We caught up with Tim at home in New York for the latest update on all things Ash.
Hello Tim. So you’re back in New York?
Yeah, we’ve got a little bit of a break - the calm before the storm. We finished the UK tour and came home for a few days, then we had to go back to the UK to record Transmission and a few other TV things and now we’re back in New York for another wee break. We’re working on some B-sides at the moment.
Is all this flying tiring?
I’m actually pretty used to it now. It doesn’t feel too bad at all.
Did the TV stuff go well?
Yeah, I think so. Transmission was cool and then we did a special for T4 which is going out around the album. That was brilliant actually. And we did a Colin Murray radio session which was a lot of fun. Going back to the Maida Vale studios for it brought back loads of old memories. We did our first Peel session there in 1994 - and we had the same engineer working on this session too. It’s a mad old building, like some sort of war-time bunker. I remember being impressed with the canteen when we first went because it was subsidised so everything was really cheap. I was dead impressed cos we were still at school and everything was so expensive for us in London.
Did you go to the canteen this time?
We did, but sadly they’ve put the prices right up.
Was it good to see your old pal Colin Murray?
Yeah, it was great. We went in to do an interview and then ended up hanging out for about two hours afterwards drinking beer in the studio. It was really nice. We know his producer Jimmy from Belfast too. Rick used to do pub quizzes with him. So we all had a good catch-up.
So what are these B-sides you’re recording?
They’re songs that we demoed for the album. While we were finishing the mixing, Rick recorded the drums for five tracks, so myself and Mark have to go in and do our guitar and bass. We’re starting on that today. It’ll be interesting to see what Rick came up with. We just left him to his own devices to record his bits. Hopefully he hasn’t thrown in too many bossa nova parts!
And you’ve announced quite a few live dates in the last couple of weeks.
Yeah, we’ve starting off with a secret show in Belfast which is going to be filmed by BBC Northern Ireland and I think might be going out on Radio 1 as well. The venue is still secret. So secret that even I don’t know where it is. And we’re doing a load of instores when the single comes out - one of those is in Belfast too.
Things seem to be going well with the single.
Yeah, it’s starting to get played on Radio 1 and the video seems to be on the music channels quite a bit. It’s always nerve-wracking at this point, but it seems to be shaping up nicely. We’ve had great feedback so far.
The Radio 1 chartblog had a whole entry about the single, They said it’s “pop music that has massively rippling muscles”.
They must have seen Rick. He’s pretty muscular.
You’ve also announced some European dates.
That’s right, we’re going out just to do a few small shows and some promotion while we’re out there. It’ll be cool to get out to Europe again.
And also you’re heading to Japan.
Yeah, Fuji Rock festival. We did a show there a few years ago and one of the organisers said it was among the best shows they’ve ever had there, if not the best. So we’ve got quite a bit to live up to!
Are Ash still big in Japan?
We seem to be. It’s one of those places where we’ve actually got bigger with each album. And Fuji Rock is amazing, so that trip should be a lot of fun.
Last but not least you’ve announced that you’re playing at the Isle of Skye music festival.
Oh yeah. That looks like a cool gig. We saw Chris McCormack, who used to be in 3 Colours Red, at the ULU show and he’s been organising that festival. He was telling us about it and it sounds really interesting. I’ve never really been anywhere like that. It’ll be nice to be somewhere where you can actually see the stars at night.
Presumably you’re looking forward to Reading as much as Rick said he was in the last blog.
Oh, definitely.
Razorlight will be on at the same time as you.
Yeah, I think we drew a good straw there.
You’re confident you can take them on?
Oh, yeah. Obviously a lot of people like them, but so many people hate them too! I think we’ll actually be a really good alternative to them. It’s not like if it had been Foo Fighters or someone who we’d share a lot of our audience with.
When are you back in England next?
We get back on Wednesday. Before that we’re actually doing one more recall on the album - there’s one more mix that we want to redo. We just want to tweak “I Started a Fire” a bit. Then on Tuesday we’re actually going into the mastering place and doing the final sequencing of the album, which means finishing the running order and getting all the gaps between the songs perfect.
And once you’ve done that, the album will be totally done and dusted?
That’ll be it, yeah. We’ll be able to leave it behind and release it. We’ll obviously still be talking about it, but at least we won’t have to worry about it any more.
Where do you stay when you come back to England?
We stay at hotels. I don’t have a place in London any more.
Does it feel odd being homeless in a city you lived in for so long?
It is slightly weird, yeah, because it’s the place we’re so used to coming home to. But it’s cool too, because you get to see it from a whole different perspective when you’re there as a visitor. I actually kind of like it.
Just as long as you don’t get a bit drunk and go back to your old place by mistake.
Yeah, crawl into bed shit-faced and wake up next to the new occupiers. That wouldn’t be good.