Interview: Ash

Surviving in today’s music industry is not easy. With little time for development, one flop single can end entire careers and with each new week comes another crop of talent determined to make their rivals yesterday’s news.

Irish rock band Ash are one of the rare exceptions, and with their summer tour about to begin and a greatest hits album due for release in October, their legacy is set to continue.

The band’s longevity – it’s almost 20 years since they formed and 15 since their hit Girl From Mars was released – is even more impressive considering the tender age at which they were propelled into fame.

Ash’s early recordings were financed by their school’s Young Enterprise fund and band members Rick McMurray, Tim Wheeler and Mark Hamilton signed their first US deal with Infectious Records before they had finished their exams.

Originally influenced by the likes of Nirvana and The Pixies, the band managed to carve a niche with their own brand of alternative rock and while many of those they started out with have split or been dropped, Ash have just kept on going.

“It’s tough in the UK as there are new bands every year,”says drummer McMurray. “Looking at the bands that were around when we started out, there are very few still going. We’re lucky to have had a pretty constant career, but that was our aim right from the start.

“We didn’t want to produce a debut album and then just disappear.”

Ash is clearly a band with staying power. After the success of Girl From Mars, the band went on to produce six studio albums, a decent back catalogue when it comes to going out on tour. “We are playing a variety of different venues, festivals and smaller club shows as well,” says McMurray. “The festival sets kind of pick themselves, and tend to span our whole career, going back to Trailer [their first ever single] right up to A-Z. There are some songs that we can’t get away with not playing; fans expect to hear them.

“Our first show is at Ben and Jerry’s festival in London. We played there a few years ago and got the chance to see The Lemonheads perform. Evan Dando watched our set, and came to congratulate us – it was so bizarre to have someone that was a teenage hero of mine giving us praise.”

Ash’s crusade across the UK is a far cry from their last tour, which showcased the experimental A-Z series. In 2009, the band released a single a fortnight over the space of a year, one for each letter of the alphabet. The project was ambitious, but the new material was a success, winning over a new generation of fans.

“The trouble was making sure we kept up the quality with each new release. But that was part of the fun of it all, it was constantly evolving and we didn’t know where we were going to end up,” says McMurray. “You can almost pick out which fans got into the band during which album. You’ve got ones that have been there from the beginning, then the younger ones who got into it on A-Z.”

Despite the excitement of the A-Z series, McMurray is glad to be going back to the band’s roots and revisiting the tracks that pushed them into the spotlight. “After the A-Z series, which was so fast-paced, we wanted to step back from releasing new material,” he says. “It’s great to have the opportunity for a career retrospective, and it seems to have come at just the right time. I’ve definitely grown up since the last tour. My girlfriend had our first child three weeks ago, so you could say I’ve grown up in the last three weeks – certainly the last nine months. I’m going to keep it together, or at least I plan to.”

So when can we expect to hear anything new from Ash? McMurray seems optimistic about the prospect of getting back to the studio.

“Eventually we will do some new recording, but I’m not sure on a time frame yet. I mean, how do you you top the A-Z series, perhaps the release of 26 albums in a year?

“It’s hard to tell what we’re going to come up with until we’re in the studio. You’re influenced by the music you hear every day without even knowing it. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Ash play Sheffield’s weekend-long Tramlines Festival on July 24, www.tramlines.org.uk

From Girl From Mars to growing up in public

1995: The band release Girl From Mars, which is used by NASA on their phone system.

1996: 1977 tops the album charts, selling more than a million copies worldwide.

1997: Ash make history, by headlining twice at Glastonbury in the same year.

2004: Meltdown, produced with Nick Raskulinecz of the Foo Fighters reveals a darker sound.

2009: The band announce the A-Z series, producing one single every fortnight for a year.

2011: The band announce a UK tour and plans for a greatest hits album later in the year.