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Eighteen years after moving to Los Angeles in his van as a teenager, Dj Ashba can claim that he is an award-winning guitarist, producer, Grammy nominated songwriter, multi-platinum recording artist, graphic design entrepreneur and member of the bands Guns 'n Roses and Sixx: A.M. With an unstoppable mixture of raw talent and hard work, Ashba has already made a name for himself in the world of rock'n'roll, and he has only just begun.
Ashba was born in Monticello, Indiana and was raised in rural Fairbury, Illinois by his religious single-mother, a classically trained pianist, who began teaching him about music as a toddler. Dj performed in his first piano recital at the age of five, where he played Beethoven's "Ode to Joy." Ashba's next ambition was to learn the drums. He built kits out of garbage cans and pots and pans, until he finally acquired a real set at the age of six. When he was eight, Dj took a job detasseling corn in the fields in order to earn enough money to buy his first guitar out of the Sears catalog. He would ride to his job in the corn fields on the bus with a guitar player from a local band, who would teach him a new chord each day on a "fret" that they had carved into the back of a bus seat with a pocketknife. His friend would take the knife and make three holes in the fret and say, "That's an A chord, go home and practice." Dj sometimes spent 17 hours a day practicing guitar in his bedroom as a teenager.
For his 16th birthday, Ashba's father took him to his first concert, the Motley Crue Girls, Girls, Girls tour and his life was forever changed. "The crowd, the music, the lights! It was the night I realized that no matter what it takes, I was gonna be on that stage one day." At the age of 19, Dj packed up his possessions and set out for Hollywood to make it as a rock star. He joined the band Barracuda and toured for two years before leaving to do his first instrumental solo record "Ashba: Addiction to the Friction." He describes that album as "It was a huge learning experience. I learned a lot about, recording, writing and the music business."
In 2001, Ashba co-founded the band Beautiful Creatures with Bang Tango front man Joe Lesté. The band was signed to Warner Brothers Records and played their first show with Kiss on their farewell tour in front of 60,000 fans. The band went on to play Ozzfest, the Rolling Rock tour and dates with Marilyn Manson. Beautiful Creatures' songs appeared in the films "Rollerball" and "Valentine," as well as the television show "Smallville."
In 2003, DJ founded Ashba Media, Inc. (AMI), a creative design agency. AMI beat 110 agencies to become the agency of record for Virgin Megastores, and are responsible for the look and feel of each store. In addition to Virgin, other AMI clients include Ovation Guitars, Royal Underground clothing and Sony Playstation. In 2005, Ashba founded Ashbaland, the production company in which he writes and produces music. Ashba has worked with artists such as Motley Crue, Neil Diamond, Run-DMC and Drowning Pool. He co-produced and wrote on Motley Crue's "Saints of Los Angeles" album, which was nominated for a Grammy in 2007.
Ashba then teamed up with Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx and James Michael to create the band Sixx: A.M. (Sixx, Ashba, Michael). They released the critically acclaimed Heroin Diaries Soundtrack in 2007, and their single "Life is Beautiful" reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. While the group originally had no intention of touring, they took the opportunity to join Motley Crue's Crue Fest in the Summer of 2008 along with Buckcherry, Papa Roach and Trapt. Sixx: A.M. is currently releasing their long-awaited follow up album "This is Gonna Hurt" which will be released May 3rd, 2011.
It was announced in March of 2009 that Ashba would be the new guitarist of Guns N' Roses. Since joining the band, Ashba has toured around the world, Canada, Asia, and South America, etc. in support of their latest album, "Chinese Democracy." "Axl and I have tons of respect for each other, I am very thankful to be a member of Guns N' Roses. God Only knows the damage were about to do."
2011 has brought many new adventures thus far for Ashba. He has recently launched Ashba Swag, his own unique creation of clothing and merchandise. Furthermore, he's teamed up with Cody Verona, CEO of Congregation of the Forgotton Saints located on Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles. Cody has custom designed stage clothing for Ashba over the past 10 years and has partnered with Dj to develop the custom Stage Clothing within Ashba Swag. What's next? Only time will tell. Ashba plans to head back out on tour in the fall with Guns N' Roses. They are confirmed to take stage at RIR and from there. The year has only just begun.
