ASH, THE County Down alternative-rock/power pop trio, have announced their first Galway show in almost a decade, when they play Strange Brew at the Róisín Dubh on Thursday December 17.
In the 1990s the band - Tim Wheeler, Mark Hamilton, and Rick McMurray - stunned audiences with such songs as 'Uncle Pat', the peerless 'Girl From Mars', 'Oh Yeah', and 'Burn Baby Burn', and albums like 1977, Nu-Clear Sounds, and Free All Angles. In 2008-9, the band embraced the new possibilities offered by digital media, with The A-Z Series, which saw the Ulstermen release 26 singles, one every two weeks. At this time, the band also announced they would no longer make any more albums, concentrating solely on releasing individual tracks.
Times change though and the resilience of the album as a form through which to present music has survived and thrived in the digital era. So much so that Ash reversed their policy and in 2014, the trio went to Atomic Heart Studios to work on new material. The results of these sessions emerged this year as Kablammo! - the band's seventh album.
The Irish Times said Ash "were always (rightly ) viewed as one of the best bands of the past 20 years to give toothsome pop melodies some of punk’s serrated edge, Kablammo! is the kind of album that will raise the bar even higher for other acts with similar ambitions"; while popmatters.com declared: "Kablammo! clearly proves that, despite the passing of time, Ash can still kick ass."
Expect to hear songs from Kablammo! and many of their, by now, classic singles in Galway in December.
Tickets are available at www.roisindubh.net, the Ticket Desk at OMG Zhivago, Shop Street, and The Róisín Dubh.
