that grew from nothing in the studio and I've got my friends Tim and Finn to mix them for me to make them listenable. Yeah, but I mean I guess I figured, while I've got my faculties I'll do a record where I can play everything on it. That's amazing.
Ashley Naylor:You learn from the masters. You know, like the modern-day version of someone who does it is Kevin Parker from Tamey Parley. He does all the stuff himself. You know my mates, like Davey Lane and Wes Fuller. They do the records themselves and bring mates in to play them live and I've done a bit of that in the past and it's just one of those things. Once I decided this record was going to be a solo record inverted commas I just stuck to my guns. But that said, there's a record being made at the same time with friends.
Cheryl Lee:You're doing three, aren't you? Three albums all at once. You're good at multitasking as well.
Ashley Naylor:Like I learned from the Masters you know, having played with Paul Kelly since 2007. By osmosis, you watch and learn how these people go about it, and sometimes you try and concentrate on one project at one point in time. Yeah, so I've got three records on the go, but they're well obviously this one's finished first. The other ones are in, you know, different states of completion.
Cheryl Lee:You keep busy, that's for sure. So the other releases were Donovan Dreams and Blue Sky Tell us about Donovan Dreams. I find that one really fascinating.
Ashley Naylor:When I started it was an instrumental. For a couple of years actually, I sat on my hard drive for a couple of years as an instrumental and every time I played it to myself to listen to it, I thought it sort of reminded me of that sort of late 60s Donovan kind of groove, you know, like Barabba Jaggle or something like that with the Jeff Beck group, something that's groovy and a bit trippy. It just made me feel. It gave me a similar feeling that I would get if I listened to a Donovan track. It doesn't necessarily sound like a Donovan track, but you know.
Cheryl Lee:I'm still hung up on 60s and 70s rock, so aren't we all? Yeah, why?
Ashley Naylor:not. I mean, it's built to last. I don't make them like that anymore, although you are, we try, we try. Yeah, I, I've always liked donovan and he I guess he kind of takes a bit of a back seat to a lot of the more iconic single songwriters of that era, like bob dylan and, you know, leonard carwin, and it's not for me to say, but he probably doesn't get the accolades he deserves because he's brilliant. That song kind of just sort of grew out of an instrumental, but I want it to be a bit dreamy and a bit trippy like a Donovan song.
Cheryl Lee:Can I just cut you for? Don't look at my Ugg boots, sorry, someone's at the door. My dad's deaf, he can't hear them. None of them are for me.
Ashley Naylor:Don't you hate that. They're all for the children, yeah it's often the way at our joint too.
Cheryl Lee:Sorry about that.
Ashley Naylor:No, you're fine. I'm wearing my Ugg boots too, are you yeah?
Cheryl Lee:Snap. Where were we? Apart from all the recording that you've been up to? You're a very busy touring man as well. You've got tours coming up with Paul Kelly in August and September, the church in November, december. After all these years, do you love the touring, the live performing?
Ashley Naylor:I love the live performing the touring. It's a necessary chore, yeah, but I think as you become older in this game, you try and devise ways to alleviate the mundaneness of the travel, and that might mean committing yourself to reading a book as opposed to just scrolling through your phone or just trying to make some tweaks to make sure that the travel experience is positive, like lately I've been. This sounds really dumb, but I've been putting earplugs in and eye patches, just trying to make every flight a chance, just to shut down, as opposed to overly stimulate myself on a flight. So yeah, I guess for me it's about ways of maintaining inner calm before you throw yourself into the machine of touring, and that involves being shuttled around and you know. But that said, it's what we live for, it's what we all dreamed about as teenagers, like you know. I can't complain. I won't complain because it's all I ever dreamed of and now I get to do it.
Cheryl Lee:Talking about when you were a young lad with these dreams. Is music in your family? Is it in your DNA? When did you realise that this was going to be your thing?
Ashley Naylor:It's a great question. No one in my family played when I was growing up my cousin Tony actually. He had a guitar and an amp and he was like my idol when I was a kid. We still, you know, get on well and he comes to some of my gigs and we did a song together at my brother's 50th birthday. So Tony was kind of like my beacon as an adolescent. Through Tony and my brother we sort of got into 70s rock like Kiss and ABBA and you know, and I guess I got the bug early but I think it only dawned upon me in my mid-teens when I stopped playing sport, that that was like a pathway to music.
Ashley Naylor:Was there ever a plan B if, like, this music thing hadn't worked out for you? Well, I wanted to be. I wanted to be a graphic artist at some point. But when I did all my interviews after VCE, all the places I went to I think a couple of institutions I went to they said have you considered doing another year of TAFE? And I took that as a kick in the guts, meaning my folio wasn't strong enough. So I thought, well, stuff, that, stick to the music.
Cheryl Lee:Yeah, I was meant to be by the sounds of it.
Ashley Naylor:Possibly. So you know you can't take these things for granted, though it's a gamble If you throw yourself into being a full-time musician. It's an absolute gamble.
Cheryl Lee:but so far I've been very fortunate. It's a credit to you that you've been able to continue to work so much and have such a great body of work over all of these years. Well done thank you.
Ashley Naylor:That's very kind of you to say that I, when you're doing it, as all musicians could attest to when you're doing you're so busy just trying to make every, every gig best it can be and make sure you get all your affairs in order and get your diary in order.
Cheryl Lee:Head down mum. Yeah, we can pre-order this album, can't we?
Ashley Naylor:Yes, the link hasn't been put up online yet, but that'll be coming up in the next week or so.
Cheryl Lee:I think we can get it from Bandcamp.
Ashley Naylor:Yes, that's right. Yes, through Bandcamp, so far. Yes.
Cheryl Lee:Also, if you'd like to catch up on what else Ashley is up to, you can check out the socials Ashley Naylor Official on Facebook, ashley Naylor Official on Insta and the same on YouTube as well, if you want to catch some of Ashley's music, nice one. Was there anything else that you wanted to mention, Ashley?
Ashley Naylor:Oh, no, thanks, that was lovely chat. No, it was lovely chat we had, thank you.
Cheryl Lee:Thank you so much for spending some time with us today and all the best with all the things.
Ashley Naylor:Thank you, ashley Naylor coming up. Thanks for having me.
Cheryl Lee:I'll see you down the front sometime soon.
Ashley Naylor:You are listening to Still Rocking it. The podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Cheryl Lee:Let's go out with the new track now, shall we? From the Alexandria Sunset album as Good as Gold.