Rainshadower Debuts with Charred Scars

Listen to new single “On Wings” below

November 20, 2025 Ron Hart 0 Comments Aaron Ball, Charred Scars, Cumulus, Dryland, Idiot Pilot, Police Teeth, Rainshadower, Seattle, the Cops, the Saturday Knights, Virgin Islands, Washington

Aaron Ball of Rainshadower. (Image: Tommy Calderon)

Longtime Seattle mainstay Aaron Ball is one day away from seeing the debut LP from his latest project Rainshadower hit the public ear.

Having spent the better part of the past 30 years touring and recording with a multitude of local Pacific Northwest acts including Cumulus, the Cops, Idiot Pilot, the Saturday Knights, Virgin Islands, Police Teeth, Dryland, and many others.

But with Charred Scars, Ball ventures inward creatively to craft a work informed by his life experience and the natural beauty of the Cascade Mountains area where he grew up.

“I was lucky to grow up in beautiful Bellingham, Washington,” he tells Rock & Roll Globe. “I spent so much of my childhood exploring the forests, mountains and beaches here. It’s a special, magical place, where the trees outnumber people 100 to 1 or more. Where nature is easy to access and explore. After college I moved to the big city of Seattle, which is certainly more urban than Bellingham, but is still surrounded by the natural beauty of the mountains, the forests, and the sound. I find being in nature to be the best medicine for my mind, body and spirit. Nature can be beautiful and it can be harsh. It doesn’t judge, and really doesn’t care if you’re there or not. It’s easy to feel small in nature but also to be inspired by its vast beauty.”

Ball has been an active participant in creating music with the bands he has played in since the ’90s, primarily as a drummer.

“A lot of that music was written organically with everyone in the room together,” he shares, “and I’ve always felt compelled to throw out ideas and make suggestions on whatever music I’ve been a part of creating collaboratively.”

But it was in 2012 that Ball first started seriously writing music on his own when he landed in the hospital with acute appendicitis less than a month after getting home from a tour with Virgin Islands who were supporting Cursive on their I Am Gemini run.

“The resulting surgery meant that I couldn’t play drums for several months for the first time in my adult life” he says, “and with the downtime at home, I really dove into figuring out how to demo songs in GarageBand.”

Ball leaned into his aptitude as a bassist while writing these songs, but also utilized a Fender Rhodes he had recently purchased, which would lend itself to Rainshadower’s signature sound.

Rainshadower *Charred Scars*, self-released 2025

Ball would mess around on an old keyboard and eventually that developed into writing entire songs. He leaned into the bass guitar, which he had been playing a lot of during that period as well, and bought a Fender Rhodes, which would also become a signature part of Rainshadower’s sound.

“I had some time on my hands during COVID, and I started sifting through hundreds of voice memos (mostly Rhodes) that I’d recorded over the previous several years,” he explains. “Some of them were just little bits or sparks of ideas, some were fully formed songs. I whittled things down to a couple dozen pieces of music that I really liked, and then realized that I thought I had enough music that I believed in to make a full length album. From there I continued arranging, composing, and refining, adding layers of bass, guitar, drums, etc. until I had 10 or so tracks demoed.

“In the spring of 2023, I was in this amazing recording studio in Anacortes (the Unknown) tracking drums for a metal/hardcore/stoner band I play in called Dryland, and I decided that I wanted to track my record there. I booked some time for the summer, knowing that would force me to get my ducks in a row and have my shit together enough to start tacking by then. I tracked much of the record that summer, did a bit in the winter, and then took some time listening to the instrumental recordings to develop the lyrics and vocals, often while walking outside in the forest.”

Ahead of tomorrow’s release of Charred Scars, Rock & Roll Globe is honored to share the album’s latest single “On Wings.”

“It’s an autobiographical origin story through my perspective at age 14,” he reveals. “‘A bastard son from a couple broken families..’ Vibraphone, bongos, tambourine and pulsing bass propel this track forward. Drums join and increase the intensity with driving precision. Moments of sparse, emptiness bookended by overdriven bass. A simple and strong chorus melody that reclaims me individually and affirms my intent to do things my own way even if that’s the hard way.”

For more information on Rainshadower and A. Ball, visit rainshadower.com.