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02-08 Ash announce "Buzzkill" single
06-19 Ash release new video
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Ash began life in 1989 as Iron Maiden wannabe's
'Vietnam', with Mark Hamilton on bass, and Tim
Wheeler on guitar.TheinlaytoIntergalacticSonic 7"s
claims that they quickly established a reputation as
the worst band in County Down, so it
wasprobablybestthatcome 1992,'Vietnam' split.
Stuck for a drummer, Tim and Mark recruited Rick
McMurray , and after pickingthe first short
wordtheylikedfrom adictionary, Ash was born.
In their first summer together, they recorded around
50 songs at local 7-Track studio Cosmic Rays,
funding themselveswiththemoneytheysaved by
starving th ...read more
Ash began life in 1989 as Iron Maiden wannabe's
'Vietnam', with Mark Hamilton on bass, and Tim
Wheeler on guitar.TheinlaytoIntergalacticSonic 7"s
claims that they quickly established a reputation as
the worst band in County Down, so it
wasprobablybestthatcome 1992,'Vietnam' split.
Stuck for a drummer, Tim and Mark recruited Rick
McMurray , and after pickingthe first short
wordtheylikedfrom adictionary, Ash was born.
In their first summer together, they recorded around
50 songs at local 7-Track studio Cosmic Rays,
funding themselveswiththemoneytheysaved by
starving themselves on their lunch breaks. Over the
course of the following year, their demo tapetopped
thelocalcharts, andtheyestablished a firm following,
but began to get dissilusioned at the lack of further
progress. Onthe verge of breaking
up,enterBillMcCabe,who sent their demos off to his
contacts in London. Steven Taverner came
acrossone of the demos, Garage Girl,
anddecidedtotake a hugeleap of faith, sending the
band into the studio to record ?300 worthof songs.
Their first single, 'Jack Names The Planets', was
released on Taverners newly formed LaLaland label
in 1994, gaining airplayonRadio1courtesyof Steve
Lamaq, and after a whirlwind tour of England during
their Easter break, the band signed toInfectious
Records.Twomoresingles,'Petrol' and 'Uncle Pat'
topped the indie charts, and then the mini-album
'Trailer' wasreleased.
1995 saw Ash making big strides forward, with the
release of three singles, 'Kung Fu', 'Girl From Mars'
(which peaked at #11intheUKsingleschart) and
'Angel Interceptor'. 1996 brought another single,
'Goldfinger', their first album proper, '1977', and
'OhYeah' .'1977'reached #1 inthe UK album charts,
whilst both singles reached the UK singles chart
top 10, at 5 and 6respectively.
JackieChanused'Kung Fu' in the endcredits to
Rumble in the Bronx, in reciprocation for the
namecheck herecieved in the song.
The following year, Ash expanded, recruiting
Nightnurse guitarist Charlotte Hatherley. After a
couple of low key
gigs,Hatherleymadehermajordebut at the V97
Festival. The first single she recorded with Ash was
'A Life Less Ordinary', for thefilm of the same
name,whichwasanothertop ten hit.
1998 brought troubled times for 'Ash'. Finding it
difficult to cope with the pressure of following up
1977, Tim sufferedfromwritersblock,therewere
problems with producers, and deadlines were
missed. Perhaps reflecting the mood of a band
sufferingfrom burnout, 'Nu-ClearSounds'was a
much darker album, and despite critical acclaim,
sales were overall rather poor, thoughit did reach a
high of #7in theUKalbum charts,and first single
'Jesus Says' made it to #15 in the singles chart.
'Wildsurf' cameand went rather quickly at the end
oftheyear,failing tocapture the attention and
reached a high of just #31.
In the wake of 'Nu-Clear Sounds' failure, Tim went
AWOL, and the band came close to bankrupcy.
After a return to NorthernIrelandanda6month break,
Ash came back together at Tims parents house,
and began writing and playing in the same garageit
had allstartedin.Armedwith over 30 songs, they
headed to Spain to record 'Free All Angels', knowing
it might be their lastrecord and had thesummer
oftheirlives. Feeling 'Free All Angels' marked their
best effort to date, but knowing the publicwouldn't
be easy to convince, Ash usedtheinternet tore-
establish their fan base, embarking on a tour of tiny
venues, allvoted for by fans online.
'Shining Light' was the first single to be released,
reaching #8, and when 'Free All Angels' followed in
April, it smasheditswayto#1,outmuscling Janet
Jackson. This prompted Rick to ring Virgin Records,
leaving then a stirring rendition
ofOutkast's'SorryMissJackson'.Later singles were
the classic 'Burn Baby Burn' (#13), 'Sometimes'
(#21), 'Candy' (#20), and 'Theres aStar'(#13). In
Marchof2002,'Walking Barefoot' was released in
Australia only. The bands renaiseince was
complete. 'ShiningLight' won BestContemporary
Songatthe2002 Ivor Novello awards and Q gave
'Burn Baby Burn' Single of the Year. Burn babyBurn
was also voted Best Singleby readersofNME.The
Hot Press awards gave the band Best Irish Album
and Best Irish Singlefor 'Free All Angels' and
'Shining Light
To celebrate 10 years of Ash, Intergalactic Sonic
7"s was released in 2002, containing all their
singles to date, a new song,'Envy', aswellasabonus
cd containing 22 b-sides voted for by fans. The year
also saw the release of Free All Angels in theUS, on
Kinetic Records.
2004 saw Ash cement their place as a giant of Brit
rock, with he release of new album 'Meltdown',
which went top 5, and thefirstsinglefromit'Clones',
which was released as a download only (in the
days before downloads were included in the
charts).'Clones' was alsousedinStarWars Republic
Commando, and was the first music to be used in
anything Star Wars related thathasn't been
composedbyJohnWilliams.'Orpheous' was the first
official single, reaching #13, and was used in the
film Shaun ofthe Dead (alongside
titletrack,'Meltdown'),and thevideo games Burnout 3
and NHL 2005. Next single 'Starcrossed'
reached#21, and in December,
'RenegadeCavalcade'peaked at #33.InMarch 2005,
'Meltdown got its US release (with 3 bonus
tracks)through Record Collection, but failed to
make animpact.
In January 2006, Charlotte and Ash parted
company, after 9 years together, and the band were
back down to 3. Thesplitwasdescribedasamicable,
and so far no replacement has been brought in.
Their first album since Hatherley's departure,
Twilight Of The Innocents was released in 2007, but
failed to makemuchcommercialorcriticalimpact.
Even before the albums release, the band had
announced that they would not release
anotheralbum, insteadoptingforsingles only.They
sited the changing ways in which people buy music,
mainly single track downloadsas a reason for this.
The firstfruitsofthis newapproach to making music
are expected before the end of 2009. « hide |
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