Ash are an alternative rock band that formed in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland in 1992. The media originally pegged
Ash's music as Britpop when the band first found mainstream success, but the band's musical
style in fact spans a number of genres including punk, power
pop, grunge and hard rock.[citation needed]
Lineup
The original band members were Tim Wheeler (vocals and guitar), Mark Hamilton (bass
guitar) and Rick McMurray (drums).
Initially inspired by Twisted Sister and Iron Maiden in the early 1990s, Wheeler and Hamilton formed a heavy metal band called
Vietnam with a few school friends. After barely two gigs, they were left stranded when their bandmates left. Requiring a drummer,
they had a few drinks with McMurray who was a year ahead of them in school and had switched from playing the guitar to drums.
With McMurray on board, they set out to develop a new style of music inspired by grunge
bands such as Nirvana, Mudhoney and the
Pixies[citation needed].
Members
- Tim Wheeler — Guitar/Piano/Lead Vocals
- Mark Hamilton — Bass
- Rick McMurray — Drums
Former members
- Charlotte Hatherley — Guitar/Piano/Backing Vocals (1997-2006)
History
Early 1990s
Ash officially formed in 1992. 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 1995 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" due to the fact that
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 DJ 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",
"Girl From Mars" and "Angel Interceptor".
Late 1990s
1996 saw them release the singles "Goldfinger" and "Oh Yeah" either side of their album 1977, which saw
considerable success. 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.
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.
Early 2000s
Ash in Tempe, Arizona - Mark, Rick, Charlotte, Tim - March 2005
In 2000, 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".
The Infamous Charlotte shower scene from 'Slashed'
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. The film was much hyped due to the celebrity
performances but it was never generally released to the public and is now 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.
On 29 June 2004, Ash released Meltdown. It reached number five in the UK. 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 ingame soundtrack for the video
game Burnout 3: Takedown. Also featured is their cover of the Buzzcocks song "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" featuring Chris Martin on
backing vocals. "Starcrossed" and "Renegade Cavalcade" were later released as singles
from the album. Meltdown gets a US release date of 8 March, through Warner Bros. Records imprint Record Collection. Also in 2005, Tim Wheeler received a companionship
(a honorary degree) from LIPA (Liverpool Institute for Performing
Arts).
Ash in Tempe, Arizona - March 2005 - Photo by Nancy J Price.
During the recording of Meltdown, Charlotte Hatherley also wrote and recorded her solo side project album
Grey Will Fade, which included hit single "Bastardo".
Late 2000s
On 20 January 2006, Charlotte 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."[1] 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 is likely
to be more retro sounding than any of their previous material. No shows were planned
for the remainder of 2006, but Wheeler says Ash are hoping to test out their new songs "in tiny New York bars" once the album is
completed.
Early in 2007, Ash announced a full-length UK tour for February and March 2007. The tour is a warm-up for their album release
in June and summer festival appearances, including the Isle of Wight
Festival on 9 June 2007. The tour is of small clubs nationwide and calls at Preston, Newcastle, Glasgow, Norwich,
Liverpool, Sheffield and Southampton amongst others. Named "The Higher Education Tour", Ash are to work closely with the National
Union of Students (NUS), including student pre-sale, which explains their gigs at universities in Southampton, Keele, Sheffield,
Exeter, Warwick and Kings College London amongst others. Support will be the indie-rock band, V//Formation.
On the 19 February 2007 Ash released the first song from
their new album, which was announced as being called 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[2]. The release of YCHIA coincided with an in-store gig and signing in Virgin Megastore, Belfast. The
music video for "You Can't Have It All" debuted on MTV
Two on 11 March 2007. Other singles are "Polaris", "End of the World" and probably "Twilight Of The Innocents", as Tim said on a interview at the band's site.
On 12 June 2007 Ash revealed that Twilight of the Innocents would be their last album. They however denied that they were
splitting and instead stated they would only release singles from now on as "The way people listen to music has changed, with the
advent of the download the emphasis has reverted to single tracks".[3]
Discography
-
Studio albums
References
- ^ Ash: We are way better than The Beatles (thelondonpaper)
- ^ "You Can't Have It All" Release Date BBC
- ^ http://www.nme.com/news/ash/28918
- ^ a b c d e f
External links
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