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Darkside Lightside : The Ash Story
Inspired by gawd awful rock nonsense like Twisted Sister
and Iron Maiden,
Tim Wheeler (born 4/1/77)
and Mark Hamilton (born 21/3/77), two kids from
Downpatrick, County Down in Northern
Ireland, decided to form a band. At 12 years old, both boys got guitars from
Santa and, the unfortunately named Vietnam was born.
Cut
to 1992: Inspired by Lazergun-Nun, a band a few years
older and at the same school,
Wheeler and Hamilton ditched the dead-wood hangers-on (the rest of Vietnam are now Missing
In Action) and persuaded the geeky Rick 'Rock' McMurray
(born 11/7/75), a boy a couple of years older but at the same school, to
join on drums.
Rather impressively, McMurray had already gained notoriety amongst his
fellow school kids for wearing cowboy boots to the school disco. With McMurray
finally conned into being their sticks-man, the first incarnation of Ash was born.
At the Cosmic Rayz studio in the village of Strangford (which the band described as basically a
hut with recording equipment in it..) they laid down some of their earliest tracks...as legend has it, the mixing desk was only a
seven track, as the eighth had been knackered sometime previously..
That summer, Ash felt as if they were finally on the right track after a series of successful gigs
had given them new confidence. At this stage, the band were constantly writing
and recording new material (although, perhaps foolishly, not having the
sense to send out enough tapes to record companies..) Skrimping and saving all
their cash (including starving themselves at lunchtimes) was what the
boys had to do to raise enough money to get in the studio...Most of the songs from
the Trailer mini-album were written
at this point.
Frustrated by the lack of attention the band were attracting, Tim and the lads were beginning to
question the probabilty of actually making it big. Many of the local bands had already admitted
defeat and called it a day, and for a while, Ash looked to be the next
unfortunate lot to be labelled 'also-rans'. Luckily, fate stepped in like
Ben Kenobi with the sparkly blue bits around him in The Empire Strikes Back,
and saved the day for the disillusioned Downpatrick trio...
Local record label La La Land Records had gotten hold of a tape of the
lads, and displayed some interest in releasing a single. In the summer of
1994, Ash recorded Jack Names The Planets
for La La Land, with a view to releasing it early in '94. Whilst waiting for
Jack to be released, Ash recorded Season for
the Raptor Records compilation of Northern Irish talent.
When 'Jack' was finally released in February '94, it recieved a fair amount of
air-play on radio and thus, record companys started to finally realise the
talented trio's existence. During their Easter holidays, Tim, Mark and Rick
packed their cases and headed off for the bright lights of dear old London
town, to play some gigs and show the wide-eyed A & R men just what they were
made of...
Ash signed to newly formed independent label, Infectious Records
and the mini-album 'Trailer' was finally released (the band recorded the mini-lp during their
summer holidays..) The band went on to play numerous gigs throughout the UK and
endeared themselves to the record-buying masses by releasing scores of cracking singles such as
Petrol, Uncle Pat and
Kung Fu...
The excellent Girl From Mars
was to be the band's first UK smash in the summer of '95 (reaching number 12), followed by the Wheeler/McMurray penned Angel Interceptor a few months later.
The next single to be released was Goldfinger, and this was to
be a prelude to the soon-to-be-released LP that the boys were working on..
In 1996, Ash released their Owen Morris produced full-length debut LP, 1977, boasting
the Kung Fu, Girl From Mars, Angel Interceptor and 'Goldfinger' singles, along with the summer release
Oh Yeah (which featured backing vocals from Lisa Moorish ). Early editions of the
'1977' album include two hidden tracks : original demos of Jack Names The Planets and I Don't Know before the first track,
Lose Control. Also, a good twenty-odd minutes after the LP has seemingly
finished, the bonus track Sick Party appears in all it's splendour,
complete with the distinct sounds of teenage boys pissing and puking and enjoying
every minute...
After numerous tours and festival performances, Ash released their first single in what seemed like an eternity in
1997: A Life Less Ordinary. The track was written by the band for the
feature film of the same name, starring Trainspotting's Ewan McGregor. The film's director, Danny Boyle,
is a big fan of the band and asked them personally to contribute to the soundtrack. At the V97 concerts, Ash unveiled their new
member, 18 year old guitarist and vocalist Charlotte Hatherley, (born 20/6/79) formerly of London based outfit Night Nurse to the public at large.
Charlotte had contributed to the A Life Less Ordinary single and also appeared in the accompanying promo (in which original member Rick McMurray had to be
replaced by a 'fake Rick', due to suffering an athsma attack during filming..) and made her Ash debut in a (supposed-to-be) low-key
gig in the Camden Falcon (word leaked out that Ash were playing, so the place ended up jam-packed to the rafters)...
After playing at the historic Waterfront Hall gig with U2 in May 1998, Ash released the new Hamilton/Wheeler co-written single
Jesus Says in September. The single, released on two CDs, includes b-sides written by
Hamilton and Wheeler and also includes the first Hatherley-penned number,
Taken Out. The release of
Jesus Says was followed weeks later by the second studio LP, Nu-Clear Sounds (along the
way, Ash also released a live LP, entitled Live At The Wireless, which was essentially a session
they had recorded (pre-Charlotte) for australian radio..) The second single from Nu-Clear Sounds was the Hatherley/Wheeler song, Wild Surf, followed in April 1999 with the release of limited edition single Numbskull.
Ash returned with the fantastic Shining Light in February 2001, and announced the title
of their 'return-to-form LP', Free All Angels.
The band had also played a tour of small or obscure venues in late 2000, the fans having voted
for the little-known places they'd most like to see their favourite foursome perform.
A tour has been announced to take place late April / early May ( see the main page for more details...) to promote their third
LP.
For more accurate information on Ash releases, check the discography here
Cut
to 1992: Inspired by Lazergun-Nun, a band a few years
older and at the same school,
Wheeler and Hamilton ditched the dead-wood hangers-on (the rest of Vietnam are now Missing
In Action) and persuaded the geeky Rick 'Rock' McMurray
(born 11/7/75), a boy a couple of years older but at the same school, to
join on drums.
Rather impressively, McMurray had already gained notoriety amongst his
fellow school kids for wearing cowboy boots to the school disco. With McMurray
finally conned into being their sticks-man, the first incarnation of Ash was born.
That summer, Ash felt as if they were finally on the right track after a series of successful gigs
had given them new confidence. At this stage, the band were constantly writing
and recording new material (although, perhaps foolishly, not having the
sense to send out enough tapes to record companies..) Skrimping and saving all
their cash (including starving themselves at lunchtimes) was what the
boys had to do to raise enough money to get in the studio...Most of the songs from
the Trailer mini-album were written
at this point.
When 'Jack' was finally released in February '94, it recieved a fair amount of
air-play on radio and thus, record companys started to finally realise the
talented trio's existence. During their Easter holidays, Tim, Mark and Rick
packed their cases and headed off for the bright lights of dear old London
town, to play some gigs and show the wide-eyed A & R men just what they were
made of...
In 1996, Ash released their Owen Morris produced full-length debut LP, 1977, boasting
the Kung Fu, Girl From Mars, Angel Interceptor and 'Goldfinger' singles, along with the summer release
Oh Yeah (which featured backing vocals from Lisa Moorish ). Early editions of the
'1977' album include two hidden tracks : original demos of Jack Names The Planets and I Don't Know before the first track,
Lose Control. Also, a good twenty-odd minutes after the LP has seemingly
finished, the bonus track Sick Party appears in all it's splendour,
complete with the distinct sounds of teenage boys pissing and puking and enjoying
every minute...
After numerous tours and festival performances, Ash released their first single in what seemed like an eternity in
1997: A Life Less Ordinary. The track was written by the band for the
feature film of the same name, starring Trainspotting's Ewan McGregor. The film's director, Danny Boyle,
is a big fan of the band and asked them personally to contribute to the soundtrack. At the V97 concerts, Ash unveiled their new
member, 18 year old guitarist and vocalist Charlotte Hatherley, (born 20/6/79) formerly of London based outfit Night Nurse to the public at large.
