Ash: Keeping the fire alive

From teen idols to flops and back again, Ash have always been willing to adapt to the ever-changing music biz, writes Ed Power

THE past few years have been rough for Ash’s Tim Wheeler. In January 2011, his father passed away after a long, debilitating battle with Alzheimer’s. Meanwhile, the popularity of his band has ebbed and flowed as they struggled to step outside the shadow of the glorious first phase of their career, and teenage hits such as ‘Girl From Mars’ and ‘Goldfinger’.

But things are at last looking up for the still-boyish 38-year-old. He channeled the pain of his father’s death into a deeply moving solo record, Lost Domain. Ash, for their part, have returned with Kablammo!, their first album proper in eight years. This, Wheeler elaborates, is merely the start of the good news.

“A new Star Wars movie is coming out,” exclaims the singer, a prominent enthusiast of all things Luke Skywalker (Ash’s debut LP, 1977, opened with the sampled droning of Rebel Alliance snow speeders. “I saw the trailer and really liked it. Of course, after the last films [George Lucas’s notoriously rubbish prequels] my expectations are lowered.

Ash actually “headlined” the wrap party for 1999’s The Phantom Menace, at the invitation of Ewan McGregor (the young Obi Wan Kenobi). “That was amazing — to be on the set and see all the actors. We were also invited to Industrial Light and Magic [the FX house established by Lucas] and made music for a Star Wars computer game.”

NEW DIRECTIONS

Presently, Wheeler’s thoughts are very much earth-bound. In May, Ash returned to the long-play format with Kablammo!. It had been some time. Following the perceived under-performance of Twilight Of The Innocents in 2007, Ash had proclaimed themselves done and dusted with full length records (in hindsight we can say that Innocents was not a flop exactly — it had the misfortune to arrive the year music sales collapsed in earnest).

Instead, they launched an audacious ‘singles club’, with subscribers receiving a new 7” every two weeks. “We’d put out five albums and a mini-LP,” Wheeler says. “For all those years we’d basically done the same thing over and over. You’d make record, go on tour. It was good to try something different.”

Wheeler is proud the group went out on a limb — many others have since followed their example — but confesses to missing the sense of thematic unity a self-contained record brings. Kablammo! was doubly welcome as it served as a palate cleanser following Lost Domain, written during his father’s three-year struggle with Alzheimer’s. After so much darkness it was important to acknowledge the light.

“It was good to get a sense of fun back into the music,” Wheeler agrees. “There was definitely a period of readjusting, going from something so heavy to getting back into an Ash frame of mind.”

It’s a cliche but pouring his feelings about his father, his mental decline and death, into songs genuinely brought closure reveals Wheeler. “I’m surprised how much it meant to me,” he says. “There was a 12-month gap between recording and releasing the album. Just putting it out was extremely cathartic — as was going and singing in front of people. You’re going to get these curveballs through your life. Nobody has it easy. Maybe music helps you understand.”

PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG ARTIST

Wheeler was still at school in Downpatrick, Co Down, when Ash formed in 1992 (they were said to have chosen their name after opening a random page in a dictionary). Theirs was an alarmingly rapid ascent. Before they’d even sat their A-levels, their 1994 mini-LP Trailer was picked up by BBC Radio 1 and the group was quickly the toast of the British music press. They were literally teenage idols.

However, their overnight breakthrough was followed by a serious reversal, with their second LP Nu-Clear Sounds a critical and commercial disaster. Without a record deal and heavily in debt, the future was in question. Retreating to Wheeler’s parents’ garage, they dug in and wrote Free All Angels, the project that would turn their career around, yielding the hits ‘Shining Light’ and ‘Burn Baby Burn’, the former winning the award for best contemporary song at the Ivor Novellos.

Wheeler has lived in New York for 15 years, where he runs the Atomic Heart studio. While his life has moved on significantly from Ash’s early days, he retains enormous warmth for that period and still enjoys performing the old hits. Time has brought a welcome perspective.

“I look back at those songs very positively,” he once told me. “It gives me an insight into the state of mind of a young man, someone who was a bit innocent, trying to make sense of the world. And I love performing them. It’s not because it makes me feel nostalgic. It’s just great to get inside the songs again. By now I can be reasonably objective about them. I think they stand up very well today.”

THE WAY WE USED TO BE

In their late 30s, Ash are old enough to remember the way it used to be, when people paid for music and record labels were able, to a significant degree, to dictate public tastes. Wheeler reflects with fondness on that period, though of course understands there is no returning. You can’t outrun the future.

“We were 17 years old, being flown to LA to be wined and dined by these major labels. It was very exciting. I definitely miss the old days. But the new ways have upsides too — you can communicate directly with your fans. And everything doesn’t hinge on your new album being a hit. You used to panic about your record flopping. What if you were dropped by your label and all the rest.

“These days you can interact with your fanbase through websites such as Kickstarter. It isn’t all negative. I suppose the people it’s hardest for are younger groups starting out. We’re lucky in that our fans have stayed with us.”

He is on the fence about music streaming. Wheeler has yet to try Apple Music but presumes the records Ash released with Warner are on it. He shrugs, as if it were all somehow irrelevant to a working musician.

“I still have an iPod. I need to update my phone. I haven’t tried Apple Music. I’m sure we’re receiving royalties from all those streaming services. No doubt I’ll get that cheque for £3 in the post any day now.”

Ash headline Indiependence at Deer Farm Mitchelstown, Cork, tomorrow. Tonight’s headliners are Basement Jaxx, while Kodaline play on Sunday. www.indiependencefestival.com