Photo by Alex Lake
Talking “Star Wars” and not being “BritPop” with one of the UK’s biggest comeback stories
I had the pleasure of chatting with Ash’s drummer Rick McMurray before the band sets off to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their album “1977.” I was introduced to Ash originally by hearing their music in the film “A Life Less Ordinary” and they have come such a long way since then. 7 Studio albums and over 20 years as a band, I was curious as to hear the secret to their success. One thing’s for sure, the force is definitely with these guys.
Q: How did the idea of this anniversary tour come about?
A: It was a bit of a no-brainer, really. We’ve actually sort of got talked into doing some “1977” shows a few years ago and it was real fun to do it. Our fans were really excited by it. It’s the 20th anniversary this year so what better way to celebrate than do a tour of the record. It’s going to be fun getting out to America and starting it all off there. Songs on that record we’ve not played for about 20 years so it should be good.
Q: What can the fans expect on this tour? Will the whole album be played?
A: We’ll do the full album in sequence I think, we’re still figuring out the best way to do it. Just trying to recreate the entire album. After that we’ll probably take a bit of a break and then come back and sort of a bunch of the greatest hits as well because the album is only about 40 minutes or so. So it’s nice to play a little longer than that, let the audience feel they got their money’s worth.
Q: “Star Wars” played an influential role with this album, what did you think of the new movie?
A: I really enjoyed it! I think they did a really good job. It definitely had more of a feel of the original trilogy. You could argue that the plot line was very reminiscent of the early movies but I think it was really well done. I really enjoyed the actors and they seemed to really fit within the realm of that world. Really looking forward to “Rogue One.” Seems like a more sci-fi approach to the Star Wars world. It feels like it’s going to be a bit more grown up.
Q: How did the “Star Wars” movies influence your band and music?
A: We were the right age to sort of remember seeing the trilogy in the theater, well some of the later films in the theater, and it felt like a common cultural background around the world. I feel like a lot of people could really relate to that movie and sort of bond over it. It is an inspirational story I guess with Luke Skywalker living in sort of Northern Ireland, which is probably the Tatooine of Western Europe.
Q: What was it like having Danny Boyle approach you to write music for “A Life Less Ordinary”?
A: It was a pretty amazing thing to do. “Trainspotting” was a massive film as the band just started and when Danny got in contact with us about the movie he was telling us that he wanted to use some of the songs off of “1977.” (He wanted) to cut some of the scenes to the new movie, which turned out to be “A Life Less Ordinary,” and said ‘I would really like it if you could write a theme song for it.’ We took the title from that movie and sort of ran with it. When we were recording it, we were watching scenes from the movie and tied the arrangement to the shots in the movie which is something we’d never done before really. That was a really fun way to work. An eye-opener as to how that kind of world works. It was a real honor to be involved in an iconic director’s film. Also, to relate it back to the “Star Wars” thing, that is how Ewan McGregor got to hear of us. He actually got us to play at the wrap party for “The Phantom Menace.” When they finished shooting, they had a massive party at the studios in England and we ended up playing there with a bunch of the “Star Wars” cast watching us which was just bizarre.
Q: How has our band evolved since the release of “1977”?
A: We’ve tried to approach everything we’ve done since our first album with a sort of fresh perspective and tried to keep things interesting. We’ve had our ups and downs. Some records have sold more than others. The follow-up to “1977” was a real learning curve for us because it was a pretty difficult record to make and I think we were kind of rebelling against a lot of the exposure we got from the first record. A lot of it we were quite uncomfortable with … there were a few territories in the world that were trying to market us as this sort of ‘teen boy band’ thing which we were dead against. So that record was sort of a rebellion, but also showed us the sort of value to writing catchy pop songs because the second record didn’t really sell. We dug pretty deep for the third record which was another #1 in the UK. It felt like that could have been our last record had we not got it right. So I think that’s what set us up for our longevity throughout our careers. We’ve had quite a few twists and turns since then and we did announce that we weren’t going to release anymore albums back in 2007 when everyone was illegally downloading stuff. We decided we wanted to move with the times and just put out singles at that point. We did a year of releasing one single every fortnight. That was 26 singles in one year and that was a bit of an insane project to do. From a creative point of view, it was a good exercise. Doing singles all the time, you’re kind of approaching it from a very different perspective than making an album where you want everything sort of tied together. It was trying to make everything as different as possible. Learned a lot from that experience. We have gone back to the album format since then. One thing we’ve learned over the years is ‘never say never.’ We always feel like we’re finding new things to do and kind of learning.
Q: How did your band play into the whole “Britpop” scene?
A: It was a fun time to be around, we sort of had one toe in the water. We were produced by Owen Morris who did the first three records for Oasis, he also did our first three records as well. From a musical point of view, we were more inspired by American artists like Nirvana, the Pixies and the whole alternative scene. So it was a little bit uncomfortable when everyone was just talking about being inspired by the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. They’re good but there’s more to music than that. Also, coming from Northern Ireland as well the British identity is either ‘you’re really into it’ or you ‘sort of hate it.’ So it’s sort of a divisive thing in Northern Ireland which never really sat really comfortably with us. There’s definitely connotations to the British flag and parts from where we came from so that was another reason why we felt uncomfortable around that. From a music point of view, it was real fun and we were touring with a lot of guitar bands.
Q: What are your favorite songs from “1977” and why?
A: Probably the songs that we kind of play all the time. It’s kind of weird because last year we had the anniversary of “Kung Fu” and “Girl from Mars,” which was kind of mind-blowing to think that those songs are older than we were when we started the band. “Girl from Mars” has pretty much always been in the set. Out of the other songs, they do kind of a different thing when you’re not used to playing them regularly. I remember the first time when we did the “1977” show it was almost like instantly transporting you back to the studio when you were doing that. Sort of like through your emotions you’re feeling the same things that you were feeling as you were writing it that record. So it was just like a crazy thing to do. Probably the favorite of the ones we don’t play regularly would be “Let it Flow.” It was never a single but always felt like a really groovy cool song to play live back in the day. Looking forward to doing that again.
Q: How would you compare your shows in America versus back home?
A: They’re the same except a lot smaller (laughs). We’ve done a lot of touring in the states and there were a few years where we were kind of off the radar there. We’re kind of trying to make up for it over the last couple of years. I guess the relationship with us and our fans in America is quite different because we never had that huge amount of success. I think the big fans there almost view us as more of a cult thing than perhaps we would be seen as in the UK. Because over here we have a couple of #1 albums so there a different level of awareness. But I think with people who find a band that not many people know, it becomes more personal to them. We’re kind of like their secret out there. We don’t get huge amounts of people, but we get people who travel like 5 or 6 hours to come and see us. So that feels really cool.
Q: What bands are you currently listening to?
A: There’s a band I heard the other day from Wales. I actually was in the studio in New York and he was mixing a new record there. They’re called Estrons. I’ve been hearing their single all over the radio in the UK. Super catchy and a female vocal with a really aggressive guitar. So that was pretty cool. There’s another band from Edinburgh where I live, they’ve got their second album coming out this year, called Honeyblood. They’re pretty awesome. They had their first album maybe last year or the year before that. I was just checking out their previous album a couple weeks ago and was pretty blown away by it. Amazing play, amazing songs on it.
Q: What advice would you give to new bands as far as longevity of success?
A: With the ups and downs in the earlier part of our career, I think that kind of set us up for longevity. Just because we proved that we could come back from sort of like a crisis point. That’s going back some 20 years ago, and we got through that like 15 years ago. I think these new bands, it’s tough out there. I guess back in ’96 when we released “1977,” you were sort of judged on your first album. Ten years after that, you were judged on your first single. Now you’re probably judged on your first 30 seconds of your first song. It’s tough but in terms of band relationships, don’t let ego take over. It took us a while to figure it out, but we kind of realized that whatever disagreements you have we all have the interest of the band in mind so don’t take it personally. It’s a difference in opinion. I guess the only thing you can do in terms of longevity id keep writing great songs. That’s one thing, the music business has changed massively but the one thing that is always going to get people going is a catchy melody and great energy coming from a band. So that’s what you need and hopefully that’s enough to keep you going.
Ash will be playing Lincoln Hall in Chicago on September 28th. Tickets starting at $24.50 are available at https://www.musicglue.com/ash-us/. Packages with a commemorative T-Shirt are also available. Don’t miss this opportunity to relive the album NME named one of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”
