Wheeler turns up heat on Ash’s future

Tim Wheeler doesn’t know what will happen next. “We’re working on a few songs, at the moment, but whether they’ll go on an album or not is too early to tell,” says Ash’s frontman. “We’re having fun. We haven’t played together for a while.

You go into the rehearsal studio and plug in and the muscle memory kicks in.”

Ash have an uneasy relationship with the traditional, 12-track album. After the commercial failure of 2007’s Twilight of The Innocents, the Northern Ireland three-piece swore off the format to concentrate on singles.

“At that point, if we’d done another conventional record, we would have started to repeat ourselves,” says Wheeler. “I’ve always had a very diverse taste in music. I was eager to try something different.”

“Different” is one way to describe their 2009 A-Z project. Starting in October of that year, the group released a new single every fortnight.

Encompassing every imaginable genre — from heavy rock to disco — the undertaking was exhausting and liberating. It recharged Ash as they were becoming jaundiced and gave their media profile a boost. But after 26 singles, they were creatively hollowed-out.

“It was tough,” says Wheeler. “We needed to chill out. The other guys have kids. They required some home-time. I compose soundtracks and did a Christmas album [with girlfriend Emmy The Great]. So far as studio work is concerned, Ash have been taking it easy.”

Their upcoming tour involves several weeks in Australia, performing their debut album, 1977, in its entirety. Though Wheeler isn’t one for nostalgia, he is fond of the LP. Released when the group were still teenagers, it catapulted them into the top tier of indie bands, with hits such as ‘Girl From Mars’ and ‘Kung-Fu’ cracking the top ten in Ireland and Britain.

Inevitably, there was a backlash. With their 1998 follow-up, Nu Clear Sounds, flopping quite spectacularly, Ash’s future seemed in doubt.

Salvation came from the last place they had expected. “Video games were getting into licensing music. Gran Turismo, the driving game, was one of the first to do it. They licensed our song, ‘Lose Control’. It was a big help.”

Wheeler was just 21 and there was a real possibility his career might be over. “I remember all of the bands that had arrived, at around the same time as us, were seeing their second records under-perform. We had lots of hype. Here was the backlash. The knives were out. What really messed us up was that we’d shot this tour film of 1977, which cost a quarter of a million and was never released. Luckily, Gran Turismo called and we were able to keep going,” Wheeler says.

Ash are facing into a busy summer. As well as performing at Leopardstown, this week, they headline a string of dates across the Continent, before touring Asia.

Having been away, it is encouraging to know that their fanbase is still there, says Wheeler.

“We haven’t been putting out music lately. It is great that people want to see us. It means all of the hard work that we put in down the years was worthwhile. And it makes me excited for the future too. In the studio, we’re focusing on three-minute punk-pop songs. The vibe we are going for is old-school Ash. I’m looking forward to seeing how it all plays out.”

* Ash perform at Leopardstown Racecourse, Dublin tomorrow night.