From Ashes to New take over the House of Blues in Cleveland

After taking some time off from concert photography due to being in college, I am home in Cleveland for the summer and I am back at it! And what a way to kick off my 2024 concert season.

On Monday, May 20th, From Ashes to New, with support from Elijah, Phix, Ekoh, and Point North, made a stop at the House of Blues Cleveland on their Blackout Tour Part 2, in support of their most recent album by the same name.

The first part of the Blackout Tour consisted of 20 stops late last year, with Ekoh being one of the supporting bands. Not only did the second leg of the tour bring have Ekoh back out on the road, but also a whopping 33 stops, Cleveland being right in the middle.

Elijah

The first of the many openers of the night was Elijah. Pulling inspiration from artists like MGK, Elijah blends rap and rock. Even as someone who doesn’t listen to rap much, I was genuinely impressed with Elijah and his style.

Elijah can be found on Spotify, Instagram, and TikTok. They will be supporting FAtN for the rest of the tour, then going on tour with I See Stars, Attack Attack!, and Brothel. in the fall across the midwest/south.

Phix

Next came Phix. The first thing I noticed about the band was their drummer, Bronxx. My first thought upon seeing him was “this guy looks pretty young.” And I was right. Bronxx is only 11 years old and on tour with massive bands. When I was 11 I was probably playing in the dirt, so this kid’s going places. Not only was he young, but he was damn good.

Similar to Elijah and as I’ll talk about in a bit, Ekoh, Phix blends hip-hop and rock, but with an emphasis on the rock aspect. Near the end of their set, they brought out Ekoh to perform “Doomed”, which they collaborated on.

Phix can be found on Instagram, Spotify, and Facebook. You can find them on the road with FAtN for the rest of the Blackout Tour Pt. 2.

Ekoh

The original opener of the Blackout Tour came Ekoh. With support with DJ Kode Break, Ekoh is labeled by fans as “Heart Hop”, using the medium of rap and hip hop to deliver emotional lyrics and topics than real people can relate to.

Like I said with Elijah, rap isn’t necessarily my thing, but I can get behind what Ekoh is putting down, since I can see myself in some of his lyrics.

Ekoh can be found on Instagram, Spotify, and Facebook, and on the road supporting From Ashes to New.

Point North

Finishing off our opening lineup was Point North. Going a bit more towards metalcore yet blending elements of rap, Point North has recently gained attention due to recent collaborations with Set It Off and The Ghost Inside on “Below The Belt” and “Safe And Sound” respectively.

The latter was one of the first singles off their latest record, 2023’s Prepare For Despair. “Below The Belt” came out two months later, more or less as an extension of the album.

They mostly focused on songs off Prepare For Despair, but also played older and newer songs including “Bring Me Down”, their latest single that came out on May 3rd.

Point North can be found on Instagram, X (Twitter), Facebook, and all major music streaming platforms. The band will be on tour with From Ashes to New then make appearances at Louder Than Life and Aftershock festivals in September and October.

From Ashes to New

And for the event of the evening, From Ashes to New.

Hailing from Lancaster, Pennsylvania (on a side note, why are so many great bands from central PA), nu metal influenced From Ashes to New consists of singers Danny Case and Matt Brandyberry, drummer Maty Madiro, and guitarist Lance Dowdle, along with touring guitarist Jimmy Bennett, who is also in the band Hillhaven. From the original lineup in 2013, Brandyberry is the only remaining member.

The best word I can use to describe their show is bass. Especially in the photo pit, you could not only hear but feel the bass and drums in your core. While he wasn’t wearing it for this show, singer Danny Case has a specialized vest designed to pulse the audio signals directly to his body, just to feel it in his core.

They started their set with “Armageddon” and “Dead To Me” off the Blackout record. On the setlist, half of the 16 song were from this record, which makes sense. After those two, they jumped back in time a few years to “Broken” from 2018’s The Future.

These first three were the songs I shot from the photo pit, and the energy that From Ashes to New emits, especially as close as I was, is unparalleled. Having two singers is quite uncommon, but a welcome experience. Danny Case covers more the “singing”, doing more traditional metalcore vocals (screaming and singing) while Matt Brandyberry does more nu metal, rap influenced vocals.

Even for those who may not be as familiar with FAtN, their catchy lyrics and recognizable melodies can easily get anyone singing along.

As the set progressed, Case and Brandyberry would occasionally step aside to play bass guitar while the other covered vocals. The band hopped around a bit between albums, hitting one of their most popular songs, “Scars That I’m Hiding”, fifth in the set. Later on, they even played their two most recent songs since releasing the album, “Barely Breathing” which they recorded with Chrissy Costanza of Against The Current and released in February, as well as “One Foot In The Grave” which features Aaron Pauley from Of Mice And Men and released in April.

While I had already left so I didn’t witness this happen, a video by SiriusXM Octane host and fellow Clevelander Jesea Lee shows Matt Brandyberry giving an apology to the band for his behavior towards them recently. In it, Matt describes how he nearly bailed on this show due to arguments within the band, but decided to come out anyways for the fans and for the rest of FAtN. The video can be found on Lee’s Instagram here. It was later reposted on the band’s and Matt’s Instagram stories.

From Ashes to New can be found on Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), Tiktok, and all major music streaming platforms. Along with finishing out the Blackout Tour Pt. 2, FAtN will be on the road with Memphis May Fire, Rain City Drive, and Wolves at the Gate for The Remade In Misery Tour over the summer, and they will also be hitting Louder Than Life and Aftershock.