Keep Telling Myself It's Alright

As he put together more songs, Howerdel named his project Ashes Divide (stylised as ASHES dIVIDE) and began recording an album.^[9] He handled nearly all instruments in the studio, except drums, for which he recruited then-A Perfect Circle bandmate Josh Freese as a session musician. The project's first single, "The Stone", made its radio premiere on January 22, 2008,^[11] and the full album, titled Keep Telling Myself It's Alright, followed on April 8.^[12][13] The record features a guest cello performance on the track "Sword" by Devo Keenan, Maynard's son.^[14] In addition to Freese and Keenan, the record also includes contributions from drummer Dean Sainz, Concrete Blonde's Johnette Napolitano, Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiba, and former APC bassist Paz Lenchantin.

Howerdel formed a band to promote the record, touring throughout 2008.^[15] The lineup consisted of Jeff Friedl on drums, Matt McJunkins on bass, Jonathan Radtke on lead guitar, and Adam Monroe on keys.^[16][17]

The album debuted at number 36 in the U.S., selling 15,800 copies in its first week.^[18] As of August 2010, Keep Telling Myself It's Alright had sold 61,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.^[19]

Further activity and decline

Ashes Divide toured extensively in 2008 but pulled out of an opening slot for Puddle of Mudd at the end of the year, for undisclosed reasons, and fell out of the public eye.^[20] Toward the end of 2008, Maynard James Keenan announced that he and Howerdel were working on music for APC, and rumors arose that Ashes Divide was splitting up.^[21][22]

In late summer of 2009, Twitter posts and Myspace blogs indicated that the band was still active,^[23] and the group subsequently played a few live shows. Notably, they debuted a new song that Howerdel originally called "Untitled" but which has since been dubbed "Trafficking" by fans who attended Ashes Divide shows in late 2009 and early 2010.^[24][25] In April 2011, Howerdel mentioned that Ashes Divide would have released music in late 2010, had APC not reconvened for touring.^[9]

In December 2012, Howerdel updated the status of the project's second album, stating, "right now, I'm focusing most of my energy on a new Ashes Divide record, which is under way with 11 songs. Still working on finishing vocals and writing lyrics, and hopefully [will] get that thing mixed in January or February."^[26] Progress on the album was delayed, however, when Howerdel decided to redesignate a number of songs to APC instead.^[27]

The band played their first live show in three years on May 8, 2013, at the Satellite in Los Angeles, for Pathology Brand's "Wednesday Society" fundraising event.^[28] In April 2017, Howerdel commented that he still continued to work on new material, but that the sound had deviated so far from the project's first record, that he was contemplating whether or not he'd release it under the Ashes Divide name."^[29] In April 2018, he reiterated his plans to release a second album, but that some songs he had been working on ended up on the fourth APC album, Eat the Elephant, instead, including "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish".^[30]

Revolver listed new Ashes Divide material as one of their most anticipated albums of 2020, despite it not having an official release date,^[31] and then again in 2021.^[32]