CityLife

Interview: Ash

Ash

TIM Wheeler, diminutive frontman of venerable Downpatrick band Ash, is reflecting about their recent A-Z tour of Britain, which saw the trio venture into the kind of places rock groups usually avoid, including Loughborough and Ventnor.

After beginning in Aldershot, they finished last week in Zennor, in Cornwall, which has a population of 217. “We played in the village hall to 70 people,” laughs Wheeler.

“I’d definitely say this has to be the most fun tour we’ve ever done. We didn’t know what we were in for each day – we played in the backrooms of pubs, nightclubs, a strip bar.

“Sometimes, the dressing rooms have been so unusable, we’ve had to change in the van.

“In stark contrast, I can remember doing an arena tour with The Darkness and it was just so depressing. Every venue was exactly the same every day and you’re so far away from the audience.”

Embarking upon a touring schedule taking in such unpromisingly-named haunts as Worcester’s Dive Bar and The Pitz Club in Milton Keynes may sound somewhat unconventional, but then these are interesting times for Ash.

After their last album, 2007’s Twilight Of The Innocent, they vowed never to release another long-player and instead devote their lives to a succession of downloadable singles.

'Mad tangents'

At first this might sound like the creative equivalent of throwing in the towel, but consider that Ash have always specialised in sprints rather than marathons (their unimpeachable singles collection, Intergalactic Sonic 7’s is their definitive ‘album’), and thus their plan to release 26 new songs – one a fortnight – over the course of a year via a subscription service on their website makes perfect sense.

“Putting out the last album, we just felt that albums don’t achieve as much as they used to, they’re not the be all and end all anymore,” elaborates Wheeler.

“Creatively, we’ve done six albums so it’s just not inspiring to do another.

“By concentrating on singles, it refreshed the songwriting because it doesn’t have to fit together, it can be varied, which has inspired us to go off on lots of mad tangents.”

After parting company with their label Warner Brothers two years ago, Wheeler admits he felt disillusioned with the music industry. “They spent a fortune and then basically gave up on the album before it even came out,” he says.

“It was heartbreaking because it was probably the album we’d put the most work into ever,  and it was really depressing to be at the mercy of someone elses’ decision.

“The one thing that really kept us going through that time was the Time track. It’s such an epic and amazing song that it just gave me confidence that there’s way more life left in this band. If it hadn’t been for that song, we’d have probably jacked it in.”

'Under-appreciated'

Nevertheless, Ash are adroit at returning back from the brink. Despite shifting two million copies of their debut 1977 (the date of their birth), the group teetered on the verge of bankruptcy after the failure of its follow-up Nu-Clear Sounds – only to reverse their fortunes with 2001’s No 1 album Free All Angels. Wheeler admits he’s “never made decisions based on money” which explains splashing £250,000 on a Ewan McGregor tour documentary called Teenage Wildlife, only for it to never see the light of day.

“It was just us partying constantly and we thought it would prevent people from taking us seriously,” admits Wheeler.

“My favourite scene is we’re playing this tiny club and Mark (Hamilton, bassist) was so drunk, he couldn’t stand up so he was leaning against the wall.

“He ends up with his back on the floor, and manages to hit the last note before passing out.”

However,  if Ash – who once possessed  the fiscal mismanagement  of an Enron executive (they also haemorrhaged cash on a never-released slasher flick featuring an all-star cast and, quite tantalisingly, Chris Martin being axed to death) – now have to act as label bosses, it hasn’t come at the cost of their pop nous: tracks such as the John Hughes-soundtrack-alike True Love 1980 and forthcoming radio single Spaceshot confirm Wheeler to be one of the three-and-a-half minute songsmiths of his generation.

“I mean, we definitely feel under-appreciated,” he concludes. “All the time.

“But at the minute, it’s a healthy thing because it’s driving us to work really hard until people finally realise.”

The A-Z series of singles is continuing via  ash-official.com. Letter E, The Dead Disciples, is released on December 7, 2009.