We called Tim at his folks’ house in Northern Ireland to get all the latest Ash news.
Hi Tim. It’s been a while since we caught up.
I know, yeah. We’ve done stacks since then.
Were you pleased with the Koko shows?
Yeah, I think they were some of our best shows ever. We did a broad setlist, which was really fun. I’m sure the hardcore fans liked that too. We did some stuff that people hadn’t heard for ages. It was a great way to celebrate the album release.
Where were you after that?
I think I went back to New York for a week or so, finishing off B-sides for “End of the World”. It’s been a bit of a blur going back and forth to New York, to be honest. But I think then we went off to the Arctic Circle to do a show in Tromsø, where we played with Iggy and the Stooges. We were on at 10pm and it was still daylight. In fact it was daylight the whole time we were there. Mark asked how much I’d pay him to go swimming in the sea, which was just outside our dressing room. I said £100, which I quickly changed to $100 when I realised he was serious.
Did he do it?
Yeah, after we played he went for a triumphant swim in the arctic waters, which was pretty mad. He actually said it wasn’t that cold, which I was disappointed with, because it had cost me a lot of money!
Have you paid up?
Not yet actually. Maybe I’ll be able to sneakily incorporate it into his Christmas present.
So then it was Japan?
That’s right, yeah. We enjoyed a few days in Tokyo and then we did Fuji Rock festival. We had an amazing reception. We were playing the second stage and we broke its attendance record. They had to close the gates to the field because there was no more room.
You seem to have maintained popularity in Japan.
Yeah, it seems like they’re fans for life out there. I don’t know what it is about Japan, but they’ve stayed with us. We’ve seen the same fans turning up for ten years.
Is the new album out over there?
Yes it is. I think that’s actually the place it’s been selling the best. It’s pretty amazing. And it was nice to get such an insane reaction to the new stuff, as well as the old.
How long were you out there for?
Just a week. And then we went to Korea and did a festival with Muse. I can’t actually remember much about it because we were so jet-lagged by then. I don’t know if they get many bands coming there, because all I had to do was put my arm in the air and people would scream like crazy! So that was cool. And then we went straight from there to Australia.
What were you doing there?
We did two club shows, in Melbourne and Sydney, which were really nice. And then we did a festival in Byron Bay. We ended up staying in this amazing resort in a rain forest. We had wild turkeys and giant fruit bats lurking outside our windows!
Have you been to Australia a lot?
Yeah, we’ve been going there since just after “Girl From Mars” came out. We were on Infectious records, which was linked to a big Australian label called Mushroom. That’s why our music would always end up on ’Home And Away’!
Perhaps one of your greatest achievements.
Definitely! When I was a kid, if I’d known my music was going to be on ’Home & Away’ I’d have been pretty psyched! Actually, I remember doing my A-levels and having to stop revising because I had Australian phone interviews. So, yeah, we seem to have a good following out there.
So where was it after Oz?
We flew back to the UK and headlined a surfing festival in Cornwall. It was great. I’m pretty sure it was actually the first festival that we’d headlined the main stage at.
Did the surfers enjoy it?
I think so. It was a great show - with lots of nu metal stuff and then us.
Did you have a surf yourself?
No, I didn’t get time. And also I’d like to say that we weren’t involved in that hotel that burnt down! We left and then heard some hotel had been burnt to the ground and we were like, “Oh shit, hope we didn’t leave the iron on”. But it wasn’t our hotel, thankfully. Then after that, it was back to New York for four nights.
Does it feel like you’re “home” when you get to New York?
It does actually, yeah. It’s really relaxing to be there. I’m looking forward to getting some time to chill out there at the end of the year. So then we came back and had festivals in Spain, Switzerland and Germany.
How did they go?
Great. We’re really starting to feel like we’re getting our festival sets together. When we did the Isle of Wight at the start of the summer, it felt pretty strange. It’s quite a different mindset doing a festival, compared to a headline show. Being back to a three-piece, we’ve had to re-learn lots of things and I think that was one of them. But we’re really back into our swing now. Which is good timing, cos then we had Leeds and Reading, the thing we’d been looking forward to all year.
Reading was a triumphant show.
It was amazing. We always get so psyched up for those gigs, so we really went for it. And the reaction was nuts. We had a jam-packed tent. I think these days our sets really build in intensity, so by the time Razorlight had finished on the main stage we were about to play a load of our massive stuff, like ’Oh Yeah’ and ’Girls From Mars’. And I think when we played ’Twilight Of The Innocents’ it was one of the best times we’d ever played it. It was really intense. Reading is the one gig that Mark still gets really nervous for and we’re always really high-strung around it, so by the time we got to Leeds we started relaxing a lot more.
Was Leeds as good as Reading?
I think it might’ve been even more fun, cos we just let our hair down a bit more.
Did you wander around and see any bands?
The only band I really watched was The Subways. I was doing bits of press and trying to chill out and not lose my voice. Then after that we did a big festival in Ireland with Kaiser Chiefs and The Fratellis. That was a lot of fun too.
You’ve certainly been keeping busy.
Absolutely. In fact, we’re pretty much out on the road until the start of October. then we get a break, during which I’m moving apartments in New York, then we’ve got the UK tour, then a week off, then three weeks around Europe and, hopefully, some Irish dates at the end of that. Then we’re hopefully taking a chill pill for Christmas.
It sounds like it’s been a good summer for the band.
Yeah, it’s been great. We’ve been doing what we love doing. And now we’re all really thinking about what to do next. I think the future holds a lot of good stuff for us.
The album got some great reviews but perhaps didn’t sell as well as you’d hoped in the UK. How do you feel about the response overall?
Well, the people that do have it seem to be really, really into it, which is obviously very important. But, yeah, it’s weird seeing how the record industry is in decline. Record sales really aren’t what they used to be. It’s been quite a freaky time, but I’m very focused for the future. People are still gonna need killer tunes and we’re gonna keep making them!
And the live scene is very healthy, which is great for a band with a back catalogue like yours.
Definitely. When we played at Koko we actually played to more people than when we did our big Hammersmith Apollo show for Meltdown. And we’re really looking forward to our tour in the autumn, when we’ll be playing to loads of people across the UK.
So “End of the World” is coming out soon.
Yep, that’s out on September 10th. We made the video in Yokohama, just outside Tokyo. It’s following Death, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, during the days before the end of the world as he goes about his menial tasks. At the end he links up with us and it turns out we’re the other three horsemen. We all ride off into some sort of portal to bring about the end of the world. Actually, they say never work with children and animals, but that’s been our last two videos. They had these two horses on set and the main one was this white albino, but he must’ve been very sensitive cos he wouldn’t go anywhere unless his mate came with him. Then he spent the whole time biting the other horse’s arse!
What are the B-sides for “End of the World’?
One’s called “Seventh Circle”, which fans might know as an old song called “Singapore Song”. Bootlegs of that have been floating around for years. I think it’s actually one of my best songs, but it’s just never quite fitted on any of the albums. Then there’s “Wasted On You”, which is a rocker from the album sessions. And the other one is “Statis in Darkness” which I wrote a while ago with a string quartet. It’s another great song, actually. Pretty depressing, but beautiful at the same time. And then on the 7-inches we’ve got the first version of “Palace of Excess” back when it was called “Suicide Girls” and also “Shattered Glass”. They were the first things we did in our studio. We ended up totally re-recording them, but these versions show the direction the album could’ve taken. We were trying to do it fully live, with one guitar, bass, drums and vocals. So they sound a lot rawer.
Are you recommending that we buy the CD and both 7-inches?
I am, yeah! We work hard to make sure we don’t give people any old crap. And because it’s “End of the World”, the vinyl is the colour of bones! Like an off-white.
Have you already started to think about new material beyond this album?
Well, we’ve been recording B-sides recently, working on a bunch of tracks, maybe to go with “Twilight of the Innocents” for an EP around our tour. And then the plan is to get in the studio early next year and start bringing out singles, as of about March.
Have you been writing new songs?
I haven’t really had time, to be honest. But I’m going to start soon. Things will settle down now after the festivals and we’ll be more in the touring routine, on a tour bus. I should have time to get my guitar out and do some writing.
And what are you up to in Northern Ireland?
Mainly just catching up with the family. And I’m going along to the Oh Yeah centre in Belfast today, which is a new music centre that Gary from Snow Patrol has put together with Stuart Bailie, a well-known Belfast music journalist. It’s basically a centre for new bands and new management companies and to encourage the music industry in Belfast. There’s a bunch of government ministers going today, so I’ll be playing the theme tune!
So it is named after the Ash song?
It is indeed. I think Stuart thought it would be amazing to have a big “Oh yeah” emblazoned on the side of a building in Belfast as a really nice positive mural. To be honest, I felt really honoured about that.