Ashlee Standish finally stands alone
When it came time to finally record her own music, Niagara Falls singer Ashlee Standish took a page from Adele.
And Beck.
And Fleetwood Mac.
All recorded albums in the aftermath of broken relationships, creating painful time capsules of trauma. For Standish, a longtime figure in Niagara’s music scene, it was the split from her musical partner and husband Rod that inspired the gutwrenching songs on her debut
EP, “Alchemy.”
“Music is healing, and it was good to do purging that way,” says Standish, on a break from the first day at a new job.
“It was one of those things where perhaps in the beginning I felt kind of vulnerable about it. But the point of music and art is so people can relate, and a lot of people can relate with the idea of separating from a spouse.”
For years, Ashlee and her husband appeared inseparable, performing together across the region as part of The Rod Standish Band. They had a son in 2012 and got married in 2013.
But after they separated in 2016, Standish was suddenly a single mom juggling day jobs to pay the bills and a music career to feed her soul. At the same time she was busy behind the scenes at local music events like Livestock and the Niagara Music Awards.
“I don’t have the luxury of just slumming or touring,” she says. “I have to have kind of a normal life as well as have like this artist side. So it’s a little challenging.
“If I didn’t have (music) it would probably be a pretty depressing
life. For me, art is what comes naturally. Why would I bother to spend money to make a record? Why would I bother practising to go play shows? Obviously, it’s because I’m passionate
about it.”
Writing the EP was tough, but recording it was the hardest part, she says. Putting a voice to what she was feeling inside, in front of other people in the production studio, was like exposing her troubled marriage to the world.
But it brought her through the gloom.
“Now when I perform the songs, I’m no longer in that head space. I’ve gotten past it. When I play the songs, I’m basically feeling the music. Ultimately, that’s where I connect, playing the piano and things like that.”
After years as a session player and band member, Standish now faces the prospect of being alone on stage. After a pre-release show at Taps in Niagara Falls Friday, she’ll do an EP Release show Sunday at the Warehouse in St. Catharines.
“I have a few shows locally, but my game plan is just to continue writing and have a full album, so that I can actually play some festivals and stuff next year.”