Below is the official press release that accompanied promo copies of the bands forth studio album Meltdown.
What do you do when you’ve won? At the end of 2002, Ash faced that exact dilemma. After kung-fu fighting their way to the top with 1977 briefly losing the plot with Nu-Clear Sounds and staging a heroic pop fightback with Free All Angels, they found themselves as champions of the world.
“The whole climate that Free All Angels was made in was so poppy, it was almost like you had to compete with a lot of manufactured stuff,” says Tim Wheeler. Compete they did, to the tune of a number one album and five massive hit singles. They had proved themselves as the most durable band of their generation, achieving longevity that most bands can only dream of, while losing none of their youthful flair. Still, it was time to move on. As Tim points out, “our heads were in a total different space when it came to this record.”
Specifically, that place was America, where they spent a further year touring Free All Angels. There, travelling across the rock heartland, it became abundantly clear which signpost Ash would follow on the next stage of their journey. “I think being in America really influenced this record, going to a place where rock music is really alive. It was going back to our roots in a way, we wanted to make a real guitar-based album.” To set about doing it, Tim, Mark, Rick and Charlotte realised a long-standing dream of making an album in California. “I always think American records sound better sonically,” laughs Tim. “They always seem to have better engineering, better studios, so we wanted to check it out first hand.”
Decamping to Los Angeles and hooking up with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, System of a Down) they set about realising their dream. Out there, the band found a new democracy, led less by Tim’s hook-laden songwriting alone, but with all four members punching with equal weight. “We were playing a lot better as musicians”, says Tim. “Rick’s drumming was a big influence on the record, he’s turned into a drumming monster! I think we had a real confidence to try something new with this record.”
The album that emerged isn’t called Meltdown for nothing. It takes all the pop thrills, kinetic melodies, slam-dunking riffs that made the world love Ash, then douses them in petrol and drops in a match. After the fireworks, out come 11 white-hot slabs of pure rock power. From the butane rush of forthcoming single “Orpheus” to the skyscraping peaks of “Evil Eye” and the fierce-yet-beautiful love “Starcrossed” this is Ash at their melodic best with a ton of new engines strapped on for extra power. Like a rocket pack fuelled by plutonium. Or, you might say, exactly the kind of music that four youthful twenty something rock fans should be making after a decade in action.
And while Tim wrote Free All Angels on a self-confessed rollercoaster of love, on Meltdown we get a glimpse into the darker heart of Ash. From the gutbusting title track down, which Tim wrote after going on the February 2003 peace march about the anger of the situation where “you go on a walk with two million people and it doesn’t seem to make a difference”. Here is a side of Ash that few people will have known existed. “Vampire Love” sees Tim taking a lead from Dylan by throwing loads of images down to create a big picture, a mood. And then there’s “Clones” the heaviest thing Ash have ever done in terms of both music and themes. “That’s a song where there’s someone who stands out from the crowd, someone who seems to be different, and all of a sudden they let you down,” says Tim. That the band chose this as the fans first taste of Meltdown should tell you all you need to know about the new, beefed-up Ash.
“Previously we’ve always taken a sort of White Album approach really,” says Tim, “just ’anything goes’ but I think that can be confusing for people, a lot of people don’t know what Ash is about. This time we just wanted to make a solid album with just one kind of vibe. This record is going to sound amazing live. Its our live sound, so it’s more a representation of what we really are. We wanted to make it as straight as possible, and just get really shit hot performances.”
After ten years in thrall to Star Wars Ash have entered their Blade Runner phase. What did Ash do when they realised they’d won? Thought up a whole load of new battles to fight. It’s going to be a thrilling ride.