"Harmony Bunny" (March 2002) http://johnashfieldmusic.com

From the home of gay pop, San Francisco, John Ashfield presents a fine collection of power pop – in the tradition of Gruppo Sportivo and Nick Lowe. It’s all strongly guitar-based, with plenty of variety and entertainment for your head in the arrangements. Chris Xefos of King Missile ("Detachable Penis") contributes instrumentally and vocally as well being engineer and co-producer. The basic tracks were recorded in John’s home studio.

John Ashfield is a confident, ample man (the result of many Hostess cakes, he says) and has a sweet and gentle voice. He was raised in New Jersey on a musical diet of 70’s pop (The Beatles, Monkees, Osmonds and The Partridge Family) and later practiced playing everything from the Grateful Dead to Dead Or Alive. He’s worked with a couple of power-pop groups in the past, but this is John’s first solo album release.

"Harmony Bunny" gets off to a great with 3 very strong songs. "Why Not Smile" sets the pace and standard for the rest.

"Crush" is the most impressive track and begs to be a top 40 single. It looks back at the angst involved in being young and very much in love with a best friend who has no appreciation of what you’re going through.

Patrick Goodwin of fellow San Franciscan queer-core band Pansy Division adds a very tasteful edge on lead guitar in "I Don’t Know". John has a Degree in Music Education and proves that he is multi-talented by playing virtually all instrumentation on the CD including impressive close harmony with his own voice.

John is the music teacher at Encinal Elementary School, where he has been teaching his 3rd graders to enjoy singing while playing ukelele (including the B52s song "Planet Claire"). All of us who were privileged to see ukelele maestro Tiny Tim in concert know that John is giving his students a great start toward being joyful entertainers.

Harmony Bunny is available from www.cdbaby.com.