asa vauclair was born in ballintemple, a suburb of cork, ireland. his father, pat, worked as an accountant and his mother, blathnaid, was a nurse with the irish army medical corps. even as a child, asa dreamt of being a musician - his mother had been classically trained in both the piano and the violin in her youth, talents that she passed onto her only child.

growing up in ireland was a quiet existence for asa, something he's never really had any problems with - he went to school, he had friends, he broke his arm at nine while climbing trees, he suffered a small concussion when trying to jup off his roof - normal little things that could happen to anyone growing up in a tiny town with open land.

the family moved to america when asa was thirteen, where they resided in dallas, texas. he attended seven lakes high school, where he was known to be a bit of a problem child - asa always had a problem settling down and concentrating, more interested in playing and chatting than learning. he passed through high school with some struggle but eventually graduated by the skin of his teeth.

asa and his family ended up back in ireland after his father decided to cut back on the amount of work he was doing. they settled in dublin this time, where his father began work at a tiny accounting firm. the change of locations was a catalyst for asa to truly begin writing music. while he had always tinkered around with it, due to both piano and violin lessons as a child, being in a city with no friends led him to using music as an outlet. after playing some live gigs here and there with a second-hand guitar he taught himself to play, asa met the friends who would become his future bandmates.

in a turn of events, asa found himself dipping his toes in acting, finding himself approached to audition for a role in the upcoming harry potter movie. it wasn't something he had ever really had any interest in but he gave it a go and no one was more surprised then he was when he actually landed a part. for about two years asa was oliver wood, swept up in the craze, and while he enjoyed it for what it was he didn't mind when it was over and his part was put to rest for the next few years.

asa regrouped with his bandmates, who welcomed him with open arms, and they played around dublin for a while, trying to find their sound and what worked best for them. for the longest time they spent a lot of time just playing covers and doing open mic nights, getting a small bit of recognition from asa's harry potter fans, before they finally decided to save up enough money to produce some actual music. they put out their first ep in 2012 and it was the gamechanger they wanted. the band picked up some interest from a couple of producers and were signed to a label, from there they released their first proper album, zaba.