WHO ARE THE ASCENDENTS? Kyle Keith (Guitar/Vocals) Nick Espenel (Bass) Justin Dean (Drums) The Ascendants is not correct. We are The ASCENDENTS! THE ASCENDENTS BIOGRAPHY BEFORE ANYTHING (1996-1998) Kyle Keith wrote his first song on guitar from his Gresham Oregon childhood bedroom. Called "You Suck".. It sucked. It was so horrible, he went around telling all his friends about the big album he was gonna make. Later on, he realized the song sucked, and wrote something better. Ashraf Nomie, a pianist, 'upgraded' to a guitar, and began to jam with Kyle. They played cover songs by Nirvana such as Rape Me, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Territorial Pissings, and Lithium. They also made school projects, involving music and Ashraf's parents' video camera, such as a quack product weight-loss infomercial. What they really needed was a drummer. Calling themselves some stupid band name like, "Spoon" or something, they began to ask other neighborhood musicians to jam with them. They met Ian Larsen. The best drummer at Gordon Russell Middle School. The boys played the same song "Untruthful" over and over and over, and walked to McDonalds or something... And thats about as long as that drummer lasted. REGRETFULLY YOURS - YOU AND ME ERA (1998-1999) Now this is 1998. Walking home from school, "That Lazy Bitch" (I hope she dies). Buckets were no longer gonna cut it. They had to get Anthony Dickenson to play drums for them. He printed off Pearl Drum logos off the internet, and taped them to his Percussion Plus set. They played a couple shows together, but Kyle got sick of getting hit in the back with flying drumsticks. As Anthony was phased out of the band, they met Andrew Phillips from a mutual friend. Finally, they officially called themselves Regretfully Yours. Drew was quite a character. Nicest guy in the world, but kinda odd. However, he learned the songs at an incredible rate! They were playing shows all across town! Regretfully yours released "You and Me", a 6 song demo, containing what they managed to record. They burned copies of it, sold many. If you have one... Treasure it. If you have the 7 song demo, with the extra song "Bad Hygiene" you are even more lucky. Kyle took a slurpee in the face to give you that song. Then, disaster struck. Drew went to a concert, and someone stole his parents' BBQ. They kicked him out of the house and he had to move to Eugene, Oregon. Too far away to keep up with the jamming and show playing. Kyle and Ashraf were forced to find another drummer. The rest of the summer was a total waste. REGRETFULLY YOURS - RYAN'S TURN (1999-2002) That school year, they met Ryan Budil, a known drummer from their Middle School. They never really talked to the guy, but he said he would be up for being our drummer. He even had the 600 bucks it took to get a decent kit. He chose a white Pearl Export, it is still being used today by Justin Dean of The Ascendents And damn, at first, Ryan was terrible! But then... Something clicked. He found his groove, and Regretfully Yours was on a roll. Regretfully Yours played at many larger downtown venues such as the Roseland and the New Paris Theatre. They released "I Hate Everything Beautiful" a CD with some songs from "You and Me", for a total of 20, songs. The band did all of the production work themselves. MUSICAL DEVELOPMENT After Highschool, Regretfully Yours broke up. Ryan Budil left for the U.S. Army, Ashraf Nomie left to go study law. Kyle moved out. While working as a computer programmer, Kyle spent the next 4 years of his life, trying to understand what good music really is. Developing song-writing style, getting good at recording and mixing, everything it would possibly take to make a band succeed. A way to be a band that truly is, "That good".. You can see some of the stuff he came up with in the Bad Song Requirement Checklist. Kyle met up with a fellow classmate from Sam Barlow High School. Nick Espenel. Really fast with his fingers, really good at Metallica solos, but never had the time to develop his style or make anything of his own. Nick brought out the essence in the songs, finding that special hidden melody, that you can hear in the back of your head. As both their skills grew, their guitars distinctly complement each other. After working out some new songs and experimenting with different drummers, Nick and Kyle, chose Justin Dean, for "Drummer Extraordinaire." Even under the learning curve of new-drummer coordination, he was unbounded by realizing the perfect beats at the perfect time. THE ASCENDENTS (2006) What about us now? Now, we rock. Just check out the band rather than reading about us... CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ASCENDENTS STUDIO MUSIC AND COMPLETE VIDEO COLLECTION Recently The Ascendents hauled their equipment, across their Gresham, Oregon neighborhood to play at Kenny's Halloween Party. They continue to record studio tracks, ultimately working towards the best album ever made.