
Biography Darkside Lightside, the story of Ash from Downpatrick to ...


News Read what the UK press has been saying about Ash recently


Gallery Photographs of the band, vidcaps and pictures from the press


Ash Discography A highly detailed catalogue of the band's releases to date


Latest Single Details of the latest single release from the band, Shining Light


Latest Album Information and tracklisting for Ash's last long-player, Nu Clear Sounds


Official Fanzine Info on how to get a hold of the official ash fanzine, Hash


The Official Ash Website See the great Ash Official Site by Nonplane


Email Us Email us with any suggestions for the site or Ash-related info


Sign Guestbook Sign our guestbook


Read Guestbook Read what other Ash fans had to say about our site

------

Ash Latest

Melody Maker December 20 2000

Christmas and the new album

In the night sky above Macclesfield, one star shines more brightly than all the others. Beneath it, a lone coach threads its way throught the evening traffic and pulls up outside a local music venue. The Three Wise Men bearing gifts don't know why they're here, they just know that they were guided by forces outside their control and, when we join them on the bus, we notice that the Virgin Mary is already there, sitting at the back beatifically hugging the new-born messiah to her breast.

Ahem. Maybe not. It's the time of the year for Nativity plays, but however heathen and demonic your local infant schools are, they'll probably produce a more convincing Christmas story than this. Tim Wheeler and Mark Hamilton from Ash might pass as "kings of the orient", but Charlotte Hatherley stands no chance and, frankly, even with a rolled-up towel pressed to his chest as a makeshift Jesus, the mowhawked drummer Rick McMurray makes an unconvincing virgin mother.

"I'd say there are more shephards than wise men in this band," says Mark rebelliously.
Are you calling your fans sheep?
"They are like a flock to us," he nods. "We try and look after them."
"They're like walking meat," leers Tim, jokingly. "They've got legs and they're made of meat... they're very tasty."

Rewind back to the time resembling sanity. Ash are back! At any time of year, this is great news. A new single, 'Shining Light', is due to appear in January and a third full-length album comes out later in they year. Theirs might not exactly be "the greatest story ever told", but it is a pretty good one. Beneath a galaxy of fairy-lights painstakingly entwined around the bus by fanatical Christmas lover Mark, we sit down to hear how they got from mini-album 'Trailer' throught debut album '1977', via the critically acclaimed, commercially less successful 'Nu-Clear Sounds', to this: a tour that manages to avoid every large town or city in Britain and a new album that they think will re-establish them as one of the guiding lights of modern rock.

"'Nu-Clear Sounds' should have done better," Tim admits. "It got much better reviews than '1977' did. It got amazing reviews, but it didn't have many singles on it. This one's got at least seven singles."
"With the next album, we're hoping to get one and a half stars out of five," Mark laughs. "Then maybe it will sell millions."

"This is our year," Tim enthuses. "We've got the album for it, definitely. It's sounding really amazing. It sounds more like '1977' than 'Nu-Clear Sounds', but its a real move on. It's a pop album played by a rock band. Big guitars playing really melodic songs. People are going to be well chuffed when they hear it beacuse it's the complete opposite to everything else that's going on at the moment. Everything is so dark and negative. Either everything is taken much too seriously or it's really silly, like boy bands or girl bands."
And do you think that you'll be up there in the charts with bands like that?
"We want to have Number One albums and Number One singles," says Tim. "That's what I want for Christmas. That's what I've always wanted."

Yeah, everyone says that, but this time you wouldn't bet against it. Ash have already casually chucked away a tune that would be a winter warmer of a chart hit for most bands. The fact that the lush, romantic epic 'Warmer Than Fire' (written by friend Steve Ludwin from their support band Little Hell) is only available by download must make their record company weep. As with previous love songs 'Girl From Mars' and 'Oh Yeah', Ash ahve combined the Beatles ' ability to sing the most quixotic, romantic sentiments without ever coming close to losing their edge.

"Last year, me and some friends went to Costa Rica and one of them was Steve," says Tim. "He wrote that song while we were out there and it didn't really suit (Little Hell vocalist) Lucie's voice, so he said we should do it. But people were actually outside venues on this tour selling copies of it that they'd burned off themselves. That pisses us off beacause the quality's really bad."

How do you feel about being on the road right up to Christmas? You're not even going to any towns where you could do some serious shopping...
"We decided to let the fans decide where we played," says Tim. "We put a list of about 30 different venues up on the internet and let them vote and we're playing the ones that got the most votes. At some of these places, people didn't even know what you're supposed to do at a gig, but by the end they've got the hang of it and it's really good."
"I love playing these places," says Charlotte, "especially because the new stuff is really good to play live. Playing big venues is really scary, but here you're eyeball to eyeball and you can actually see the fans and it's much more relaxed."

"A Japanese fan has quit her job to come over and follow us around on this tour," says an amazed Tim. "That kind of thing does make you feel more responsible for the fans. We try and look after them and let them come in during the soundcheck and things like that."
Were there any places that you were really glad that they didn't vote for you to go?
There's a pause.
"Scunthorpe," admits Tim. "We played one of our worst gigs ever there. The promoter didn't have any money to pay us. He took us out for fish and chips, but he didn't have enough money for the chips so we just had fish."

Althought they might not have been playing Maddison Square Garden - yet - Ash are waiting for tonight's gig in cosy Christmas luxury. Look at that tour bus! With the Christmas lights up and tha main lights down, their living area is half Santa's grotto, half cockpit of the Millenium Falcon . Underneath it all, though, lurks things stranger than you could possibly imagine...
"The real tour madness hasn't started yet," says Charlotte. "Normally it takes about three weeks - we still haven't reached the 'Lord Of The Flies' level that we're generally at on tour. You put so much into gigs that you need to relax afterwards and you end up just drinking because it's all free."

"Things happen on tour that you wouldn't expect," says Mark darkly.
Like what?
"Like getting possessed," he hisses. "Me and Steve from Little Hell got this Ouija board and I was possessed, I was properly disturbed for about three or four hours."
What was it that possessed you?
"It was a spirit. It told us that its name was Dave," he continues, looking nervous.
"He ended up getting pissed on by the Spanish pole-vaulting champion," says Tim inexplicably.
What?!

"You wouldn't want to know. It possessed me - it really f***ed me about," murmurs Mark.
"Show him your arm!" Tim commands.
Mark peels back his sleeve to reveal strange dark marks, before pulling it back down. "Anyway," he say hurriedly, "I think we should move on."
You were pissed on by a Spanish pole-vaulter?
"I don't want to talk about it," says Mark firmly. "It's not very festive. We'll save that for next year."
Suddenly there's a strange chill on the bus, but Mark won't say any more. OK, tell us a good touring story that you can talk about?
Mark thinks. "One gig we did, there was a kind of hand-bad disco afterwards," he recalls, "and we got this TV camera and pretended to be filming a programme. We got all these girls hamming it up for the camera, dancing on tables, flashing their tits. It was funny! People will do anything if you stick a camera in their face."

Fame does funny things to people. Do you think you'll be able to achieve the kind of success that you want without compromising or going mad?
"I think the country's still suffering 'Big Brother' syndrome at the moment - everybody wants to be f***ing famous," says Rick.

"If you want to chart, you have to play the game," Tim admits. "But as long as you don't rip the fans off with shitty remixes or bad songs, it's alright. We probably don't play the game very well. 'Shining Light' has got two references to Christmas, so we should have released it for the Christmas market. The lyrics go, 'A constellation once seen over Royal David's City/Epiphony you burn so pretty, you are a shining light,' he murmurs wistfuly.
"It'll be on 'Now!..Christmas' next year," says Mark reassuringly.
What song sums up your Christmas best?
"[Black Sabath's] 'Paranoid' '," quips Rick.
"I'm just going home for Christmas," sighs Charlotte, "and I'm getting my mum to make me cups of tea all day long."
"You've got to be home at Christmas," says Mark. "That's what it's all about."
Around them, the bus sparkles with a thousand stars - a thousand more places to go, the lure of a thousand steps closer to stardom burning bright.

Back to the Main Page

� 2001 The Alternator. All rights reserved