In 5th grade, between soccer games and lacrosse practice, Maleno picked up a guitar and begged his parents for lessons. Within a week, he was hooked and convinced his buddies to make a band. Using recycling bins as drums, Ash and friends called themselves Overdrive and won over fans at their school's fundraising events.
Fueled by his incessant desire to create more music, Ash quickly outgrew Overdrive and used his connections at School of Rock to form a new band. Alas, Dirtnap was born. By 8th grade his band "Dirtnap" had a full album written, and had made a name for themselves playing gigs in the Philly local metal scene. On December 13th of his freshman year, Dirtnap released their first full length album, Apollo Sin.
In March 2020, Dirtnap was tearing up the Philly music scene, promoting their newly-released album Apollo Sin, but Covid brought their tour to a grinding halt. Separated from his bandmates by a stay-at-home order and unable to perform live, it seemed that Ash's musical career might burn out. However, the aptly-named Ash Maleno recreated himself from the embers of his music passion by experimenting with producing his own music. Slowly, he built a recording studio in his bedroom and channeled his musical energy into other avenues, writing and releasing music at an astonishing rate. He and drummer Ever McCarthy formed a duo called The DeadFitz, putting out an album titled 805. The album showed their versatility as musicians in the heavy staccato of "In My Head" featuring Jonah Arce as well as the lighter crowd pleasers of "My Bad" and "Where Are We Supposed to Go?"
Ash's first solo mixtape, Burnout, came out just a few months before. Since then, Maleno has released three solo mixtapes, as well as two collaborative albums. Post Romance, his second album, earned acclaim with his song "Fade on Your Love" performed with OtherBoy. His sound is a new take on the gray area between ambient rock and melodic hip-hop. Rich in vocal and guitar harmonies, Maleno's take on the modern pop and hip-hop scene cannot be found anywhere else. His most recent album Ash Mxleno offers an array of original songs, including "Hold Me Down 2" featuring Taylor Shore, and the indie-pop single "Billy Loomis" with music video. In September 2022, Ash is planning a huge release, dropping a song with Long Island artist Yung Fazo.
All of his music can be found on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and Tidal.
Fueled by his incessant desire to create more music, Ash quickly outgrew Overdrive and used his connections at School of Rock to form a new band. Alas, Dirtnap was born. By 8th grade his band "Dirtnap" had a full album written, and had made a name for themselves playing gigs in the Philly local metal scene. On December 13th of his freshman year, Dirtnap released their first full length album, Apollo Sin.
In March 2020, Dirtnap was tearing up the Philly music scene, promoting their newly-released album Apollo Sin, but Covid brought their tour to a grinding halt. Separated from his bandmates by a stay-at-home order and unable to perform live, it seemed that Ash's musical career might burn out. However, the aptly-named Ash Maleno recreated himself from the embers of his music passion by experimenting with producing his own music. Slowly, he built a recording studio in his bedroom and channeled his musical energy into other avenues, writing and releasing music at an astonishing rate. He and drummer Ever McCarthy formed a duo called The DeadFitz, putting out an album titled 805. The album showed their versatility as musicians in the heavy staccato of "In My Head" featuring Jonah Arce as well as the lighter crowd pleasers of "My Bad" and "Where Are We Supposed to Go?"
Ash's first solo mixtape, Burnout, came out just a few months before. Since then, Maleno has released three solo mixtapes, as well as two collaborative albums. Post Romance, his second album, earned acclaim with his song "Fade on Your Love" performed with OtherBoy. His sound is a new take on the gray area between ambient rock and melodic hip-hop. Rich in vocal and guitar harmonies, Maleno's take on the modern pop and hip-hop scene cannot be found anywhere else. His most recent album Ash Mxleno offers an array of original songs, including "Hold Me Down 2" featuring Taylor Shore, and the indie-pop single "Billy Loomis" with music video. In September 2022, Ash is planning a huge release, dropping a song with Long Island artist Yung Fazo.
All of his music can be found on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and Tidal.