Ash – B-Sides & Covers

Ash were official formed in 1992 but two of the members had been playing in an Iron Maiden covers band for the precious three years. After recording some demos and releasing these on cassettes (remember them folks), one of these, ‘Garage Girl’, caught the attention of Stephen Taverner. Taverner put up the money press up 1000 7” records of ‘Jack Names The Planet’s on his own LaLaLand records label whilst becoming the bands manager. What needs to be remembered here is that the members of Ash were so young during these early years that they were still in school. 

The band gained some momentum and airplay when in 1994, they released the mini album ‘Trailer’. Steve Lamacq played some of these songs on his BBC Radio 1 show. American audiences become aware of the band after their song ‘Kung Fu’ was used in the closing credits of the Jackie Chan film, ‘Rumble In The Bronx’. After touring the USA in support of Weezer, the band felt that they needed another guitar player to help flesh out the sound whilst they played live. Charlotte Hatherley (previously of Nightnurse) joined and her first recorded contribution to the band was on their single from the film ‘A Life Less Ordinary’. 

The early singles and album of the band were more upbeat than what came on their second LP and subsequent singles which had a good deal more garage rock influences. The ‘Numbskull’ single included a number of cover versions of grunge acts as well, no doubt showing the influences of the band but it could be argued that these were needed because main songwriter Tim Wheeler was suffering from writers block. The second album gained mix reviews from critics and Wheeler went into an 18 month depression which he eventually come out form after moving back to his parent house in Northern Ireland to focus on writing. 

The band continue to record and play live to this day, even though Charlotte Hatherley left in 2006. This continuation of my series of B-Sides compilations comes in two parts. I liked the covers the band did because instead of doing straight covers, they tried to do something a little different, especially on ‘Give Me Some Truth’. Both of these compilations cover the classic Britpop period of 1994-8 with a couple of songs that were released in 1999 for good measure. 

Side A

1. What Deaner Was Talking About (A Life Less Ordinary – 1997)
2. Sneaker (Goldfinger – 1996)
3. Halloween (A Life Less Ordinary – 1997)
4. Don’t Know (Jack Names The Planets – 1994)
5. Story Weather (Wild Surf – 1998)
6. Dancing On The Moon (Jesus Says – 1998)

Side B

1. I Need Somebody (Goldfinger – 1996)
2. When I’m Tired (Wild Surf – 1998)
3. Gonna Do It Soon(Wild Surf – 1998)
4. Take Out (Jesus Says – 1998)
5. Radiation (Jesus Says – 1998)
6. Everywhere Is All Around (Oh Yeah – 1995)
7. Heroin, Vodka, White Noise (Jesus Says – 1998)

Side A

1. Blew – Nirvana (Numbskull – 1999)
2. Does Your Mother Know – ABBA (Oh Yeah – 1995)
3. Who You Drivin’ Now? (Numbskull – 1999)
4. Cantina Band – John Williams (Girl From Mars – 1995)

Side B

1. Get Ready – The Miracles (Goldfinger – 1996)
2. Give Me Some Truth – John Lennon (Angel Interceptor – 1995)
3. I Only Want To Be With You – Dusty Springfield (Single A-Side – 1997) 

The covers I have used for these compilations show the band in similar poses but separated by a few years. The image used for B-Sides was used for the compilation ‘Teenage Wildlife – 25 Years of Ash’.