News Archive

Ash are among a group of artists who have who have been hand picked by Marshall’s ‘M is for Music’ series to design t-shirts, £10 from every sale will go to directly charity. Ash’s shirt will be available to purchase from next month. You can view Ash’s shirt design here.

Full Details:Marshall Artist has reinvented itself for A/W 2007 with the “M is for Music” series. Marshall Artist has hand picked an exclusive group of guest designers from across the wide world of music.
The complete list of artists is: Amp Fiddler Ash, Larrikin Love, Lauren Laverne, Mani, Nightmares on Wax, Paul Oakenfold, Rob da Bank, Roots Manuva, Shaun Ryder, The Mitchell Brothers, The Subways, and Trevor Nelson.

£10 from every t-shirt sold will be donated to the charity of the artist’s choice. So by purchasing one of the ‘M is for Music’ t-shirts, not only are you demonstrating your allegiance to your favourite artist and bagging yourself an ace garment into the bargain, but you will be helping to improve the lives of others.

The ‘M is for Music’ series will be available across the UK from September.

You may have noticed we’ve been away for a few weeks, here’s some of the Ash snippets we’ve missed:

‘End Of The World’ Video Shoot
Ash’s manager Stephen Taverner has uploaded some photos from the video shoot of Ash’s new single ‘End Of The World’. The new video was shot in Tokyo, and features the band playing against pretty lights and skyscrapers, it also features a horse and ferris wheel.

Fuji Rock Photos
Ash’s manager Stephen Taverner has also uploaded some photos of Ash’s performance at the Fuji Rock Festival.

Melbourne Setlist
Ash played a gig in Melbourne, Australia at the Prince of Wales on August 1st. The setlist ran as follows:

I Started A Fire, You Can’t Have It All, Orpheus, Angel Interceptor, End Of The World, Walking Barefoot, Ritual, Goldfinger, A Life Less Ordinary, Polaris, Jack Names The Planets, Kung Fu, Renegade Cavalcade, Folksong, Girl From Mars, Twilight Of The Innocents.

Encore: Blacklisted, Oh Yeah, Numbskull, Burn Baby Burn

Rising From The Ashes
There’s are article with Tim Wheeler from Ash over on the Scotland on Sunday website, Tim talks about the personal nature of the songs on the new record, the departure of Charlotte Hatherley, and the future and their decision to release EP’s and singles instead of albums. Here’s some preview bits from the article:

“It’s all Chinese whispers. We hear something she says then she hears something supposedly from us and things are taken out of context. I have nothing but good things to say about her, and I am looking forward to seeing her. It reached a weird point where she had to go out and stake her independence and I guess we did too in our own way.”

“We’re a band, we’ve got our own studio, we’ve got a fan base and the internet. Why not use that to get stuff out a lot faster and more direct? And it will be a lot more interactive because we can feed off people’s reactions to stuff. We will aim to release at least three or four singles or EPs each year in the future. You won’t just be stuck with people’s perceptions being limited to one album that will form their opinion about you for the next three years.”

This is a copy of the press release the band released to the press today regarding future Ash releases. The band will be discussing this in more detail soon, but were keen to avoid any confusion by explaining that this does not signal the end of physical releases. Bassist Mark Hamilton added: ‘Things are just gonna be different and we’re gonna have a lot of fun with formats and you the fans will get more content a lot quicker… it also does not state anywhere that we’re going independant’.

Irish rock band announce radical new music industry business model

London, June 12th 2007 – International rock band Ash, have announced bold new plans to cease releasing future albums in the traditional way.

On the eve of what will become their final album, ‘Twilight Of The Innocents’, the band have taken the decision to only release singles in the future.

Known for consistently writing hit singles since the early 90′s (17 top 40 hits, an Ivor Novello award and five Top 10 albums), the band feel it is time to make a stand in the future digital arena by only releasing singles. Periodically, the band will release compilation cd’s featuring the aforementioned singles.

Famously known for their pro-active stance on the internet (the band were the first to cultivate a huge loyal following using their online message board, were the first to use the internet via a fledgling nme.com, to get fans to vote for which tour towns they should play and had the first ever number one single in the download charts), the band feel it is now time to fully embrace the digital future of the music industry.

Owning their own recording studio means that the band will be able to write, record and release their music almost instantly, their fans will then benefit from not having to wait the usual ‘years’ between albums.

At a time when the music industry is in flux and with record sales at an all-time low, marketing music in the traditional sense is becoming increasingly less financially viable. The band hope that by harnessing the power of the internet and by being more creative in the way their singles are marketed, the record company can maximise sales, increase profits and enhance their already impressive 13 year career.

Tim Wheeler from the band:

‘The way people listen to music has changed, with the advent of the download the emphasis has reverted to single tracks. It hasn’t helped that most people have forgotten how to make a decent album. I’m constantly disappointed with records I buy. I believe our new album is the pinnacle of everything we’ve done thus far, and I’m proud that this will be remembered as our last album. The future lies elsewhere and we can have a lot of fun by changing things up. It’s like the Wild West at the moment, a time to take chances and try out new ideas.

When you’re tied to the album format, you find yourself waiting six months between finishing a record and releasing it. By leaving this behind we can enter a new phase of spontaneity and creativity. We have our own studio in New York, we can record a track and release it the next day if we feel like it, give it to people while it’s fresh. We’re the first band to do this , but I very much doubt we’ll be the last.

We’ve been one of the best singles bands of the last two decades and we’re still younger than a lot of bands on the current scene. I’m excited to push this claim further by dedicating ourselves wholly to the art of the single for the digital age.’

Ash have made a statement denying the recent rumours that are about to split up but have confirmed that their forthcoming record ‘Twilight Of The Innocents’ will be their last.

Speculation about the band’s future started on Saturday (June 9) at the Isle Of Wight Festival, when their frontman Tim Wheeler introduced their new title track by telling the audience it was the last song from their ‘last album’. However the band have ended speculation over their future, explaining that they will continue but will not release albums in the conventional way any more.

‘The way people listen to music has changed, with the advent of the download the emphasis has reverted to single tracks. It hasn’t helped that most people have forgotten how to make a decent album. I’m constantly disappointed with records I buy,’ declared Wheeler. ‘I believe our new album is the pinnacle of everything we’ve done thus far, and I’m proud that this will be remembered as our last album. The future lies elsewhere and we can have a lot of fun by changing things up. It’s like the Wild West at the moment and a time to take chances and try out new ideas.’

The band explained that they will use digital means to distribute their songs, which they hope to do more often then the current system allows.

‘When you’re tied to the album format, you find yourself waiting six months between finishing a record and releasing it,’ said the singer. ‘By leaving this behind we can enter a new phase of spontaneity and creativity. We have our own studio in New York, we can record a track and release it the next day if we feel like it, give it to people while it’s fresh. We’re the first band to do this, but I very much doubt we’ll be the last.’

He added: ‘We’ve been one of the best singles bands of the last two decades and we’re still younger than a lot of bands on the current scene. I’m excited to push this claim further by dedicating ourselves wholly to the art of the single for the digital age.’

Ash’s ‘final’ album ‘Twilight Of The Innocents’ will be released on July 2nd.

NME.com are running a story suggesting that the bands upcoming album ‘Twilight Of The Innocents’, out in the UK on July 2nd, will be their last.

This was triggered by a comment Ash frontman Tim Wheeler made on stage during the bands show at the Isle Of Wight festival yesterday (June 9). The comment has been taken to suggest Ash might be about to split. Introducing the set closer Tim told the crowd:

‘This is the last song of our final album’

Indeed this may have been misunderstood, misheard or taken out of context. The band have said in various interviews this year that they feel they have a few more years in them yet. They have also rented a recording studio in New York which still has another two years to run on the lease.

So far the band have yet to clarify the onstage comments.

Andrew Kelsall, a graphic designer over at sqwink.com has written an informative review on the artwork for Ash’s forthcoming album. ‘Twilight of the Innocents’, out Monday 2nd July, as well as artwork for the bands previous albums. Be sure to head and over and give it a read

Ash have launch a competition via their official myspace site, and the prize is none other than a trip to the bands studio in NYC to hear the new album and hang out with the band.

For now to be in with a chance of winning you have to add this banner to your myspace page & tell your friends, or add Ash to your “Top Friends List” then add this banner to your myspace or as a comment on your friends’ pages to spread the word.

On May 25th all of the bands friends will be bulletined on how to win the prize!

Here’s the code:
<span class=”mceItemEmbed” src=”http://www.ash-official.com/banners/ash_banner.swf” mce_src=”http://www.ash-official.com/banners/ash_banner.swf” quality=”high” pluginspage=”http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”468″ height=”60″></span>

Eric Grubbs from Theme Park Experience has written a ‘Complete Idiot’s Guide to Ash’ which went online today. It has plenty of mp3′s for new and old fans to enjoy. So if you’d lost track of what Ash had been up to over the past few years, or have not heard anything about them since ‘Girl From Mars’ came out, here’s the chance to get update prior to the bands new album.