Ash (band)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ash | ||
|---|---|---|
 Left to right: McMurray, Hamilton, Wheeler
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| Background information | ||
| Origin |  Northern Ireland |
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| Genre(s) | Alternative Rock, Punk Rock | |
| Years active | 1992–present | |
| Label(s) | Infectious (UK), Warner Bros. Records (USA) |
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| Website | Official website | |
| Members | ||
| Tim Wheeler Mark Hamilton Rick McMurray |
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| Former members | ||
| Charlotte Hatherley (1997-2006) | ||
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.
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[edit] Band members
The original band members were Tim Wheeler (vocals and guitar), Mark Hamilton (bass guitar) and Rick McMurray (drums). The three were joined by Charlotte Hatherley (guitar and vocals) in 1997 who, as of 2004, also began a solo career as a side project. On the 20th January, 2006, Hatherley's record label, Double Dragon Music announced her departure from the band[1]. James Heatley (currently performing for The Answer) also played drums for the band whilst Rick was completing his A-Levels.
Initially inspired by Twisted Sister and Iron Maiden in the early 1990s, Tim and Mark 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 Rick who was a year ahead of them in school and had switched from playing the guitar to drums. With Rick on board, they ambitiously set out to develop a new style of music inspired by grunge bands such as Nirvana, Mudhoney and the Pixies.
[edit] History
[edit] Early 1990s
Ash officially formed in 1992. They created three demo tapes this 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 would later be on their 1995 release, Trailer, including "Intense Thing", "Get Out", "Obscure Thing," and their future single, "Jack Names the Planets".
In 1993, Ash made the demo tape, Garage Girl, which featured "Jack Names the Planets" and "Intense Thing" taken from Shed, as well as some new tracks including "Petrol". They released their compilation demo tape, Pipe Smokin' Brick later this year, which featured an assortment of their best demo songs from the other 4 demo tapes.
The demo tapes had not gained much attention yet and Ash was still playing small shows at local clubs, however, in early 1994, Stephen Taverner came across the Garage Girl demo tape. Suitably impressed Stephen 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 first 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".
[edit] Late 1990s
1996 saw them release the singles "Goldfinger" and "Oh Yeah" either side of their album 1977, which saw considerable success. On February 17, 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 V97 festival. 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,
[edit] 2000s
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".
On June 29, 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 March 8, 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).
During the recording of Meltdown, Charlotte Hatherley also wrote and recorded her solo side project album Grey Will Fade, which included hit single "Bastardo".
On January 20, 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". 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 album is likely to be more retro sounding than any of their previous material. Ash are recording the follow up to 2004's Meltdown, with a release date scheduled for June 2007. 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 potential festival appearances. 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 19th February Ash released the first song from their new album, which announced as being called TOTI in late March. This new material was a download only sneak-preview track called "I Started A Fire". Furthermore, the first physical single will be "You Can't Have It All" and released on April 16th[2]. The music video for "You Can't Have It All" debuted on MTV 2 on 11th March 2007.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
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[edit] Live albums and compilations
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[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Album | UK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02/1994 | "Jack Names the Planets" | Trailer | - |
| 08/1994 | "Petrol" | Trailer | 96 |
| 10/1994 | "Uncle Pat" | Trailer | 101 |
| 03/1995 | "Kung Fu" | 1977 | 57 |
| 07/1995 | "Girl From Mars" | 1977 | 11 |
| 10/1995 | "Angel Interceptor" | 1977 | 14 |
| 04/1996 | "Goldfinger" | 1977 | 5 |
| 06/1996 | "Oh Yeah" | 1977 | 6 |
| 10/1997 | "A Life Less Ordinary" | - | 10 |
| 09/1998 | "Jesus Says" | Nu-Clear Sounds | 15 |
| 11/1998 | "Wildsurf" | Nu-Clear Sounds | 31 |
| 02/2001 | "Shining Light" | Free All Angels | 8 |
| 04/2001 | "Burn Baby Burn" | Free All Angels | 13 |
| 07/2001 | "Sometimes" | Free All Angels | 21 |
| 10/2001 | "Candy" | Free All Angels | 20 |
| 12/2001 | "There's a Star" | Free All Angels | 13 |
| 04/2002 | "Walking Barefoot" | Free All Angels | a |
| 08/2002 | "Envy" | Intergalactic Sonic 7″s | 21 |
| 12/2002 | "Jack Names the Planets" | Intergalactic Sonic 7″s | 82 |
| 02/2004 | "Clones" | Meltdown | b |
| 05/2004 | "Orpheus" | Meltdown | 13 |
| 08/2004 | "Starcrossed" | Meltdown | 21 |
| 12/2004 | "Renegade Cavalcade" | Meltdown | 33 |
| 04/16/2007 | "You Can't Have It All" | TOTI | ? |
| 05/28/2007 | "Polaris" | TOTI |
a Australia only release
b Downloads chart exclusive. Reached #1.
[edit] EPs
- Raptor (Compilation) - (1994)
- Crazed and Confused (Compilation) - (1994)
- Got A Beautiful Face... Got A Fucked Up Inside (1999)
- Numbskull — (April 26, 1999)
- Satellite Transmissions Volume 1 — (May 2003)
- Commando - (February 2006
[edit] Fan club releases
- "Get Ready" — (December 1995)
- "Barbie" — (March 1, 1997)
- "I'm On Drugs" — (February 15, 2003)
[edit] Demo tapes
- Solar Happy — (July 1992)
- Shed — (September 1992)
- Home Demo — (November 1992)
- Garage Girl — (February 1993)
- Pipe Smokin' Brick — (1993)
[edit] Videography
- Tokyo Blitz — (September 29, 2003)
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official Ash Site
- Walking Barefoot - An extensive fan site
- The Ash Files - The ultimate Ash live recordings resource, moderated by the band themselves
- Official Ash Myspace - Frequently updated by the band, contains videos as well as news
