Mark Hamilton, the bass player for Northern Ireland Post-Punk band Ash, had a chat to Red Raven on a career which is over 30 years strong, and is heading to new peaks currently.
Ash are due to play at the Spark Arena boutique venue, Tuning Fork on the 16 October 2024. We got to talk about how it all started.
Hamilton along with Tim Wheeler (guitar, lead vocals) and Rick McMurray met at school in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland in the early 1990s. That’s the County Down, iconic in several of Van Morrisons best songs.
They must have gelled quickly as teens, as they are still going strong in 2024.
A clue to their relative youth is that their breakthrough album,1977, was titled because that was their birth year.
Wikipedia writes they were in an Iron Maiden tribute band called Vietnam. That would have made them 12 or 13 so it may be misinformation. Hamilton does not recall it that way.
What were Punk and New Wave influences around them?
There were Stiff Little Fingers and Undertones, the Northern Irish heavy hitters at the time.
Van Morrison is the Belfast Cowboy of course, and the County Down is one his most constantly recurring themes. The Ash lads are from there.
Most surprisingly they recorded some songs in his home studio. Famously grumpy and ill-tempered but he took time to praise some songs, which is as good an endorsement as you can get.
Bob Geldof is familiar to them as Sir Bob, the guy who was the iconic face of Live Aid. His Boomtown Rats breakthrough Punk group were from Dublin. Influential at the time, and they also branched out to Power Pop quickly.
Like the fledgling Ash on their first few years.
!977 is also an early manifesto single by the Clash. In 1977/ I hope I go to heaven/ No Elvis Beatles or the Rolling Stones.
They were busy being born whilst others were busy dying as Bob Dylan observed.
The following lyric from Dylan’s 1965 song (It’s Alright Ma, I’m Only Bleeding), Temptation’s page flies out the door, is also serendipitously linked to the band.
Just after they finished 1977, they recorded a version of the Temptations Get Ready. Perfectly realised crossover of Power Pop and Motown. You can find it on the collector’s edition of the album.
I asked Hamilton if they were fans of Northern Soul. He was, and he used to work in a bar with that name in Hoboken. I assume that is New Jersey and not Belgium.
The music of Ash has supplied several movies including Shaun of the Dead. They provide two on the soundtrack, Meltdown and Orpheus.
I asked if they appeared as Zombie extras, but they hadn’t. Hamilton did say they met Simon Pegg recently, and he spoke to them about future projects.
The only movie they have made, sometime around 2003, was as teen slasher movie called Slashed.
It was a budget project filmed on a camcorder, and it does contain cameos by musicians like David Grohl and Moby. It stars some of the Coldplay band including Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland, playing Fed agents.
If you want to see Chris Martin getting slashed, which some people do, says Hamilton. It is an unfinished film which has not been properly released, but clips are available on YouTube. It may see a release eventually.
What happened with Lockdown? This was a particularly tough time for British musicians as has been related to me by many. Support was indifferent to almost hostile by politicians, and damage is still reverberating.
Hamilton states that they were stopped in their tracks for close to two years. They were a constantly working band.
Many fellow artists have dropped in the aftermath. They cannot face the uncertainty.
Some of the infrastructure has yet to recover. Hamilton talks of sound crews and venues which lack the necessary experience to pick up what was lost in the Clampdown.
Ash is up and running, and it has provided a creative impetus for them.
They were playing here at the Tuning Fork in early 2023. Since then, they have released a great new album, Race the Night.
The title track is racy, guitar-driven Power Pop. Peanut Brain adds a bit of Ramones into the mix.
Like A God stomps around in Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti territory, the heavier Rock’n’roll of Custard Pie and Trampled Underfoot.
Hamilton says they have an overflow of songs from their creative burst. Two albums are in the pipeline.
A guitar-driven familiar sound, and one using synths and keyboards. Lyrical content remains Ash style.
We look forward to an energised and forward-looking Ash in October this year, with Mark Hamilton, Tim Wheeler and Rick McMurray.
Rev. Orange Peel
