Ash looking forward to gig at Tyrone venue

When I heard Ash were coming to Tyrone to play a gig on August 12 during the Copper Tap’s ‘Summer Sessions’ in Omagh, the first thing that leapt into my mind were the immortal words of American stunt motorcyclist, Evel Knievel: ‘If it is possible, it is done. If it is impossible, it will be done’.

The connection for Ash fans will be clear, but for those uninitiated, that’s the soundbite at the beginning of track seven on the Downpatrick band’s 2015 album ‘Kablammo!’, named after the 1970s bike riding superstar.

What makes those particular words from Knievel even more relevant and somewhat prophetic – particularly to me – about the news of Ash’s impending arrival in Omagh is that the thought of Tim Wheeler, Mark Hamilton and Rick McMurray playing a gig in my hometown is something I never thought would happen. I’ve been a fan for around 30 years, probably coming close to earning a restraining order from Robert in the now-defunct music shop, ‘Route 66’, for an almost daily, ‘Is it in yet?’ interrogation about Ash’s debut mini-album, ‘Trailer’, throughout 1994.

When I finally got my hands on the cassette – yes, it was that long ago, and I have since upgraded to a CD copy (yes, I am that old) – I’m pretty certain my parents threatened eviction for the constant playing of ‘Petrol’, ‘Uncle Pat’ and ‘Jack Names the Planets’, et al, for months on end.

I remember, as a 15-year-old, yearning to see Ash live, never once thinking they’d come to Omagh, especially when hearing they’d turned down a tour with U2 because they had to do their A-Level exams.

Though, it turned out it was Pearl Jam, and they felt they weren’t ready for stadium gigs at such a young age, and during the fledgling part of their career.

They did go on to tour with U2 on several occasions after that; travelling the world on the back of their sensational debut album, ‘1977’, and the rash of singles from within, like ‘Kung-Fu’, ‘Girl From Mars’ and ‘Oh Yeah’, which were performed on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury.

They also wrote the title song for Danny Boyle’s 1997 film ‘A Life Less Ordinary’, starring Ewan McGregor and Cameron Diaz, and seemed set for world domination.

Yes, their second album, ‘Nu-Clear Sounds’ had a difficult birth, but they delivered again, and ever since, have consistently produced material that has kept their fanbase more than satisfied, and them on the road on a regular basis, with Omagh their latest stop… Something I never thought I’d write.

As far-fetched as the idea of Ash coming to town may have seemed, particularly back in the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2000s when they were, arguably, at the zenith of their fame, as time went on, I saw them play at the likes of Belfast’s Empire Music Hall, Spring and Airbrake and Stendhal Festival.

And for the band, gigs on a smaller stage, in a more intimate setting, continue to get their blood pumping, and that is why they are looking forward to playing on August 12, before embarking on a tour to promote their new album, ‘Race the Night’, which will be released in September.

“We just love the variety of the gigs you can do,” explained bassist Mark Hamilton, who is looking forward to the up close and personal nature of their forthcoming gig in Omagh, and the chance to potentially earn some new fans.

“We’ve done smaller club shows, smaller festivals, larger town halls like the Ulster Hall and then the likes of the Emirates Stadium with Coldplay, for example – we just love the variety. It’s fantastic.

“It keeps us engaged,” he added. “And the smaller shows generally tend to have the most intimacy; good connection with the crowd. When we played the Emirates with Coldplay, the stage is so far from the crowd, you’re so detached from it. It’s a different vibe.

“Whereas, when you’re playing a gig in a club, and you have people falling onto the stage, it adds chaos to the mix. It’s just great.

“And we enjoy playing new places, too, because any time you go to a new town, you get a lot of people coming out just to check you out. They might not be super fans, who will travel to Belfast or Dublin – people like that tend to be very engaged fans – so going to towns where you’ve never been, you’ll get a general crowd who might know you, and might know some songs, but not necessarily all of them.

“That’s good, because you’re then engaging with a new crowd essentially. It’s a good thing to do.”

Because there’s a fairly good chance that the majority of the crowd on August 12 won’t be diehard Ash fans, familiar with their unique brand of frenetic indie pop-rock, the set list on the night will be heavily influenced by their best-known work over the past 31 years.

“Set lists pretty much write themselves because there are certain songs people expect to hear,” Hamilton explained. “You don’t want people going home disappointed because they haven’t heard the classics, so we kind of feel that not doing those would be a mistake.

“When you’re playing festivals and things like that, you have to remember that you’re not just playing to your converted crowd, you have to do the songs that people know, or are more likely to know.

“If we’re doing one of our own shows, with a longer set list, then you can go deeper; do some album tracks and B-sides.

“And I think we’ll approach [the Omagh show] like it’s a festival, and we’ll be looking to play all the big hits, the singles most people will know, and if we do anything slightly different it might be a cover that people will know.

“For a few years, we were doing ‘Another Girl, Another Planet’ by The Only Ones, which a lot of people get when they hear it.

“I’m sure it will be like an all-hit kind of set-list, hopefully.”

While this will be Ash’s first visit to Tyrone’s county town, it may not be their last, as, even after more than three decades together, they have no plans to stop writing and performing any time soon.

Although, Hamilton does anticipate there will come a time when their on-stage antics will have to change.

“I don’t think we’ve slowed down on stage yet – at some point, that will inevitably happen if we continue into our 50s,” he acknowledged. “We never look much further than what the next album is, because that’s what you’re working on.

“We just keep plodding away – and keep doing what we do.”

In the weeks and months after Ash’s Omagh gig, it will be worth keeping an eye on the band’s social media pages because you might be able to get your hands on a memento from the show.

After each tour, Hamilton collects his and Wheeler’s guitar strings and converts them into ‘rock bangles’, which he then sells before giving all the proceeds to Cancer Focus Northern Ireland.

The reason for this is that Mark’s mum, Miriam, has beaten breast cancer three times, and works to support those battling the illness.

This way, the Ash family can give something back, and they’ve raised thousands of pounds in the process.

“By the time the summer festivals are all done, I should have a new batch of rock bangles before our next tour [October, November, December], and then another batch afterwards,” he added.

Until then, Mark, Tim and Rick will, if past experience is anything to go by, deliver a show to remember in Omagh on August 12.

Make sure to get your tickets via eventbrite.co.uk before they sell out.