Ash frontman Tim Wheeler announced the band's intention to cease recording on Saturday, from the main stage at this year's Isle of Wight festival.
The band introduced the last song of the set - 'Twilight of the Innocents' - as "the last song off our final album".
The announcement came as the band made their first festival appearance as a trio following guitarist Charlotte Hatherley's departure last year.
DiScuss: it's hard to know where Ash fit in these days. Still, DiS always imagined them growing out and old together in a four-bed cottage in some rural, Nor'n Irish setting. Would they be right to split?
NO!
YES?
Apparently they were ace at Proud the other day.
I heard there were bunnies there.
Gutted
One of my favourite all time bands of the last 10 years. Sure some of the latest stuff isn't as strong but they did some cracking songs. :(
On a positive note
Nothing has been announced on the official site/message boards. SO you never know it might just be a misunderstanding. Appartently in interviews they've metioned doing albums after the lastest one so fingers crossed.
I had a discussion about Ash the other day
How they have only made about 2 good singles.
More than that, surely?
Jack Names The Planets
Kung Fu
Girl From Mars
Angel Interceptor
Goldfinger
Burn Baby Burn
(admittedly all but one of those is from 12/13 years ago).
accurate list
i just can't believe tim wheeler is only 30. it feels like ash've been around since the dawn of time itself. he should be, like, really old now. like, at least 32 or something...
Kung-Fu
Girl From Mars
Angel Interceptor.
aside from
Numbskull, possibly Candy, and certainly the singles off the new album, I'd argue they never released a single that WASN'T great.
Underrated Ash songs which haven't been mentioned above:
Sometimes
Wildsurf
A Life Less Ordinary
Oh Yeah
Hell, I even like Starcrossed.
We've been Walking Barefoot
All summer, why can't we just decide to live like this all the time or can't we just quit...
Not a massive fan, but that's a great tune
I quite liked Numbskull
but then I also like Nu-clear Sounds itself. Which is weird cos I don't really like much else they did other than the first half of 1977.
What a devistating way to announce such a thing
poor ash groupies =( couldnt ejoy the song
They were in Camden Wagamamas the other day
Tim Wheeler is TINY.
Both statements are true
He appears to be receding quite dramatically as well.
I liked Ash. The last album was alright, as well.
I was amazed by that too
I mean, I never expected him to be a giant, but his sheer petiteness blew me away a bit...
before the days of Ebay
my local woolworths were doing a charity auction in which i won a signed Ash photo for £3 (in the Nu-Clear Sounds days when no one liked them).
Wish I'd sold it during the Free All Angels renaissance; probably get bugger-all now that no one cares again.
Uncle Pat?
A Life Less Ordinary!
INCREDIBLE pop song.
And 'Numbskull' was brilliant - though the video made it even better:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=26G37LZsGOo
I've always found it hard to get really excited about them, though. Live they always seem to be a bit muted, and I've never made it through a whole album without wanting to put on either Take That or Pantera. I've always been glad they're there, though - which is a wankfaced thing to say, but their track record for cracking singles is pretty phenomenal really, and I suspect we'll all (me included) rather miss them when they're gone.
About right
They had their day and released some good stuff but I think this is a band doing the right thing at the right time.
Well done Ash for not banging on for ever and ever becoming less and less significant. Best of luck to them I say.
the new stuff
does sound a bit crap. But this is still sad because they're one of the first bands I ever loved. I hope I get to see them live before they split.
hmm
4 albums and ten years late?
One album late.
i.................
oh. :'(
I woke up with goldfinger in my head thins fair morn
which was odd having not heard it for years!
Argh
The Beta Band, The Delgados, Sleater-Kinney, HOTS and now Ash? Stop splitting up bands I like!
HULK HOGAN BUBBLE BATH
HAHA
trailer was amazing. uncle pat - petrol
that mini album was FIT!
they were superb when i saw them a few years back
and they're really not my kind of thing at all. "nu clear sounds" has got several belting songs on it - "Jesus says" and "numbskull" ruled and if everyone had had the taste that they seemingly do now, might have been regarded a great record
how can you argue with:
shining light
burn baby burn
goldfinger
girl from mars
kung fu
hope he goes on to be a songwriter for other artists if true - his pop tunes are immense. though you COULD read this article as them saying "this is our last song (today) from our final record (eg. the most recent one)"
^Totally agreed^
'Nu-Clear Sounds' was mostly rejected because people resented them Not Being Teenagers Anymore. Did anyone else see them doing 'Jesus Says' on TOTP, with Tim guitar-less, draped over the mic stand, wearing shades? Cool. As. Fuck.
i think the suggestion that ash have only released a few good singles
is a obscenely wrong suggestion. their singles album is ace and i can quite easily state that they are one of the best 'singles' bands of the last 15 years. i doubt many bands can really compete.
their b-sides are great too :)
but back to the oringal question...i doubt want them to split and i don't reckon it'd be right for them to do so. they've got miles left on the clock!
Hard to imagine where they fit in?
Er, they produce top pop music. I hope there's always room for that.
Not going anywhere
Great band, new album is going to sounds awesome, based on the half of it I heard at ULU in February. Can't wait to see them at Kokos in July. I can't believe that they'd quit now, only a month or two ago, Tim was talking about a new lease of life since Charlotte had left.
I'm sorry
but A Life Less Ordinary is the best thing they've ever done. Hands down.
:(
this makes me very very sad.
i love ash.
:(
Yes
Unless they can successfully re-invent themselves. They seem to me to have got progressively less rocking over the years and their geographical separation presents a real danger of further recordings being 'phoned in.'
Nothing to do with age, though: 30 is the new 13, doncha know.
yeah right
'Clones' didn't rock then.
This is sad...
Ash was the first band I went to see with my boyfriend and we made a pact that if we happened to meet the band afterwards, I was allowed to kiss Tim and he was allowed to kiss Charlotte, and there would be no upset involved.
Then a couple of weeks later we did meet them at a signing, but we were too shy to kiss any of them and instead I had a quick discussion about the film Ghost World with Tim.
I do like Ash, they will be missed if they do split, although as already mentioned, you never know until its on the official site (and even then, you still never know until it actually happens!)
...
Also, just to throw my musical opinion into the mix, I have to agree that they are a fantastic singles band, although they have that steady, constant kind of popularity and not the sensational kind of intense popularity that seems to be the norm these days. Maybe that suggests that it is, sadly, a good thing if they do split now. Maybe. Still going to miss them ! :(
I Hope
This isn't true :[
Nothing has been announced officially yet so fingers crossed.
this is bad news
although i'm not a huge fan i always enjoyed odd tracks off all their LPs, my top 5 tracks by them would be... Numbskull / Taken Out / Life Less Ordinary / Jack Names The Planets / 13th Floor, also when I saw them at the Hurricane Festival in Germany in 2004 they were awesome
A life less ordinary
projects
oh yeah
girl from mars
goldfinger
kung fu
jack names the planets
burn baby burn
angel interceptor
nicole
candy
they must never split up
candy?
that was the exact point that I realised, after mildly disliking a lot of their stuff, that I actually really hated Ash. Trailer and about half of 1977 were okay, but it was all shit, badly sung, badly played throwaway punk-lite RUBBISH from then on.
I'm happy they've split, they should've done it ages ago.