The Asphalt are an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band formed in 2001 in Lake Havasu City, Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

. The band was founded by Randy Mazick and currently consists of Randy Mazick (vocals, guitars), Jason Marino (guitars), Clifford Hickle (bass) and Nick Turner (drums).

Discography

The band have released 3 studio albums to date. The latest album, Learning to Forget, was released on the independent record label Novakaine Records on April 20, 2010. The albums first single "Where The Past Begins" is featured on the soundtrack for the upcoming Lionsgate/Grindhouse movie "Beatdown," on DVD and Blu-Ray disc August 31, 2010. The CD was released with an accompanying DVD in a double-disc set. The DVD features interviews and commentary, a digital version of the album, and multiple live and broadcast quality music videos, one of which is for "Where The Past Begins." The video, filmed in and around Kingman, Arizona on December 10, 2009, was directed by local filmmaker Troy Higgins with Crunch Films and guitarist Jason Marino. The video was edited by Jonathan Hayward, a production coordinator with the Arizona Cardinals NFL team. As of October 2010, Jon Stutler has been replaced by Clifford Hickle as bassist for the band. It is believed Stutler wanted to spend more time with his new family and concentrate on his career.

TV show pilot

The band wrote, produced and directed a pilot for a television show in January 2010. The show, entitled "Outside The Box: With The Asphalt" is based around the combining of the Food Network show "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives is an American food television series that premiered in November 2006 on the Food Network. Produced by Page Productions, the program stars and is hosted by Guy Fieri...

" with Guy Fieri

Guy Fieri

Guy Fieri is an American restaurateur, author, television personality, and game show host. He co-owns five restaurants in California and is widely known for his television series on the Food Network....

, and the movie Almost Famous

Almost Famous

Almost Famous is a 2000 musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe and telling the fictional story of a teenage journalist writing for Rolling Stone magazine while covering the fictitious rock band Stillwater , and his efforts to get his first cover story published...

. The band filmed the pilot episode in Wikieup, Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

 at Eat At Joe's BBQ.

The band were seen with a film crew in Anaheim, California

Anaheim, California

Anaheim is a city in Orange County, California. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was about 365,463, making it the most populated city in Orange County, the 10th most-populated city in California, and ranked 54th in the United States...

 in January at NAMM Show

NAMM Show

The NAMM Show is one of the largest music product trade shows in the world, founded in 1901. It is held every January in Anaheim, California, USA, at the Anaheim Convention Center...

 2011 apparently filming segments for future episodes of Outside The Box. The band and film crew were spotted later that weekend at the restaurant Tinga, in Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

. The band were at the restaurant for several hours filming yet another segment for the tv show.

Notable Appearances

The Asphalt have played at South by Southwest in both 2006 and 2007. The band performed at Edgefest 2007 in Queen Creek, Arizona

Queen Creek, Arizona

Queen Creek is a town in Maricopa and Pinal counties in the U.S. state of Arizona. The population was 26,361 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Queen Creek is located at ....

 for a crowd of over 14,000 with bands Social Distortion

Social Distortion

Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. The band currently consists of Mike Ness , Jonny Wickersham , Brent Harding and David Hidalgo, Jr...

, Bad Religion

Bad Religion

Bad Religion is a punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles in 1979. Their current line-up consists of Greg Graffin , Brett Gurewitz , Jay Bentley , Greg Hetson , Brian Baker and Brooks Wackerman . Gurewitz is also the founder of the label Epitaph Records, which has released almost all of the...

, Flyleaf

Flyleaf

Flyleaf is an American alternative metal band, formed in the Belton and Temple, Texas regions in 2000. The band has charted on mainstream rock, Christian pop and Christian metal genres. They performed around the United States in 2003 until releasing their eponymous debut album, Flyleaf, in 2005....

, The Bravery

The Bravery

The Bravery is an American rock band from New York City that consists of Sam Endicott , Michael Zakarin , John Conway , Mike Hindert , and Anthony Burulcich...

, Authority Zero

Authority Zero

Authority Zero is a punk rock band from Mesa, Arizona. The band's style is rooted in reggae and skate punk, with Bad Religion, Pennywise, and Sublime cited as influences. The band also draws from Spanish/Portuguese influences.-History:...

, and many more. The band opened for Bad Company

Bad Company

Bad Company were an English rock supergroup founded in 1973, consisting of two former Free band members — singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke — as well as Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell. Peter Grant, who, in years prior, was a key component of...

 in a somewhat strange booking during {Laughlin River Run]] 2008, played alongside another interesting pairing in The Doobie Brothers

The Doobie Brothers

The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band. The group has sold over 40 million units worldwide throughout their career. The Doobie Brothers were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.-Original incarnation:...

 at the Tempe Insight Fiesta Bowl Block Party on New Years Eve 2009, and opened the main stage for rock superstars Jimmy Eat World

Jimmy Eat World

Jimmy Eat World is an American alternative rock band from Mesa, Arizona, that formed in 1993. The band is composed of lead vocalist and guitarist Jim Adkins, guitarist and backing vocalist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch and drummer Zach Lind....

 at the same New Years Eve event in 2010.

Disputes and lawsuits

The band were famously involved in a plagiarism

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...

 dispute in 2008 after creating and posting a video on youtube.com comparing their single "Tonight" with the single "Feels Like Tonight

Feels Like Tonight

"Feels Like Tonight" is the fourth main single from Daughtry's debut album. The song is a power ballad in the vein of the band's previous hit, "Home". The official release date for the track in the U.S. was January 8, 2008.-Music video:...

" performed by Daughtry and written by Dr. Luke

Dr. Luke

Lukasz Gottwald , better known as Dr. Luke, is an American songwriter, record producer, and remixer. Luke performed with the Saturday Night Live Band for ten seasons until 2007. He has co-written and co-produced a string of commercially successful songs...

 and, suggesting that the chorus of "Tonight" was substantially similar to that of "Feels Like Tonight." The video went viral after being picked up by aol.com, VH1

VH1

VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...

, popeater.com, Perez Hilton

Perez Hilton

Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr. , better known as Perez Hilton , is an American blogger and television personality. His blog, Perezhilton.com , is known for posts covering gossip items about celebrities...

, Adam Carolla Show, and dozens more websites and broadcasts, resulting in over 250,000 views in 72 hours. The fallout from the video resulted in plagiarism lawsuits being filed by both parties in federal court in both New York City and Arizona. The disputes were ultimately resolved outside of court and the pending lawsuits were then dropped by both parties.