On Friday 1st August Ash and I travelled to the Ricoh Arena, Coventry, to launch a whole new www.ash-official.com. The site is currently only in it's early stages but the plans for it are huge. Starting over gives us a chance to put together a much better site and we're going to concentrate on keeping the news regularly updated and by having multiple blog contributors from the extended Ash family, which includes me. Read More.

Because I and the band are going to be working to development the site and keep the blogs and news up to date, I will be no longer updating the news section of this site. All news will be added to www.ash-official.com.

Ashtabs will soon be returning to it's roots and becoming focused more toward guitar music again, whilst keeping all other current sections and news achieve. But do not despair as there will be more Ash news than ever before and all in one place, added by those close to the band, the all new www.ash-official.com.

See you over there. The jedi & Ash x

Taken from BBC News Beat. Ash say they remain committed to a promise not to release any more albums, despite having enough new songs. The northern Irish rockers announced in June 2007 that their album, Twilight of the Innocents, would be their last. The band said they would concentrate on single track releases because "the way people listen to music has changed".

Singer Tim Wheeler told Newsbeat: "We knew what we said was quite shocking but we didn't think it would create waves that big".

At the time, the band said more people were downloading single tracks rather than entire albums, so it made more sense to simply release new tracks, as and when they were finished.

Wheeler continued: "Loads of people have copied us since, a lot of bands are saying they're going to do the same thing so it's been inspirational for a lot of people already."

"I just can't wait to put it in effect."

Since Wheeler and bandmates Rick McMurray and Mark Hamilton made the announcement, Muse are another big band who have expressed interest in abandoning the traditional album format.

In March, frontman Matt Bellamy told NME: "I like the idea of releasing a series of songs, every month or every couple of months - just putting songs out there."

New material

Wheeler said the band are coming to the end of a punishing tour schedule which has taken in Japan, Ireland and London in the past week alone. But far from resting, Ash have been holed up in their own recording studio.

He said: "We've been working up some diabolical inventions to come out next year.

"It's been very freeing being away from the album format and not thinking, 'Oh, this track has to fit with that track'. We're just trying all sorts of crazy stuff.

"We've got one album worth so far but we want to get a double album worth of stuff."

Drummer McMurray agreed: "I think we have to go for it. You don't have to ignore some songs because they don't fit in with overall picture."

Ash headlined at Ben & Jerry's Sundae on the Common in London at the weekend and showcased one new song, called Ichiban.

Typically Ash-sounding pop rock, the song got a good reception from the strange mix of middle class families, students and Aussie backpackers enjoying the sunshine on Clapham Common

Wheeler said: "It's Japanese for number one, it's just a fun upbeat kind of song and its great to play live so we've been playing it at all the festivals so far.

"But we've also got a great disco song that Mark wrote, we're not sure what it's called yet but it's really different for us.

"We can't wait to start playing it live."

1977 re-release

Ash's former label is about to re-release a deluxe edition of their debut album 1977 in September.

Wheeler said: "It's a bit of nostalgia, we released it nearly 12 and a half years ago."

The band, who formed 16 years ago in Downpatrick, will play two shows in London to mark the occasion but Wheeler insists that even if it is a big seller fans shouldn't expect them to go back on their word.

He said: There's something very special about giving stuff to people in instalments. You know that feeling when you have to wait for something?

"I think it's going to be fun for our fans, getting something quite regularly from us instead of getting an album every three years.

"I think it's going to be really cool."

The new songs should emerge around Spring next year.

Oh and something the BBC didn't tell you... the 1977 re-release will come with much more than just the original album. Be Excited.

Ash played the following set at Glasgowbury yesterday, announcing that there won't be any further Northern Irish Ash appearances this year. Meltdown, Burn Baby Burn, You Can't Have It All, A Life Less Ordinary, Shining Light, Kung Fu, Ichiban, Orpheus, Renegade Cavalcade, Teenage Kicks (short and sweet to cover tech difficulties), End of the World, Blacklisted, Oh Yeah, Girl from Mars, Twilight of The Innocents // Lose Control, Jack Names the Planets

Belfast based Oh Yeah Music Centre, named after the 1996 Ash single 'Oh Yeah', has been awarded £191,000 by The Paul Hamlyn Foundation to transform a former whiskey warehouse into a dedicated recording studio, as well as exhibition areas and offices. Read more on NME.com. Back on 10th Feb 2007 Mark told us this about the Northern Irish music scheme: "Back home there's a great new project being set up in Belfast to help emerging talent from N. Ireland. It's been named Oh Yeah (perhaps after our 1996 hit single???) and our friend Stuart Bailie from ALT who founded the idea has been spearheading the non-profit making initiative.

"Head over to the new Oh Yeah website to check out the ambitious plans and if you feel inclined buy a T-shirt, all proceeds will be going towards setting up this amazing and much needed creative center, which will include a recording studio, rehearsal rooms, a performance area, music industry offices, training suites and a multi-media center.

Stu was over in New York just before Christmas and called into the studio to interview Tim for a new BBC documentary on Northern Irish music. You can see a pic of Stu and Tim from that day and a quote from Tim on the project in this scan from their promotional booklet."

Despite problems with promoters and bands cancelling left, right and centre ASH blow z008 away with a 12 song set. Mark is quoted as saying "We didn't know if it was going to go ahead earlier on. There were a lot of issues with the promoters." ASH were meant to be paid half of their fee before the performance and half after. They'd been told they'd been paid the first half, checked the bank account and this wasn't the case. The park's managing director Bob O'Connor stepped in and paid the band and their performance went ahead as planned.

Full Set: Meltdown, Burn Baby Burn, A Life Less Ordinary, Orpheus, Shining Light. , Ichiban, Kung Fu, You Cant Have It All, Orpheus, Oh Yeah, Girl from Mars, Twilight of the Innocents

Tim has said today that 5 songs finished and mixed, and there are 3 more to be mixed. While Mark told ashtabs last week that they were getting through finishing and mixing 15 songs (including the songs Chad heard – see Nouvelle Adventures: New ASH Material Update (15th May 2008)) and then they'd be starting on another batch.

ASH are set to play a show at Jaguar Hall at Coventry City's Ricoh Arena, hosted by Radio 1's (and Channel 5's) Colin Murray, on Friday 1st August. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster. Support on the night will come from The Gentlemen, The Vintones and Aunty Doubles.

As you may have noticed www.ash-official.com has been down for the past few weeks due to database trouble. Because of this the old version of the site has been replaced by a holding automatically redirecting traffic to ASH's Myspace and ASH have hired a crack commando unit who have begun work developing the new site.

ASH their Download festival debut last night playing a 11 song set on the Tuborg Stage. Before they went on stage Mark & Tim spoke to NME.com about their thoughts on the festival. Full Set: Orpheus, Burn Baby Burn, You Can't Have It All, A Life Less Ordinary, Shining Light, Clones, Kung Fu, Renegade Cavalcade, Blacklisted, Girl from Mars // Twilight of the Innocents

ASH's cover of Matt Sharp's the Rentals 'Please Let That Be You' is now available to listen to or download from ASH Myspace, ASH's iLike Page, US iTunes and Amazon.com. The song is lifted from the album 'Friends of P - The Rentals Tribute'. Matt Sharp is a founding member and former bassist for Weezer and 'Please Let That Be You' was demoed by Weezer under the title of 'Mrs Young'. Sharp is also credited in the Meltdown sleeve notes for band photography and lending a bass amp.

ASH have confirmed their appearance at the Raumarock Festival in Norway on August 2nd. Also here is the pre-sale link for the Ashtoria 1977 show on 6th September. Tickets will be available for 9am on Tuesday 10th June.

ASH have confirmed two more shows this summer. They've confirmed their appearane at Glasgowbury Festival in Draperstown, Derry, N.Ireland on 26th July and that they'll be headling the Cardiff Free Music Festival on 3rd August.

1977 Part II: Following the sell out of the 1977 Roundhouse show, ASH have announced they will be returning to their favourite venue, the London Ashtoria on the following night Saturday 6th September for one last, record breaking, appearance to perform their classic album '1977' in it's entirety. Tickets will soon be on sale from www.gigsandtours.com

Last night ASH rocked Middlesbrough, headlining the Middlesbrough Music Live event, before heading back to New York this morning to spend the next two weeks working on and recording new material. Full Set: Lose Control, You Can't Have It All, Orpheus, A Life Less Ordinary, Shining Light, Walking Barefoot, Goldfinger, Kung Fu, Ichiban, Oh Yeah, Renegade Cavalcade, Blacklisted, Burn Baby Burn, Girl from Mars, Twilight of the Innocents

ASH returned to live action last night in Bradford, rocking St George's Hall with a set which featured the greatest hits, the best of TOTI and new song 'Ichiban' (formerly entitled Survivor) the video of which you can see below. Full Set: Lose Control, You Can't Have It All, Orpheus, A Life Less Ordinary, Shining Light, Angel Interceptor, Walking Barefoot, Goldfinger, Kung Fu, Ichiban, Oh Yeah, Renegade Cavalcade, Blacklisted, Jack Names the Planets, Twilight of the Innocents, Girl from Mars // Meltdown, End of the World, Burn Baby Burn

ASH are set to headline the Sunday leg of the Ben & Jerry's Sundae festival, which takes place over the weekend of 26th - 27th July at London's Clapham Common. Tickets are not currently on sale, but will soon be available from the Ben & Jerry's Online Gift Shop priced at £8.75. As well as ASH, festival goers can except sets from Slow Club, Cage the Elephant, Parka and The New York Fund and enjoy a mix of free Ben & Jerry's ice cream and fairground attractions.

ASH legend Chad Peck went to visit Mark and Tim at the band's studio in New York last week and these are the tales that he has to tell... "The first thing I will say is this: despite how everything appears to be 'quiet', the band are working HARD. Tim told me they are in there 5 days a week and pretty much recording non-stop.

"The studio itself is in a strange building (Mark called it ghetto....). You would never guess that it would house a recording studio and looks fairly industrial. My lady and I just walked into the building with no hassle. It's a nerd dream.

"Stuff I know:

"The band signed a 5 year lease for the studio and are going to do all recording AND mixing there from now on. Claudius was there and he is taller than he looks in real life.

"They have re-recorded 'Coming Around Again' to get the ball rolling, and it sounds INCREDIBLE. (The original session cover of the Carly Simon song is available to download at www.ashfiles.com) Tim played me the extra long edit with the extra long guitar solo...the vocal arrangement is huge. Tim sings it an octave up, and this track is rocking big time.

"They are also finishing up a Beach Boys cover of 'Do You Wanna Dance' which has been floating around since the FAA days. This will be a b-side.

"There are new musical vibes going on in the new songs I heard. There are definitely some classic Tim Wheeler compositions (one I heard was really great, though it was only in home demo form. It included a police siren outside Tim's window. It also had a piano hooked up to a 10 second reverb that sounded incredible), but there is truly an anything goes type of vibe at the moment. It almost harkens back to the strange b-side era of Trailer/1977 in a lot of ways, only they are much better at their instruments and the songs are more formed. There seem to be lots of samples and synths and loops in the songs. I only heard 2 completely finished songs, so it's too early to judge. Coming around again was one, and the other is Prypiat.

"Prypiat has been floating around for a while amongst the elite as a rumoured new track (the song was written during the recording of TOTI but wasn’t finished in time for the album). Tim played it for me. It doesn't really sound like anything they've done before. I guess the production style might be EOTW-ish (though I only had one listen...). It's a great song about someone or something destroying themselves. The arrangement is really big and epic and is quite dynamic, from what I remember. Tim's voice is just getting better and better. I

"It doesn't sound like EOTW at ALL. It just has a similar production style. It's quite a serious song with samples and stuff in the verses. Great, complex arrangement. As much as some fans might hate it, a lot of stuff had a pretty *epic* vibe. The band know what they are doing and it sounds GREAT.

"Other songs I heard in unfinished versions:

"Survivor - has a Stray Cats stomp vibe with lots of chord changes with THE most epic intro of any Ash song ever. Extremely catchy.

"Return of White Rabbit - the best Ash dance song I've ever heard. Imagine the disco part of Tinseltown but multiplied by 1000000000000000000000x. So many hooks in this song, amazing groove, this is a potential single. Tim actually jokingly said it would be their comeback single. Great guitar lines and drum breaks. I can't say enough good things about this song. Mark wrote it.

"Nouvelle Adventures - for the first time in an Ash song, both Tim and Mark are playing bass. This will likely have a spoken word lyric and has a spaceship vibe about it...

"No Face (Jesus Christ) - this is a proper ASH hardcore punk song. The vocals were a scratch track but it's a great new direction.

"Other song titles I saw: Hospital Song, Lay Down Your Arms, (both demoed for TOTI) and Daedalus. There were definitely more, but I can't remember the titles.

"Tim also played me another song that Mark wrote. It has a lot of key changes and is extremely hook-y and well arranged. no vocals as yet.

"There WILL be a release this year, but I'm not allowed to say what it is. It will be announced soon.

"TOTI will not come out in the States, nor will they do any touring in the states. The plan is to work all year on new songs and drive it home next year with tons of singles.

"I got to play 3 of Tim's guitars and his 70s Jazz bass. It was incredible. They guys were extremely friendly and hospitable. The vibe was extremely positive and energy was high. I uploaded more pics to flickr.com/photos/chadpeck

"Mark took us to the top of the building which gives an incredible view of the city. Tim is vegetarian now after a case of mercury poisoning (too much sushi) and gave us a great vegan restaurant to go to. Tim is also trying to get a see-through flying V made. New York City might be the best place on earth." - Chad Peck

ASH will be performing their classic album '1977' in it's entirety as a one-off show! Who knows, they'll maybe even throw in sick party! THE PLACE > Roundhouse, London, Chalk Farm Road on Friday 5th September. Tickets on sale this Friday, 16th May. Tel: 0844 482 8008 and 0871 2200 260. www.roundhouse.org.uk | www.gigsandtours.com Also check out ASH's NEW page on Facebook and add yourself as a fan for the chance to influence what b-sides Ash play at the gig! They had to start a new 'music / artist' profile as the old page was registered under 'Public figure' or something stupid... it will be deleted soon.

"Hey everyone, Sorry www.ash-official.com has been off-line for the past 2 weeks, we hope to get the database meltdown fixed asap. Currently we're hard at work in the studio recording loads of new material for future release, got 15 new songs on the go at the moment. We've got a plan and big ideas but more on that later... "Between all the recording which is or main priority this year, we're planning on flying in/out this summer and doing the odd weekend of festivals and random shows. Here's what we got planned so far."

25.07.08 - Galway Arts Festival, Galway, Ireland
21.07.08 - Nano Mugen Festival, Japan (supporting Asian Kung-Fu Generation)
20.07.08 - Nano Mugen Festival, Japan (supporting Asian Kung-Fu Generation)
05.07.08 - zoo8, Port Lympne Wildlife Park, Kent
15.06.08 - Loughborough Students Union, Loughborough, Leicester
14.06.08 - Download festival, Donington Park
13.06.08 - Nova Rock Festival, Austria
01.06.08 - Middlesbrough Music Live free festival
31.05.08 - Reading University Summer Ball, Reading
30.05.08 - St Georges Hall, Bradford

"Hopefully see you at some of these events and they'll be more announced as we confirm them." Ash x

Ash have signed up for the We Campaign because they believe that by working together, we can solve the climate crisis. Will you join Ash in this quest of epic proportions? Just click on the link below to sign up and add your voice to the million-plus call for an end to global warming: www.wecansolveit.org/join The We Campaign is an effort launched by Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection to promote solutions to the climate crisis. It's an urgent issue, but the climate crisis is also solvable if we work together and unite our leaders around solutions like renewable power and enhanced energy efficiency. We can leave the next generation a healthy climate. Please add your voice by joining the We Campaign today: www.wecansolveit.org/join

For all of you missing the ash board at www.ash-official.com check out the Gashed Forum. For those that don't know Gashed is an ASH Webzine run by the fans for the fans, with exclusive content about Tim's hair.

More live dates announced: 30.05.08 - St Georges Hall, Bradford 15.06.08 - Loughborough Students Union, Loughborough, Leicester 04 - 06.07.08 - One of the three days of zoo8, Port Lympne Wildlife Park, Kent. Confirmation of which day ASH are to appear to follow.

Following the confirmation of ASH's first festival appearances this summer, Mark told ashtabs about the band’s recording and the change from their initial plans to be releasing digitally next month. ASH had planned their first digital release to be available in May, but this has been put back as they plan to record "at least 40 songs this year". At the moment they’re working on 13 different songs with quite a variety of styles. Some have backing tracks down while a few are currently "experiments". There are also potential mosh pit favs in the brew...

Two songs are finished and just need mixing, one of these songs was written toward the end of the recording of TOTI, but wasn’t ready in time for that album. This is the song Tim mentioned in an interview during last year’s Reading festival...

www.ash-official.com is currently down due to server trouble and it should be back soon – hopefully a reboot should fix it today.

Following the confirmation of the band's appearances at Middlesbrough Music Live and the Download festival, ashtabs spoke to Mark about whether ASH had any further live dates planned for this summer? "Yep, there'll be a bunch of other smaller festivals this summer. Details will be announced as we get them. Gonna be recording most of the year. Then back on the road full on in 2009. That's the plan."

ASH have confirmed two UK festival appearances this June. On Sunday 1st June ASH are set to headline the Middlesbrough Music Live free festival and also play the Download festival 2008 at Donington Park on Saturday 14th June.

"Middlesbrough Music Live has announced that this year's festival will be Northern Irish rockers Ash headlining the main stage, on a bill with over 100 acts set to join them across 12 stages throughout the town centre on Sunday 1st June 2008.

This year sees the event showcase more hotly tipped acts such as Black Kids, Late Of The Pier, Sam Isaac, Natty, Noah and The Whale, The Infadels, Alphabeat and Parka already confirmed alongside one of the stars of last year's event, One Night Only, who make a return to this year's festival.

The rock stage will have a co-headlining partnership featuring the UK pop-punk band YouMeAtSix and American power-pop superstars Cartel alongside a supporting line-up including the up and coming UK acts Outcry Collective, Glamour Of The Kill, Slaves To Gravity and Beyond This Oath." - EFestivals

Despite little news about ASH's plans for forthcoming digital releases, Mark has let it be known that it is currently "work in progress". The band have 10 new songs and we should be hearing more in the next month or so. ASH are also starting to confirm their European summer festival appearances, starting with Austria's Nova Rock Festival in June. Until then here's something to keep you going...

Ash covered Thin Lizzy's 'Whiskey in the Jar' and the Undertones 'Teenage Kicks' as they went all out for an extra Irish St Paddy's day show at The Music Hall Of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The full set was as follows: Lose Control, Orpheus, A Life Less Ordinary, Ritual, Shining Light, Kung Fu, Renegade Cavalcade, Vampire Love, Goldfinger, You Can't Have It All, Walking Barefoot, Evil Eye, Jack Names the Planets, Blacklisted, Oh Yeah, Girl from Mars, Twilight of the Innocents // Meltdown, Uncle Pat, Whiskey in the Jar, Teenage Kicks, Burn Baby Burn

ASH finish their Japanese tour tonight and on Sunday played the following set at Hiroshima Club Quattro: Lose Control, Orpheus, A Life Less Ordinary, Jesus Says, Ritual, Shining Light, Kung Fu, Renegade Cavalcade, Vampire Love, Polaris, You Can't Have It All, Uncle Pat, Walking Barefoot, Evil Eye, Blacklisted, Oh Yeah, Girl from Mars, Twilight of the Innocents // Meltdown, End of the World, Angel Interceptor, Burn Baby Burn

ASH are super stoked to announce Nightmare Of You as special guests at the Music Hall Of Williamsburg show on St. Patrick's Day. Don't forget to make a night of it and get down early for Levy who will open the show! Tickets and info. You can see photos from ASH's first night at Shiuya-o-East, Tokyo, last week at smashingmag.com.

ASH kicked off their Japanese tour on Tuesday and played a 22 song set including 'Wild Surf' at their second night at the Shiuya-O-East, Tokyo last night. Set as follows: Lose Control, Orpheus, A Life Less Ordinary, Wild Surf, Ritual, Polaris, Kung Fu, Renegade Calvacade, Shining Light, Vampire Love, Walking Barefoot, You Can't Have It All, Evil Eye, Oh Yeah, Petrol, Blacklisted, Girl from Mars, Twilight of the Innocents // Meltdown, End of the World, Angel Interceptor, Burn Baby Burn

For anyone that missed ASH on ATL on Monday night, or doesn't have BBC Northern Ireland, you can watch it online at BBC Northern Ireland ATL. You can also now watch below...

Tim Wheeler talks to Guardian interviewer Chris Salmon about the music scene in Northern Ireland. Go check it out.

"We obviously love St. Patrick's Day and what better way to celebrate than to put on a show in our new center of operations New York City. So we're glad to announce that after the upcoming Japanese tour we'll be playing at The Music Hall Of Williamsburg, Brooklyn on March 17th." - ASH Tickets and info. Support will be from Levy and another soon to be announced special guest.

ASH are very pleased to announce their first live dates of 2008, an eight night March tour of Japan. Details and tickets. "After last years amazing show at Fuji Rock we're dead excited to get back to Japan and tear the place a new one!!!"

04.03.08 – Shiuya-O-East, Tokyo
05.03.08 – Shiuya-O-East, Tokyo
08.03.08 – Drum Logos, Fukuoka
09.03.08 – Club Quattro, Hiroshima
10.03.08 – Namba Hatch, Osaka
11.03.08 – Club Quattro, Nagoya
13.03.08 – Jasmac Plaza Zanadu, Sapporo
14.03.08 – Lots, NiigataMark

Just over a month ago, whilst ASH were on tour in Dublin, Mark spoke to O2 Making Waves about the band’s two year plan... Now that they’re based in their own New York studio the band plan to record songs as soon as they are written, and then release these on the internet, possibly via either their website www.ash-official.com or iTunes. This will mean the release of more, and more regular, material than in the traditional album cycle, also allowing them to tour when it takes their fancy.

With potentially a large amount of material to release, standout songs will be picked and pushed as singles, looking for charting. While they may also have more "experimental" material (think 'Twilight of the Innocents', 'Tinseltown') available for download. The band also plan to record a large amount of material in the second half of this year ready for 2009 for which they have a plan, a top secret plan.

ASH's current plans for 2008:

- January in the studio recording
- Touring Japan in March
- 5-6 EP ready for release around May
- Playing the summer festivals
- Back into the studio to record a lot of songs, because for 2009 ASH have a plan

There are also plans in the pile line to release 'Twilight of the Innocents' in the U.S., accompanied by a tour, while all ASH’s music which is available via the UK iTunes, so now available via the North American version.

You can listen to the interview in full at podcastingireland.ie.

Happy New Year! Issue 2 of ASH internet fanzine Gashed is now online, with lots of exclusive Ash content....including some very insightful interviews with all the main players in the world of Ash.