Paper Tongues was officially born in 2007 on the streets of Charlotte, North Carolina. Lead singer Aswan North, helped found the "Inprov Music Experience", a weekly event where musicians played for the homeless at a main intersection in the middle of the city. The current band lineup congregated at uptown Charlotte weekly, slowly developing a bond. Aswan started cultivating his song writing and presence during those shows. He brought those street sounds and ideas to producers in Los Angeles. It didn't take long for Aswan's collaborators to feel the power and magnitude behind the ideas of his music. This caught Cody and Devin's attention. They had been formally playing as Paper Tongues. With Cody, Devin, Jordan and Clayton's help, Aswan quickly set out to find other members for this entity. As the songs sprung to life, Paper Tongues was reborn with the same vision to impact rock n' roll with a new sound.
A wide variety of influences inform Aswan's vibrant, vivacious vocal style, which falls somewhere between Al Green's Sultry falsetto and Steve Perry's uplifting bravado. "Kool and the Gang and Grandmaster Flash were hugely influential. Anything out there with a great hook grabs my attention. As a kid, there was a ton of country music around me – Ricky Skaggs, Kenny Rogers, Hank Williams Jr., Loretta Lyn, and Conway Twitty. I took all that in too, and it helped me write lyrics."
Ultimately, for Aswan and Co. Paper Tongues is a way of life. "We want fans to walk away from our music with that good feeling. We think our music can bring healing for a group of people, a society, bad politics and artists that feel hopeless. Paper Tongues' music should heal you and make you take a chance again."
