As Ash prepare to return to New Zealand next week as part of their 1977 30th anniversary tour, bassist Mark Hamilton got on the line with Paddy McCann to reflect on the band’s origins and the intervening decades since the release of 1977.
“I know we sound the same,” says Paddy, “but I’m actually in Wellington. I’m not just sitting in Ireland pretending.” Hearing them talk, you’d be forgiven for thinking he might be. Paddy grew up in Belfast, about an hour’s drive to Downpatrick in Northern Ireland, where Ash formed. For him, talking to Mark is a bit of a dream come true. “It’s awesome to have a chat with someone whose music I’ve grown up with,” he says. “1977 was one of the first CDs I actually owned. I think I wore it out!”
Paddy mentions discovering the infamous hidden track at the end of the album, “Sick Party”, which features all kinds of random audio of the lads in the studio, including someone vomiting. Paddy had it playing at the restaurant he’d been working at, and everyone was a bit startled when the track came on. “It was just us “messing around in the studio”, really,” Mark grins, “I think we were waiting for Tim to finish writing lyrics. I think a lot of people got caught out like that with “Sick Party””
1977 was actually released in 1996, and Ash are currently on a 30th anniversary tour. They have upcoming dates in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, before returning to the UK for more shows later this year. “What does it mean to still be taking that album around the world?” asks Paddy.
“Every time we get asked to come back, it’s like a total honour,” says Mark. “And we’ve got friends in New Zealand as well, so it’s always good fun. We love the Kiwi sense of humour.” He mentions the long flights and jet lag that are promised with a trip to the other side of the world, but remarks that, by doing the Aussie shows first, the band are “pretty all right” by the time they get to NZ.
Ash formed in 1992 as a three-piece band, with Tim Wheeler on lead vocals and guitar, Mark Hamilton on bass, and Rick McMurray on drums. Aside from the success of 1977 itself, it’s pretty impressive that these three have stayed together all this time. The very same trio who originally recorded the album are still playing together, touring these 30th anniversary shows in 2026.
“What’s the trick?” asks Paddy. “I play music, and I can’t be in a band with anybody without someone falling out.” “I think that’s really the key thing,” says Mark. “Egos or personalities can clash, but Tim and I met when we were 12 years old. We were just children, and we grew up as friends… You become almost like brothers, you know so much about each other.”
It was really only a few years after meeting as kids that the two formed Ash with Rick McMurray, and the rest is history. When Paddy asks if Mark had always intended to play bass, he replies “the concept of the band was first, rather than actually me or Tim having instruments. It sounds ridiculous, but the dream was always to be rock stars of some sort.” Mark references the 1989 comedy film Bill and Ted. “It was really inspiring. We were thinking, “oh yeah, just a couple of guys can change the world.” We came up with the concept of a band before any of us had instruments.”
“There were other guys from school who were going to be in the band, and I was originally going to be on the keyboard. Then the guy who was going to be bassist quit the band before it even existed.” (I bet that guy lies awake at night…) “It became a question of which was more important, keyboard or bass. Then Tim said to me: “you get the bass then.” I was like, “all right.””
Tim and Mark asked Santa for guitars that Christmas. “We thought we were taking the piss because guitars were expensive. But there were mail-order guitars for around 90 quid, and we managed to convince our parents. It was Christmas Day or Boxing Day and we got together. On our first try, we couldn’t play. We just didn’t know what we were doing. It was like, “What are we going to do now?” There was no YouTube you could look up. We started working it out ourselves – if you played the same number on the fretboard, it would sound the same. We just started writing songs, like, on day one. It was only bass and guitar playing, so it sounded ridiculous. We have recordings of those early songs, and they’re hilarious. We had these little two-watt amps powered by nine-volt batteries. They were quiet, little starter amps, and the batteries ran out after like half an hour. We were just playing the same notes over and over, really simple little riffs, but it got us in the mindset of writing our own music, which was really important.”
“I saw you play in Wellington in 2024, at San Fran.” says Paddy. “I noticed you were playing with a three-string bass. Is that something you’ve done for a long time?”
“That goes back to the early days as well. In Downpatrick, there was one shop that sold guitar strings. They sold CDs, sheet music, and bits and pieces; but they only sold bass strings in full sets. You couldn’t buy individual strings. When you’re 13 or 14, the G string is the thinnest string, and it breaks first. It was 20 quid to get a new set of bass strings. When you’re young, it’s just too much money to be changing the G string every time. So, I just left it off and started playing without it. I didn’t use it, so I just didn’t need it. Then it just stuck.”
As for the band’s longevity, Mark says it’s like “a vindication.” “We’ve been plugging away, it’s nice to see things rise again. The last few albums went Top 15 in the UK after maybe a decade of not charting at all. A lot of people say, “you’re that band from the ‘90s or early ‘00s, what have you been doing since?” But we’ve been putting out albums and touring ever since. It’s nice to see the uptake again.”
“Ash songs have turned up in some unexpected places, too,” says Paddy. “I was playing Burnout on Xbox and heard you guys. What are your favourite incidences of coming across your music?”
Mark lists off an impressive resume. A bunch of computer games (including the third Gran Turismo and an NHL hockey game), a Jackie Chan movie called Rumble in the Bronx, and the titular song (“A Life Less Ordinary”) for a Danny Boyle film starring Ewan McGregor and Cameron Diaz. “”Orpheus” was on the Shaun of the Dead soundtrack. “Meltdown” as well. A fan sent us an edit of “Orpheus” in Shaun of the Dead and it was a brilliant video, but it was just a random thing where I was like “oh, I forgot we were in that movie.””
In Ireland, “Uncle Pat” was used in a Heineken ad. “You could not escape that advert whenever it was running,” says Mark. “It may not be a song that everyone outside Ireland knows, but everyone in Ireland seems to know it because of that advert.”
“I think you played it when you were here last time,” says Paddy. “There were a lot of people calling for it, it may have been an encore.”
ASH 1977 – 30th Anniversary Australian/NZ Tour Dates:
Australia:
Friday 4th September PERTH, Rosemount Hotel
Saturday 5th September FREMANTLE, Fre.Social
Tuesday 8th September ADELAIDE, Lion Arts Factory
Thursday 10th September BRISBANE, The Tivoli
Friday 11th September MELBOURNE, Northcote Theatre
Saturday 12th September SYDNEY, Metro Theatre
NZ:
Monday 14th September AUCKLAND, Tuning Fork
Tuesday 15th September WELLINGTON, San Fran
NZ Tickets On Sale Now From: https://metropolistouring.com/newzealand/ash/
Paddy McCann is an Irish singer-songwriter who’s lived in Wellington for years. You can often catch him playing at Gibbons Hotel on Taranaki Street. He’s also the frontman of blues rock band Aegir and Ran, who play occasionally but have been abandoned by their bassist (one that plays four strings). You can find his music and more information about his appearances on his Instagram, @paddy_mc_cann.
Interview by Paddy McCann