2004 saw the release of Ash’s forth album ‘Meltdown’, which signalled a heavier direction for a band who have been around for over a decade. It may not have reached the sales figures of its predecessor ‘Free All Angels’, but they are now on their third UK tour of the year as the special support to The Darkness’ arena tour. Gigwise caught up with a good-spirited rhythm section of Mark Hamilton (bass) and Rick McMurray (drums) to reflect on the past year and discuss the future of Ash.
Gigwise: How did you end up being the support act on this tour?
Mark Hamilton: We met The Darkness last year at Knebworth at the big Robbie (Williams) shows and we were hanging out there. They were really nice people and Tim became good friends with Justin, and they came to us and asked us to do it.
G: You’re fairly big in the UK, is it difficult being the support act?
Rick McMurray: We’ve done quite a bit of supporting in America in the last few years so we’re used to it. It’s definitely good not playing to your own crowd, you have to work a lot harder to keep people’s attention. With your own fans and you have a bad gig when headlining people don’t tend to notice; they’re just going for it.
MH: It keeps you grounded and you have to prove yourself a bit. It’s good because you’re playing to people who don’t normally see you, and you can’t play to the converted all the time.
G: What has the crowd reaction been like?
RM: It’s getting better as the tour has gone on. At Newcastle there were big pockets of people going for it, at these big shows they get involved more and clap more so we’re working that angle.
MH: There are pockets of Ash fans around, but by the last two songs we normally have a decent mosh pit. It’s a much more mainstream crowd, so obviously the likes of ‘Burn Baby Burn’ are more well known, but we’re still starting with the flaming guitar and ‘Meltdown’ even if most people don’t know it.
RM: We’ll top the guitar with a spinning drum kit, on the back of a flock of goats. Or have the floor opening up and descending into hell!
G: Is this the end of the UK ‘Meltdown’ campaign?
MH: There might be another single in the springtime, but next year we’ll mainly be in the States. The album hasn’t been released there yet, and we’ve just signed a new deal, so from about March we’ll be out there.
G: How do you evaluate 2004 for Ash?
RM: It’s been quite a tough album, in certain parts of Europe it hasn’t connected as well as ‘Free All Angels’, but generally it’s been really good. It was probably our best festival year; Fuji Rock was a real highlight when the tent was rammed.
MH: It’s a great live album and the UK tour this year was probably the best we’ve down in terms of crowd reaction.
G: What’s the plan for touring America?
MH: We’re out there for an initial two months, and then it gets extended if they want us out there.
G: People always talk about bands from the UK and Ireland trying to ‘break America’; do you think you can do it this time?
RM: The previous album built us a solid fanbase out there, so we’ve got to try get them back on board. The production of this album has a big American sound, whereas in the past radio there has said we don’t stand up against American rock bands.
MH: There are so many levels of success you can have in the States, some British bands try to get big in a few months but then give up on it. We’re in it for the long haul and have done a lot of touring. We haven’t had huge success on radio or MTV, which is what you need, but we have played to a thousand people in New York and have a good underground fanbase.
G: There have been rumours of an acoustic album?
MH: We don’t really know what we’re going to do at the moment; there was talk of it at one point.
RM: We’ve a bunch of acoustic stuff left from ‘Free All Angels’ and ‘Meltdown’, which is another route we could pursue. But a new album wouldn’t be acoustic versions of old stuff it would be unreleased material.
G: What ideas have you got for future albums?
MH: We’ve had a few ideas, one of which is writing a score for a computer game. We’ve had talks with Rockstar Games about doing music for a game, start to finish, but that would be more a side thing than a main album. Tim’s been starting to play around with ideas for new songs, which is generally upbeat stuff.
G: There have been side-projects to Ash, what’s your reaction to Charlotte’s solo work?
RM: It’s good, she’s had a lot of songs she’s been sitting on and she wanted to release them.
G: Does it affect the band in any way?
RM: No.
G: Any further news on Tim’s super-group with Justin Hawkins and Har Mar Superstar?
MH: It was something that came up last year. It was more of a concept rather than them actually doing it; whether or not they will I don’t know. Obviously The Darkness and Ash are quite busy at the moment.
G: Have either of you got ambitions to make music outside of Ash?
RM: I might be doing something with my drumming friend, just drums. We’ve got as far as the album title and cover, and it’s going to be called ‘Time, Gentlemen, Please!’
MH: Nothing for me I hate music!
G: You’ve been going as a band for over a decade, how has Ash developed and changed?
MH: We haven’t changed too drastically, but every album is different from the last one that keeps things interesting. It may not work every time, but in a way it’s probably made us last longer.
G: How long can Ash go on for?
RM: How long you got? We’re still...
A cry of “shit” comes from the band’s tour manager, who is having problems at the other end of the room.
RM: Was that directed at us? We’re still shit, our tour manager says, so we’ve got a bit to go.
MH: We’ve got to get to at least mediocre before we quit, and somewhere between not bad and ok would be good. At the minute we’re negotiating a new contract, because we’ve got one album left on this one. So we’ll probably do at least two to get the money in from the second!
G: So it’s all about the money then?
MH: Totally.
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