UNDERDOGS, GRAHAM COXON AND NEW ALBUM ‘AD ASTRA’ | INTERVIEW WITH FOUNDING ASH BASSIST MARK HAMILTON
INTERVIEW | MARK HAMILTON – ASH by Gracie Erskine
Nearly 30 years since the release of their debut album ‘1977‘, Northern Ireland’s Ash prove to be continually pushing the band’s expectations with their work. Their latest album Ad Astra is due out October 3rd and bassist Mark Hamilton sat down with Northern Exposure’s Gracie Erskine to discuss being the underdogs, live music and the latest album.
Gracie: It must be a very exciting time for you. You were doing the show with The Darkness recently in Belfast. How was that?
Mark: Yeah, it was great. It’s 20 years on from the first time that we toured with them.
They’re great fun, they’re fantastic live and Justin and Dan joined us on stage a couple of times and they’re just a good bunch.
Gracie: Nice to revisit the past again?
Mark: Honestly whenever someone told us it was 20 years since we’ve done the first show with it was shocking.
Gracie: Your latest album ‘Ad Astra’ is due out in October, and it’s only two years since ‘Race The Night’, was it a race or were the themes of ‘Ad Astra’ already lingering?
Mark: I’d say about half of the songs on ‘Ad Astra’ actually sort of germinated along with like a bunch of the songs from ‘Race the Night’, which kind of started pre-pandemic. We had started demoing and working the songs out before that, whenever we were still based in New York and we had a studio over there.
So we finished an album which was quite schizophrenic. It was almost like half guitar album, half pop synth stuff. And then whenever we finished it, we mixed it, and we were like, right, there’s the album, let’s release it. And our manager was like, this is going to really confuse a lot of people because you’ve got two separate styles going on.
So we said we’ll go and write another six songs and then we’ll put Race The Night as a sort of cohesive guitar album. Then we had all these other synth songs and then The Darkness tour came around last year and we thought we still want to release a synth album but the timing’s gonna be all wrong for The Darkness tour. We tried to write another guitar album to get out in time for The Darkness tour, but it didn’t get finished. So that’s why we put out the ‘Jump In Line’ single. The album only got finished about a month ago. So that’s why it’s coming out in October. It was probably supposed to come out in May.
Gracie: What kind of provoked the ‘Jump In Line’ cover?
Mark: We didn’t want to go on that tour and have nothing out. And it was just like a fun, no pressure thing.
We still have this synth album, which is being kicked down the road twice already. So it’s still in the tank. The plan is to release that maybe next year, but then our agent is like, well, ‘next year is the 30th anniversary of 1977’, so we’re going to do a big anniversary tour for that. So maybe that synth album will come out in 2027, I don’t know. Those three albums, ‘Race The Night’, ‘Ad Astra’, and whatever the synth album is called, started from the same point.
Gracie: ‘Give Me Back My World’ was written during the pandemic right?. Do you think it feels as relevant, if not more than it would have done 5 years ago?
Mark: Five years ago it was probably the most relevant when everybody was in lockdown, that was kind of what it was all about. I guess you could argue, the world’s in a pretty fucked up place right now and you could point that same sentiment to now.
Gracie: The ‘Ad Astra’ album adopts a quite eclectic space theme, it feels very 80s. Where did that come from?
Mark: There’s two songs on there. One’s called ‘Fun People’ and one’s called ‘Ad Astra’ itself. And both of them have got Graham Coxon, from Blur, featuring. And it’s not just a little cameo, he’s the pivotal parts of the songs. We’re quite excited to see what people’s reactions are going to be to it. Because it does sound completely different to normal Ash.
Gracie: How did that come about? Did you get in touch with him? Did it just come up in the ether?
Mark: Graham’s been a fan since the 90s. He would periodically turn up backstage. I think Tim (Wheeler) knew he was in London and he definitely had an idea. Because whenever the song was being written, we wanted to have a call and response part to the song. And we were just kind of brainstorming who would be good to do it. And Tim just came up and said, I’ll ask Graham and see if he’s up for it.
‘Graham’s been a fan since the 90’s. He would periodically turn up backstage’
Mark hamilton – ASH
Gracie: Speaking of nostalgia and old friends, do you go back and revisit your earlier work a lot when you go in to write and produce?
Mark: No. Usually the songs will originate on an acoustic guitar or on a piano and it’s like a verse and a chorus and not necessarily any even like strong sense of lyrics. It’s more about the melody and the emotion it. Tim usually writes lyrics right at the very end so he might have like a couple of key lines you know but not the whole thing flashed out.
Gracie: You’ve got such longevity as a band and such consistent releases. What kind of keeps you going through it?
Mark: We always felt like perpetual underdogs. We never really fully achieved what we felt we could. Even though we had two number one albums and toured the world multiple times, we still feel like we’ve got like a point to prove. One of the things that we never had was a number one single and realistically the chances of that happening now is probably not very high but it’s still something motivates you.
‘We always felt like perpetual underdogs. We never really fully achieved what we felt we could’
Mark hamilton – ASH
Gracie: With the changing landscape of music, where do you see it going and where do you see yourself fitting in in the next 10, 15 years?
Mark: It’s really weird because, I’m living in Blythe here in the North of Newcastle and a lot of the venues in Newcastle itself are filled with a lot of cover bands and tribute acts and you even have festivals which are basically 90% tribute and cover bands.
When we were growing up as teenagers it was like everybody had their heroes whoever it and you’re all trying to like mimic your idols. But where we grew up, there was maybe seven or eight bands of the same age and we were all playing in the same back rooms and bars or parties- it was a real little scene.
I think we were lucky that there was a good like decade and a half, people paid for music, so we benefited from that a lot.
Gracie: You’re off on a huge tour next year, it’s absolutely massive and you seem to be playing every nook and cranny across the UK.
Mark: Yeah, we’re trying to get to little places that sometimes aren’t always on the regular circuit and we’ve always tried to do that over our careers and then we’ll sort of alternate tours.
Gracie: So what can we expect from the tour?
Mark: Certainly in London shows we’ll be able to get Graham up. Well, I shouldn’t even say that. Well, hopefully…
Ash will release their ninth studio album Ad Astra via Fierce Panda Records on 3 October. You can pre-order the record right now on various different formats HERE.
To celebrate the new album, the band will be taking on an intimate Record Store Tour. Dates as follows:
OCTOBER
Fri 03 Brighton Resident Records (Instore)
Sat 04 London Rough Trade East Records (Instore)
Sun 05 Leicester 2 Funky Café (Truck Records Outstore)
Tue 07 Nottingham Rough Trade Records (Instore)
Wed 08 Kingston Circuit (Banquet Records Outstore)
Thu 09 Liverpool Baltic Jacaranda Records (Instore)
Fri 10 Edinburgh Liquid Rooms (Assai Records Outstore)
Full UK/Ireland Tour is set for Autumn/Winter with more info HERE
