Ash celebrate 10 years together this month – they’ve achieved world domination along the way and were one of the headline acts at the Isle of Wight Festival. BBC Southampton’s Stephen Stafford caught up Tim Wheeler and Rick McMurray backstage…
Is this is your first time on the Isle of Wight - what do you think of it so far?
Tim: Yeah, we enjoyed the ferry crossing at about three o’clock last night, but all we’ve seen is a catering tent, a hotel room and a field!
Do you know much about the history of the Isle of Wight festival?
Tim: It’s amazing that so many prestigious, incredible gigs happened here. I hope people aren’t going to try to relive it.
Rick: It’s not like a hippy drug fest anymore.
Tim: Yeah, things have to be well organised now - there was no crowd control or anything in those days!
Would you have like to have played back then?
Tim: Yeah, big time! It would have been amazing, but I wouldn’t even have been a foetus then!
Who would you have most liked playing alongside?
Tim: Well of course there was Hendrix, The Who, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen…
Rick: …any one of them would do!
What’s your own best festival experience?
Tim: We’ve had some really amazing gigs at Reading. We played The Tent when we were just kicking off, we were just 18 and had just had our first single in the Top 20.
Rick: We went back to The Tent last year and it was mad - there were thousands of people - it was totally rammed.
Tim: Last year we did the Witness festival in Ireland. We were meant to be playing The Tent but the album had done really well, so we got moved to the main stage to headline above Texas. It was pouring down with rain but everyone still stayed to see us.
Rick: Because they have had deaths from crowd surfing in Ireland you’re not allowed to do it any more. Instead people start building people pyramids, which is probably even more dangerous but kind of cool looking.
Do you prepare any differently for a gig like this than you would for a normal tour date?
Tim: Not really, I guess we have a shorter set we’re a bit limited and don’t get a sound check. We just get up and bash it out - we do loads of singles. We did 44 festivals last summer so it’s kind of normal for us now.
So what have you been up to recently?
Rick: Concentrating on America - I think we’ll be spending the rest of the year there. We’ve got a new deal with Kinetic and things are looking pretty good - though I don’t want to jinx it!
Tim: We’re touring with Coldplay, Moby and David Bowie, so we’re just doing massive tours.
How difficult is it for you to break America, so many people have tried and failed?
Tim: I think it’s about having the right record company behind you and spending the time out there.
Rick: …and having the right attitude, not thinking that just because you’re big over here, you can just expect to be treated like stars over there - you need to tour and work hard.
What have the highlights been so far?
Tim: We had a good gig in Providence last week
Rick: Washington was good as well, playing the car park of the Redskins stadium - that was cool.
Tim: Moby and David Bowie are coming up - Charlotte is going to be totally freaked out because Bowie is her ultimate sex god!
What’s it like for you when you meet people like that?
Tim: I used to get really freaked out, but you have a much better conversation when you’re not in awe of them!
Rick: They’re always shorter than you think!
How will you avoid being forgotten about in Britain when you’re in the USA?
Tim: We’re releasing a new single which we recorded in New York - called “Envy” which will be on a new compilation of our singles, we’ll keep releasing material - we’ve been around long enough so people won’t forget us!
What do you think of the new Star Wars film?
Rick: I’m still not convinced. I’ve seen it a couple of times its got it’s good bits, but it doesn’t have the same feel as the original. Everyone’s split - Mark loves it but I’ve heard other Star Wars fans who said it’s absolute rubbish.
Did you rush out and see it as soon as it came out?
Rick: Me and Mark did - we were in New York and managed to get tickets for the first showing but got to the cinema two hours before, but I was so jet lagged that as soon as we took our seats and the lights went out I fell asleep!
The Isle of Wight is quite a similar area to where you grew up in that it’s away from the main music circuit, what advice would you have for young bands from here?
Tim: We started our career in London, that was after we’d played round everywhere there was to play in Northern Ireland, until we couldn’t play there anymore really. Luckily someone in London heard our tape - I’d try and get a deal there really.
Who’s your money on for the World Cup?
Tim: Ireland!
Rick: We’ll go all the way! It would be good to see some of the lesser teams doing well - Spain, Portugal or Senegal!