News Archive

Following the release of singles ‘You Can’t Have It All’ and ‘Polaris’ Ash’s new and final album ‘Twilight of the Innocents’ will finally be released on Monday, 2nd July, on CD, 12″ vinyl and download.

To celebrate the much anticipated release, Ash will playing a run of four nights at the London Koko, from Tuesday to Friday next week. A few tickets are still available.

The Japanese release of ‘Twilight of the Innocents’ will be released on 2CDs and features ‘You Can’t Have It All’ B-side ‘Saskia’ as a bonus album track and a second live CD featuring material spanning across 13 years of Ash.

CD1
01. I Started A Fire
02. You Can’t Have It All
03. Blacklisted
04. Polaris
05. Palace Of Excess
06. End Of The World
07. Ritual
08. Shadows
09. Princess Six
10. Dark And Stormy
11. Shattered Glass
12. Twilight Of The Innocents
13. Saskia

CD2
01. Lose Control
02. Burn Baby Burn
03. You Can’t Have It All
04. Orpheus
05. Walking Barefoot
06. Polaris
07. A Life Less Ordinary
08. Girl from Mars
09. Twilight Of The Innocents
10. Petrol
11. I Started A Fire
12. Kung Fu

Ash’s latest single ‘Polaris’ has entered the UK singles chart at number 32. This position may seem a little disappointing following ‘You Can’t Have It All’ entering at no. 16 back in April, but midweek charts indicated that with physical sales alone (i.e. CD and Vinyl) Ash were in the top 10 at number 8, while the single lay at no.28 with overall sales. It appears the inclusion of digital downloads in the singles chart is having a negative effect on Ash’s chart position.

The bands final album ‘Twilight of the Innocents’ will be out a week today on Monday 2nd July, followed by third single proper ‘End Of The World’ is currently set for release on Monday 27th August.

Ash are expected to release ‘End Of The World’ as the next single from the bands upcoming album ‘Twilight Of The Innocents’ following ‘Polaris’ which is released on Monday. The single is currently expected to be released on Monday 27th August, to conicide with their appearance at the Reading and Leeds festivals.

As you may already know Ash will release their brand new single ‘Polaris’ in the UK on June 18th, the track listing has now been confirmed, it will be available in the following phyical formats.

CD: ASH06CD
1. Polaris
2. Come On Over

7” Vinyl #1: ASH06
Side 1: Polaris (Gatefold Sleeve)
Side 2: Chinese New Year

7” Vinyl #2: ASH06X
Side 1: Polaris (Poster Bag / Coloured Vinyl)
Side 2: Kingdom Of Shadow

There will also be exclusive remixes, as well as live, demo and acoustic versions of ‘Polaris’ avaliable from iTunes. More details on those to come. The radio edit of ‘Polaris’ is already avaliable on iTunes.

The band recorded a demo of the track ‘Kingdom Of Shadow’ under the working title ‘A Little High’ when writing songs for the bands new album, the track is written by Ash drummer Rick McMurray. ‘Come On Over’ was also one of the tracks written during the sessions for the bands upcoming new album, while ‘Chinese New Year’ is a delicate acoustic song written during the ‘Free All Angels’ sessions. The song was played live a few times at acoustic shows in 2000, a little snippet also appears on the ‘Burn Baby Burn’ DVD.

You can pre-order all 3 formats now from the official on-line Ash shop and have them delivered to your doorstep for only £3.

You can view the video here.

In other Ash news the band recently debuted another track from their new album at a recent show in Northern Ireland. The band played the track ‘End Of The World’, the structure and lyrics are said to be similar to the demo that Tim put out a while ago with another verse added on the end.

Several websites are reporting details of the B-sides and artwork to the bands new single ‘Polaris’ out on June 18th. This has yet to be confirmed by the band themselves.

‘Come On Over’ was one of the tracks written during the sessions for the bands upcoming new album, while ‘Chinese New Year’ is a delicate acoustic song written during the ‘Free All Angels’ sessions. The song was played live a few times at acoustic shows in 2000 and 2001, a little snippet also appears on the ‘Burn Baby Burn’ DVD.

The press promo CD comes in a cardboard case with a flashing blue light on the cover. The details are below.

CD: Cat No: ASH06CDH
01. Polaris (Album Version)
02. Come On Over

7″ Gatefold: Cat No: ASH06H
01. Polaris (Album Version)
02. Chinese New Year

7″ Poster Bag: Cat No: ASH06XH
01. Polaris (Album Version)
02. Kingdom Of Shadow

Radio Promo
01. Polaris (Radio Edit)
02. Polaris (Short Radio Edit)

Press Promo
01. Polaris

Ash bassist Mark Hamilton posted a cryptic message on the bands official website about the long lost Ash song ‘Singapore Song’ that simply said:

It’s coming… well that’s the plan. iTunes exclusive

‘Singapore Song’ was debuted at the London Astoria in January, 2000, and was also played at London’s Water Rats a few months later. It featured former Ash member Charlotte Hatherley on keyboards.

The song was written in a hotel room whilst the band were on tour in Singapore in 1999, Tim explained in interview with Steve Lamacq in January 2000 that the title is only a working title for the song and it will change as it has nothing to do with the lyrics, however perhaps due to it’s popularity with fans and it constantly being referred to by this name the title ‘Singapore Song’ seems to have stuck.

The song was worked on during the ‘Free All Angels’ sessions but left off the album as the band went for a more uptempo pop rock feel on that album and it didn’t fit in, it was again worked on during the ‘Meltdown’ sessions and a version was recorded however again it was left off this time because the band went with a more heavier album. Despite a recorded version existing it was not used as a B-side to any of ‘Meltdown’s singles. and it currently still remains unreleased, despite numerous fans protests.

For those that haven’t heard it yet, Ash’s new single ‘Polaris’ is now available to hear on-line on the bands official myspace.

In other Ash news there is a new interview with Ash drummer Rick McMurray up on the official website. Rick talks about what the band are up to at the moment, the recent tour of Germany, plans for the rest of May and the next single ‘Polaris’.

“It’s probably the most piano-driven thing we’ve done. I’d hesitate to call it a ballad, cos I think it’s a bit more upbeat than that, but it’s very anthemic, with lush, orchestral strings. It’s a great song.”

Ash bassist Mark Hamilton has revealed that Ash will be heading back to their New York studio next week to finish off four B-Sides. Mark confirmed that the band had already mixed the Demo and Acoustic/Strings Versions for an exclusive iTunes EP. The band are also hoping to line up a big name for a remix version.

The release format is expected to be the same as previous single ‘You Can’t Have It All’, which was released on three different physical formats each with one exclusive B-Side, one CD and two 7″ vinyls.