When a band announces it will no longer record albums it sounds like they have announced their own demise. In Ash’s case the opposite is true. One year after that surprise statement that Twilight Of The Innocents would be their last album, Ash seem liberated and excited about the possibilities the future holds.
Ash will play the Festival Big Top on Friday July 25 at 7.30pm, in a double bill alongside The Dandy Warhols as part of the Galway Arts Festival. It’s been a few years since Ash played the city, so why has it taken so long for them to return?
“It’s the first offer of a gig here since we last played,” drummer Rick McMurray tells me matter of factly, “but it will be good to be back. We’ll play the cream of our stuff from every era. We’ve shared stages throughout the years with the Dandys. The last time was at Glastonbury in 2005. They’re an interesting bunch of people. They’re very arrogant but in a quite endearing way.”
The Ash line-up of Rick, vocalist/guitarist Tim Wheeler, and bassist Mark Hamilton has not changed since the band formed in Downpatrick, Co Down, in the early 1990s (English guitarist/songwriter Charlotte Hatherley was a member from 1997 to 2006 ). What keeps the three of them together when so many other bands can fall apart or descend into in-fighting after only a couple of years?
“Good chemistry and no big egos,” says Rick. “It’s always stayed good and we’ve always got on really well. I don’t know what the secret is, but it works.”
Ash first came to attention when their song ‘Uncle Pat’ was used on a beer advert. The Trailer mini-album (1994 ) and the debut album proper, 1977 (1996 ), struck a chord with the public, particularly with the teen and early 20s rock audience, for whom the band were exactly the same age. Now, four albums and countless concerts later, Ash find themselves fast approaching 20 years in the biz.
“When we started out we wanted to be successful and keep going as long as possible,” Rick says. “We were in our teens when we started and that was 16 years ago. It’s been half our lives in a band. When you think of it, it’s bizarre, but we love it and it still feels fresh.”
It’s the thing these days for bands to tour playing a classic album. Blondie are touring Parallel Lines, The Wedding Present George Best, and The Zombies Odessey and Oracle. Ash are about to do the same, playing 1977 in its entirety at two shows in London’s Astoria and Roundhouse venues. Surely a strange decision from a band who have abandoned the album format?
“Why can’t we celebrate our past?” asks Rick. “Rhino wanted to do a reissue of 1977 and we were up for it. So we got together B-sides and live music from the time for the release and Tim said why don’t we do some gigs around it? I think it’s going to be fun. The Astoria is a place we have played many times. I think it’s to be knocked down but has a stay of execution so we wanted to go back and play there before it closed.”
Last year Ash released Twilight Of The Innocents, but it was accompanied by Tim Wheeler’s announcement that this would be Ash’s last album as “the way people listen to music has changed, with the advent of the download the emphasis has reverted to single tracks.”
“Bands are trying to think of new ways of doing things in this new era for consuming music,” says Rick. “We’ll be releasing a great amount of tracks next year. We’re halfway through the writing and recording phase and the new music will be very eclectic. With an album you tend to go for a single mood or style. Recording just single tracks leaves it open to more experimentation. We can now afford to play around with the Ash sound.”
Downloading is certainly a phenomenon and a reality, but its merits - and impact on music itself - are uncertain and hotly debated by music fans. What does Rick see as its positive and negative aspects?
“Although Twilight Of The Innocents was released in 2007, there were some songs on it going back to 2004 and it was frustrating that we couldn’t release them before then or play them live regularly. Not doing an album means you don’t have to disappear for two to three years to record one. You can release stuff as and when you write. That keeps things fresh and that will be good for us.
“On the negative side, once a song is out there people will illegally download it but you have to take that on the chin and get on with it.”
In popular music, from The Beatles, to Pink Floyd, to Radiohead, the album was the great artistic statement - the novel of the music world. Prior to that the concentration and consumption was of 7” singles. Albums were a rarity, usually the preserve of jazz musicians and or someone of the stature of Frank Sinatra. Today, music appears to be going back to that.
“It is swings and roundabouts,” says Rick. “I think things are returning to the 1960s when it was all singles.”
However some suggest Ash’s decision to stop releasing albums is a tacit admission that they are no longer the prominent commercial force they were from 1998 to 2004 and that their heyday is over. Rick bristles at the suggestion.
“I totally disagree,” he says. “Going down the single route is a brave move and forward thinking when a lot of other bands are not thinking that way. Muse have said they are going to release only tracks in the future and you wouldn’t say they are in decline. I think we were the first to do this and now other bands are taking our lead.”
For tickets contact the Galway Arts Festival Box Office, 1-5 Merchants Road, on 091-566577. Online booking is through www.galwayartsfestival.com
