Imperial Ashes are fired up in their working-class anthem Ordinary Lights — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
“We wanted to write a song dedicated to the challenges faced by the working class in their struggle for fair treatment,” lead vocalist Rayna Elizabeth says. “Ordinary Lights highlights the precarious positions often faced by front-line workers — a fact that has been brought to the forefront and exacerbated by the pandemic.
“COVID-19 has been a difficult time for almost everyone, but it has been the workers in health care, retail, farming, delivery, waste disposal, public transportation, and other essential industries who have quite literally kept us alive through it all. These same people were already faced with low wages, long hours, job insecurity, and sometimes dangerous working conditions before the pandemic hit. Now, many of them are expected to risk viral exposure and thus their lives on a daily basis.”
Ordinary Lights is more than just a song for Imperial Ashes. The band — Elizabeth, Andrew Lauzon, Nick Chiarore, Drew Hallenbeck and Greg Olsen — was born of their shared frustration with the rampant power abuse and inequality in today’s world. After completing a Master’s thesis on wealth inequality and stigma, Elizabeth didn’t want to limit her voice to the confines of academia. “I felt that marrying my lyrics to the power of hard rock and alternative music was the perfect vehicle for unapologetic criticisms of the grave injustices rampant in the world, and the growing sense of angst so many of us feel.”
Their forthcoming debut album — set to be a raw blend of visceral emotion and compelling melodies channelled through an explosive, alt-prog and post-hardcore rock conduit — will be a collaboration with Grammy-winning producer and mixer David Bottrill (Tool, Muse, Rush, Peter Gabriel).
Watch Ordinary Lights above, listen to it below, and find out more about Imperial Ashes on their website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
