ROCK Asleep returns to area's rowdy music fans

Is Youngstown ready for the band's album? The musicians think so.
By JOHN BENSON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
There's an electric excitement permeating Mahoning Valley music fans regarding the upcoming release of area band Asleep's debut effort. In fact, not only can audiences not get enough of the new group's music, but they also can't control themselves.
Take for instance the outfit's show last December at The Cellar, where stage divers were more like stage squatters and security had its hands full. With its new album "All These Things We'll Never Need" due out on indie Cleveland label Fractured Transmitter in a few months, the band returns Saturday to the Struthers venue well prepared for the show.
"We're all pretty happy to be back around," said guitarist Jon Dean. "Last time it got pretty crazy, so we actually had to rent one of those [stage] barriers for this show. Hopefully people can just expect a big party."
After spending the better half of the last year recording the material that would become "All These Things We'll Never Need," Asleep recently decided to take its act on the road to offset the boredom normally attached to the post-recording and pretouring schedule of a band. Because of the Internet and proliferation of the MP3, the Midwest and East Coast dates found a few new fans, but Dean admits the minitour was more of a preparatory endeavor for the group.
"It was a learning experience for sure and was definitely grassroots," said the Cardinal Mooney High School graduate. "It was all paid for by us. For the most part, it went well. It was all about meeting promoters. You approach major labels with some leverage when you route your own [tours]. And plus, we were just waiting for the CD to come out anyway. So it's like what were we going to do, just sit there?"
Next up
Sitting around and wasting time is something the members of Asleep won't be able to do for a while. Up next for the rock act, which Dean said falls stylistically somewhere between the Mars Volta and the classic rock sounds of Pink Floyd and The Who, is to record an acoustic EP that will be released before the new album.
Dean considers it an appetizer to the main course with Asleep planning a show at Shenanigan's later next month. However, this won't be the "All These Things We'll Never Need" CD release party, which will be scheduled at a larger Youngstown venue come July or August. Dean hopes that will be followed by a national tour opening for a major label act. At the very least, Dean said, he feels as though Youngstown is hungry for the album. "It seems like it for sure," Dean said. "I've had a lot of people talk to me about it. It's really cool. We take a lot of pride in what we do and take it very seriously."