Today we’d like to introduce you to Ash Daley.
Hi Ash, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In a Body is a bedroom rock band composed of singer-songwriter & guitarist Ash Daley, multi-instrumentalist & producer An Elisa Venegas, and drummer, Hil Tait.
I started playing songs under ‘In a Body’ in 2024 during a huge processing period in my life. Revelations about the people around me, the path I was taking, the person I was becoming. I decided by then that I wanted to commit to music. More than anything I remembered that it was what I’d always wanted to do and I had been denying myself. Before this, I was in another band that was around for like a year. We were all starry-eyed and new to playing in the local scene, but it was like lightning in a bottle. We had a lotta firsts, played a lot of shows (including one at a gas station which was cool), but we ultimately disbanded and all went our separate ways. Still, it was very encouraging. Like breaking a seal.
Over the course of a year, I wrote some songs for catharsis. On a particularly bad day, I decided to go out to see an experimental music show. The sets were incredible, but one in particular led me into the crevices of my own memory, to childhood, and left me crying silently in the crowd. Of course, I had to reach out to the artist to share this, and thank her. That is how I met An Elisa Venegas, our bassist, synth player, and producer. She asked me to play in her dreamy project, Trans Parent, and encouraged me to start my own band too. Her faith and friendship has been a huge catalyst.
We’ve been performing these songs now, with a couple different line-ups for about 2 years. Life is so push and pull; keeping a steady band can be difficult because everybody’s got their own life path. I was told before that this is typical, persist, so we have. We’ve recently started playing with a new drummer, Hil Tait, who we met through our friends in Fern & Rocket, and she’s awesome. She’s got a knack for dynamics and a background in psych punk- her playing is really raw and fluid. Our last drummer, Cade Young (shout out Cade!) loved to play hardcore and skramz, so his drumming was heavy and wild. It’s really cool to see how the songs can sound different with different people, and I’m really excited to see where this goes.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s give and take, ebb and flow. A lot of the struggles are also flexes- being a self-taught musician, being queer, being a woman, feelin’ real anxious a lot, coming into the local music scene with no context, being broke and making it work. But the struggle makes the successes more enriching. Sometimes I can get in my head about the process, just getting frustrated when I don’t meet expectations for myself- but one good day can always put me back on track when I’m feeling like a doofus. I try to write those good days down to remember that crazy things are possible and inspire gratitude, like having awesome bandmates, playing packed shows, meaningful conversations, writing for a magazine, etc. It feels really good to read back and move forward.
I should note that I had to realize that ‘success’ is subjective before I could really enjoy what I was making. Writing for yourself means not writing to be famous (i.e. for money, for algorithm). Of course, there’s a sadness that comes with growing up and realizing that you won’t be a millionaire rockstar (e.g. Nickelback’s Rockstar). But after shedding the capitalist fantasy, my dreams became tangible and my connections felt more genuine. Connection- with creativity, with oneself, with community, with the Earth, and with the present moment- is the purpose of this project and the purpose of this life. Hey, that’s just my take though.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I wrote up this lil band bio, and I’m proud of it too. Take a gander… Dreamt up during a bleak retail lunch break, In a Body was started by singer-guitarist Ash Daley in 2024. The project is a vehicle of reflection and revelation, pointing directly at the Human Condition and trailing a finger along its pulse. Daley’s earthbound songwriting, paired with An Elisa Venegas’s supernal production style, is like skimming a journal found on the side of the road, in whose patina-bound pages you’ll find rain lilies, thistle and glass glitter-glued next to confessions scrawled in bank-blue ink. When you look up from your reading, you will find that a swathe of clouds has encircled the afternoon sun; the halo of midday falls on you and you, alone. This is the nature of Venegas’s synth-playing: enveloping, burgeoning, searing.
In a Body’s debut album is supported by drummer Cade Young, who plays without restraint- perpetual kick, marching snare and generous cymbal use. Young’s hardcore playing style transforms intimate ballads into unrelenting heavy-hitters. Syncopated beats call to mind emotional classics like “The Ghost of You” by My Chemical Romance; it’s hard to turn away. In 2026, the project was joined by Hil Tait, whose drumming style is minimalist, fluid and unfurling.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
The best way to support us is by coming out to our shows, so we can build community with you! Also, we are releasing our first single into the arms of the public soon (you’re the first to know!), so take a listen when it’s out. It’s been a long time coming, and we hope it finds listeners who really appreciate vulnerability. Our band is also a part of Crytoy Collective, which is a group of artist friends trying to bring the sharing of creativity away from online commodification and back into real life connection. You can stay posted by checking out our webpage (www.crytoycollective.com/inabody), and subscribing to the Crytoy Collective Newsletter on Substack!
If you connect with our work, reach out! We’d love to know you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.crytoycollective.com/inabody/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inabodyband/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@crytoyrecords?si=z-heh3vuDo5Aa6QU
- Other: https://inabody.bandcamp.com/track/katy-mills
