Ash to ashes

Tim Wheeler, Ash frontman and Ireland’s very own golden boy of rock, is counting down the hours until they take to the Bavaria Main Stage in Balymote.

“I can’t wait! It’s been almost six months since we properly played. I’m ready for it. The guitar is getting dusty,” he admits, genuinely pining. “We won’t have Rick with us this time – he has some personal commitments to attend to at the moment – so Alan Lynn, the drummer from LaFaro, a Belfast band, will be filling in for a couple of weeks. We’ll have a few gigs with Russell Lissack in July, but he’s unavailable for this tour, and after that he’s going back to Bloc Party I think, so for the first few shows we’re going to be a three piece again – back to our original incarnation! – which will be nice.”
With gigs coming up across both Ireland, mainland Europe and Asia, Tim is in for a very busy Summer: home dates include the aforementioned (and completely sold out) Whelan’s gig, the Empire in Belfast, and dates in Portrush and Sligo, while the festival circuit will bring him across the continent and then to Japan.
“The trip to Japan is with Weezer, which will be really fun. We’re playing with a band called Asian Kung Fu Generation, who I think are partly inspired by our song ‘Kung Fu’ and Weezer as well. Every couple of years they put on a festival and this year they’ve got Ash and Weezer, so it’s going to be a good one. Their guitarist is going to play the show with us – the rehearsal should be fun, I think we’re going to need a translator! It would be interesting to get him doing backing vocals.”
You should do an Ash song in Japanese, Hot Press ventures, like the Flaming Lips did with ‘Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots’.
“Did they? That’s amazing! That would be really cool. We’ll do ‘Kung Fu’!”
Now at the grand old age of 34, Tim is a music industry veteran: Ash famously formed when he was just 15 (he mitched off school to do his first Hot Press interview with Lorraine Freeney!) and released their smash-hit debut album 1977 four years later. So for a man who’s been in bands since before he could shave, how does he still find the passion for it all?
“Oh, it’s easy, it’s really easy,” he replies, completely sincerely. “It’s such an outlet for all your feelings and just playing is fun to do. And the reaction that you get from people fuels it as well. It’s totally addictive. I love doing it. Do I want to do it forever? Definitely! I’ll always want to make music. I’m living my dream and getting away with it. That’s how I feel about it sometimes, like I really got away with it, straight out of school. I’d be very reluctant to give it up. I’ve stuck with it, and I’ve had to fight for it a lot too, to stay in this position. It’s been a big commitment, but totally worth it.”
With his involvement in the Coldplay-funded film, Ashes (see Music News for the full lowdown), writing new material for Ash has taken a bit of a backseat, but fans can look forward to some new choonage in 2012.
“I don’t think we’ll do any work in the studio on another Ash album for a while, but there will definitely be some new Ash music next year,” he promises.
In the meantime, we’ve got the Japanese version of ‘Kung Fu’ to look forward to. How do you say ‘Hell yeah!’ in Japanese?

Ash play the Friday night at the Temple House Festival.