Downloadable:Ash

The lovely Ash boys are currently offering one of those tracks-for-emails deals whereby you drop off an email, and they give you a small acoustic collection from their new album.

Roadmender's weekend: Ash

Shining Light, anyone?


[Buy: Ash - best-of]
[Part of Roadmender's weekend]

The lions will eat him: Russell Lissack

Now, as rock and roll injuries go, being bitten by a lion is quite cool. It's only slightly diminished by Russell Lissack having been in an animal sanctuary when it happened.

Still a bloody lion, though.

Embed and breakfast man: Ash

"Are you aware" asks @sweepingnation "that, eight years on, Ash are putting their much vaunted at the time horror film out?"

I wasn't. But I am now...

[Warning: contains traces of Coldplay]

Bloc of Ash

Russell Lissack is taking some leave from Bloc Party in order to be the all-important fourth member of Ash on their UK tour.

There's a press-release gobbet of 'how we met and fell in love':

Russell - of Bloc Party and solo project Pin Me Down - is a life-long Ash fan, "I've always loved Ash, my first ever stage performance was part of an Ash covers band, so when they asked me to join them on their forthcoming tour I jumped at the chance!"

Ash's Tim Wheeler: "We first met at South By Southwest in 2005, we’d heard he and Kele Okereke met when Russell was playing Ash songs at a party, so we've always felt that connection with him. We've loved Bloc Party since their first single and have always really admired his guitar playing."

They haven't told Russell yet that he's going to have to try and squeeze into Charlotte Hatherley's old stage outfits.

Live Ash tonight

If you log in to the official Ash site at 3pm New York Time, you'll get a live performance. They say you can Tweet questions at them, too. Like with technology.

It'll be more fun than a Josh Groban concert - guaranteed.

Embed and breakfast man: Ash

As if setting up the challenge of a run of 26 records wasn't enough work, Ash have done a limbering-up freebie to get going.

This is Return Of White Rabbit:



An mp3 version can be snaffled for free from the Ash website.

Ash plot 26 single sequence

Ash, Billboard crows, dedicate energies foolishly. Gonna have interesting journeys, launching multiple new output, pursuing quite rigorous stunt. They'll upload various xylophoneless yodels... oh, bollocks... zebras or something.

Without sounding like the Radio Times definitials: Ash are going to release a single every fortnight, with the titles of tracks following strict alphabetical order. It's like The Wedding Present's Hit Parade, only even grander and slightly madder in scale. I think it was the Melody Maker that described half the fun of the Hit Parade was because it was like watching a drunk staggering back from the bar with a tray full of drinks, and wondering if he'd complete the journey without disaster.

Embed and breakfast man: Charlotte Hatherley

She was excellent in Night Nurse. She brought something to Ash that unquestionably reinvigorated a band that could have slipped into being an indie-by-numbers outfit. And since she was - shall we say - phased out of the band, she's been turning out some cracking solo music. Apparently there's a new record being slapped together - Luke Smith produced, Alan Moulder mixed and it's being mastered right this second. First fruits - a downloady single of some sort - should be here before St Stephens Day. Meanwhile, let's remind ourselves of what we've been missing.

Kicking off with the promo for Bastardo - or B*stardo as Amazon know it:



And, like some sort of DVD extra, here's a making of feature - might seem like nothing to you; to ITV2, this is an evening's programming:



Hatherley on line
Official site
Facebook
MySpace
Last FM
Wikipedia

Buy
The Deep Blue
Grey Will Fade

More videos this weekend
Performing with Client on TV4
Summer live in Birmingham
The Name Of The Game live in Sheffield
Siberia

Zoo shambles

Another festival disaster: Zoo8 seems to have been something of a nightmare with half the bands not showing, and the venue (a zoo, of course) having to dig deep into their own pockets to see that Ash would play when the promoters didn't look able to guarantee the payment.

Which means, in effect, that the penguins and tigers of Port Lympne were subsidising a music festival.

Even with Ash secured, no-shows and overflows left fans less-than-thrilled:

Fan David Haskoll said there were four toilets and no taps in the campsite, while the toilets in the main arena were "full to overflowing".

Julia Bray, whose daughter was at the event, wrote on a Facebook page: "Hours of queuing, campsite dreadful, bands didn't show up or moved stages, staff very rude or unhelpful."

Another fan, Rachel Collings, wrote: "Badly organised, badly informed. Worst fest ever!"

Hey - Woodstock II would take issue with that.

Funnily enough, though - presumably following the Eavis playbook - those charged with overseeing the event report a wonderful time had by all:

A spokeswoman for the park said: "As with all music festivals, there were some hiccups.

"This being the first Zoo8 at the park, there were bound to be some problems but they were all resolved quickly and efficiently, mainly by our own staff who stepped in to sort things out.

"According to St John Ambulance, Health and Safety, the licensing office, environmental health and the police, they were all happy."

Then again, none of those fine organisations would be expected to factor in the non-appearance of Dizzee Rascal, Athlete, The Rascals or Wiley.

Irish music could be in trouble

An alarming headline from Gigwise:

Snow Patrol To Speak On Behalf Of Irish Music
At Stormont today...

Good lord, how did they land that gig? I mean, were they elected? Or was it an evil trick by Welsh music to make its rival across the sea look bad?

It turns out they're only talking on behalf of an Irish music project:

Lightbody is expected to show how the project, Oh Yeah, has helped Irish musicians across the country.

Oh Yeah was set up by Ash’s Tim Wheeler in a bid to establish a dedicated music centre in Belfast.

Which is a lot less alarming than it first appeared.

Burrows effectively nods and mouths "you're right"

Although ContactMusic bills it as "hitting back", Andy Burrows' response to Tim Wheller calling Razorlight "terrible" is more of a yelp:

"I don't know Tim so I don't know what he said was out of character or not. I am a big fan of Ash and I think a bit of healthy competition is good."

"Out of character"? What does Burrows mean? Don't mind Tim expressing a harsh but fair musical judgement, he's not himself today, poor love.

And Razorlight seeing Ash as competition is amusing - they're not even playing the same sport, never mind going head-to-head.

Something to listen to: Ash

Twilight of the Innocents - it's Ash's last-ever album (this side of financial reality setting in) and you can stream it all into your audio capture software ears over on NME.com. Right now.

Ash clarify; Not splitting, just abandoning physical form

Tim Wheeler has explained his 'last track from our last album' remark at the Isle of Wight. While there are to be no more Ash records, there will be more Ash tunes:

"The way people listen to music has changed, with the advent of the download the emphasis has reverted to single tracks. It hasn't helped that most people have forgotten how to make a decent album. I'm constantly disappointed with records I buy.

"I believe our new album is the pinnacle of everything we've done thus far, and I'm proud that this will be remembered as our last album. The future lies elsewhere and we can have a lot of fun by changing things up. It's like the Wild West at the moment and a time to take chances and try out new ideas."

"When you're tied to the album format, you find yourself waiting six months between finishing a record and releasing it.

“By leaving this behind we can enter a new phase of spontaneity and creativity. We have our own studio in New York, we can record a track and release it the next day if we feel like it, give it to people while it's fresh. We're the first band to do this, but I very much doubt we'll be the last."

The first band to release all their stuff digitally apart, of course, from the thousands of unsigned bands who have no choice but to work that way.

We're not entirely sure that the music industry - even the music industry online - is like the "wild west", although clearly the RIAA sees it as some Dodge City free-for-all in need of a sheriff. We'd have thought a better metaphor would be post-Communist Russia, where there are some rules, it's just that not everyone cares about them and we're still some way from knowing how they'll be effectively policed once the grab for assets is over. But who can blame Tim Wheeler if he would rather be compared to John Wayne than Vlad Putin.

Ash to Ashes?

The end of Ash's Isle of Wight festival date has sent those of us who still care into full-on Ash-split mode. Introducing a song, Tim Wheeler told the crowd:

"This is our last song off our final album."

If they're having a fire sale, we're thinking of putting in a bid for Tim.

Ash: Yes, we kicked Charlotte out

A couple of months after Charlotte revealed the mutually agreed split wasn't quite so mutual, Tim Wheeler has admitted she was pushed out of Ash:

"It was our decision for her to go. She wanted the best of both worlds - to be a solo artist and to be in a band. I could tell her heart wasn't in it and it made things awkward between us."

Or, at least, your assumption that her heart wasn't in it must have been causing difficulties, at the very least.

Ash: We're better off as boys together

A few weeks back, Charlotte Hatherley gave her side of her departure from Ash, admitting that the ballyhooed "amicable, mutuals" weren't quite on the mark - she still isn't quite sure if she left or was shown the door.

Now, Ash have been talking about life without Charlotte, and while we're sure they didn't want to conjure up the image of lads sat on the sofa, surrounded by beer cans and grey pizza boxes, it does:

"We're excited because the communication in the band's a lot better and we're back to the old line-up.

"It feels very comfortable, we're used to it, and it's great to get back into the studio. We're starting over - new line-up, new material."

Yeah... and no more tights dripping over the edge of the bath, or nothing. And if they want to sit around in their pants all day... well, nobody is going to tell them they can't no more.

Crawl up to the Winehouse

Oh. Do people really think that Amy Winehouse is a fitting headliner for this year's Camden Crawl? We know that the event has being doing a Glastonbury more and more, but topping it off with the BHS Bassey seems a bit of a step too far - fitting in with the image she's trying to sell rather than fitting in with the general ethos of the event.

Still, Ash are also headlining, so it's not all bad news. Amy will only turn up for the 19th (mysterious cancellations permitting), as will Ash. So you've got to choose.

Away wi'ye, Hatherley... Charlotte reveals split truth

Over a year ago, when Charlotte Hatherley and Ash went their separate ways, we were told it was mutual and amicable and everyone agreed it was for the best.

Only... it turns out it wasn't quite like that:

"In the end it was the boys' choice. They wanted to go back to being a three-piece. They knew I wasn't happy in the band any more so they assumed that I'd be fine with the decision.

"I did find it was a bit weird. I left the conversation thinking: 'What just happened there? Did I leave or was I fired?' But it was all very nice and there were no hard feelings."

It was, of course, our old friend, Musical Differences:

"The boys were really in love with American music and with America. After years of touring the States they were listening to a lot of Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana, stuff I've never really been into.

"I found recording 'Meltdown' really difficult. Basically I coldn't relate to it. Things were getting a bit stale and I think we all needed something to change."

To be honest - and fond as we are of the new Ash stuff - we think she probably came out best of it all; her solo stuff has the sense of freedom and experimentation that can come from a change, while Ash... well, they may have a very nice furrow, but sooner or later they might want to think about turning slightly, surely?