Ash Biography
Alternative-Rock Punk-Pop act from Downpatrick, NORTHERN IRELAND and originally consisted of singer + guitarist Tim Wheeler, bass player Mark Hamilton and drummer Rick McMurray; they started playing together in the first half of the '90s.
Their first single, "Jack Names The Planets", came out in 1994 appearing in advance of their debut album, "Trailer".
In late 1995 "Girl From Mars" entered the top 10 of the Official U.K. Singles chart, two more British hit singles "Goldfinger" and "Oh Yeah" propelled the band's second effort, "1977", to the top of the U.K. Albums chart and helped pump album sales to nearly one million copies worldwide.
Over the course of 1997, having expanded the line-up to include the new
guitarist Charlotte Hatherley the group toured the world, sharing the
stage with such acts as Moby and Our
Lady Peace.
The next year saw the release of "Nu-Clear Sounds", the album
failed to replicate its predecessor's commercial performance and stalled
at #7 on the British Sales chart, because, under pressure to deliver a
follow-up to the success of "1977", Wheeler suffered writer's
block.
The band resurfaced in early 2001 with the U.K. top 10 hit single "Shining
Light" which preceded the full-length "Free All Angels";
soon after the album release, the second single, "Burn Baby Burn",
peaked at #13 on the British Top 100 chart. Their fourth album topped
the U.K. charts and generated two more hit singles: "Sometimes"
and "Candy".
"Free All Angels" appeared in the U.S. in June 2002 and conquered
the top 20 of the Billboard Magazine's Heatseekers list.
That same year, Ash, released a double-CD compilation of all their singles
and B-sides called "Intergalactic Sonic 7"s" which also
included the previously unreleased track "Envy", released as
a single, it fell just shy of reaching the British Top 20 and has since
remained one of 100 XR's fave track.
Ash's next offering, "Meltdown", was issued in mid-2004 going straight into the top 5 of the British Albums chart and spawning the top 10 hit single "Orpheus".
In early 2006 Charlotte Hatherley announced her departure from the band
after almost a decade with the Northern Irish alt-Rock outfit; the decision
was completely amicable. Around this time the core members relocated to
New York City, where they set up their own recording studio, Atomic Heart.
One and a half year later, again as a three-piece, Ash released its sixth
studio album, "Twilight Of The Innocents", the 12-song set failed
to rise above #32 on the U.K. Albums chart.
Following the commercial flop of the 2007's effort, band members swore
never to release another full-length studio effort, but instead put out
singles and accompanying compilation sets.
Their first project after this is “The A-Z Series”, 26 singles
in one year, from October 2009 to September 2010, named alphabetically
from A to Z. April 2010 saw the release of "A-Z Vol.1", the
first half of the project, singles from A to M.
In June, 100 XR decided to put the single titled "Insects" on
the Hot New playlist.
