Conversations with the Inspiring Adrienne Rae Ash

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adrienne Rae Ash.

Adrienne Rae, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve gravitated to music. I wanted to sing along to every song I heard as a child and ended up begging my mom for a guitar for Christmas when I was twelve. When I finally got it, I had no idea how it worked, so it sat in my room for about a year, until my mom dated a guitarist. He showed me how to turn on my amp’s distortion, and after that, I was hooked. I’ve always known that I wanted to make music, so I learned as much as I could from as many different genres as I could find. As a result, I played in a lot of bands in my teen years and early 20’s. Eventually, I came to realize that I am also a transgender woman, which impacted my life in more ways than I can explain. These two identities – the musician and the recently-out trans person – ended up intersecting in a way that allowed me to keep going with my life. I started writing music about deep personal struggles related to gender identity, and about how it affects the way I see the world around me, and how the world sees me. Eventually, I left my rural hometown and came to Colorado and formed Plasma Canvas with these songs. Dave Sites played the drums on the first record, and we played a lot of shows together and started building a name for ourselves. We had heavy songs for the hardcore punks and metalheads, and we had cute poppy songs for… well, hardcore punks and metalheads. In June 2017, Dave had to leave the band and Jude McCarron joined. He and I have since played with bands we’ve respected for years, as well as become best friends. Currently, we’re writing music for a new record and getting ready to headline the Aggie Theatre on Black Friday. We’re going to keep going as long as we can and keep making music for the weird kids.

Has it been a smooth road?
It has definitely not been easy for me. Presenting as a woman in a world full of people who mostly don’t understand transgender people is terrifying, inconvenient, invalidating, and sometimes even dangerous. I’ve been followed into bathrooms and harassed, had death threats sent to me online, lost decade-old relationships with friends and loved ones, and I’ve had to run from my fair share of people trying to beat me up or worse. I’ve dealt with harassment and discrimination in employment, and the bureaucracy that follows that always goes nowhere. People were hesitant to play with my band when we first started because we didn’t know anyone and we were playing songs about the trans experience. People thought we were too on-the-nose with our message.

If I could give any piece of advice to young women, it would be to know your worth and defend it. My way of saying it to myself is “don’t ask permission”. If you’re doing something new and creative, people are going to be afraid of it because they don’t get it. Once they get it, they love it. Once they love it, they act like they loved it the whole time. I’ve seen that exact cycle play out in my life and I keep it in mind whenever I feel skepticism in other people’s voices. Show up, do your thing loudly and proudly, and don’t ask permission to affect some kind of change around you. Don’t be afraid of making bold statements – but definitely do make sure you’re informed enough to make them. Stay humble and don’t be afraid to learn at every opportunity, but keep your chin up and don’t let anyone tell you who you are.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into PLASMA CANVAS story. Tell us more about it.
The community that Plasma Canvas has built has surpassed it, in my eyes. It feels bigger than Jude and I. I’ve been told that the songs I’ve written have helped people actualize themselves in many ways. Some tell me they asked out their crush with our song “Context” because they were both fans of ours. Some have told me that they saw us at a show and decided to start a band because they had something to say to the world. Many people have told me that our music has helped them come to terms with their own gender identity and sexual orientation, and a lot have said that we helped them through their transition – both with our music and just by hanging out with us and other people who like our band.

I’m beyond grateful to have an outlet for my feelings and experiences, but seeing how important Plasma Canvas has become to the people who support us is something entirely different and just blows me away.

Looking back on your childhood, what experiences do you feel played an important role in shaping the person you grew up to be?
As a teenager, I was in a weird place between “cool” and “uncool”. I got bullied for being a goth/punk kid with long hair who was openly identifying as bisexual, but I had some weird clout because I was in a band with some preppy kids and was really good at playing guitar. Mostly, I spent my evenings playing guitar in my room. I didn’t have very many friends, and even the friends I had, I couldn’t really relate to, since I didn’t yet know who I truly was. I ended up just perfecting my craft over the years. I kept writing, kept practicing, and kept playing shows. I knew that I wasn’t supposed to stay in my hometown, and I knew that there was a whole world waiting for me to get out there and make it mine. When I finally gathered the nerve to move to Colorado in December 2015 with $60 in my pocket, some clothes, and my guitars, it was like I’d jumped right into my future. It was like a springboard that I’d been standing on for 25 years. I’ve prioritized music and personal growth above everything else since I moved to Colorado and it feels amazing.

Contact Info:

• Website: plasmacanvas.bandcamp.com
• Email: plasmacanvas@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plasmacanvas/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/plasmacanvas/

Image Credit:
Jared Meyer, Riley Ann, Michael Emanuele, John Baise, Callie Mitchell, Cody Sun

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