1977
The Hot Press Newsdesk, 19 Dec 2009
Northern power trio Ash were still at school when they began recording their debut album 1977 (the year of their birth, and the release of Star Wars) with Oasis producer Owen Morris. They’d already notched up a succession of hit singles like ‘Kung Fu’ and ‘Girl From Mars’, sawn-off punk-pop nuggets that suggested The Undertones, the Shangri-La’s and Nirvana in equal measure. Teenage kicks abounded: here was a band who were the same age as their hormonal audience. And yet, frontman Tim Wheeler displayed a songwriting nous that reflected an understanding of Spector as well as Dinosaur Jr. The classic ‘Goldfinger’ perfectly encapsulated nowheresville restlessness, while ‘Oh Yeah’ was an elegant hymn to the intoxication of gap year romance. It wasn’t a perfect record but a serious debut, that went straight to No. 1 in the UK and spawned no less than four hit singles.
No 9 in 2009, as voted for by over 200 Irish musicians. Up from No 17 in 2004.
The Hot Press Newsdesk
Photo Galleries For This Artist
Latest Related Articles For This Artist
The Tim Wheeler and Ilan Eshkeri scored 2012 film hits the shops on January 28.
News: 2013-01-29
How does the idea of watching Ash play a live acoustic set from the comfort of your own living room sound?
News: 2012-11-13
To coincide with their 20th anniversary celebrations, Ash release Little Infinity, an EP of cover versions.
News: 2012-06-13
The Ash frontman lends his vocals to ‘Dumb Angel’.
News: 2012-06-05
Latest Related Videos For This Artist
'Shining Light' is more popular than the likes of 'Teenage Kicks', according to BBC Radio Ulster.
2012-05-23 - News
One and done for their Irish festival frolics in 2012...
2012-04-16 - News
Emmy The Great and the Ash frontman have collaborated on This Is Christmas and you can get the first track now.
2011-10-13 - News
Over 130 events will take place around the city at the end of the month.
2011-10-04 - News
They will each perform one of their classic albums in sequence.
2011-09-20 - News
The alt-rockers will release Best Of Ash on October 14 ahead of their gig at The Academy on October 18.
2011-09-14 - News
The alt-rockers will play a Free All Angels gig in Dublin’s Academy on October 18.
2011-09-13 - News
Charlotte Hatherley will rejoin the boys for three shows in October.
2011-08-09 - News
Tim Wheeler on visiting Sligo, his soundtrack project, new Ash material and why he’s translating ‘Kung Fu’ into Japanese.
2011-06-10 - Interview
Ash man goes acoustic at July arts and music festival
2011-06-09 - News
Over 120 acts to descend on Sligo in June
2011-05-25 - News
The trio will follow up their Whelan's gig with two further June shows
2011-05-10 - News
Downpatrick's finest will make their way to Dublin this Summer
2011-04-19 - News
The Ash mainman will be at the Oh Yeah music centre on January 11
2011-01-04 - News
The group will be joined on the stage in Cork by Cathy Davey, Fight Like Apes and more
2010-11-22 - News
The chaps are also getting seriously smoochy on their new single!
2010-08-07 - News
They're playing the Oh Yeah Music Centre the day before heading to Punchestown.
2010-06-28 - News
And they're popping in to the Hot Press Signing Tent at Oxegen!
2010-06-25 - News
Charlotte gets its with an axe while Chris Martin investigates!
2010-05-27 - News
They've also unleashed letter 'Q' in their A to Z series of singles.
2010-04-29 - News
Patrick Freyne interviews Ash about reinvention and 21st century music making.
2010-04-26 - Interview
The guitarist will accompany the Northern Irish band on their upcoming UK tour.
2010-03-23 - News
Tickets for the 7up Paddy’s Day Party are up for grabs now!
2010-02-18 - News
The boys will be broadcasting live from New York on Wednesday night.
2010-02-02 - News
'Return Of The White Rabbit', released today, marks the launch of the band's A-Z Series, which will commence in September.
2009-05-20 - News
The 'Burn Baby Burn' boys are to play a second night at the Bloomsbury Ballroom, London on Sunday June 7.
2009-04-24 - News
It’s not a news story we ever expected to write, but Annie Lennox has covered an Ash song as one of the bonus cuts on her new ‘Best Of’.
2008-08-09 - News
Mojo Fury, the Delawares and Ed Zealous are among the acts now confirmed for the one-day Derry festival, which will be led by Northern legends Ash.
2008-07-02 - News
Ash will headline Draperstown's Glasgowbury festival in Derry this July.
2008-06-06 - News
Ash have pencilled in a date for this summer's Galway Arts Festival.
2008-05-13 - News
Ash will be joining the front benches of Dail Eireann in the grand tradition of the St. Patrick's Day exodus this year.
2008-02-18 - News
Ash will be coming home for some live dates this December.
2007-11-05 - News
Are Ash reinventing themselves as some kind of Sparklehorse/Super Furry Animals hybrid? Because, on the strength of this single, you’d swear they’d pulled off just such a transformation. They’ve given free rein to their pop sensibilities with a chorus as wide as an open horizon, while the Beatles plunge that leads into the second verse certainly shivered my timbers. Elsewhere, the guitar solo flickers to a blaze big enough to convince us that the Ash we know and love are still in there somewhere. It’s a belter – the sound of a summer we haven’t yet been given.
2007-09-04 - REVIEW
Ash take to the road this October to promote their new album Twilight of the Innocents.
2007-07-12 - News
30th Anniversary Retrospective: On the eve of the release of their fifth album, Ash talk longevity, writing songs in Bono’s summer house and why Twilight Of The Innocents is not a pipe-and-slippers album.
2007-06-20 - Interview
Recently revealed to be the last ever Ash album, Twilight Of The Innocents re-announces the group's commitment to melody and proves they have successfully re-ignited their creative spark.
2007-06-14 - REVIEW
Twilight Of The Innocents, out July 2, will be Ash’s last album, says frontman Tim Wheeler. But the band are not planning to split.
2007-06-13 - News
Ash are playing an in-store gig in HMV, Belfast this month.
2007-06-12 - News
Written in France at Bono’s house, no less, it seems that all the excitement of meeting the man himself made Tim Wheeler forget the basics of creating a song. Stuff like melody. Remember that Tim? From a band who brought us ballads as strong as ‘Oh Yeah’ and ‘Shining Light’, anything less than perfection is a disappointment, and this is a wishy-washy track that’s as uninventive with the string section as is with the lyrics. Cool packaging though.
2007-06-11 - REVIEW
Ash have given an onstage indication that the new album may well be their last.
2007-06-11 - News
Not content with selling out gigs all over the shop, Ash are looking for someone to edit their official fanzine.
2007-05-23 - News
It’s a forbidding date – no I’m not talking about Friday the 13th, I’m referring to Ash’s first Belfast date proper since the departure of guitarist Charlotte Hatherley.
2007-05-03 - REVIEW
The Downpatrick band Ash have announced a trio of smaller-than-usual gigs on home turf.
2007-05-02 - News
Hot Press can exclusively reveal the bill that accompanies the Red Bull X-Fighter Freestyle Motocrosss bash at Slane Castle - the headliner of which is Ash.
2007-04-18 - News
The line-up for the always-stellar Trinity Ball has been announced, with Ash headlining.
2007-04-05 - News
Downpatrick trio Ash are preparing for their new album release in a highly generous way - by offering a fans a free taster.
2007-02-26 - News
Ash have confirmed that their first post-Charlotte Hatherley album will be coming out in March.
2007-01-09 - News
Downpatrick’s finest, Ash, are back in the studio, recording the follow-up to 2004’s Meltdown.
2006-09-21 - News
Tim Wheeler has been talking about the new Ash album, which looks like emerging in 2007.
2006-06-06 - News
After several weeks of will she/won’t she speculation, Charlotte Hatherley has left Ash to pursue her solo career.
2006-01-21 - News
There was much quaffing of champagne in the Ash camp last week as Sir Paul McCartney presented Tim Wheeler with an honorary companionship at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.
2005-08-03 - News
Not one but two of their tour buses caught on fire during Ash's recent American jaunt
2005-06-27 - News
Free and intimate: Ash play Newry later this month
2005-06-08 - News
In town for their U2 support show, Ash have announced a headline date at the Spring & Airbrake
2005-06-03 - News
Ash have been confirmed as U2's special guests for their third date at Croke Park
2005-05-09 - News
Ash have pulled the planned release of a download-only mini-album, Evil Eye
2005-04-28 - News
Not content with touring their album around the United States, Ash are also set to infiltrate the world of video games
2005-02-02 - News
Having been pounding the festival beat since Oxegen (taking in trips to the likes of Hungary & Japan!) Ash have confirmed an Autumnal return to Irish shores.
2004-09-03 - News
Tim Wheeler, Justin Hawkins and Har Mar Superstar may well be joining forces if Charlotte Hatherly is to be believed...
2004-07-15 - News
Recorded in sunny California, under the sonic supervision of Nick ‘Foo Fighters’ Raskulinecz, Ash’s fourth studio album is one big-sounding, drums-pounding, amps-to-eleven, NOISY MOTHERFUCKER of a record (as the irate neighbour said to the policeman).
2004-06-01 - REVIEW
Having dominated the charts here for the past ten years, Ash are gearing up for a full-scale invasion of America. Stuart Clark dons his hard hat as Tim, Mark, Rick and Charlotte tell him about their new record of mass destruction Meltdown, and the A-list celebrity company they’ve been keeping in the city of angels.
2004-05-12 - Interview
As is often the case when bands have a whole host of new material they're itching to try out, the crowd become slightly restless midway through the evening. The Meltdown material sounds great, but there's no getting around the fact that we've come to hear the old favourites, and the band know it.
2004-04-26 - REVIEW
Tim Wheeler is thrilled to announce Ash's first hometown gig in ten years
2004-04-15 - News
Wheeler and company will be rocking the floating pontoon on May 1 as part of the BBC Music Live festival
2004-03-29 - News
Well sort of ... Not content with priming their Meltdown album for April release, Ash have recorded a cover of the Buzzcocks' 'Everybody's Happy Nowadays' with one C. Martin on backing-vocals.
2004-03-15 - News
April 22 will see Ash play their very first, very anticipated gig of the year
2004-03-10 - News
Get a taste of Ash: their new tune 'Clones' will become available to download from their official website
2004-02-23 - News
Ash's forthcoming album comes with a warning from Tim Wheeler: "It'll tear your face off."
2004-01-29 - News
Confused? Don't be - it's just a day in the life of Ash
2003-11-13 - News
Guitarist Charlotte Hatherley is making solo jaunts on the side of Ash
2003-09-30 - News
Tim Wheeler and co will be heading into the studio in Los Angeles with Foo Fighters producer Nick Raskulinecz
2003-08-19 - News
Sources reveal Ash will headline Day 2 of the Belfast festival in September
2003-07-21 - News
The Ash singer goes ahead with show despite an arm infection
2003-05-09 - News
Ash have confirmed reports that they're opening for Robbie Williams in August when he descends on the Phoenix Park.
2003-04-28 - News
Ash make their TV debut with a half-hour celluloid opus entitled Ash: Love And Destruction
2003-01-24 - News
It’s all about broken down tour buses, Alan Partridge, high speed collisions, Moby, broken ribs, Mina Suvari, MTV stars and David Bowie as Ash launch a sonic assault on America. So riddle me this: can Ireland’s hardest-working rock’n’roll outfit crack the big one?
2002-09-11 - Interview
Intergalactic Sonic Seven's (soon to be followed by a B-side compilation) is a collection of absoloutely cracking tunes that might just bring the acclaim that has so far escaped Ash in the US
2002-09-05 - REVIEW
Ash somehow cajole James Nesbitt, Dave Grohl and (next victim!) Chris Martin into appearing in their homemade "crazy teen slasher" short
2002-09-03 - News
Tim Wheeler out of Ash recounts their near-miss in America. Meanwhile, the worst of their injuries - drummer Rick's - may cost them Reading and Leeds slots
2002-08-20 - News
Ash involved in highway accident in northwestern US - and very lucky to escape serious injury
2002-08-19 - News
Ash release Intergalactic Sonic 7"s best-of collection - and we've got a preview of the cover art right here
2002-08-15 - News
Ash get great reviews on Moby's Area:2 tour of the US - not least from Moby himself
2002-07-18 - News
You cook them, we serve them up in the Q&A cantina. At the table to answer the questions posed, in our second serving this fortnight, by members of hotpress.com: Ash
2002-05-01 - Interview
To celebrate their tenth birthday, Ash are releasing a Best Of double CD, jammed with their 17 ass-kicking singles and featuring "selected highlights" from the B-sides. The title? "We don't have one at the moment," says Tim, "so if anyone's got a good idea, send them to us"
2002-04-18 - News
Got questions for Ash? Tim Wheeler and Rick McMurray are ready, willing, able and waiting eagerly to help you with those. Give 'em here
2002-04-11 - News
Farewell, not-so-sweet Dreamworks: Ash ink US deal with Kinetic (home of Timo Maas, Paul Oakenfold & South)
2002-03-21 - News
They came, they saw, they conquered - again. Ash's comeback kid Tim Wheeler looks back over a spectacular year. Angel interceptor: Kim Porcelli
2002-01-17 - Interview
Prior to their dates in the Ambassador comes the unleashing of Tokyo Blitz, an hour-long DVD
2001-11-29 - News
Muse opened up the Heineken Weekender in Galway with an emotionally charged show. Offerings included the wonderful ‘Uno’, current hit ‘New Born’ and a selection of hard-hitting tunes from 1999’s Showbiz album.
2001-06-07 - REVIEW
Sixteen is a state of mind that, like that summer feeling, haunts you the rest of your life. It’s a quickening of stirrings into one overwhelming surge of sense and sensuality: cars, girls, noise, boys, surf, sand and sea breezes.
2001-04-12 - REVIEW
When I first started showing a real interest in music, and buying 7'' singles every week in Downpatrick's 'Sounds' for my 99p pocket money, videos weren't as available.
1999-05-26 - REVIEW
Of all their undeniable qualities, it is Ash’s bone dry sense of humour and their eye for unnervingly absurd detail that bodes most auspiciously for their long-term future.
1994-11-16 - REVIEW
Ash: “Jack Names The Planets”/”Don’t Know” (La La Land)
1994-02-09 - REVIEW
hotpress.com
Blogs on hotpress.com
Additional Sites on hotpress.com
- The Music Show
- The Jagermeister Freezer Sessions
- Hot Press Rock Photo
- The Philip Lynott Exhibition
- The INEC Homegrown Sessions
- HTC One Hotpress Photojournalist
- Genre Free Compilation
- MIX 13: Music Industry Xplained
- Shoot To Thrill: Make a Hot Press Cinema Ad
- Other Voices
- Best of Ireland
- The Big Break
- Hot for 2013
- Josh Ritter
- Eoin Glackin
- Bitter Rocc
Contact Us
Hot Press,
13 Trinity Street,
Dublin 2.
Rep. Of Ireland
Tel: +353 (1) 241 1500
Email:info@hotpress.ie
Click here for more contact information.
Click here to find out more about Hot Press
Hot Press always welcomes feed back so if you've got something to tell us click here.
Advertise With Us
For more detail on how to advertise with Hot Press click here or call us on +353 (1) 241 1540
©Hot Press 2012. Why be a member? | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | About Us Jobs @ Hot Press