INTERVIEW: Denver artist Sam Ashe talks new single; Hair Dye.

Lily recently sat down with indie rock artist Sam Ashe where they talked about his new single Hair Dye, dream tours, and The Dare.  The song Hair Dye takes your through the heavy emotions of a situation where you can't seem to let someone go that isn't exactly reciprocating the feelings. The song eventually leads into a sense of self reflection when realizing that you shouldn't change something, like your hair, just to get someone to like you. In our conversation with Sam, he tells us more about what he was feeling when writing the song, as well as more about himself as an artist. If you're looking for melodic, catchy, and deep indie tracks to add to your Spotify playlists, we suggest giving Hair Dye a listen, and checking out Sam Ashe (@samashe.irl) on socials.

Welcome to the blog. Can you introduce yourself? 

Sam Ashe: Hi, I am Sam Ashe. I am Denver based and I make indie rock, mostly indie rock. 

Lily: That’s awesome. I actually just interviewed an alt-pop/indie band so this is cool. 

Your single Hair Dye just recently came out, Can you tell us a little bit about the writing process? 

SA: Hair Dye I kinda wrote all in one go. I am mostly a guitar player so I just wrote it on the acoustic guitar in my bedroom. I got it all done in about like 10-15 minutes and it was pretty much ready to go at that point it was a complete song. I went ahead and recorded it just in my apartment myself. I play guitar, bass, and keyboard so I was able to pretty much fill everything in. Obviously I sing it so yeah. 

Continuing on, what inspired the song? 

SA: Well Hair Dye is you know kinda like a situationship not working out type song initially it was intended to be. You know it’s like when you’re trying to make it work with someone and they are not reciprocating your energy. You start maybe like copying their style, feigning interest in the things they are into to try and get to notice you more and match your energy basically. That never works and just leads to more pain down the line as we all know. That is really what that song is about. 

It kinda started taking on a new meaning for me because it’s the first one I put out since I rebranded. I used to be in a few different indie bands where I was still writing and producing the music but this is the first one I have done as a solo artist under my name. It’s a different feeling when you’re doing it as a solo artist and there is a lot of obviously like marketing. Consistently making reels and tiktoks that you have to be making a lot of that song ended up feeling like it was a reflection on that kinda aspect. You’re trying to be authentic and put yourself out there but for me and most artists we are pretty reclusive and introverted people and that’s just really not conducive to what an artist wants to do. So it really took on that meaning for me. 

Lily: Yeah I kinda only know of like a few people who love making TikToks and love making instagram reels. I definitely understand the whole thing, like not feeling that. 

The song is like an indie-rock/alternative vibe, are there any specific bands/artists that were direct influences? 

SA: So for this one, I was raised on Beatles music so that always works itself into the song and I noticed some of the guitars I could tell I was kinda doing the George Harrison thing. I think for my vocal delivery I was thinking a lot about The Strokes like Julian Casblancas and I have also been getting really into Troye Sivan lately. I really like where his voice sits. I know he’s a lot more on the pop end then I am, at least on this song. I was kinda thinking about those two artists. Let’s see I like Wallows kinda the indie rock thing in general. But yeah The Strokes, Beatles, Wallows and Troye Sivan. 

Lily: Those are good. I also kinda fall on this weird spectrum where I got really into indie rock in like middle/high school but now although I still love Wallows I’ve been into heavy stuff lately. It’s kinda cool that you pull different things together plus I love Troye Sivan. I’ve been there for him since he put out his first EP. 

SA: Were you one of his Youtube fans? 

Lily: Yes (laughs) 

SA: Wow, I can say I got into him before all the Charli XCX stuff but I was not like a Youtuber Troye Sivan fan. He put out some EP like a few years ago that I got into and that was my introduction to him but I am not an OG fan. 

This is your first release as a solo artist, do you have more new music in the works? 

SA: I do! Typically, I feel like there is always a little bit of a rush before Thanksgiving hits and then we all kinda cede to Mariah Carey and whoever else in the industry. I decided to do one of those remix/featuring kinda deals like Charli XCX did with her Brat album. I did that with a friend of mine who also makes music so I have basically two remixes of Hair Dye coming out before the end of the year. I’m hoping I can spend the rest of the year finishing up a few new singles that all kinda like half-baked. Some of them are fully written but not recorded so really just trying to prepare myself to hit the ground running next year. 

Lily: I definitely understand that. Here we’ve noticed like when we try to do our release radars and stuff that things are starting to fizzle out towards the end of the year. 

You spoke earlier about Troye Sivan and Wallows, Who would be your dream tour? It can be any genre. 

SA: Well, the reason I put out Hair Dye as my first solo single is because it is kinda right in between rock and pop at least in my opinion and it’s always gonna have this bit of an alt vibe to it because of who I am and where I am coming from. I did that because it gives me more freedom if I kinda solidify myself as in between. I can lean into pop sometimes. I can lean into rock sometimes. If I can do that then down the line the dream artist to tour with is Billie Ellish. I mean I’ve been a Billie Ellish fan since basically Ocean Eyes. I’ve been liking Olivia Rodrigo lately. I tend not to like the child star Disney people turned into whatever artist but she’s been putting out some cool music. Definitely heavier than what I make, which is funny to think that Olivia Rodrigo makes heavier music than me because I am just some garage band alt-rock guy. I think those are two that come to mind for me. Would it be awesome to be on like a Sweat Tour yeah but I don’t really fit that vibe. I don’t think I could hang with them but I could try. 

Lily: I feel like recently there have been tours that don’t make any sense so you never know. It feels odd but then you go and you are like oh this was really good. I think it has a lot to do with vibes and not necessarily genre. I really like when there is a mix of genres on tours. 

One of my favorite questions to ask is what have you had on repeat lately? 

SA: One thing I will say though is I really have been obsessed with the Brat album; that album kinda changed my life as a musician. I just made a playlist of new stuff. I have been into this I think techno guy, I think he’s late 80s, called The Prodigy and mostly like instrumental like 80s dance tracks. I have been into The Dare. The Dare is super cool. 

Ren: I have heard mentions of The Dare so much recently. I have not put myself in that relam yet. 

Lily: The band I just interviewed recently was saying how they were on The Dare way before he blew up. The Dare is popping off. I think he did stuff with the Brat album. 

SA: He produced the track Guess which is a big one and he’s also on the remix which had Billie Ellish. He sort of used that big exposure from the fact the album blew up and that song specifically to rebrand and started dropping singles. He has that song Girls that’s really big. He has a few other singles so he put out the album and toured it. I think he’s done touring now but this has been a huge year for him. 

Lily: I think between him and the Brat album there has been this revival of indie sleaze and I am here for it. 

SA: It’s interesting too because he’s very New York, American and Charli XCX is so like British clubcore yet they fit together and make this really cool international high life club scene rock thing. 

Lily: It is really interesting because he does give off late 90s-early 2000s New York indie scene and she is very much not that but they are still really cool. 

That is pretty much it, Is there anything you want to plug? 

SA: I can plug my stuff real quick. I don’t have any shows coming up but hopefully next year. I have this remix thing coming out on November 22nd. There are a couple Hair Dye remixes. I did one of them and a buddy of mine did the other. All of my socials are @samashe.irl and you can check me out whenever and on my website to see all the new music and shows coming up.