• Classic Album: Ash – 1977 (1996)

    April 27, 2016 - By 

    For a moment, it seemed like anything could happen. Three teenagers from Downpatrick are staring blankly from the pages of Smash Hits magazine, fresh from appearing on Top of the Pops. And in 1996, this kind of thing just didn’t happen. Ash were breaking rules left right and centre, and it seemed like they could only go higher. As Oasis and Blur duelled it out with each other in the charts, the Little Band from Northern Ireland that Could seemed hell bent on one thing: destruction. I was 15 when 1977 came out, and it still seems as fresh now…

  • Irish Tour: Ash

    December 22, 2015 - By 

    In the latest installment of Irish Tour, we go on the road to capture NI alt-rock royalty Ash in Dublin, Galway and Belfast. Words by Conor Callanan, photos by Isabel Thomas, Sean McCormack and Alan Maguire. Olympia Theatre, Dublin It’s hard to believe that Downpatrick’s favourite sons Ash have reached the twenty-third year of their career. It doesn’t seem all that long ago when the teenage trio of Tim Wheeler, Rick McMurray and Mark Hamilton appeared on Top of the Pops, had some of their earliest tracks appear in US movies, and got to record a live album in one of Australia’s…

  • Watch: Ash – Machinery

    September 22, 2015 - By 

    One of our favourite tracks from their sixth studio album, Kablammo!, Ash have unveiled the video for their new single, ‘Machinery’. Shot in Tokyo, the video sees Tim Wheeler performing the track in a snazzy karaoke bar, surrounded by a handful of people who fluctuate between looking rather confused and totally ecstatic. Either way, the drink is in, the sense is out and all is well. And what a hook. Ash play the following Irish shows in December: Tuesday, December 15: Olympia, Dublin Thursday, December 17: Roisin Dubh, Galway Friday, December 18: Cyprus Avenue, Cork Saturday, December 19: Dolans, Limerick Sunday, December…

  • Ash @ Limelight 1, Belfast

    June 10, 2015 - By 

    “How many of you have never seen us play before?” Very few hands are raised. It’s probably fair to assume that the majority of this Belfast crowd have, in some shape or form, grown up with Ash. Having been upgraded, due to demand, to the larger room in The Limelight complex, it speaks for the enduring appeal of the home grown band who are currently touring to mark the release of Kablammo!; their seventh album. For a band sporting a back catalogue as well regarded as Ash, you would forgive the temptation to forge a set list of favourites. It…

  • Slane 2015

    June 1, 2015 - By 

    County Meath holds one of the most beautiful areas of land in all of Ireland, and the worldwide famous landmark of Slane Castle hosts one of the biggest rock bands in the world today. There seems to be no better fit. The Irish music fans seem to be some of the best, recognised worldwide, and the statement made by the overwhelming crowd, surpassing the 70,000 mark, who came to see the Foo Fighters despite a number of other events on the same day, including Forbidden Fruit Festival not too far down the road, was an incredible sight to see. And…

  • Festival Preview: Indiependence

    April 23, 2015 - By 

    Cork’s major entry on the national festival calendar (and therefore the most important), Indiependence has established itself as one of the major festivals of the summer, typically by serving up diverse, quality line-ups in a relatively intimate setting, limiting admissions to 5,000, amid the fields of Deer Farm in Mitchelstown, the festival’s home since moving out from the town square way back (early iterations of the festival featured headline sets from Coolio and Dannii Minogue, among others, before it truly hit its stride as a camping weekender). This year’s announcements so far have been nothing short of quality, with Ash,…

  • First acts announced for Indiependence 2015

    March 10, 2015 - By 

    Ash, Mark Lanegan Band, The Dandy Warhols and Jape are amongst the first ten acts announced to play this year’s Indiependence Festival. Set to return to Deer Farm in Mitchelstown, Cork, across the weekend of July 31 to August 2, the festival will also see performances from Gavin James, Admiral Fellow, Little Hours, The North Sea, Wyvern Lingo and The Flaws. Go here to buy tickets to the festival.

  • Everything Sucks #002: Sweet ’95 – The Retortening

    July 19, 2013 - By 

    Looking at Dan Hegarty’s column on 1995 recently here on this site, I found that, for all the reminiscing on things like Britpop (which sucked, by and large, not that we knew better) and the WWF of the day (more on that later), it was summarily A Very Good Time for Irish music. Not as fervent and fertile as today’s jubilant mass of DIY gigs and indie labels, but a far cry from the marginalisation of independent and non-commercial music that had gone on a generation previous, where people like Phil Lynott were thrown out of the showband system that…