Discalimer: This interview included free tickets to Ash Concert.
It took Ash just two years to go from Downpatrick community halls to the history books. Signed at Seventeen in 1994, the legendary rock trio became the youngest Glastonbury headliners to date. But defining the sound of the nineties came with its own pressures. On Sunday the16th of November, the Northern Irish band continued their legacy, returning to Swansea for a highly anticipated show at Sin City, where I caught up with drummer Rick “Rock” McMurray and frontman Tim Wheeler.
“It was being in the right place, right time”
Even three decades later, their greatest moments sound like pure rock chaos. Speaking about that record-breaking Glastonbury slot, Wheeler recalls the thrill of being a last-minute headliner: “It was being in the right place, right time.” The moment Eavis asked them to fill in for Steve Winwood, who was unable to get on site with the apocalyptic weather, was unforgettable: “We got back to our tour bus and had a knock on the door, asking, ‘Can you headline tomorrow night?’”. Headlining beside The Prodigy and Radiohead, while being only nineteen years old, Ash remembers the experience as “sort of a magical thing” as though a crowd of that size “becomes a sea”.
With the cult-like reaction to their debut album, 1977, Ash was thrust into the limelight, where the pressure quickly became overwhelming; “I think we were quite burnt out, because we weren’t prepared for how much touring 1977 would bring”, says McMurray. With many of their contemporaries being dropped by labels at the time, Ash was aware “that could be us”, marking an era that forged their resilience: “if that was going to happen, then let’s go out at the top of our game”. They instead redirected focus on “taking control of our identity”.
“Post 1977, there was a lot of record label pressure. Where’s the next album?”
Approaching the controversial reaction to their sophomore album Nuclear Sounds, McMurray reveals, “we were being marketed in a very mainstream way” during the Britpop era. The album is a clapback to “just put that idea to bed”. Though the trio have no regrets with how they dealt with the “downward dip” as it “gave us a lot of resilience”, contributing to making Ash who they are today.
This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of Girl from Mars, which McMurray notes inspired the title of their new album Ad Astra, a translation of “to the stars”. The number one hit was undeniably the loudest song of the night, closely tied with their cover of Jump in the Line. I hadn’t known what to expect from an Ash audience, but the reaction was immediate: this was a crowd of die-hards. The passion and loyalty radiating from the long-term fans was an infectious force that drove the entire night. My personal favourite of the night was Burn Baby Burn, a track from their album Free All Angels: the eruption from the crowd felt inevitable.
Three decades in, Ash is still hungry to prove themselves. Not letting themselves be defined by the nineties, their sound continues to evolve: “doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing it, you’re still learning”. They haven’t reached their idea of success until they “die on stage”. Despite their three-decade-long journey, Ash is still secretly striving “for a freak hit”.
When asked for advice to young musicians trying to forge their way into the industry, Wheeler suggests that “you have to be ready to adapt”, emphasising the importance of “being good live”. McMurray knows “It’s a different world to what it was back in the nineties,” but his DIY spirit remains: he encourages young bands to “go to a pawn shop”; for inspiration and not take small venues for granted: “they’re massively important to the future of the industry”. Their advice is simple: “Challenge yourself, you’ll surprise yourself constantly”.
Words by Ellie Evans
