Perfect Strangers: Solomon’s Ashes

By Fringe Staff

By Danny Bernardini

Catching up with the guys from Solomon’s Ashes meant driving down the long driveway of a local storage shed rental company in Vacaville and meeting the band as they loaded equipment for a concert later that night.

Only a couple members of the four-piece band are there. Soon, the others come rolling in with no specific schedule in mind. They play at nine, maybe 10 or possibly 10:30 p.m. that night at a rare allages show in their hometown.

No one is concerned. They are too busy nursing hangovers from the night before and swapping stories with fellow Vacaville-based rockers Malcontent, who opened the show later in the night.

At first glance they fit the stereotypical “band” make-up. The lead singer and guitarist, Charlie Jacobs, 25, sports half-sleeve tattoos while his meticulously manicured hair hangs behind his gold sunglasses. Bassist Corey Groves, 29, shows off his vibrant arm artwork in a sleeveless shirt and hides his face behind some Eric Estrada shades and a black bandana fronting his low profile Mohawk.

Mike Lundeen, 28, perfectly fits the bill as the soft-spoken, long-haired drummer. And Chris Hartzell, 23, lets his curly, jet black hair bounce while moving equipment and carrying a new pack of guitar strings, more focused the show than the interview.

They look, and later prove, like they belong together. Although they all wear the classic black clothes of rock music, there’s nothing uniform to how they got together.

After leaving Paredim Shift, a gut-wrenching split, Jacobs was in searchof a new project. He first came across Groves, his friend’s little brother, who had a base, but not a lot of skill.

“I was still pretty much a newbie,” Groves said. “I had the gear, but not really the experience. It took a while for the music to come along.”

Jacobs soon took him under his wing and the two began making music, but still needed a drummer to at least form a three-piece band. Lundeen, who was in a hotel room in Reno celebrating his birthday, got a call about wanting to play with some mutual friends. After playing with the two for a bit, Lundeen said he was sold on the idea of getting serious. “I knew right then I knew this was what I wanted to get into,” he said.

And Solomon’s Ashes was born. Jacobs said the name of the band came to him in a dream. After paying an artist $20 to create the logo, the band started creating music.

But it wasn’t long before they would add the fourth piece they had been looking for.

Hartzell, who came out to California to start playing music, was playing in a band in Santa Rosa, where his aunt and uncle lived. Jacobs said he knew Hartzell was right for the group, but didn’t want to steal from another band.

Hartzell said his band started heading in a casual direction, while he was more focused on getting bigger and better.

“As time went on, it wasn’t what I was looking for,” he said.

Meanwhile, he was being courted by a new band with a similar desire to blow up. After seeing them play and jamming a few times, like Lundeen, Hartzell said he knew right away the group would click.

“I have to have a feeling with a band,” he said. “It was a good bond. We come from the same background.”

So, for the last two years Solomons Ashes have been plugging along. Using self-promotion as their main weapon, the group started playing impromptu acoustic shows outside large venues and passing out flyers to whomever would take one.

The fruits of those labors could be seen later that night. Outside of a local pizza joint, the band meets with fans while waiting for their set inside the packed restaurant.

They soon hit the stage and the mild-mannered quartet soon flip the switch and start their energy-filled show. While Lundeen sets the pace with the pedals, Jacobs belts out vocals while Hartzell and Groves jump, pose and grimmace while rattling off a guitar-heavy sound. Except for a semi-ballad to close the show, the group pounds out a heavy, yet clean, sound.

Currently they are working on a full-length album and are featured on Bodog.com, in a battle of the bands competition. They said that with a new album in the works and even more marketing, their time may soon come.Until then, the four continue to grow together and build upon the chemistry they have amassed in the past. “We’ll quit our jobs and go. We’ll do it,” Jacobs said.