Ashley also spent time while in art school in a band called Shithäus[1] with Jon Spencer, later of The Blues Explosion.

Ashley was living in Bushwick, Brooklyn when he decided that he wanted to travel the world.

[2] In 2005, putting his musical career on hiatus, Tod spent most of the year traveling the Far East, including Calcutta, India and Bangkok, Thailand.

He has published a written account of his travels in a blog, which he calls Postcards From the Other Side of the World.

In 2019, Ashley published his first novel, Banging the Monkey,[4] based on his experiences abroad.