Shining Light

Song Notes

Ash’s comeback single after two years away “Shining Light” saw the band storm back in to the top 10. The song was first played live back in January 2000 at the London Astoria. The song is ever present in bands live set, and perhaps one of Wheeler’s greatest achievements both musically and lyrically. Winner of the Best Contemporary song category at the 2002 Ivor Novello songwriting awards, and winner of best single at the 2002 Irish Music Awards. During shows to promote his debut solo album Lost Domain in 2014, Tim would perform the song on piano.

Tim: I think Shining Light’s a breath of fresh air.

Rick: It’s a very melodic song, it sticks in your head, so we thought it’d have a pretty good chance of getting in the Top 10. It was good being back there ’cos it’s been a long time, over two years since we had a single out.

Charlotte: It was the first song we recorded and we knew it would be the first single.

Tim: “Shining Light” saved our career and really set us up for good. I knew we needed to come up with a really big song to get ourselves back on track and I spent a long time writing trying to find that song. The night I wrote it, I was really excited, I got the guys round the next day and they loved it too. It went on to be a top 10 hit, set up Free All Angels to be a Number One album and it also won an Ivor Novello award. It’s also been covered by lots of people, which is a great honour.

Tim: I’d definitely had at least 6 months of writing before the song arrived and it felt like a real breakthrough. I was going through a very dedicated writing time and I turned down the chance to play “I Fought The Law” with Joe Strummer when he played Belfast because I wasn’t going out, I felt I had to stay in and focus on the writing. We were in a very precarious position at the time. Of course I wish I’d taken the opportunity now but I think without that dedication we mightn’t have ended up with “Shining Light”.