Ash (band)

Ash
Origin	Downpatrick, Co. Down, Northern Ireland
Genres	Britpop, alternative rock, punk rock
Years active	1992–present
Website	http://www.ash-official.com
Members
Tim Wheeler Mark Hamilton Rick McMurray
Past members
Charlotte Hatherley Russell Lissack

Ash are an alternative rock band that formed in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland in 1992. The band has sold 8 million albums worldwide.^{[citation needed]}

History

Band beginning, Trailer and 1977 (1992–1998)

Ash officially formed in 1992, reportedly having taken their name from the first word they liked in the dictionary. They have also mentioned in interviews of a past drummer who was 19 before Rick joined the band. They created three demo tapes that year, Solar Happy in June, Shed in September, and the Home Demo in November. These tapes featured their earliest material and the first recordings of some songs that were later on their 1994 release, Trailer, including "Intense Thing", "Get Out", "Obscure Thing," and their future single, "Jack Names the Planets".

In 1993 Ash recorded the Garage Girl demo tape, which featured "Jack Names the Planets" and "Intense Thing" taken from Shed, as well as some new tracks including "Petrol". Following Garage Girl, they released their compilation demo tape, Pipe Smokin' Brick later that year, which featured an assortment of their best songs from the other 4 demo tapes. Downpatrick Musician Ray Valentine recorded Ash's demo's at his studio, Cosmic Rays. Ash's moniker at the time was "Genuine Real Teenagers," because they were so young when recording their early material. The demo tapes had not gained much attention yet and Ash were still playing small shows at local clubs, but in early 1994, Stephen Taverner came across the Garage Girl demo tape. Taverner put up the money so that they could press 1000 7″ copies of "Jack Names the Planets" on Stephen's own LaLaLand record label. The band was on its way, and Stephen became their full-time manager.

Ash released their mini album, Trailer, in October 1994, which only included seven songs. They received some airplay from Steve Lamacq on BBC Radio 1 and so followed up their debut single with "Petrol", and "Uncle Pat" on their new label Infectious Records. In 1995, Ash left school and released their breakthrough singles "Kung Fu" (which is played in the end credits of Jackie Chan's North American breakthrough film, Rumble in the Bronx), "Girl From Mars" and "Angel Interceptor". The movie Angus was released, which featured two of Ash's songs, "Jack Names the Planets" and "Kung Fu," and served to introduce Ash to American audiences. The band had offered two other tracks that were cut, along with Pansy Division's Deep Water, which made the soundtrack but was cut from the movie due to time constraints.

Ash in Bangkok, Thailand 1999

1996 saw them release the singles "Goldfinger" and "Oh Yeah" either side of their album 1977, which saw considerable success. The track "Lose Control" from that album was featured in the video game Gran Turismo.^[1] On 17 February 1997, Ash released Live at the Wireless, a live album, recorded at the Triple J Studios in Australia. The UK fans could buy a limited edition CD of it on the band's own Deathstar label.

Charlotte Hatherley, Nu-Clear Sounds and Free All Angels (1998–2004)

During their time touring with Weezer, Ash felt the limitation of a three-piece band. As a result they recruited Charlotte Hatherley who had previously been with the band Nightnurse and she made her gig debut at a few small gigs a week before appearing at the V Festival in 1997. The first single that she appeared on, "A Life Less Ordinary", featured on the soundtrack to the Ewan McGregor / Cameron Diaz film of the same name.

In September 1998, Ash released "Jesus Says" the following month the second album proper, Nu-Clear Sounds, and in November "Wildsurf". The stress of near non-stop touring of 1977 and Nu-Clear Sounds began to affect the band's mentality. In 1999, Tim Wheeler disappeared for a short while following the commercial and critical failure of Nu-Clear Sounds. He eventually emerged in New York making the self-deprecating, blood, drug and sex fueled video for Numbskull. A note for Stephen Taverner attached to the video said, "I've killed Bambi".

Ash nearly became bankrupt as they prepared to release possibly their last album. Luckily, this was not to be the case. The band retreated to Wheeler's parents' house, to play and write songs in the same garage where the band began. The single "Shining Light" was released in January 2001, followed by the number one album Free All Angels in April. Subsequent singles released from Free All Angels were "Burn Baby Burn", "Sometimes", "Candy", and "There's a Star" . The single "Shining Light" won the "Best Contemporary Song" award at the 2002 Ivor Novello awards. A new single "Envy" was released, followed shortly afterwards by the singles collection Intergalactic Sonic 7″s with the bonus disk entitled Cosmic Debris. Q magazine named Ash as #2 of its "50 Bands To See Before You Die".

In 2003, it was leaked to the music and tabloid press that Ash were working on a horror film described as a 'teen slasher'. The film, called Slashed, was shot while the band were on tour in America but some scenes were also shot in the UK. The screenplay, written by Jed Shepherd and directed by Alexander Marks included star roles by Chris Martin (Sherbet Bones) and Jonny Buckland (Agent Ford) of Coldplay as a pair of FBI agents hired to track down a supernatural serial killer. Other star performances include that of Moby, James Nesbitt, Dave Grohl and Ash themselves.^[2] The film was much hyped due to the celebrity performances but it was never generally released to the public and is currently being held in storage. Rumours circulated that certain scenes were too gory and would not be suitable for Ash's audience, but it was also said that Chris Martin vetoed its release due to scenes of him running around in his boxer shorts, covered in blood, fighting demons which may have been detrimental to his new celebrity status.

Meltdown and Hatherley's departure (2004–2006)

Ash playing a gig in Dublin in 2007

On 29 June 2004, Ash released Meltdown, which reached number five in the UK. At the same time Hatherley also wrote and recorded her solo side project album Grey Will Fade. The band teamed up with Lucasarts for a new Star Wars game entitled Republic Commando. "Clones", taken from the album Meltdown is the first licensed music to be used in anything Star Wars-related. "Meltdown" and "Orpheus" are featured on the popular British movie, Shaun of the Dead as well as appearing on the in-game soundtracks for the video games NHL 2005, Burnout 3: Takedown and Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition. Also featured is their cover of the Buzzcocks song "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" featuring Chris Martin on backing vocals. The song "Vampire Love" was featured in American Pie Presents: Band Camp. Starcrossed and "Renegade Cavalcade" were later released as singles from the album. Meltdown was released in the US on 8 March 2005, through Warner Bros. Records imprint Record Collection. Also in 2005, Tim Wheeler received a companionship (an honorary degree) from LIPA (Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts).

On 20 January 2006, Hatherley left the band after nine years leaving only the original members remaining. An official statement reads: "After 9 years Ash and Charlotte Hatherley have mutually agreed to part company. The decision is completely amicable and they wish each other the very best for the future". In an interview in July 2007, the other band members suggested they asked Hatherley to leave as they "wanted to be a three-piece."^[3]

Twilight of the Innocents, 1977, A to Z Singles & Second Greatest Hits (2006–present)

On 6 June 2006, NME reported that Ash were in a New York recording studio and had twenty seven "rough" songs. Wheeler hinted that the eventual album was likely to be more retro sounding than any of their previous material. No shows were planned for the remainder of 2006, but Wheeler stated that they were hoping to test out their new songs "in tiny New York bars" once the album was complete. In early 2007, Ash announced a full-length UK tour for February and March. The tour was a warm-up for their album release in June and their summer festival appearances, including the Isle of Wight Festival on 9 June 2007.

On 19 February 2007 Ash released the first song from their new album, titled Twilight of the Innocents. This new material was a download-only sneak preview track called "I Started A Fire". The first physical single "You Can't Have It All" was released on 16 April 2007.^[4] The release of "You Can't Have It All" coincided with an in-store gig and signing session at Virgin Megastore in Belfast. The music video for the song debuted on MTV Two on 11 March 2007. Two further songs from the album, "Polaris" and "End of the World", were issued as singles in June and September, respectively.

On 12 June 2007 Ash revealed that Twilight of the Innocents would be their last album. They also denied that they were splitting and instead stated that they would only release singles from now on as "(t)he way people listen to music has changed, with the advent of the download the emphasis has reverted to single tracks".^[5]

With the return to their original three-piece line-up, the band had been mainly performing material from albums 1977 and Twilight of the Innocents, this led to the band performing at London Roundhouse on Friday 5 September and Saturday 6 September 2008, which saw the band perform 1977 in its entirety. Both shows sold out and the band went on to release a 3-disc special edition version of the album, featuring remastered and re-edited versions of the tracks, as well as tracks from Trailer and live performances from the time of its release.

In late 2008, the band stated they had been writing and recording new tracks, bassist Mark Hamilton stated, "we’re just taking track at a time and seeing what happens, no limits to where or what it’ll sound like. A few of the songs are barely recognisable as Ash which is pretty exciting to see how people react when they hear them."^[6] A number of track titles were also revealed including "Neon, part 2".

On 16 April 2009, Ash announced they were to play a one-off gig at Bloomsbury Ballroom, London, to preview new tracks and start promoting their new material. An additional date was also added at the same venue a few days later, along with a handful of warm-up shows.^[6] The first single to be released was announced on 30 April titled "Return of White Rabbit". The three band members hand created 178 sleeves each for the physical singles,^[7] each of which will be available to win in different competitions being run through the band's website. On 18 May it was announced that the band would be releasing 26 singles, one every fortnight for the rest of 2009, known as the A to Z singles series.^[8] In August 2009 they played at the Hevy Music Festival in Folkestone, and in June 2010 they headlined the John Peel Stage on the last night of Glastonbury Festival.

In September 2010, Ash made their first appearance in South Africa to support local rock group The Parlotones on the South African leg of their world tour. Ash made an appearance on the South African Idols and have also appeared on various South African radio and television stations, including locally popular MK.

In June 2011, Ash announced that a greatest hits record was in the works.^[9]

In August 2011 Ash collaborated with We Are Scientists to release a cover of the song "Washington Parks" by British songwriter Robert Manning,^[10] raising money and awareness for Multiple Sclerosis and The MS Society. The song was recorded between London and New York by the two bands and join a project already boasting releases from Ed Hardcourt and Emmy the Great.^[11] Chris Cain from We Are Scientists said in an interview "We actually recorded a single [with Ash] which is going to come out soon. It won't be too long until it's out and it's for a charity in England called the Multiple Sclerosis Society. It's a cover of a song called “Washington Parks” by I think Happy Monster but it's pretty sweet. The concept of the song is that if you listen to it on headphones or stereo the musicians of Ash are on the left channel and all the We Are Scientists guys are playing it in the right channel. We're playing the same song essentially but in different ways. I'm not playing the same bass line as Mark and Rick isn't playing the same drum pattern as Andy. I think Keith and Tim sing the same thing but in a different sort of harmony. What's interesting especially is that not only do we have a unison feel going on but you can also take off one headphone and hear one band and vice versa."^[12]

Line-up

The band set out as a three piece originally, later recruiting Hatherley as a second guitarist. After nine years in the band, Hatherley was asked to leave so that the band could once again return to a three piece. Without a second guitarist some of the material from Meltdown, Free All Angels and Nu-Clear Sounds has not since been played, while various singles and material from the albums Twilight of the Innocents and 1977 have made up the majority of material performed recently.^[3] McMurray, after the departure of Hatherley has taken over a lot of her backing vocal duties, whilst Mark provides backing vocals occasionally in studio, but not live. The band have stated that whilst there are no immediate plans to tour with the material written and recorded with Hatherley still in the band, "never say never", and that there was a possibility they may at some point tour with Hatherley again, in NME in June 2009 Hatherley also commented on the split stating her and Wheeler were regularly talking, and that playing together again was a possibility in the future.^[13]

In April 2010 Bloc Party guitarist Russell Lissack joined the band for their UK tour and has since continued to tour with them worldwide throughout 2010.^[14]

In June 2011 LaFaro drummer Alan Lynn stood in for Rick McMurray (who was having a baby) for a short European tour.

In September 2011, it was confirmed that Charlotte Hatherley would return for a set of special shows, celebrating the release of their 'Best of Ash' album. The shows will include the four piece playing the seminal Free All Angels album in its entirety and a "Best of" set.^[15]

Band members

• Tim Wheeler – lead vocals, lead guitar, piano/keyboards (1992–present)
• Mark Hamilton – bass, synthesizer (1992–present)
• Rick McMurray – drums, percussion (1992–present)

Former members

• Charlotte Hatherley – guitar, piano, backing vocals (1997–2006, 2011)

Touring members

• Russell Lissack - rhythm guitar (2010–present)
• Alan Lynn - drums, percussion (2011)

Discography

Main article: Ash discography

Studio albums

• Trailer – October 1994
• 1977 – 6 May 1996 – Platinum (BPI)
• Nu-Clear Sounds – 5 October 1998 – Platinum (BPI)
• Free All Angels – 23 April 2001 – Platinum (BPI)
• Meltdown – 17 May 2004 – Platinum (BPI)
• Twilight of the Innocents – 2 July 2007

Single format

The band announced in 2007 with the release of Twilight of the Innocents that they would be switching to single format for further releases. The first series of singles were released every fortnight and consisted of 26 singles, plus additional tracks for those who paid for the entire series in advance.

• A-Z Series (2009/2010)

References

1. ^ "The Sound of Gran Turismo". Teenage Wildlife. 5 December 2002. http://www.teenagewildlife.com/music/st/TSOGT/Title.html. Retrieved 2011-10-24. 
2. ^ Everitt, Mark (1 July 2003). "X-clusive: Ash Slashed Film Guest Stars Revealed!". Xfm.co.uk. http://www.xfm.co.uk/article.asp?id=4739. Retrieved 2011-10-24. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Taylor Bennett, Kim (3 July 2007). "Ash: We are way better than The Beatles". The London Paper. http://www.thelondonpaper.com/cs/Satellite/london/videos/article/1157148104807?packedargs=suffix%3DSubSectionArticle. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ "Ash Download on Monday". BBC Online. Across the Line (radio show). http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/atl/news_specific40270.shtml. Retrieved 2011-10-24. 
5. ^ "Ash deny they're splitting". NME.com. 12 June 2007. http://www.nme.com/news/ash/28918. Retrieved 2011-10-24. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Gordon, Rob. "Ash Interview". Noize Makes Enemies. http://www.noizemakesenemies.co.uk/2008/10/ash-interview.html. Retrieved 2008-09-19. ^{[dead link]}
7. ^ "Ash on a high". Teletext.co.uk. http://www.teletext.co.uk/planetsound/news/112123b58df2424fec84232bbe6dca57/Exclusive+-+Ash+on+a+high.aspx. Retrieved 2009-06-11. ^{[dead link]}
8. ^ "Download 'Return of The White Rabbit' Free – A–Z Series". Ash Official. 18 May 2009. http://www.ash-official.com/details.aspx?categoryid=3n&id=7784cd87-3cc2-4360-9fbd-31b89863e0b6. Retrieved 2011-10-24. 
9. ^ Hendicott, James (8 June 2011). "Q&A: Ash". AU Magazine. http://iheartau.com/2011/06/q-and-a-ash/. Retrieved 2011-10-14. 
10. ^ "Ash and We Are Scientists team up for charity song – audio". NME.com. 11 August 2011. http://www.nme.com/news/ash--2/58574. Retrieved 2011-10-24. 
11. ^ Manning, Robert. "Ash & We Are Scientists – Washington Parks RELEASED NOW". Music for MRI. http://bobertmanning.blogspot.com/2011/08/ash-we-are-scientists-washington-parks.html. Retrieved 2011-10-24. 
12. ^ Grand-Pierre, Ken. "An Exclusive Interview with Chris Cain of We Are Scientists". Examiner.com. 
13. ^ "Interview with Charlotte Hatherley". NME. June 2009. 
14. ^ NME.com "Bloc Party's Russell Lissack to join Ash for UK tour". NME.com. 16 March 2010. http://www.nme.com/news/ash/50240 NME.com. Retrieved 2011-10-24. 
15. ^ Peck, Chad. "'Free All Angels' Interview with Rick McMurray". Ash Official. http://www.ash-official.com/details.aspx?categoryid=3n&id=c246ca8c-e054-4c6c-8018-431bd8f6d041. Retrieved 2011-10-24. 

External links

• Official Ash Site
• The Ash Files – Ash live recordings resource, moderated by the band themselves
• Ash Photography
• Ash at Reading festival & Leeds festival
• Ash interview (Oct 2007) on Record Overplayed webzine
• Twilight of the Innocents interview