Equiliberation: The Band Biography
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Equiliberation is a family band.
Elliott Ash and Ryan Ash grew up playing cover songs in their family's garage with their father and their uncle, Fred Schwab. After hearing Fred's CD Abnormally Normal or Normally Abnormal? by his music-school band Standard Deviation, they decided Fred's songs needed to be played live. So, they began petitioning him to take them on as his new rhythm section. It took them a number of years to convince him, but, eventually, they succeeded, and the trio began rehearsing in earnest during the summer of 2006.
Equiliberation evolves.
Fred, Elliott, and Ryan considered several names for their new band. Ultimately, they settled on Equilibrium. Feeling the name reflected their balance of musical styles, ages, and experience, they used it for the duration of their time as a regularly-performing band. However, shortly before entering the studio to begin work on their debut CD, they discovered their name was already being used by a German pagan metal band and at least two other musical ensembles in the United States. So, in the fall of 2007, they evolved into Equiliberation.
Equiliberation plays accessive rock.
Accessive rock is Equiliberation's term for the kind of music the band plays: accessible progressive rock. It is a mixture of rock, pop, jazz, funk, and blues too complex to be considered mainstream rock and too structured to be labeled progressive rock. It is a harmonious amalgam of the trio's wide-ranging musical influences, which include such diverse artists as The Beatles, The Who, Pink Floyd, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, Queen, Yes, Living Colour, Foo Fighters, Faith No More, Radiohead, XTC, Steely Dan, Big Country, Jason & The Scorchers, Joe Satriani, The Cure, Everclear, Thomas Dolby, Simon & Garfunkel, Aimee Mann, Joan Armatrading, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Randy Newman, Gary Numan, Tom Waits, Neil Young, and CSNY. To experience Equiliberation is to experience accessive rock.
Equiliberation today.
Since the members of Equiliberation live in three different cities, the band remains on hiatus. However, as the three are family, Equiliberation will never dissolve.
In 2016, Fred recorded an original Christmas song entitled "Christmas Calling," which he had written in 2013 and performed with Ryan and Elliott. Although neither of his nephews were available to participate in the recording, Fred decided the song should be released under the Equiliberation name, providing the band with its first title in five years.
Fred Schwab
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Guitarist and lead vocalist for Equiliberation, Fred is also the band's primary songwriter. A graduate of Musicians Institute, he has played guitar and written music for more than twenty years. Despite his formal guitar training and years of playing experience, Fred considers himself a better songwriter than guitarist.
When not writing, playing, or listening to music, Fred teaches high school English, which might explain his interest in well-written song lyrics and his somewhat-twisted use of literary elements as song titles (e.g., "Oxymorons" and "Hyperbole").
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Ryan Ash
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Bassist, trumpeter, and backing vocalist Ryan Ash has been thumping the low-end strings and blowing his horn since middle school. He has now graduated from medical school with M.D. and Ph.D. degrees, so when he has free time, he amuses himself by applying his expertise in neurology to the analysis of the effects of Equiliberation on the human brain. When his own neurons become overloaded, he decompresses on month-long meditation retreats at monasteries in Myanmar.
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Elliott Ash
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Drummer and backing vocalist Elliott Ash has been pounding out polyrhythms since he enrolled in band in sixth grade. He now possesses a law degree and a Ph.D in economics, so when his mind wanders, he finds himself measuring and quantifying the degree of peace and prosperity engendered by global Equiliberation.
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