Ash on comeback trail

Ash frontman Tim Wheeler has revealed the trio have been incredibly productive and hope to continue their prolific output before releasing their 'A to Z' singles collection.

From October, the Irish band will release a single every fortnight for a year.

Wheeler said: "We've already recorded 44 tracks and we're going to do more as well, because we're experimenting a lot. About half of them are at the level we need them to be. When we're releasing that many songs in a year, we need to be pleased with them. We'll probably have done about 55 or so by October."

The band have been absent from the music scene since 2007 when they say they took a break to "recharge" and come up with new lyrical and musical ideas and feel the time out has been beneficial.

Wheeler said: "I think it's important to have breaks to give us chance to recharge."

Bassist Mark Hamilton explained: "When we were touring before, we did about 20 months straight."

Wheeler added: "We just burn out when we're on tour, we run out of ideas because you're not used to real life. you need that sometimes."