Greg Ashley The Greg Ashley Living Underground

Oakland’s psychedelic savant, Greg Ashley, has gone through a tremulous year. Gentri cation sent an eviction notice to the doors of his Creamery Analog studio — where he recorded such acts as The Dutchess and the Duke, TV Ghost and The Mantles over almost a decade-long residence. After a spiritual retreat to Texas, Ashley returned to the Bay Area and began work on a new studio, inhabiting a church just blocks from his former location. In celebration of this transcendence, Bad Diet is releasing two archival nuggets that exhibit Greg Ashley’s genius, described by the SF Weekly as, “a true psychedelic visionary, maybe the greatest of his generation.” “Living Underground” is a slip inside the peak years of Ashley’s widely-lauded act, The Gris Gris. Recorded in 2005, the lost gem’s haunting vocals and pounding back beat combine in a ritual resurrecting the band’s nest offerings. It also grounds The Gris Gris’ stake as progenitors of the Bay Area’s contemporary psych and garage scene. “Psychopathia Homosexualis” provides a glamorous look into the heart of Sir Lord Von Raven, Ashley’s Oakland supergroup with Eric Von Raven (Time Flys), Josh Miller (Wrong Words) and the late, great Jay Bronzini. It was recorded live at the Creamery in 2010.